What was supposed to be a ride to promote cycling safety and awareness in Sudbury turned tragic when a cyclist was struck by an oncoming vehicle on Long Lake Road in front of about 200 cyclists. I was one of the cyclists in the front of the pack who saw the horrible accident take place, after looking up at the sound of screeching brakes. We were taking part in a ride organized by the Ontario-based Share the Road Cycling Coalition, on a beautiful evening in Sudbury. We had just stopped for a moment of silence to pay tribute to cyclists across Canada who have been injured or killed while taking part in an activity they enjoyed.
At this time, there is only a little news on the condition of the cyclist who was struck, although I heard from other cyclists that he was conscious. Emergency personal were on the scene immediately after the accident happened. Tonight's online edition of the Sudbury Star is reporting that the cyclist was injured, but not killed.
This was the second annual ride organized by Share the Road (http://www.sharetheroad.ca/). Eleanor McMahon, founder of Share the Road, gave a little speech before the ride began, and indicated her happiness to back in Sudbury again. McMahon's own story is a tragic one: her husband, OPP Sergeant Greg Stobbart, was killed while on a training ride in 2006. It was this terrible event which prompted McMahon to found Share the Road, which promotes grassroots cycling advocacy and attempts to influence cycling law at the provincial level of government.
When McMahon was in Sudbury for last year's ride, she challenged Sudburians to become cycling advocates. I took McMahon's challenge seriously, and this past Earth Day, with the considerable help of local cycling advocate Dan Barrette, the Sudbury Cyclists Union was born. Throughout the summer, Dan and I, along with a number of others (too numerous to mention here) have begun to build a truly grassroots advocacy organization. Local advocate Pete Paradis has been leading a Cyclists Union ride every Sunday afternoon, leaving from our downtown Farmer's Market at 1pm. The Cyclists Union, although in its infancy, worked with the Coalition for a Livable Sudbury to show support in front of our municipal council for the Sustainable Mobility Plan, prepared by Rainbow Routes. In the near future, we will be showing our support for the Bicycle Advisory Panel's plan, and we hope to be seriously involved in the 5-year review of the City's Official Plan, which should be commencing in a couple of years.
The seeds planted by Eleanor McMahon last year in Sudbury have indeed begun to take root. There is a heightened awareness of cycling issues now in our community, especially since local Sudbury Star staff writers have had their own near-death experiences while cycling on our municipal roads. Cycling has suddenly become a very topical issue, which can only be a good thing in an election year, although Sudbury Star editor Brian McLeod doesn't believe the issue is receiving the attention it deserves, given that Greater Sudbury has been labelled "Canada's Second Dirtiest City" when it comes to carbon emissions from personal vehicles (see: "Debate on Cycling Lanes has yet to take centre stage - Point of View", Friday August 27 2010). Tonight, Eleanor McMahon acknowledged the formation of our grassroots organization in her speech before the ride.
However, I was disappointed to see only one individual running for municipal council actually take part in tonight's ride. Ward 12 candidate Jeff MacIntyre walked the talk (or more correctly, “rode” the talk) tonight, completing the entire 15 km circuit of Sudbury's south end. I wish that I lived in Ward 12 so that I could vote for Jeff.
I rode tonight with the Green Party's nominated candidates, Fred Twilley (Sudbury) and Christine Guillot-Proulx (Nickel Belt). The Sudbury Cyclists Union also had a number of riders participating in tonight's event. What I was surprised and encouraged to see tonight, though, was the number of families who came out to ride together. Children under 12 were well-represented at tonight's ride.
I also saw one rider who was wearing a photograph of her deceased sister, Sudbury native Lyn Duhamel, who was killed this past May 14th while training for an Ironman competition south of Montreal, along with 2 other cyclists. In all, 6 cyclists were struck by a pick-up truck in that terrible tragedy on a rural road which didn't have marked lanes for cyclists or even a paved shoulder. It was good to see Duhamel's sister at the ride, although it would have been better to have seen her under different circumstances. I can imagine that the very act of biking now carries a completely different meaning for Duhamel's sister, and all who have been affected by a cycling tragedy.
And of course, the ride featured Canadian Olympian and Sudbury native, Devon Kershaw. Before the ride, Kershaw received a plaque from Greater Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez, who took a few moments to acknowledge Kershaw for his outstanding achievements at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Rodriguez was also heard to remark that he was surprised that there were so many cyclists who are also voters in Sudbury. Rodriguez has, in my opinion, started to hear the voice of our cycling community, and I believe that he can be counted on as an ally on Council in the coming years, should he be returned to Council after this October's municipal election.
Devon Kershaw, a true local hero, also has a tragic cycling story. Back in 2001, Kershaw's girlfriend, elite athlete Sophie Manarin, was killed in Sudbury while on a training ride. Tonight's Share the Road ride had just stopped at a memorial erected in her honour close to the Long Lake Road / Highway 17 interchange. It was in front of Sophie's memorial that cyclists paused for a moment of silent reflection, before resuming the ride. Our group of about 200 cyclists began to string itself out along Long Lake Road, heading north, back towards Science North, where the ride began and was to end.
Some of the cyclists got out in front of the police escort, including me. I stopped on the shoulder, along with several other cyclists, as we waited for the rest of the group, and the police escort, to catch up. The police had stopped traffic farther the south, allowing our group to cross Long Lake Road. This section of road wasn't particularly busy at the time, but traffic does move quite fast through the area.
Standing on the shoulder while still mounted on my bike, I noticed that there were some cyclists heading south on Long Lake Road, on the far shoulder. I wasn't sure whether they were part of our ride or not; they may have been riders who got too far out in front, and were circling back to join the larger group. Or perhaps they were just other cyclists just out to enjoy the beautiful evening. I looked back to watch the group still crossing Long Lake Road, and saw that most cyclists had made it across the road and were now heading towards me on the northbound shoulder.
It was then I heard the screeching of brakes. I turned in time to witness the impact: the cyclist, who was in the southbound lanes, had been struck by a vehicle. He was sent flying about 10 feet into the air, and came crashing down onto the front of the vehicle. His bike was mangled, and he came to rest on the asphalt. Immediately, some of the cyclists in the very front of the pack raced out onto the road. All southbound vehicles came to a stop, including a motorcyclist, who may have begun to administer CPR. Another cyclist and myself also ran onto the road and began waving our arms to attract the attention of the police escort who was working to get the last of our group across the road and onto the northbound shoulder. After a moment, the police escort on his motorcycle raced up the street, and he was joined by another police car.
We cyclists stood in horror, shocked in our disbelief. How did a ride, to promote cycling safety, turn tragic in the blink of an eye?. Eventually, we were told to move along and away from the accident. As I rode north past the horrific scene, I heard emergency workers ask the cyclist a question, and I was heartened to hear that he was able to make a verbal response. As I rode on, I passed other cyclists, some in tears. Everyone wanted to know what had happened. No one that I spoke to seemed to know all of the facts.
It's unclear to me where the cyclist had been coming from, or if he was even with our group. He was struck in the southbound lanes, while we were heading north. He may have been tempted to ride across Long Lake Road to join our group, seeing that the police had stopped traffic heading north. Southbound traffic, though, in this location, was still travelling towards where the police escort was located. The vehicle which struck the cyclist was likely going around 70 km/h or so. I can't speculate any further than that, and I'm not even sure in which direction the cyclist was travelling when he was hit. I only witnessed the impact. That was...too much.
The rest of the ride back to Science North was largely carried out in silence. We had all lost our enthusiasm. When we arrived back at Science North, we heard that ride organizers Devon Kershaw and Eleanor McMahon had stayed behind at the accident scene, so we cyclists began to disperse in a somber mood.
Every day cyclists venture out onto the streets of Sudbury, we are taking our lives in our hands. Sudbury has almost no cycling infrastructure (less than 12 km of bike lanes...and this for a City of over 150,000 people). At the first few meetings of the Sudbury Cyclists Union, I heard the horror stories shared by other cyclists, who came out to support and take part in our new grassroots organization. The stories, each unique, resonated with everyone. Far too often, cyclists are in danger just riding around our City, whether it's on their way to school or work, or just out to enjoy a beautiful day on their bikes. Due to the dangerous conditions of our roads, many cyclists in Sudbury use the sidewalks instead, which often puts them into conflict with pedestrians, or with motorists at crossings where the sidewalk enters an intersection or runs along a driveway. The long and short of it is that there are very few safe places for cyclists to ride in this City, and that's yet another tragedy.
Our municipal Council and staff must start taking the needs of cyclists seriously. When repairing roads (which is a cottage industry here in Sudbury), the addition of cycling infrastructure, such as bike lanes or even just painted signs alerting motorists to the presence of cyclists, must be taken into consideration. Rather than build faster roads for more cars, we need to build safer streets for all users: motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. The concept of the “complete street” isn't new, but there is a long way to go yet before it becomes the accepted norm in Greater Sudbury. In the meantime, how many more cyclists and pedestrians will be injured in my community?
