PETERS – Green Party a wasted vote no longer
IT WASN’T LONG AGO that the Green Party was generally believed to be a place reserved for the strictest of idealogues, and otherwise a place to waste your vote. People upset at the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP could vote Green to express their anger and frustration.
No longer.
This week, the federal Greens won a hard-fought by-election in Nanaimo-Ladysmith. Paul Manly handily beat out contenders from the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP, and will join Elizabeth May in the House of Commons.
He’ll have to fight it out all over again in the fall general vote, but it’s difficult to imagine a huge swing in the intentions of Nanaimo-Ladysmith voters in just five months.
But Manly’s victory is not the only indication that the Green Party is picking up steam.
James Peters is the radio anchor at CFJC, coming to Kamloops in 2006. He anchors the afternoon news on B-100 and 98.3 CIFM, and contributes weekly editorials to the CFJC Evening News. He tweets regularly @Jamloops.
Yes he is quite cool when he is not on a tirade which is most of the time.
And what makes you think the Greens have moved on from being nothing more than the default vote for the upset and angry ones, James? Locally at least, there is little to really be enthused about although Mr. Weaver is quite cool.