A myriad of reasons, but one that often gets overlooked is that the Canada and the US use a first-past-the-post electoral system which is not used in Europe. Canada does not use proportional representation on a federal and (mostly, with exceptions) provincial level so our politics, like the US, trends towards a two party majority system where niche parties and politicians get shoved aside.
In the majority of federal riding in Canada, voting for the green party would be a waste of a vote and would result you getting zero political representation that you want. You might as well roll up your ballot sheet and smoke it instead. This results in people voting strategically to prevent certain outcomes instead of voting for what they actually want.
IMO it is the biggest failing of our political system and is going to send us down the exact same road the US is going down right now. We are already on the brink of losing the NDP entirely our federal green party is barely even a shadow in the corner.
Avi running on electoral reform was a wise decision. I think everyone with a decent understanding of civics understands how harmful FPTP is for us working class folk.
That’s not entirely true. Greens are much more active in Britain for example than Canada despite using almost precisely the same electoral system.
A significant part of why I think they’re so weak in Canada is they’re not as coherent in their message. Their platform and base is actually much more conservative than a lot of European Green parties, which turns off the more progressive left environmentalists, and leaves them struggling for more conservationist moderates, who are kind of a dying breed.
A myriad of reasons, but one that often gets overlooked is that the Canada and the US use a first-past-the-post electoral system which is not used in Europe. Canada does not use proportional representation on a federal and (mostly, with exceptions) provincial level so our politics, like the US, trends towards a two party majority system where niche parties and politicians get shoved aside.
In the majority of federal riding in Canada, voting for the green party would be a waste of a vote and would result you getting zero political representation that you want. You might as well roll up your ballot sheet and smoke it instead. This results in people voting strategically to prevent certain outcomes instead of voting for what they actually want.
IMO it is the biggest failing of our political system and is going to send us down the exact same road the US is going down right now. We are already on the brink of losing the NDP entirely our federal green party is barely even a shadow in the corner.
Avi running on electoral reform was a wise decision. I think everyone with a decent understanding of civics understands how harmful FPTP is for us working class folk.
It helped Justin Trudeau. No idea how much but it got my vote.
Regrettably same here. If only Tom Mulcair had made the same promise
That’s not entirely true. Greens are much more active in Britain for example than Canada despite using almost precisely the same electoral system.
A significant part of why I think they’re so weak in Canada is they’re not as coherent in their message. Their platform and base is actually much more conservative than a lot of European Green parties, which turns off the more progressive left environmentalists, and leaves them struggling for more conservationist moderates, who are kind of a dying breed.
Green tories essentially. Maybe they could take some steps toward being overtly social fascist, like Die Grune?