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Saving the World's Oceans Requires a Sustainable Solution
This letter was submitted to the Editor of the Sudbury Star for publication, in response to an earlier letter published by the Star, “Build Oil Refineries to Save Oceans” (published Thursday, August 26, 2010). UPDATE: this letter was published in the Tuesday, August 31st edition of the Sudbury Star, under the headline "More refineries not the solution".
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I agree with the concerns raised by the letter's author that we, as a society, must do a better job of protecting our oceans. The recent BP Oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is just the latest in a series of economic and environmental disasters which have befallen our oceans in our quest for resource exploitation. In the past, over-fishing has collapsed fishstocks, and notably for Canadians, led to the closure of the Atlantic cod fishery. Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which cause global warming, are also leading to the acidification of our oceans. As a result, coral reefs throughout the world, which support myriad fish and plant species, are being destroyed.
The author of the letter, however, proposes a very unconventional method for “saving” our oceans: by building more oil refineries in Canada. The author appears to have missed the boat when it comes to acknowledging that we live in a closed biosphere, where pollution in our air leads to considerable impacts elsewhere: in our soils, in our lakes and rivers, and in our oceanic waters. The economic cost of dealing with pollution are staggering; witness the ever-growing price-tag affixed to the BP clean-up. To better the health of our oceans, comprehensive solutions which consider all impacts, environmental and economic, are the only ones which have a realistic chance for success.
Links between global warming and the health of our oceans, including the abundance of marine life on which global fisheries are reliant, are well established. Along with raising the pH level of ocean waters through the absorption of carbon (acidification), our oceans are under threat due to increased melting of land-based ice in Greenland and Antarctica, which threatens to lower temperatures and alter ocean currents. In all cases, the health of marine life, as well as our own health, will be irrevocably altered.
To continue to mine our soils and ocean floors for fossil fuels to power our economy, and build expensive infrastructure for a rapidly depleting and harmful energy source does not make sense, either from an environmental or economic standpoint. A much better solution for the health of our planet and our economy would be to invest our scarce resources into building a society which is sustainable in the long term. Such a society would utilize renewable resources to power its economy, and encourage people to lead healthier lifestyles.
We've witnessed the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico unfold throughout this past summer. It's impacts will continue to be felt for decades to come. If we are truly concerned about the health of our oceans, it's time for us to clean up our economy. Only comprehensive solutions which consider all impacts should warrant public and private sector investment. Building more oil refineries to save our marine environment isn't anywhere near being a good solution.
---
I agree with the concerns raised by the letter's author that we, as a society, must do a better job of protecting our oceans. The recent BP Oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is just the latest in a series of economic and environmental disasters which have befallen our oceans in our quest for resource exploitation. In the past, over-fishing has collapsed fishstocks, and notably for Canadians, led to the closure of the Atlantic cod fishery. Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which cause global warming, are also leading to the acidification of our oceans. As a result, coral reefs throughout the world, which support myriad fish and plant species, are being destroyed.
The author of the letter, however, proposes a very unconventional method for “saving” our oceans: by building more oil refineries in Canada. The author appears to have missed the boat when it comes to acknowledging that we live in a closed biosphere, where pollution in our air leads to considerable impacts elsewhere: in our soils, in our lakes and rivers, and in our oceanic waters. The economic cost of dealing with pollution are staggering; witness the ever-growing price-tag affixed to the BP clean-up. To better the health of our oceans, comprehensive solutions which consider all impacts, environmental and economic, are the only ones which have a realistic chance for success.
Links between global warming and the health of our oceans, including the abundance of marine life on which global fisheries are reliant, are well established. Along with raising the pH level of ocean waters through the absorption of carbon (acidification), our oceans are under threat due to increased melting of land-based ice in Greenland and Antarctica, which threatens to lower temperatures and alter ocean currents. In all cases, the health of marine life, as well as our own health, will be irrevocably altered.
To continue to mine our soils and ocean floors for fossil fuels to power our economy, and build expensive infrastructure for a rapidly depleting and harmful energy source does not make sense, either from an environmental or economic standpoint. A much better solution for the health of our planet and our economy would be to invest our scarce resources into building a society which is sustainable in the long term. Such a society would utilize renewable resources to power its economy, and encourage people to lead healthier lifestyles.
We've witnessed the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico unfold throughout this past summer. It's impacts will continue to be felt for decades to come. If we are truly concerned about the health of our oceans, it's time for us to clean up our economy. Only comprehensive solutions which consider all impacts should warrant public and private sector investment. Building more oil refineries to save our marine environment isn't anywhere near being a good solution.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Green Party Voting, Part 4: Greens Question Commitment to Wind Energy
Proposed policy motion G10-p25, Wind Turbine Health Studies, was greenlighted by the Membership through the online voting process, receiving support from a majority 66.3%of members. On the surface, this motion appears to actually do little more than call for a study to be undertaken by Health Canada. What the net result of its approval might do, however, is call into question our Party's commitment to alternative energy sources.
For the purpose of discussion, I'm going to reproduce the motion in its entirety here, including the inoperative Whereases, which shed some light on what the authors of the motion were trying to get at. Take a close look at the motion, and you'll see that there isn't actually any reference to something called “Wind Turbine Syndrome”, but really, the motion alludes to WTS in a significant way. Here's the motion:
Motion Preamble:
WHEREAS the Green Party of Canada recognizes the vast potential for wind energy in Canada;
WHEREAS the Green Party of Canada with the Canadian Wind Energy Association has set goals for Canadian wind energy generation;
WHEREAS many citizens in communities with wind turbines claim to be experiencing sleep deprivation, headaches, and heart complications related to wind turbines;
WHEREAS one of the largest obstacles preventing accelerated wind energy development is resistance from citizens near planned turbine sites;
WHEREAS the largest investment Canadians make, their home, is affected as much by real health risks as perceived ones;
WHEREAS many provincial governments have compromised their objectivity with respect to wind energy development;
WHEREAS the Green Party of Canada considers healthy people and healthy communities as necessary for a strong Canada;
Motion Operative:
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Green Party of Canada seeks to have Health Canada initiate an epidemiological study on the human health effects of wind turbines in the interests of public health and safety.
What might the effects of the operable clause be? How will the operable clause actually play itself out when Green MP's are elected to parliament? Will Green MP's remain defacto advocates for wind energy, as per Vision Green 2010, or will we need to qualify our support for wind energy by stating that until an epidemiological study is carried out by Health Canada, sorry, the jury is out on new projects.
An additional concern: no matter what we say on the campaign stump, there is now an increased likelihood for other parties to point to this new policy of ours and question whether we are really committed to wind energy as a viable alternative energy source. They'll question why our Party has bought into the coffee-table book notion of WTS being espoused by every NIMBY organization in Canada which opposes wind turbines wherever they may be. They'll ask us what about all of the other health studies which have been conducted throughout the world which arrive at the same conclusion: there are no noticeable health impacts from turbine blades.
Now, I know that I'm simplifying this issue quite a bit, and I don't profess to be an “expert” on wind energy. What I do know is that the NIMBY crowd has been making a lot of hay out of WTS, and generating a lot of kerfuffle in the media. I also know that the we in the Green Party have always prided ourselves on basing our policies on the best available science of the day. And with regards to the science behind WTS, there just isn't any credible, peer-reviewed science out there; there is only junk science.
Again, while the policy we've just adopted doesn't come right out and put our Party in opposition to wind power, it certainly questions our commitment, as the “Party Opinion / Considerations” which preface this motion attempted to red-flag for the voters.
This new policy of ours is going to be an albatross around our necks. I sincerely hope that Cabinet keeps this out of our platform until it can be revisited in the future. I'm saddened and embarrassed that our Members didn't take into consideration the political consequences of this anti-wind generation motion before voting to green-light it.
For the purpose of discussion, I'm going to reproduce the motion in its entirety here, including the inoperative Whereases, which shed some light on what the authors of the motion were trying to get at. Take a close look at the motion, and you'll see that there isn't actually any reference to something called “Wind Turbine Syndrome”, but really, the motion alludes to WTS in a significant way. Here's the motion:
Motion Preamble:
WHEREAS the Green Party of Canada recognizes the vast potential for wind energy in Canada;
WHEREAS the Green Party of Canada with the Canadian Wind Energy Association has set goals for Canadian wind energy generation;
WHEREAS many citizens in communities with wind turbines claim to be experiencing sleep deprivation, headaches, and heart complications related to wind turbines;
WHEREAS one of the largest obstacles preventing accelerated wind energy development is resistance from citizens near planned turbine sites;
WHEREAS the largest investment Canadians make, their home, is affected as much by real health risks as perceived ones;
WHEREAS many provincial governments have compromised their objectivity with respect to wind energy development;
WHEREAS the Green Party of Canada considers healthy people and healthy communities as necessary for a strong Canada;
Motion Operative:
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Green Party of Canada seeks to have Health Canada initiate an epidemiological study on the human health effects of wind turbines in the interests of public health and safety.
