The Green Party of Ontario ( GPO ) is a political party in Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's second-largest provincial Green Party after the Green Party of British Columbia. The party is led by Mike Schreiner. It has never held any seats in the Ontario Legislative Assembly; however, the party did see significant gains in the 2007 provincial election, earning 8% of the popular vote with some candidates placing second and third in their ridings. Previous polling has identified support to be between 6% and 12% of decided voters, and on 14 June 2008 , the GPO hit a milestone of 13% support in polling, matching the Ontario New Democratic Party for the first time.
Elections Ontario records that in the 1999 provincial election, the GPO fielded 58 candidates, and became the fourth largest party in the province. In 2003, the party fielded its first nearly-full slate, 102 out of 103 candidates, and received 2.8% of the vote. In 2007, in what many consider the breakthrough election for the GPO, the party fielded a full slate of 107 candidates, receiving over 8.0% and nearly 355,000 votes. The GPO had gained the most in the 2007 election and was one of only two parties that gained a significant amount of support. The rise in its political fortunes coincided with the national rise in support for the Green Party of Canada during the same period.
History
Main article: History of the Green Party of OntarioEarly years
The late 1960s is widely seen as the start of the global ecological movement, however it wasn't until the 1970s that this movement began to gain political and economic legitimacy, with advances such as the founding of the world's first green party (New Zealand's Values Party), and the entry of the West German Greens (Die Grunen) into that country's legislature. The tiny, short-lived Small Party, named after E.F. Schumacher's book Small is Beautiful, formed in the Maritimes in the mid to late 1970s, and was the first party in the Western Hemisphere related to the green movement. This party was founded by Elizabeth May, now the leader of the Green Party of Canada.
By the early 1980s, the idea of organized Green politics began to gain in international popularity, and in 1983 the Green Party of Ontario was registered with Elections Ontario. Shortly after the GPO was registered it contested its first election, fielding nine candidates who collected a combined 5,300 votes or 0.14%. In the 1987 election the party again ran nine candidates who fared worse, collecting 3,400 votes or 0.09%. In 1990, to the surprise of many, the GPO captured a much higher result, with 40 candidates capturing 30,400 votes or 0.75%.
Frank de Jong years
It wasn't until 1993, however, that the party began to properly organize itself, electing Frank de Jong as its first official leader. The GPO and their newly selected leader ran in their first election as an organized party in the 1995 provincial election. However, even with a new leader and just three candidates less than 1990, the party lost more than half their support, falling to just 14,100 or 0.34%.
Since assuming the role of party leader, Mr de Jong has led the party through three election campaigns, gradually building party support from less than one percent in the early 1990s to just over 8% in the 2007 provincial election.
In the 1999 provincial election the party ran 57 candidates and collected 0.70% or 30,800 votes. With 17 more candidates the party fell 0.05% short of their 1990 result; however, this was a large increase compared to the previous election (1995). In addition, increased organization resulted in the addition of a Deputy Leader and a Shadow Cabinet. The first Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Ontario was Judy Greenwood-Speers. She served the party in this role from 1999-2002. Ms Greenwood-Speers was also the party's first Issue Advocate, continuously serving as the Advocate for Health and Long Term Care, and in the Senior's Secretariat from 1999 to today.
The 2003 provincial election was what many consider to be the first breakthrough for the Greens. Running 102 out of a possible 103 candidates the GPO was able to capture 126,700 votes, or 2.82%. The GPO placed ahead of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) in two ridings, and took fourth place in 92 others. Just eight candidates fared worse than fourth place.
Frank de Jong announced his resignation as leader on May 16th, 2009, at the Green Party of Ontario Annual General Meeting. A leadership and policy convention was held November 13-15, 2009 in London, Ontatio.
See also: Green Party of Ontario leadership election, 2009Recent history
Throughout 2006 there was a move toward major constitutional changes in the party, led by Executive Council Member-at-Large (former GPO President) Ron Yurick. During the May Annual Policy Conference in Toronto, and the September 2006 AGM in Lion's Head, Ontario, sweeping changes were approved to the party's governance structures. It was described as "the culmination of hundreds of hours of work that evolved out of a directive passed at the 2004 (AGM) in Cambridge. Included in the changes were the formation of a much larger Provincial Executive, which included two gender paritied representatives from each of six regions, gender paritied Deputy Leaders, and the creation of multiple functionary roles (a quasi civil service) separated from the Provincial Executive.
