Was the STV referendum set up to fail?
Although BC-STV nearly squeaked by in 2005, it went down in flames spectacularly this year. Despite the almost $750,000 spent and aided by a small army of volunteers, poor process, too many amateur cooks on the ‘Yes!’ side’s committees, a complicated voting system badly explained, and too-large electoral areas meant that BC-STV was practically doomed from the start. Could it have been deliberately set up to fail? Or was this just a case of hubris?
Posted in BC, democracy | 8 Comments »
The BC Green Party’s determinaton to run a full slate of candidates in this year’s provincial election could be interpreted as a sign that it has not yet developed a mature political strategy for the election. Only an NDP-Green coalition can keep Gordon Campbell from victory in 2009.
Although philosopher George Santayana offered the sage advice to learn from history or repeat it, it seems that his message hasn’t yet reached the inner sanctum of the Green Party of BC. By parachuting herself into the recently-announced Victoria-Fairview byelection, leader Jane Sterk is making the same mistake as her predecessor.
As polls show public support for the Green Party of Canada rising steadily to between 10% and 12% nationally and up to 15% here in BC, the tension between possible electoral success and the party’s set of basic Green political values becomes even more apparent. The problem is that most party members have no knowledge or understanding of core Green values.
This is the second of a two-part series on restructuring Green political parties in accordance with Green values. 
Despite the intent to create a more democratic political process, many Green parties from the start adopted the same ‘top-down’ hierarchical structure as mainstream political parties. Their leadership progressively sealed themselves off from the party’s grass roots, and in many cases membership and fundraising declined precipitously. This analysis looks at why.
Seeking to end two decades on the fringes of politics, BC Greens took their first tentative steps on the slippery slope to power. Whether it leads towards the Green ideals of world peace, ecological and social justice, and grassroots democracy depends on whether the party sells its soul in its quest for influence.
After a hotly-contested race, the BC Green Party chose Esquimalt councillor Jane Sterk as their new Leader. She’s going to have to use all her impressive political and personal skills to repair the damage of the previous eleven months and build the party into a vote-getting machine for 2009.
BC premier Gordon Campbell’s announcement of his intent to reduce provincial greenhouse gas emissions by 33% by 2020 has serious political implications for the BC Green party. It will take more than puppy-dog thinking to convince voters to give up their allegiance to the mainstream options.
JACK ETKIN WRITES: In my opinion, homelessness is deliberate, not on the part of the homeless but on the part of the people who are running this country. $1 billion per year in five years would create 30,000 units of housing, which could house homeless people all across Canada and probably reduce rents overall.