What might the effects of the operable clause be? How will the operable clause actually play itself out when Green MP's are elected to parliament? Will Green MP's remain defacto advocates for wind energy, as per Vision Green 2010, or will we need to qualify our support for wind energy by stating that until an epidemiological study is carried out by Health Canada, sorry, the jury is out on new projects.
An additional concern: no matter what we say on the campaign stump, there is now an increased likelihood for other parties to point to this new policy of ours and question whether we are really committed to wind energy as a viable alternative energy source. They'll question why our Party has bought into the coffee-table book notion of WTS being espoused by every NIMBY organization in Canada which opposes wind turbines wherever they may be. They'll ask us what about all of the other health studies which have been conducted throughout the world which arrive at the same conclusion: there are no noticeable health impacts from turbine blades.
Now, I know that I'm simplifying this issue quite a bit, and I don't profess to be an “expert” on wind energy. What I do know is that the NIMBY crowd has been making a lot of hay out of WTS, and generating a lot of kerfuffle in the media. I also know that the we in the Green Party have always prided ourselves on basing our policies on the best available science of the day. And with regards to the science behind WTS, there just isn't any credible, peer-reviewed science out there; there is only junk science.
Again, while the policy we've just adopted doesn't come right out and put our Party in opposition to wind power, it certainly questions our commitment, as the “Party Opinion / Considerations” which preface this motion attempted to red-flag for the voters.
This new policy of ours is going to be an albatross around our necks. I sincerely hope that Cabinet keeps this out of our platform until it can be revisited in the future. I'm saddened and embarrassed that our Members didn't take into consideration the political consequences of this anti-wind generation motion before voting to green-light it.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Green Party Voting Results, Part 3: Greenlighting the Inoperable "Benmurgi Motions" Adds Confusion, Changes Nothing
Green Party Voting Results, Part 3: Greenlighting the Inoperable “Benmurgi Motions” Only Adds Confusion, But Actually Changes Nothing
Back on July 10th, I blogged extensively about what I dubbed the “Benmurgi Motions” (“Local EDA Autonomy Under Fire at Green Party BGM: Reviewing the “Benmurgi Motions” Pertaining to Proposed New EDA Responsbilities”). In a nutshell, I took great exception to motions G10-c14 through G10-c23, the “Benmurgi Motions” (named by me only because Ralph Benmurgi's name appears first in the list of sponsors – and that the only reason). The concerns I outlined in my earlier blog were numerous. I believe that these motions were largely ill-conceived, and will fundamentally change the relationship between the Central Party and local EDA's by establishing an unbalanced power relationship.
Well, looks like not many of the Membership shared my concerns regarding this series of motions. All were greenlighted by the Membership, with the lowest level of support being 76.6%, which is quite high. Clearly, the will of the Membership is that EDA's be subjected to the will of Central Office. I do not agree with these motions, but the Membership has spoken.
So, what happens now? You'll note that, with the prefacing “c” letter in the motion title, these motions are intended to be amend the Constitution or By-laws. These aren't directive motions (no “d”) or policy motions (which would have a “p”). As Constitutional / By-law motions, one would presume that the motions themselves seek to either amend one of these documents by changing something which is already there, removing something which is currently there, or adding something new.
Unfortunately, not one of these 10 motions actually seek to do that. Nowhere in the text of these motions is it even indicated which of the documents the proposed wording is intended to go into. Is it supposed to be added to the Constitution or one of the By-laws? If a by-law, which one? Is it supposed to be an addition, or is it intended to replace existing wording?
To compare, let's look at the wording for another motion which has received a lot of comment in the blogosphere, that being G10-c29, Federal Council's motion to do away with the 4 year fixed term for our Leader, and replacing it with a “leadership review” process. Here's what that motions says:
BE IT RESOLVED that Bylaw 2.1.4.5 be amended to " Within six months of a Federal General Election, unless the leader becomes prime minister, a Leadership Review, where all Members in good standing may vote, shall be held. The date of the Leadership Review vote will be set by Federal Council and may coincide with a General Meeting. The Leader's term shall end if Members in good standing do not pass a resolution endorsing the Leader by at least 60%.
You'll note that there is reference to where the intended amendment is supposed to be located. In this case, G10-c29 seeks to amend By-law 2.1.4.5 by replacing it in its entirety with the new wording. Seems pretty clear. And from this perspective, G10-c29 is an appropriately worded motion.
Not so for the Benmurgi motions. Without any references to where new wording is intended to go, it's not at all clear now what can be done with these motions.
If you think that this argument is semantic, and full of sour grapes, well, it isn't (well, maybe there are some sour grapes – but they wouldn't be new; I raised this issue earlier in my blog, and on the forums for each of these motions; there hasn't been any response to what I've written publicly about how these motions, in absent of a location in the Constitution or by-laws, are intended to operate). From a semantic point of view, though, there are real issues here.
First of all, if these motions are intended to amend the Constitution, they will need to be ratified through a further mail-in vote by the Membership should the Members present at the BGM approve them. If these are intended to be amendments to a by-law, there isn't any further process for these motions to go through after they are approved at the BGM. Who is going to decide which process (ratification or not?) these motions should be subject to?
Really, this sort of discussion shouldn't be coming up now. It should have been addressed pre-submission by the committee screening the motions. All of these motions should have been returned to the original authors (probably not Ralph, but you know, I don't know who) before being posted for voting. Without operational language, there is actually no way to implement any of these motions!
So, should we go back to the authors now? What's the mechanism for doing so? The motions have been greenlighted by the Membership; clearly, the Membership is satisfied that there wasn't any issue with them, else they would have voted yellow to workshop them, or red to start over (as I did). Maybe there's a chance for the Membership to address this on the floor of the BGM, but really, should the attendees at the BGM be tasked with figuring out the best locations in our Constitution or By-laws for the addition of Membership-greenlighted text?
If the Benmurgi Motions intended to amend our Constitution, might that have impacted the way in which votes were cast? Some of our Members, after all, really believe that the Constitution is sacrosanct. What about if By-laws were intended to be amended? I don't know the answer to these questions. Some would say “likely not”, but what's the proof? Maybe the Membership voted to codify these processes, but given the lack of specific wording about the Constitution and By-laws, they didn't think that maybe either document was actually going to be altered. We can't ever state definitively what it is which motivates a voter to cast their ballot in a particular way.
So, now we're left with interpreting what these motions really intend to do. My interpretation is that they don't really seek to do anything with our Constitution or By-laws, because if they did, they would have explicitly stated so. Yes, they may want to codify procedures, but without including these procedures in one of our governance documents, there isn't any mechanism to actually compel anyone to follow these procedures. We've created a paper tiger at best, an embarrassment at worst. And one which is going to potentially lead to conflict down the road should anyone get the idea that somehow these motions, approved by the Membership, are to be located in our Constitution or By-laws.
And don't even get me started on the fact that there isn't any unit in our Party called a “riding association”!
No, I had suggested before that the Party would be prudent to initiate a dialogue with EDA's regarding some of the very real issues which our Central Party has with a number of EDA's. A dialogue could lead to buy-in by all stakeholders, and ultimately an appropriate set of motions could be presented at the next BGM. Rather a consultative process than pushing a poorly-worded set of motions through without any consultation with EDA's (and which don't actually do anything, because they don't actually amend the Constitution or By-laws).
We may yet have the opportunity for dialogue over the next couple of years, given that these motions don't actually change anything. They are an expression of the Membership's will right now, and nothing more. Without operative mechanisms, they can't compel an EDA to adopt a template Constitution, or provide a mechanism whereby the Central Party can withhold revenue from an EDA under the Revenue Sharing Agreement.
And nevermind the very real issues some EDA's will be facing when told that they must rescind their existing local Constitutions and replace them with a template provided by the Party!
No, the only real accomplishment here is that EDA's and Central Party will have yet more things to be confused about with one another, due to the lack of operative language in the Benmurgi Motions. And further confusion is really something which we should be avoiding at all costs, given that it tends to lead to frustration being experienced by people holding volunteer positions in our Party. More frustration is the last thing any of us need.
