2020- 2022 Policy Process | Green Party of Canada
Where GPC membership collaborates to develop our policies
G21-B001 Members to Elect Deputy Leaders and Shadow Cabinet
Submitter Name
Dianne Varga
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 replace Bylaws 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 with the following text:
- Party Members shall elect members to Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet.
- Party Members shall elect two Deputy Leaders.
- Party Members may replace members of the Cabinet, Shadow Cabinet, or Deputy Leaders, subject to appeal.
Objective
To empower Party Members:
(i) to elect members to the Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet,
(ii) to elect Deputy Leaders, and
(iii) to remove members of the Cabinet, Shadow Cabinet, or Deputy Leaders.
Benefit
The changes will:
(i) strengthen participatory democracy by empowering Party Members to decide who will represent them,
(ii) underscore the role participatory democracy plays in providing the basis of unity for the Global Green Movement, and
(iii) reinforce the Party’s constitutional purpose of advancing its values and basis of unity.
Supporting Comments from Submitter
Participatory democracy is primarily concerned with citizens being afforded an opportunity to participate in decision-making on important matters that affect their lives. An example of a Green party that has democratic processes more fortified than ours in Canada is Die Grünen of Germany. Die Grünen’s Public Relations Department has said that the two co-chairs and two deputy chairs of the party executive are elected by the 800+ delegates of the party congress, while the two co-chairs and five deputy chairs of the parliamentary group are elected by the members of the parliamentary group itself. Almost all MPs (49 out of 67) have a role as spokesperson for a specific field of policy, and these positions are filled through negotiation and agreement among the MPs and the leadership of the parliamentary group.
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand also has democratic processes stronger than our own. Their Correspondence Officer has said the executive structure includes two co-leaders and no deputies; the co-leaders are appointed at the annual general meeting by delegates of the representative branches across the country. Candidates for MP positions are themselves selected and ranked by the party membership, and voted upon in the country’s general election. Apart from this concrete evidence of the use of electoral processes and negotiation to determine executive and parliamentary representation, it is self-evident that if the Green Party of Canada empowered its grassroots Party Members to decide through electoral processes who will represent them as Deputy Leaders and Shadow Cabinet members, our participatory democracy would be stronger – stronger than it is now, stronger than the version seen in Germany, and as strong as the version seen in New Zealand.
Green Value(s)
Participatory Democracy
Relation to Existing Policy
Rescind and replace an existing policy. This proposal would rescind and replace Bylaws 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3.
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The Principle at Work in My Policy
I want to point out that the submission rules for policy proposals that are still in effect today insist that proposals must be written as a high-level policy principle, without delving into any strategy or tactics to achieve the desired outcome. As such, I don’t need to worry about exactly how my policy could or should be implemented or how the political environment could or should be managed to incorporate it. My policy proposal needs to be assessed according to the principle of participatory democracy, not according to what will guarantee the qualifications of candidates or how election campaigns would be run or how an elected team would function. These are practical concerns, not principles. If we want the principle of participatory democracy to be met, the party can work out the implementation and the political management later.
In discussing participatory democracy, I would mention that I was a member of a workers' co-op for a number of years. In that setting, participatory democracy resulted in a sense of ownership and commitment far greater than any I've felt in any other kind of workplace. I sometimes hear rumblings about a lack of involvement on the part of many members in the life of the Green Party. In my view, if we want party members to show up, we have to increase opportunities for their meaningful participation, including in meaningful decision-making.
Some people have asked what my proposal is trying to fix. It’s actually not about fixing something that’s broken or solving some problem. It’s purely about the principle of participatory democracy. What is the value of democracy is a philosophical question, and whole books are written on this. What I can do is think back to my experience in a workers’ coop, where we made all the decisions ourselves, where every one of us was the boss, and say that the experience of participatory democracy is about ownership and belonging, and collective self-determination and collective self-realization.
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