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The Greens may not have won their first seat in the legislature last night, but the momentum they gained through this election campaign tripled their popular vote from the last provincial election.
The party's Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound candidate, Shane Jolley, made a valiant effort to win the party's first seat, placing a strong second with more than a third of the votes, nipping at the heels of long-time Progressive Conservative incumbent Bill Murdoch all night. He outperformed any Green Party candidate, federal or provincial, in the country, including federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who, got 25.84 per cent of the vote in last year's federal by-election in London North Centre.
The predicted defeat of the proposed mixed-member proportional electoral system, however, meant the Greens also lost several seats that could have been theirs had the referendum passed. Based on that alone, and despite a strong showing, some political pundits suggested the Greens could be on their way back to being labelled a fringe party.
Party Leader Frank de Jong, 51, also lost in his Toronto riding of Davenport to Liberal incumbent Tony Ruprecht, trailing by more than 30 percentage points.
Green Party of Ontario Leader Frank de Jong and his party didn't win a seat, but gained momentum after a close race in Owen Sound. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/ The Thunder Bay Chronicle- Sandi Krasowski)
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"I would have liked to elect 40 or 50 MPPs, myself included, but we have to pay our dues and continue to pay our dues and build one vote, one member, one dollar at a time," he said from his party's headquarters in downtown Toronto last night.
"I think it's still a huge victory for us, not in terms of seats, but in terms of a rise in the vote and momentum."
The party as a whole garnered slightly more than 8 per cent of the popular vote, up from 3 per cent in 2003. That number backed the common perception that the Greens had exceeded expectations this campaign.
Some political experts were surprised the Greens did as well as they did, given their lack of funds and that its leader wasn't included in the official debates.
"They've changed the political landscape even though they haven't entered the legislature," said Peter Woolstencroft, associate professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, on Thursday. "I think it's remarkable the Green Party did as well as it did."
A survey conducted by the Strategic Counsel for The Globe and Mail and CTV this week showed the Greens had made significant gains outside of Toronto, with 11 per cent support across the province as they headed into yesterday's election. In Southwestern Ontario alone, that number was closer to 13 per cent.
That's a significant jump from the 3 per cent the party got in the 2003 election, Strategic Counsel managing partner Tim Woolstencroft said.
"It's no surprise considering this is the first election that's being held in Ontario since the environment has become such a big issue for average Ontarians," he said.
But he was quick to note that the party had distanced itself from the fringe label because support for the two main parties has been bleeding to the Greens and NDP as a protest for change.
Despite the skepticism, Mr. de Jong was confident of the party's future prospects.
"I think it's clear the Green Party has arrived," he said last night. "We're one of the big parties now."
But Nelson Wiseman, political science professor at the University of Toronto, said he was confident that despite the Greens' stronger-than-expected performance during this campaign, the single-issue party has plateaued and the party will have trouble gaining momentum in future elections.
"What's happened is that environmentalism has been incorporated into the discourse of all the parties - it's like health care. So they've become neutralized."
What helped them this campaign, he said, is their plan to scrap the Catholic school board and create a single, unified public school system.
"But the point is that they're not going to win any seats," Prof. Wiseman said, "and nobody's going to cover them for the next four years."
With a file from reporter Tavia Grant.
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