Back on July 10th, I blogged extensively about what I dubbed the “Benmurgi Motions” (“Local EDA Autonomy Under Fire at Green Party BGM: Reviewing the “Benmurgi Motions” Pertaining to Proposed New EDA Responsbilities”). In a nutshell, I took great exception to motions G10-c14 through G10-c23, the “Benmurgi Motions” (named by me only because Ralph Benmurgi's name appears first in the list of sponsors – and that the only reason). The concerns I outlined in my earlier blog were numerous. I believe that these motions were largely ill-conceived, and will fundamentally change the relationship between the Central Party and local EDA's by establishing an unbalanced power relationship.
Well, looks like not many of the Membership shared my concerns regarding this series of motions. All were greenlighted by the Membership, with the lowest level of support being 76.6%, which is quite high. Clearly, the will of the Membership is that EDA's be subjected to the will of Central Office. I do not agree with these motions, but the Membership has spoken.
So, what happens now? You'll note that, with the prefacing “c” letter in the motion title, these motions are intended to be amend the Constitution or By-laws. These aren't directive motions (no “d”) or policy motions (which would have a “p”). As Constitutional / By-law motions, one would presume that the motions themselves seek to either amend one of these documents by changing something which is already there, removing something which is currently there, or adding something new.
Unfortunately, not one of these 10 motions actually seek to do that. Nowhere in the text of these motions is it even indicated which of the documents the proposed wording is intended to go into. Is it supposed to be added to the Constitution or one of the By-laws? If a by-law, which one? Is it supposed to be an addition, or is it intended to replace existing wording?
To compare, let's look at the wording for another motion which has received a lot of comment in the blogosphere, that being G10-c29, Federal Council's motion to do away with the 4 year fixed term for our Leader, and replacing it with a “leadership review” process. Here's what that motions says:
BE IT RESOLVED that Bylaw 2.1.4.5 be amended to " Within six months of a Federal General Election, unless the leader becomes prime minister, a Leadership Review, where all Members in good standing may vote, shall be held. The date of the Leadership Review vote will be set by Federal Council and may coincide with a General Meeting. The Leader's term shall end if Members in good standing do not pass a resolution endorsing the Leader by at least 60%.
You'll note that there is reference to where the intended amendment is supposed to be located. In this case, G10-c29 seeks to amend By-law 2.1.4.5 by replacing it in its entirety with the new wording. Seems pretty clear. And from this perspective, G10-c29 is an appropriately worded motion.
Not so for the Benmurgi motions. Without any references to where new wording is intended to go, it's not at all clear now what can be done with these motions.
If you think that this argument is semantic, and full of sour grapes, well, it isn't (well, maybe there are some sour grapes – but they wouldn't be new; I raised this issue earlier in my blog, and on the forums for each of these motions; there hasn't been any response to what I've written publicly about how these motions, in absent of a location in the Constitution or by-laws, are intended to operate). From a semantic point of view, though, there are real issues here.
First of all, if these motions are intended to amend the Constitution, they will need to be ratified through a further mail-in vote by the Membership should the Members present at the BGM approve them. If these are intended to be amendments to a by-law, there isn't any further process for these motions to go through after they are approved at the BGM. Who is going to decide which process (ratification or not?) these motions should be subject to?
Really, this sort of discussion shouldn't be coming up now. It should have been addressed pre-submission by the committee screening the motions. All of these motions should have been returned to the original authors (probably not Ralph, but you know, I don't know who) before being posted for voting. Without operational language, there is actually no way to implement any of these motions!
So, should we go back to the authors now? What's the mechanism for doing so? The motions have been greenlighted by the Membership; clearly, the Membership is satisfied that there wasn't any issue with them, else they would have voted yellow to workshop them, or red to start over (as I did). Maybe there's a chance for the Membership to address this on the floor of the BGM, but really, should the attendees at the BGM be tasked with figuring out the best locations in our Constitution or By-laws for the addition of Membership-greenlighted text?
If the Benmurgi Motions intended to amend our Constitution, might that have impacted the way in which votes were cast? Some of our Members, after all, really believe that the Constitution is sacrosanct. What about if By-laws were intended to be amended? I don't know the answer to these questions. Some would say “likely not”, but what's the proof? Maybe the Membership voted to codify these processes, but given the lack of specific wording about the Constitution and By-laws, they didn't think that maybe either document was actually going to be altered. We can't ever state definitively what it is which motivates a voter to cast their ballot in a particular way.
So, now we're left with interpreting what these motions really intend to do. My interpretation is that they don't really seek to do anything with our Constitution or By-laws, because if they did, they would have explicitly stated so. Yes, they may want to codify procedures, but without including these procedures in one of our governance documents, there isn't any mechanism to actually compel anyone to follow these procedures. We've created a paper tiger at best, an embarrassment at worst. And one which is going to potentially lead to conflict down the road should anyone get the idea that somehow these motions, approved by the Membership, are to be located in our Constitution or By-laws.
And don't even get me started on the fact that there isn't any unit in our Party called a “riding association”!
No, I had suggested before that the Party would be prudent to initiate a dialogue with EDA's regarding some of the very real issues which our Central Party has with a number of EDA's. A dialogue could lead to buy-in by all stakeholders, and ultimately an appropriate set of motions could be presented at the next BGM. Rather a consultative process than pushing a poorly-worded set of motions through without any consultation with EDA's (and which don't actually do anything, because they don't actually amend the Constitution or By-laws).
We may yet have the opportunity for dialogue over the next couple of years, given that these motions don't actually change anything. They are an expression of the Membership's will right now, and nothing more. Without operative mechanisms, they can't compel an EDA to adopt a template Constitution, or provide a mechanism whereby the Central Party can withhold revenue from an EDA under the Revenue Sharing Agreement.
And nevermind the very real issues some EDA's will be facing when told that they must rescind their existing local Constitutions and replace them with a template provided by the Party!
No, the only real accomplishment here is that EDA's and Central Party will have yet more things to be confused about with one another, due to the lack of operative language in the Benmurgi Motions. And further confusion is really something which we should be avoiding at all costs, given that it tends to lead to frustration being experienced by people holding volunteer positions in our Party. More frustration is the last thing any of us need.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Green Party Voting Results, Part 2: Leadership Contest Issue Over? Not Quite Yet.
With the results for the Party's online voting now released, many are trumpeting the overwhelming support for our Federal Council's motion to replace the 4 year fixed term with a leadership review process as meaning that we, as a Party, won't be having a leadership contest this year. Certainly this motion received significant support from the 18.3% of Members who cast ballots to green-light this motion (and despite it's one overwhelmingly critical flaw, which I blogged about here). But does removing the fixed term from our Party's by-laws now mean that there really won't be a leadership contest this year?
The answer is: not quite yet. And that's because motion G10-d11, Commitment to Leadership Race, received a Yellow light in the online voting process, and its fate will now be resolved by the Membership attending the BGM. In short, this directive motion seeks to compel our Federal Council to initiate a leadership contest, starting no later than October 31st, and finishing no later than April, 2011.
Here's how I see it: Motion G10-c29, Party Leader Term (Federal Council's motion), and G10-d11, aren't incompatible with one another. And it's not just me who thinks so. The authors of the Party Opinion / Considerations prefaces, who were very good at pointing out incompatibilities between various motions, were silent with regards to whether one of these motions would cancel the other out. The reason: G10-d11 is a directive motion. As a directive motion, it seeks to compel Federal Council to taking a specific action. If passed at the BGM, our Council will be obligated to hold a leadership contest.
Let's look at this a little further. One thing which directive motions can't do is compel Federal Council to take an action in contravention of the Party's Constitution, by-laws or principles. Does this motion, G10-d11, seek to do that? On the surface, given that the Membership just voted to remove the mechanism which requires that a leadership contest be held in 2010, it may seem that there's a contradiction. But, let's keep in mind what Federal Council's motion, G10-c29 actually does from a mechanics point of view. Yes, it removed the fixed term for a Leader, and changed the way in which a Leader is elected. Had the current wording remained in the by-law, we would be having a leadership contest conclude before the end of the 2010 calendar year.
With that current wording removed, there isn't any mechanism which could compel Council to call a leadership contest. Unless Council takes the step of ousting a sitting leader, that is, which Council has the authority to do at any time, according to our Constitution and by-laws. In the current circumstance, though, it seems unlikely that Council would do so. So...without a requirement for a contest (because the requirement has been removed by the Members), there can't be a contest, right?
Wrong. If the Members, through an expression of their will, demand that Council hold a leadership contest, than Council should hold such a contest. And that's just what motion G10-d11 seeks to be: a motion to be approved by the Membership which directs a certain activity. And there isn't anything in our Constitution and By-laws which conflict with the notion that, if the Membership wants a leadership contest, the Membership should have a leadership contest. A sitting leader isn't offered any guarantee of continuing in that position. There are already mechanisms in the Constitution and By-laws which spell out how a Leader may cease to be a leader.
So, G10-d11 remains in play, and the matter of a leadership contest being called can't be disposed of quite yet.
