2020- 2022 Policy Process | Green Party of Canada
Where GPC membership collaborates to develop our policies
G21-D006 Explore Collaborative Campaign Arrangements with the NDP
Submitter Name
Réal Lavergne
This proposal was discussed in the workshop during Phase 2 of the VGM. However, there was not enough time for this proposal to be voted on in plenary by the members during Phase 2. Therefore, this proposal will not be included in the ratification vote.
Proposal
To direct the Federal Council to engage in negotiations with the NDP to explore the desirability and modalities for collaborative arrangements in the next federal election and/or the one after, based on shared platform priorities in the areas of electoral reform, climate action and social justice.
Objective
To enable the Green Party to increase its presence in the House of Commons and achieve significant advances in the areas of electoral reform, climate action and social justice. More immediately, to initiate negotiations to determine the potential for collaborative electoral arrangements with the NDP in the next one or two federal elections.
Benefit
The proposed alliance could produce a significantly higher seat count of the Green Party and the NDP in Parliament, allowing the two parties to more decisively hold the balance of power in the House to achieve shared objectives in the urgent areas of electoral reform, climate action and social justice.
Supporting Comments from Submitter
Vote splitting and strategic voting makes it harder for a small party to win seats under our first-past-the-post system. Green Party supporters are very aware that to win seats, a party has to reach a certain threshold of support. Indeed, the Green Party's current MP representation in the House of Commons and in the provinces has been achieved by focusing efforts in winnable ridings.
Running a candidate "in every riding" can handicap the negotiation of win-win arrangements with other parties. Recent simulations based on 2019 voting patterns suggest that such win-win arrangements involving the Greens and the NDP could considerably increase the combined number of seats of the two parties in Parliament.
Although we cannot predict whether the NDP will welcome our advances despite the win-win advantages for both parties, a show by the Green Party that it wishes to enter into negotiations in good faith would enhance the image of our party as one seeking cooperation over partisanship and demonstrate that we have done everything we can to overcome and eventually remove the barriers imposed on us by our country's first-past-the-post voting system.
Green Value(s)
Ecological Wisdom, Sustainability, Participatory Democracy, Social Justice, Respect for Diversity.
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There will always be differences between the Greens and the NDP. However, the two parties have one really big thing in common: the parties and the people who vote for them are deprived of their share of seats in parliament. With more seats in Parliament, the Greens and the NDP would be in a better position to fight for their respective priorities, including shared priorities like electoral reform. In practice, the Greens and the NDP almost always vote together in Parliament. However, collaborating to win more seats does not mean a merger of the parties in any way, and does not oblige us to move further left or further right. This is about winning a share of seats more in line with the Green Party's share of the popular vote. Once we achieve proportional representation, such collaboration would no longer be needed. With the climate emergency upon us, we need to take the measures that are needed to win a greater voice in Parliament.
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