At the Party's 2006 Annual General Meeting (AGM) the Party adopted further changes to the existing Constitution that, amongst other things, reduced the size of the Provincial Council and renamed it the Provincial Council Executive. One of the first acts of the new Provincial Executive was to strike a hiring committee to bring on a full-time campaign manager in response to mounting internal pressures to ensure the party was ready for the October 2007 provincial election.
In the run-up to the 2007 provincial election, the Greens' support climbed into the double-digits for the first time in party history. Although the party did not elect a member to the provincial legislature, they did increase their share of the popular vote to 8.1% (a gain of 5.3% from the 2003 election), placed second in one riding (Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, with 33.1% compared to the PC incumbent winner's 46.7%), and took third place in a number of other ridings, ahead of candidates from previously elected parties. Shane Jolley, the Green candidate for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, earned more votes than any Green candidate in Canadian history at that time.
The party had its 2007 AGM at an Easter Seals camp near Perth on November 23 to the 25. It was the largest AGM in GPO history at that time with over 120 delegates and over 400 proxy votes. The GPO adopted changes to the constitution, many involving the provincial executive. A few directives to the executive also discussed at the AGM included party bilingualism and fundraising. The party voted in the new executive including a new president Lawson Hunter, while former president Ron Yurick was voted in as Northern male rep. Over 70% of the voting membership had also voted to re-elect party leader Frank de Jong for another two years.
De Jong resigned as leader in 2009 and was replaced by Toronto entrepreneur Mike Schreiner who was the sole candidate in the party's leadership race.
Policies
The Green Party of Ontario shares the same Ten Key Values as other North American Greens. Although the party has generally been perceived as being left-wing, they have positioned themselves as an attractive alternative to all three parties in the legislature by combining ecologically and socially reformist policies with strong respect for the free market and entrepreneurship. Many key members are recruits from the former centre-right Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, including Elio Di Iorio, who was a protégé of former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, and Peter Elgie, son of former Ontario Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Robert Elgie. The party's newly-chosen Chief Financial Officer, David Scrymgeour, was the National Director of the former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
Under Frank de Jong, the GPO has emphasized policies typical of both left- and right-wing parties. In the words of de Jong, the GPO tends to favour policies that are "socially progressive, fiscally conservative, and environmentally aware". As such, policies in areas such as education, health, environmental protection and social equity are notably progressive, while policies on income & property taxation, market regulation, and industrial subsidisation are more conservative in nature. Contrary to most other parties, the Greens prefer a model of decentralisation, where administration of local programmes/services (for example, local schools, hospitals, housing, and transport) are left to local government which is more responsive to local needs/realities, but where costs are not simply downloaded without the ability to raise local revenue (such as with previous Progressive Conservative governments). The party emphasizes interconnectivity between various policy areas (for example, health and the environment, or the environment and the economy).
Taxation
GPO policy proposes a concept known as green tax shifting, which it classifies under the b
Green Party of Ontario - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Green Party of Ontario (GPO) is a political party in Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's second-largest provincial Green Party after the Green Party of British Columbia.
www.headwatersgreens.org - Headwaters Greens
The GPO will be electing its new leader at a leadership and policy convention November 13-15, 2009 in London Ontario. Green Party of Ontario 2007 Platform
Official Website | Green Party of Ontario
Mike Schreiner, new Leader of the Green Party of Ontario, speaks about the Green Party tonight on Focus Ontario.
Press | Green Party of Ontario
Media & Press. Follow Mike Schreiner and the rest of the Green Party team. Media inquiries contact: press@gpo.ca or call 416-977-7476
Green Party of Ontario - Lanark Frontenac Lennox Addington - Home
Green Party of Ontario - Lanark Frontenac Lennox Addington Riding Association Site
Entries tagged with “Green Party of Ontario” » »
by Mike Feinstein, International Committee of the Green Party of the United States. After 16 years as Party Leader of the Green Party of Ontario (GPO), Frank de Jong will be ...
Green Party of Ontario | Facebook
Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited ...
Green Party candidates, 2003 Ontario provincial election - Wikipedia ...
The Green Party of Ontario fielded 102 candidates in the 2003 provincial election in Ontario, Canada, none of whom were elected. The only riding which the party did not contest was ...
Welcome | GPC - PVC
The Green Party of Ontario elected their new leader, Mike Schreiner, at their convention this past weekend. Read more >>
Green Party lauds Quebec-Ontario climate pact | GPC - PVC
SUDBURY – The Green Party is commending the efforts of Quebec premier Jean Charest and Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, who pledged yesterday to work together for real greenhouse ...