However, let's look at a few points. Can we expect G10-d11 to go anywhere at the BGM, given that an overwhelming majority of voters just endorsed our current Leader, Elizabeth May. She received an 85% approval rating from voting Members. Given this high level of approval, what would be the practical point of having a leadership contest now? There would be none, as far as I can see.
Further, some are interpreting the victory of Federal Council's motion G10-c29 as meaning that the Membership doesn't want a leadership contest. And while this motion doesn't specifically reference holding (or not) a leadership contest, by virtue of it changing the operative language in our by-laws which would have otherwise compelled Federal Council to hold a contest, there is some merit to suggest that those voting in favour of G10-c29 may have made their decision to vote green in part on the notion that chances for a contest would be reduced. Indeed, G10-c29 has been sold by all sides as being, in part, a deciding factor in whether a leadership contest is held or not.
G10-d11 received a red vote by over 51% of voting Members. Had this been a simple majority situation, G10-d11 would now be dead. If the same level of support is obtained at the BGM, this motion will be dead outright. Can this motion expect to receive a higher level of support, particularly now that it's known that 85% of voting Members endorse our current Leader?
Well, maybe...I guess it depends on who goes to the BGM. If the supporters of G10-d11 are able to motivate their colleagues to attend the BGM, it's conceivable that G10-c11 could yet receive a simple majority of votes at the BGM. But I think that's very unlikely.
Finally, even if passed, what's the outcome? Federal Council will have to deal with a directive motion which compels them to initiate a certain action. What happens if Council decides to do nothing, take no action on the motion? What are the consequences? Yes, maybe motivated Greens will be able to "boot the bums out" at the next Fed Council election, but given that we don't have a recall procedure, we'll have to wait 2 years to clean house (and maybe more if there's no Federal election, because the Leader is also a member of Council). Sure, there's an appeal process through the Ombuds, but the Ombuds doesn't have the authority to make Council do anything it doesn't want to do. If Council wants to ignore a motion which directs them to take a certain action, well, I guess they can. Whether they should or not will remain a question for debate. I have my own opinion on whether Council should follow the direction of the Membership, but that's just me, and I'm not on Council. Ultimately, it's up to Council to decide what actions it undertakes or not.
Keep in mind that over 50% of voting Members have already said “Red” to G10-d11. Council might opt to not want to listen to a smaller number of Members voting in favour of G10-d11 on the floor of the BGM.
Only time is going to tell, though. It should be interesting to see what happens on the floor of the BGM; however, given the overwhelming number of voters who have expressed, in some way, their support for the current Leader, I can't imagine that G10-d11 is going to go anywhere at all. What I'm more concerned about is what might happen to those Members of our Party who will view these outcomes negatively, and tainted by a biased voting process. The jury is going to be out on that for a while; likely until after the BGM. I suspect, though, the bias inherent in the voting process will be a big topic of discussion at the BGM.
The answer is: not quite yet. And that's because motion G10-d11, Commitment to Leadership Race, received a Yellow light in the online voting process, and its fate will now be resolved by the Membership attending the BGM. In short, this directive motion seeks to compel our Federal Council to initiate a leadership contest, starting no later than October 31st, and finishing no later than April, 2011.
Here's how I see it: Motion G10-c29, Party Leader Term (Federal Council's motion), and G10-d11, aren't incompatible with one another. And it's not just me who thinks so. The authors of the Party Opinion / Considerations prefaces, who were very good at pointing out incompatibilities between various motions, were silent with regards to whether one of these motions would cancel the other out. The reason: G10-d11 is a directive motion. As a directive motion, it seeks to compel Federal Council to taking a specific action. If passed at the BGM, our Council will be obligated to hold a leadership contest.
Let's look at this a little further. One thing which directive motions can't do is compel Federal Council to take an action in contravention of the Party's Constitution, by-laws or principles. Does this motion, G10-d11, seek to do that? On the surface, given that the Membership just voted to remove the mechanism which requires that a leadership contest be held in 2010, it may seem that there's a contradiction. But, let's keep in mind what Federal Council's motion, G10-c29 actually does from a mechanics point of view. Yes, it removed the fixed term for a Leader, and changed the way in which a Leader is elected. Had the current wording remained in the by-law, we would be having a leadership contest conclude before the end of the 2010 calendar year.
With that current wording removed, there isn't any mechanism which could compel Council to call a leadership contest. Unless Council takes the step of ousting a sitting leader, that is, which Council has the authority to do at any time, according to our Constitution and by-laws. In the current circumstance, though, it seems unlikely that Council would do so. So...without a requirement for a contest (because the requirement has been removed by the Members), there can't be a contest, right?
Wrong. If the Members, through an expression of their will, demand that Council hold a leadership contest, than Council should hold such a contest. And that's just what motion G10-d11 seeks to be: a motion to be approved by the Membership which directs a certain activity. And there isn't anything in our Constitution and By-laws which conflict with the notion that, if the Membership wants a leadership contest, the Membership should have a leadership contest. A sitting leader isn't offered any guarantee of continuing in that position. There are already mechanisms in the Constitution and By-laws which spell out how a Leader may cease to be a leader.
So, G10-d11 remains in play, and the matter of a leadership contest being called can't be disposed of quite yet.
However, let's look at a few points. Can we expect G10-d11 to go anywhere at the BGM, given that an overwhelming majority of voters just endorsed our current Leader, Elizabeth May. She received an 85% approval rating from voting Members. Given this high level of approval, what would be the practical point of having a leadership contest now? There would be none, as far as I can see.
Further, some are interpreting the victory of Federal Council's motion G10-c29 as meaning that the Membership doesn't want a leadership contest. And while this motion doesn't specifically reference holding (or not) a leadership contest, by virtue of it changing the operative language in our by-laws which would have otherwise compelled Federal Council to hold a contest, there is some merit to suggest that those voting in favour of G10-c29 may have made their decision to vote green in part on the notion that chances for a contest would be reduced. Indeed, G10-c29 has been sold by all sides as being, in part, a deciding factor in whether a leadership contest is held or not.
G10-d11 received a red vote by over 51% of voting Members. Had this been a simple majority situation, G10-d11 would now be dead. If the same level of support is obtained at the BGM, this motion will be dead outright. Can this motion expect to receive a higher level of support, particularly now that it's known that 85% of voting Members endorse our current Leader?
Well, maybe...I guess it depends on who goes to the BGM. If the supporters of G10-d11 are able to motivate their colleagues to attend the BGM, it's conceivable that G10-c11 could yet receive a simple majority of votes at the BGM. But I think that's very unlikely.
Finally, even if passed, what's the outcome? Federal Council will have to deal with a directive motion which compels them to initiate a certain action. What happens if Council decides to do nothing, take no action on the motion? What are the consequences? Yes, maybe motivated Greens will be able to "boot the bums out" at the next Fed Council election, but given that we don't have a recall procedure, we'll have to wait 2 years to clean house (and maybe more if there's no Federal election, because the Leader is also a member of Council). Sure, there's an appeal process through the Ombuds, but the Ombuds doesn't have the authority to make Council do anything it doesn't want to do. If Council wants to ignore a motion which directs them to take a certain action, well, I guess they can. Whether they should or not will remain a question for debate. I have my own opinion on whether Council should follow the direction of the Membership, but that's just me, and I'm not on Council. Ultimately, it's up to Council to decide what actions it undertakes or not.
Keep in mind that over 50% of voting Members have already said “Red” to G10-d11. Council might opt to not want to listen to a smaller number of Members voting in favour of G10-d11 on the floor of the BGM.
Only time is going to tell, though. It should be interesting to see what happens on the floor of the BGM; however, given the overwhelming number of voters who have expressed, in some way, their support for the current Leader, I can't imagine that G10-d11 is going to go anywhere at all. What I'm more concerned about is what might happen to those Members of our Party who will view these outcomes negatively, and tainted by a biased voting process. The jury is going to be out on that for a while; likely until after the BGM. I suspect, though, the bias inherent in the voting process will be a big topic of discussion at the BGM.
Green Party Voting Results, Part 1: Expect More Leadership Contests as Leadership Review Threshold Passed By Members is Too High
Well, the results for the Green Party's online voting in advance of the BGM in Toronto have now been posted. Using the “Bonser Ballot” method, it looks like most of the proposed 74 motions were “green-lighted” by the membership. That means those motions won't be debated on the floor of the General Meeting. A handful of other motions, including some controversial ones, were “yellow-lighted”, and they will be debated. No motions received an outright red-light, which would have disposed of a motion altogether.
As you probably have read on other blogs by this time, the controversial proposal by Federal Council to change the way in which the Party elects its leader (by replacing 4 year fixed term with a “leadership review” after a federal election), was green-lighted by the Membership, receiving approximately 75% of votes cast. While no one is yet conceding that this is the end of the discussion regarding leadership (for now), the fact is that those trying to make a case for an immediate leadership contest will now find it even more difficult to force Council's hand to call a contest.
