Green boss under fire for Liberal “alliance”
OTTAWA - Green Party Leader Elizabeth May faces harsh internal criticism over her frequent praise for Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and her plea to Canadians to oust Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The grumbling over May’s approach erupted after high-profile Vancouver Island environmentalist Briony Penn bolted last week from the Green party to run as a candidate for Dion’s Liberals.
Penn, who will attempt to unite all “progressive” voters against Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn in Saanich-Gulf Islands, told The Vancouver Sun in an e-mail her decision was “very much” inspired by May’s praise of Dion and her message that Harper must be defeated.
Penn told a local newspaper last week there’s “an informal alliance, or respect” between Dion and May “to try to bring progressives closer together.”
May said there’s no alliance between the parties, though she said she will continue defending Dion’s environmental credentials and attack Harper’s.
“I’m worried about making sure we elect Green party members of Parliament,” May said.
“And I’m very concerned to make sure Mr. Harper isn’t prime minister a moment longer than his current mandate, I suppose by inference it means Stephane Dion should be prime minister, but the focus is not on the the Green party aiding any other parties.”
Andrew Lewis, May’s “shadow cabinet” critic for natural resources and the Green candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands in 2004 and 2006, is openly blasting May’s approach.
“I am very upset with what might be happening. If it carries on down this path it’ll undermine the Green party,” Lewis said. “What Elizabeth May is implying is that yes, we should vote strategically, for the Liberals if necessary, and that Dion is green enough.”
He said strategic voting - where voters select the candidate best able to defeat the politician they want to oust, rather than vote for the best candidate overall - will always hurt the Greens and help the Liberals.
Lewis also posted a blistering attack on the Green party’s website, saying the Liberal leader has a poor environmental track record.
May said Lewis is “mischaracterizing” Dion.
“Our local members feel betrayed, and that betrayal is fueling I think an unfair assessment of Mr. Dion’s record.”
May also said she wants to do politics differently by not attempting to discredit Dion. That is the approach taken by New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton, who called Dion a man of “principle and conviction” before the Liberal leadership vote but then tried to discredit Dion’s credentials after the stunning Liberal leadership vote.
David Chernushenko, who was named May’s senior deputy after finishing second in last year’s Green leadership race, said Tuesday he supports May’s approach but expressed caution. Lewis, according to Chernushenko, is voicing a common concern within the party.
“What he’s saying is something pretty much every one of us has thought about if not said,” Chernushenko said.
May has announced she will run against Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova, and has said she hopes the Liberals and NDP don’t field candidates.
