free to remain silent
Jamie Ker
Last September the Davenport riding made the news because of the slim margin of victory—72 votes!—by the Liberal incumbent over the NDP challenger. Had we (I live in Davenport) not run a candidate, it's likely that the NDP challenger would now be our MP.
The benefit statement in Haddad's proposal reads, "This would allow the Party to focus more attention on priority ridings or to enter into mutually-beneficial collaborative arrangements, in order to win more seats, achieve official party status and possibly hold the balance of power to address urgent Green priorities such as electoral reform, vigorous climate action and social justice."
In the proposal's supporting comments, Haddad wrote, "Simulations conducted by the One Time Alliance for Democratic Reform and the Climate Emergency Alliance suggest that the Greens and the NDP could significantly increase their seat shares based on collaborative arrangements in key ridings."
Members' Code of Conduct
The GPC Members' Code of Conduct poses a problem in this regard: while "members have the right to their own ideas, beliefs and opinions," it also states that "every GPC member must... not join, work for, support, or endorse another federal party."
Consequently, if an EDA decides not to field a candidate, members in the riding can only support the GPC with their vote; volunteering is limited to helping GPC candidates in other ridings. "Adherence to the GPC Member Code of conduct is a condition of membership in the party." Helping the party that might elect a progressive is forbidden.
It's likely that few members understand and adhere to our code of conduct. It's also likely that the Executive Director, who deals with breaches of conduct, would be reluctant to initiate the required membership review, should such a breach be reported.
G21-C010 has opened the door just a bit to "allowing strategic exceptions"—but technically the code of conduct is a door stopper that blocks its wider application (and severely limits member rights).
Karen Brill
Agreed, Jamie. Fielding candidates in all ridings serves to take our eyes off of the prize – which is to win more seats in jurisdictions which lean green. I believe this would require a change in the GPC constitution.
Karen
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