The final step in the process of amending our Party's by-laws to remove the 4 year fixed-term for a Leader of the Party will now take place at the BGM in Toronto. It will be up to the membership present to vote to accept that motion, and other green-lighted motions. Some members may believe that action alone will bring an end to the leadership conundrums affecting the Party. They would be grossly mistaken. While Council's motion might bring matters to a close for now (depending on whether a yellow-lighted directive motion succeeds on the floor of the BGM or not --- more on that later), the fact is we Greens have voted to set our Party and its Leader up for some incredible heartache down the road.
The motion which has been greenlighted by the Membership creates a new process for our Party: that of the “leadership review”. This is a popular process in other parties; after an election, there will be a mandatory vote on whether or not the Members wish to hold a leadership contest. If the current leader of the Party receives 60% of the votes of the members in good standing, there need not be a leadership contest. Of course, even with the 60% threshold, the Leader can still decide to step down if he or she doesn't feel that their mandate has been renewed by the Membership; such an action would trigger a leadership contest.
Sounds ok so far, eh? That's what the other parties do, right? Well, yes and no. What we Greens have done is set the bar for our Leader so very high that to me it seems impossible that there won't be a leadership contest taking place after every election.
What? 60% isn't very high, you might be saying. Indeed, a motion which was just voted on by the Party endorsing our current leader (G10-d ), Elizabeth May's leadership, received about 85% of the vote. How, then, is it unreasonable to believe that a leader in the future won't receive 60%?
Apples and oranges, dear friends. The above motion, G10-d02 , received 85% of the votes cast by Members in good standing. The test for a leadership review, however, according to the motion drafted for and accepted by our Federal Council, establishes the threshold at 60% of the Members in good standing; it says nothing about votes being cast.
Think I'm out of line on this? Well, here's what the motion G10-c29, Party Leader Term, actually says (the bold, below, is my addition, to highlight the key wording):
BE IT RESOLVED that Bylaw 2.1.4.5 be amended to " Within six months of a Federal General Election, unless the leader becomes prime minister, a Leadership Review, where all Members in good standing may vote, shall be held. The date of the Leadership Review vote will be set by Federal Council and may coincide with a General Meeting. The Leader's term shall end if Members in good standing do not pass a resolution endorsing the Leader by at least 60%.
You'll note that this motion does not refer to ballots or votes. It simply says the term shall end if Members in good standing do not pass a resolution by at least 60%. The motion could have went on to clarify that the intention was “of votes cast”, but it did not. Which leads me to conclude one of two things: either our Federal Council, in a nod to grassroots democracy, set this standard so high in order to encourage Party Members to cast their ballots in a very critical review process, or they goofed up. Given the number of people in trusted positions of governance who were involved in putting together this motion, and voting on its acceptance, I can't believe that the wording here is a goof-up.
A more likely scenario (for some readers): I'm totally misreading this motion, and the intent of the motion should be construed as establishing a threshold of 60% of votes cast. I concede that's a possibility, but I'll suggest it's not likely, for the following reasons.
First, this interpretation did not start with me. It was brought to my attention some time earlier through comments posted online by a prominent Member of this Party who wrote extensively about it. Given that these comments were posted behind a firewall (and I keep getting a tongue-lashing from some for repeating what's been posted behind firewalls, so I won't do so again here), I won't name the member again, or use their words to describe the situation. Suffice it to say, though, that this interpretation is not mine alone.
Second, let's look at similar wording written into our governing documents where votes need to reach certain thresholds. Perhaps we can find some additional guidance on this topic.
Our Constitution offers some direction here, for three different types of voting: 1) amendments to the Constitution itself; 2) amendments to by-laws; 3) policy creation. Let's quickly look at each.
Section 10.1.3 of the Party's Constitution provides for a process whereby Members can amend the Constitution. This section states the following (again, the bold is mine):
Amendments shall be adopted by a majority of the votes cast by Members in good standing at a General Meeting, and shall only become effective upon Members in good standing passing an identically worded amendment by a vote of greater than 1/2 (50%) of the votes cast in a Members' vote conducted by mail-in ballot, with a ballot return date of no later than one-hundred-twenty (120) days following the General Meeting at which the amendment was passed.
So here we find the language which specifies that votes must be cast by Members in good standing, with the clarifying proviso that the votes are cast at a General Meeting. Clearly, though, to amend our Constitution, a simple majority of votes cast by Members in good standing at a general meeting is all that is necessary (except for the “ratification” process, which happens afterwards, which by the way also establishes a 50% threshold of votes cast by Members in good standing).
The process for amending by-laws is found in 10.2.3, and is similar. It reads:
Amendments shall be adopted by a majority of the votes cast by Members in good standing at a General Meeting.
Again, this section of our Constitution provides a threshold which counts only votes cast.
The policy section, 10.3.1, is quite similar to the Constitutional amendment section. Let's see what its wording says:
Policy motions passed at a General Meeting shall only become effective upon Members in good standing passing an identically worded resolution by a vote of greater than 1/2 (50%) of the votes cast in a Members' vote conducted by mail-in ballot, with a ballot return date of no later than one-hundred-twenty (120) days following the General Meeting at which the Policy resolution was passed.
Indeed, the process spelled out for amending the Constitution, by-laws and creating policy are very clear and leave no room for creative interpretation: the intent is here to establish a threshold based only on votes cast. And the wording is clearly quite different than that used in our Federal Council's motion, which refers only to a resolution being passed by 60% of the Membership in good standing.
So, what are the implications here? In what was billed as the most controversial set of motions ever presented to the Membership, the voting results indicate that only 18.3% of our Members actually cast ballots. I understand that this number actually represents the highest tally of voters casting ballots through an online process in our Party.
And it stands to reason that we should trumpet this voter turn out as a mild success, given the marathon number of motions which our Membership were asked to cast ballots on. Still, the overall percentage is quite low. Can we draw any conclusions here with regards to a leadership review process?
Well, yes I think we can. Although a leadership review process is likely going to be a heck of a lot more straightforward with regards to the sorts of text that we provide to our Membership to vote on, can we really expect that a high-interest, easy to understand “Yes I support the Leader or No I don't” sort of question is going to engage a significant number of the membership that it's likely more than 60% of the membership will actually cast a ballot? I suppose it's possible...but not likely. And if 40% of the Membership doesn't vote, even if every other Member votes for the sitting Leader, guess what? We'll be having a leadership contest.
Likely, this is the position that we're going to find ourselves in after every federal election: our leader fails a review, and we'll be having a leadership contest!
My question is, why on earth are we setting ourselves as a Party up for this kind of nonsense? Think about how the media is going to portray this situation: Greens Dump Another Leader after Failing Review Process! Yes, no matter the popularity of a Leader, unless more than 60% of the thousands of members in our Party cast their ballots in favour of the Leader, the Leader will fail the review. What an absolute gift to the other parties, and what a disservice to our membership, and frankly, to whoever may be the Leader of the Party.
The answer, of course, will be to figure out a way to engage the membership so that just about every card carrying Member of our Party actually casts a ballot in a review process. I frankly have no idea how we're going to do this. Maybe we could start with personal phone calls from Green Party staff to each and every Member, reminding them to vote. Of course, we would need to be very careful that staff don't try to influence individual members to vote a certain way. Or maybe we could use a much easier voting process sent in a single email: simply click a link for Yes or a different link for No. Of course, we'd have to make sure that such a process would be secure, and that people couldn't vote more than once.
Or maybe our Federal Council simply interprets “The Leader's term shall end if Members in good standing do not pass a resolution endorsing the Leader by at least 60%” as meaning something different than what is actually stated, and instead count only the votes cast. Hmmm...I'm sure that would go over well, based on past experiences with the interpretation of what the term “4 years” means. I'm fairly certain that if Federal Council tried to interpret the by-law in a different way to which it was written that we would find ourselves mired in controversy again.
I wonder if the Party's Membership realized the implications of green-lighting this motion? I suspect that maybe they didn't. Certainly, the Party Opinion / Considerations made no reference to this issue, nor did it appear in the extensive background notes appended to the online motion. It was raised in the forums, but I suspect many voters didn't click the link to access the forums. The “Supporters of Elizabeth May” who provided a handy-dandy voting card to many Members through email urged Members to vote “green” to this motion, thereby ensuring that changes could not be made on the floor of the BGM to what Fed Council had proposed.
I blogged about this matter earlier, and urged Members to vote “Yellow” to this motion, for the soul reason so that the language in the motion could be corrected to reflect other processes which the Party uses, by counting only those votes actually cast.
