Green Leadership
Green Parties around the world are different from others in that the leader is chosen to act as their spokesperson for the party's policies and views, and not be the creator of those policies and views. Events in Ontario during early 2023 put a highlight on this fact.
Some high profile members of the Ontario Liberal Party asked our Green Party leader, Mike Schreiner, to become a Liberal and enter their leadership contest. They have sung his praises as being intelligent, hard working, and honest. They looked at Mike as being the solution to the uninspiring state of the Liberal party.
If the power brokers behind the scenes would allow it, the Liberal Party could simply adopt the plans and policies that the Greens already have in place. The Green leader is a spokesperson for the Green Party’s principles and policies that the membership at large have created. As wonderful as Mike has been as the Green leader, the Liberals believe that acquiring a leader such as him will be the solution to their problems. They are mistaken. What they need is to change their party at its core. What they need is what the Greens already have, and will always have regardless of who our leader is. A party that is shaped from the ground up, not the top down. If other parties want to have a great leader, they need to start by changing their parties so that their leader has something great to promote. They have looked towards Mike, but they should have been looking at themselves.
There is a reason we Greens love the mantra “people powered change”. It isn’t “person” powered change or “leader” powered change; it’s plural – we are PEOPLE-powered. This party is about you, me, and all of us. The excellent policies we have were all researched and put forward by knowledgeable members and voted upon to be accepted by the grassroots collective membership. These policies are then publicly promoted by our named leader. Regardless of whomever that spokesperson is, the Green Party remains the political organisation with the most solid policies to best serve our communities and protect the environment we depend upon to thrive.
The leadership of the Greens is really about how we as Greens influence our provinces and our country to be the best they can be. Together, Greens will continue to push the other parties to do better and we will continue to be the best option for voters to support.
