Ask-The-Contestants!
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"I've been a member for awhile now and the last election nearly drove me away, with the lack of coordination and a third of the ridings not having candidates.
As leader, how would you ensure that we have candidates in all ridings? Do you see that as critical?
Given that we've never won more than three MPs in an election, how do you propose to put us in a good position to win the magic twelve needed for official party status, or at least more than four, next time?
Will you do a big push to be elected, personally, as an MP and if so how? Will you go to a riding that is 'winnable' or fight in your local one?"
- John Northey, London North EDA
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Hi John. I'll answer your last question first. My team is already considering the best ridings for me to run in for the next election. We also have a strategic plan for all likely bi-election ridings. Choosing my riding will have to include building relationships with the local volunteers and EDA executive first, then campaigning as early as possible to build local support. Experienced candidates know this means lots of meetings with influencers in community organizations like faith groups, environment and social justice groups, campus groups, educators, unions, businesses, and good old door-knocking. Campaigning can never start too early, not just for the leader but in every riding.
But it has to be fun! Helping to grow our Electoral District Associations between elections will be my office's main focus for membership growth. We have many strong EDAs, a great grassroots initiative called EDA Empowerment 2022, and a home for volunteers belonging to our internal infrastructure called Action Teams. It's up to the Green membership to grow our ground game so we're running real campaigns in every riding, not paper candidates. This is a long-term political party building project. I'll be supporting the grassroots as they form regional level cooperatives, collaborate on mentoring hubs, and I'll be providing social media templates and monthly news release templates so we are exercising those election-ready muscles all the time.
It also has to be interesting! Isn't this new website cool? Much thanks to the Green volunteers and staff who set it up and manage it! Will we ever evolve to a Member-led living policy process, or will we continue to have our biannual efforts land in a Policy Book that noone reads? Where do we experience true Participatory Democracy? I'll be building our cohesion of messaging by holding Policy Table Talks on climate crisis subjects with practical outcomes that activate our super powers: Green farmers creating a National Food Security mandate; Green best practices hub on small scale energy resiliency. Your Shadow Cabinet members will host their own monthly Policy Table Talks that any member can attend.
Every successful political party knows that your ground game between elections determines the election. Winning elections is about team building based on member-power, not celebrity-power. And every GPC election post-mortem says the same thing: we fail to value and empower volunteers.
The GPC will be a successful grassroots political movement only when we elect a leader who gives the collective the credit at every turn. #WisdomToChange.
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