But it looks like we, as a Party, are going to be stuck with this incredibly high threshold of support for our Leader in any future leadership review process. Even an incredibly popular Leader is going to have an incredibly difficult time of meeting this threshold of 60% of the Party's entire Membership. And given that we're likely going to find ourselves continuing with minority governments in this nation, and therefore will likely have federal elections at less than 4 year intervals, the outcome will be that our Party will actually be engaging in more leadership contests than had we kept the wording in our existing by-law. And the huge problem is that many of these contests might be completely unnecessary, if the sitting leader retains general popularity.
Or...do you think maybe my interpretation here is out to lunch? I hope that, after looking at the evidence to the contrary yourself, and going through the specific wording, you can see that we've actually established a different way of determining a threshold. The motion could have easily been worded to specifically reference voting Members; it was not worded in that way. Instead, it references only Members in good standing passing a resolution by at least 60%. This motion went through a review process with our Federal Council, and was approved by a majority of Councillors. For whatever their reason, this new kind of threshold must clearly be what was intended. Or it was a goof. Either way, we're now stuck with it. At least until the next BGM in two years when we'll be having at it over this section of the by-law again.
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Addendum: I understand that there may still be an opportunity to address this issue. Although greenlighted motions are typically passed by the membership in an omnibus resolution on the floor of a BGM, it's happened in the past that some motions have been pulled out for further discussion and change. Motion G10-c29, would be an ideal candidate for some fixing-up. So, perhaps there is still something which can be done on the floor of the BGM to salvage the situation I've described above.
As you probably have read on other blogs by this time, the controversial proposal by Federal Council to change the way in which the Party elects its leader (by replacing 4 year fixed term with a “leadership review” after a federal election), was green-lighted by the Membership, receiving approximately 75% of votes cast. While no one is yet conceding that this is the end of the discussion regarding leadership (for now), the fact is that those trying to make a case for an immediate leadership contest will now find it even more difficult to force Council's hand to call a contest.
The final step in the process of amending our Party's by-laws to remove the 4 year fixed-term for a Leader of the Party will now take place at the BGM in Toronto. It will be up to the membership present to vote to accept that motion, and other green-lighted motions. Some members may believe that action alone will bring an end to the leadership conundrums affecting the Party. They would be grossly mistaken. While Council's motion might bring matters to a close for now (depending on whether a yellow-lighted directive motion succeeds on the floor of the BGM or not --- more on that later), the fact is we Greens have voted to set our Party and its Leader up for some incredible heartache down the road.
The motion which has been greenlighted by the Membership creates a new process for our Party: that of the “leadership review”. This is a popular process in other parties; after an election, there will be a mandatory vote on whether or not the Members wish to hold a leadership contest. If the current leader of the Party receives 60% of the votes of the members in good standing, there need not be a leadership contest. Of course, even with the 60% threshold, the Leader can still decide to step down if he or she doesn't feel that their mandate has been renewed by the Membership; such an action would trigger a leadership contest.
Sounds ok so far, eh? That's what the other parties do, right? Well, yes and no. What we Greens have done is set the bar for our Leader so very high that to me it seems impossible that there won't be a leadership contest taking place after every election.
What? 60% isn't very high, you might be saying. Indeed, a motion which was just voted on by the Party endorsing our current leader (G10-d ), Elizabeth May's leadership, received about 85% of the vote. How, then, is it unreasonable to believe that a leader in the future won't receive 60%?
Apples and oranges, dear friends. The above motion, G10-d02 , received 85% of the votes cast by Members in good standing. The test for a leadership review, however, according to the motion drafted for and accepted by our Federal Council, establishes the threshold at 60% of the Members in good standing; it says nothing about votes being cast.
Think I'm out of line on this? Well, here's what the motion G10-c29, Party Leader Term, actually says (the bold, below, is my addition, to highlight the key wording):
BE IT RESOLVED that Bylaw 2.1.4.5 be amended to " Within six months of a Federal General Election, unless the leader becomes prime minister, a Leadership Review, where all Members in good standing may vote, shall be held. The date of the Leadership Review vote will be set by Federal Council and may coincide with a General Meeting. The Leader's term shall end if Members in good standing do not pass a resolution endorsing the Leader by at least 60%.
You'll note that this motion does not refer to ballots or votes. It simply says the term shall end if Members in good standing do not pass a resolution by at least 60%. The motion could have went on to clarify that the intention was “of votes cast”, but it did not. Which leads me to conclude one of two things: either our Federal Council, in a nod to grassroots democracy, set this standard so high in order to encourage Party Members to cast their ballots in a very critical review process, or they goofed up. Given the number of people in trusted positions of governance who were involved in putting together this motion, and voting on its acceptance, I can't believe that the wording here is a goof-up.
A more likely scenario (for some readers): I'm totally misreading this motion, and the intent of the motion should be construed as establishing a threshold of 60% of votes cast. I concede that's a possibility, but I'll suggest it's not likely, for the following reasons.
First, this interpretation did not start with me. It was brought to my attention some time earlier through comments posted online by a prominent Member of this Party who wrote extensively about it. Given that these comments were posted behind a firewall (and I keep getting a tongue-lashing from some for repeating what's been posted behind firewalls, so I won't do so again here), I won't name the member again, or use their words to describe the situation. Suffice it to say, though, that this interpretation is not mine alone.
Second, let's look at similar wording written into our governing documents where votes need to reach certain thresholds. Perhaps we can find some additional guidance on this topic.
Our Constitution offers some direction here, for three different types of voting: 1) amendments to the Constitution itself; 2) amendments to by-laws; 3) policy creation. Let's quickly look at each.
Section 10.1.3 of the Party's Constitution provides for a process whereby Members can amend the Constitution. This section states the following (again, the bold is mine):
Amendments shall be adopted by a majority of the votes cast by Members in good standing at a General Meeting, and shall only become effective upon Members in good standing passing an identically worded amendment by a vote of greater than 1/2 (50%) of the votes cast in a Members' vote conducted by mail-in ballot, with a ballot return date of no later than one-hundred-twenty (120) days following the General Meeting at which the amendment was passed.
So here we find the language which specifies that votes must be cast by Members in good standing, with the clarifying proviso that the votes are cast at a General Meeting. Clearly, though, to amend our Constitution, a simple majority of votes cast by Members in good standing at a general meeting is all that is necessary (except for the “ratification” process, which happens afterwards, which by the way also establishes a 50% threshold of votes cast by Members in good standing).
The process for amending by-laws is found in 10.2.3, and is similar. It reads:
Amendments shall be adopted by a majority of the votes cast by Members in good standing at a General Meeting.
Again, this section of our Constitution provides a threshold which counts only votes cast.
The policy section, 10.3.1, is quite similar to the Constitutional amendment section. Let's see what its wording says:
Policy motions passed at a General Meeting shall only become effective upon Members in good standing passing an identically worded resolution by a vote of greater than 1/2 (50%) of the votes cast in a Members' vote conducted by mail-in ballot, with a ballot return date of no later than one-hundred-twenty (120) days following the General Meeting at which the Policy resolution was passed.
Indeed, the process spelled out for amending the Constitution, by-laws and creating policy are very clear and leave no room for creative interpretation: the intent is here to establish a threshold based only on votes cast. And the wording is clearly quite different than that used in our Federal Council's motion, which refers only to a resolution being passed by 60% of the Membership in good standing.
So, what are the implications here? In what was billed as the most controversial set of motions ever presented to the Membership, the voting results indicate that only 18.3% of our Members actually cast ballots. I understand that this number actually represents the highest tally of voters casting ballots through an online process in our Party.
And it stands to reason that we should trumpet this voter turn out as a mild success, given the marathon number of motions which our Membership were asked to cast ballots on. Still, the overall percentage is quite low. Can we draw any conclusions here with regards to a leadership review process?
Well, yes I think we can. Although a leadership review process is likely going to be a heck of a lot more straightforward with regards to the sorts of text that we provide to our Membership to vote on, can we really expect that a high-interest, easy to understand “Yes I support the Leader or No I don't” sort of question is going to engage a significant number of the membership that it's likely more than 60% of the membership will actually cast a ballot? I suppose it's possible...but not likely. And if 40% of the Membership doesn't vote, even if every other Member votes for the sitting Leader, guess what? We'll be having a leadership contest.
Likely, this is the position that we're going to find ourselves in after every federal election: our leader fails a review, and we'll be having a leadership contest!
My question is, why on earth are we setting ourselves as a Party up for this kind of nonsense? Think about how the media is going to portray this situation: Greens Dump Another Leader after Failing Review Process! Yes, no matter the popularity of a Leader, unless more than 60% of the thousands of members in our Party cast their ballots in favour of the Leader, the Leader will fail the review. What an absolute gift to the other parties, and what a disservice to our membership, and frankly, to whoever may be the Leader of the Party.
The answer, of course, will be to figure out a way to engage the membership so that just about every card carrying Member of our Party actually casts a ballot in a review process. I frankly have no idea how we're going to do this. Maybe we could start with personal phone calls from Green Party staff to each and every Member, reminding them to vote. Of course, we would need to be very careful that staff don't try to influence individual members to vote a certain way. Or maybe we could use a much easier voting process sent in a single email: simply click a link for Yes or a different link for No. Of course, we'd have to make sure that such a process would be secure, and that people couldn't vote more than once.
Or maybe our Federal Council simply interprets “The Leader's term shall end if Members in good standing do not pass a resolution endorsing the Leader by at least 60%” as meaning something different than what is actually stated, and instead count only the votes cast. Hmmm...I'm sure that would go over well, based on past experiences with the interpretation of what the term “4 years” means. I'm fairly certain that if Federal Council tried to interpret the by-law in a different way to which it was written that we would find ourselves mired in controversy again.
I wonder if the Party's Membership realized the implications of green-lighting this motion? I suspect that maybe they didn't. Certainly, the Party Opinion / Considerations made no reference to this issue, nor did it appear in the extensive background notes appended to the online motion. It was raised in the forums, but I suspect many voters didn't click the link to access the forums. The “Supporters of Elizabeth May” who provided a handy-dandy voting card to many Members through email urged Members to vote “green” to this motion, thereby ensuring that changes could not be made on the floor of the BGM to what Fed Council had proposed.
I blogged about this matter earlier, and urged Members to vote “Yellow” to this motion, for the soul reason so that the language in the motion could be corrected to reflect other processes which the Party uses, by counting only those votes actually cast.
But it looks like we, as a Party, are going to be stuck with this incredibly high threshold of support for our Leader in any future leadership review process. Even an incredibly popular Leader is going to have an incredibly difficult time of meeting this threshold of 60% of the Party's entire Membership. And given that we're likely going to find ourselves continuing with minority governments in this nation, and therefore will likely have federal elections at less than 4 year intervals, the outcome will be that our Party will actually be engaging in more leadership contests than had we kept the wording in our existing by-law. And the huge problem is that many of these contests might be completely unnecessary, if the sitting leader retains general popularity.
Or...do you think maybe my interpretation here is out to lunch? I hope that, after looking at the evidence to the contrary yourself, and going through the specific wording, you can see that we've actually established a different way of determining a threshold. The motion could have easily been worded to specifically reference voting Members; it was not worded in that way. Instead, it references only Members in good standing passing a resolution by at least 60%. This motion went through a review process with our Federal Council, and was approved by a majority of Councillors. For whatever their reason, this new kind of threshold must clearly be what was intended. Or it was a goof. Either way, we're now stuck with it. At least until the next BGM in two years when we'll be having at it over this section of the by-law again.
---
Addendum: I understand that there may still be an opportunity to address this issue. Although greenlighted motions are typically passed by the membership in an omnibus resolution on the floor of a BGM, it's happened in the past that some motions have been pulled out for further discussion and change. Motion G10-c29, would be an ideal candidate for some fixing-up. So, perhaps there is still something which can be done on the floor of the BGM to salvage the situation I've described above.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Choosing Continued Conflict Over Healing: May Beats the War Drums With Latest Blogpost
With the publication of a blogpost from Elizabeth May on the Green Party's website, “Time for a leadership race?”, it looks to me like a decision has been made by our leadership to fight things out, rather than look for a negotiated way out of the current situation our Party finds itself in regarding leadership contests. Those of us in the Party who genuinely hoped that the leadership would come to the Biennial General Meeting in Toronto looking to heal the growing rift in the Party appear to be on a road to nowhere. By “leadership” I here refer to both our Party Leader, May, and our Party's governing body, Federal Council. Even though May does not speak for Fed Council, it was Fed Council's zealous reaction against the Party's Constitution and By-laws which led to this mess in the first place.
And “mess” it clearly is. If anything, perhaps that term is starting to become a little understated.
Rather than use her blogpost to find balance between the two sides on the Constitutional matter of leadership contests, May falls back on her battle-hardened position. She claims rightly that she was not involved in Federal Council's decision to pursue the changes to the Constitution, but it has been clear for some time now, and echoed in this latest post, that she supports Fed Council's efforts to remove the 4-year leadership contest requirement. She concedes that if the membership expresses its desire to do things differently than as recommended by Fed Council, she'll go along with it. But the post itself poses a question regarding the wisdom of a membership that would vote to continue on with the process mandated in our Constitution, as she clearly sides with Federal Council's solution, stating: “Council did its best, working with a range of options. What the majority of council has put forward to the membership is a fair and sensible effort. Accepting it would solve issues not only for the immediate future, but for future leaders and unforeseeable elections.” So, if you disagree with May and Fed Council on this matter, you're not in favour of a “fair and sensible” resolution.
I absolutely agree that it was high time that Elizabeth May publicly begin the process of responding to some of the criticism and concerns which have percolated around the blogosphere regarding the leadership contest conflict. Although this conflict originated with our Federal Council, which did not want to follow the Party's current Constitution for, what remains in my opinion, some very good reasons, May herself has contributed to the current criticism directed at her through her June 29th email to the Party's membership which communicated an unfounded message about her being forced to resign as Party Leader should a leadership contest be held. May blunts her own assertion somewhat in her latest blogpost, by providing a clarification which bloggers have been writing about for months now: she indicates that the Party obtained a legal opinion which stated that, “to be prudent, a leader would have to step down in order to run for leadership due to changes made in 2003 [to Elections Canada rules]”.
This admission, or clarification if you will, moves May's message from “I will be required to step down as Leader during a leadership contest” to “To be prudent, I really really should step down as Leader during a leadership contest”. May could have expressed these nuances in her email to Members which sent during the online voting timeframe for Constitutional and By-law amendments. The nuances aren't that difficult to explain. It's quite different to have a legal opinion which strongly advocates a particular course of action, than stating as fact that there is a requirement (somewhere) for said action. Back in June, May tried to sell the Party's Membership the Party's legal opinion as fact. By not referencing this “legal opinion” and instead claiming only that the approval of certain motions would force her resignation, and by omitting critical information regarding the current requirement for a leadership contest embedded in our by-laws, she left a biased impression with the Membership during the online voting period.
In response to what I perceived as not insignificant bias in the online voting process, I blogged about my concerns (“Green Party Voting: Much More Than Just Going Through The Motions, Part 1: How to Influence People and Game the Vote”, July 25, 2010, for which I've received some pointed criticism). I have heard other members express their concerns about the perceived bias in the “Considerations” (formerly dubbed “Party Opinion”) preface to all motions, and I know that some concerns were raised by Fed Councillors at their meeting on July 11th (although Minutes of that meeting remain unavailable to the Membership, almost a month later).
May had the chance in her latest blogpost to address these concerns with the appearance of bias in both the Considerations and in her email of June 29th, which was, after all, intended to provide a “here's how I see it” perspective on the leadership contest matter. By not addressing these accusations of bias, it's likely that May doesn't have a problem with what she herself has done, and with what's being done by Fed Council to advance the cause of keeping her on as Leader until after the next election.
Again, I need to indicate that I agree with the intended outcomes of this process: I believe that it would be a disaster for our Party to go into the next Federal Election after fighting our way through what is bound to be a divisive leadership contest process, which will only return our current Leader to that position. I understand the arguments that leadership contests can build parties by signing up new members and engaging the membership, and that parties can benefit from increased media coverage. However, the negative arguments for holding a contest now are more robust in my opinion. The typical Canadian, if they are paying attention to our Party at all, will be terribly confused by efforts underway within the Party to “dump” the only widely-known Green in the Party, Elizabeth May, as Leader. The media will paint a picture of a house divided (which would be an accurate portrayal of our Party's situation), and May will most likely wind up as Leader again anyway, for four more years. But what of the Party she will be tasked with leading? Having gone through these further divisions, I expect many important Greens to throw in the towel, or at least back away from what I see as the very important initiative of electing our Leader to parliament in the next federal election.
That's where I'm coming from. I believe that the political reality is such that we need to figure out a way through this current situation so that our Party can continue on with May at the helm until at least shortly after the next federal election (and May, if unsuccessful in her bid to take SGI, should not go and do anything foolish like resigning as Leader on election night, unless a clear majority is won by the one of the other parties, or unless we Greens fail again to elect anyone to parliament. Otherwise, while behind-the-scenes machinations for power are playing themselves out, as they are likely to occur with coalition talks, we will continue to have the need of a strong and known Leader to advance our Party's position). I suspect that May and our Federal Council agree with the political rationale of keeping May on as Leader.
But those aren't the only reasons which have been advanced by Federal Council as rationale for changing the way in which we elect a Leader in this Party. Rather than simply going with the political argument, Council has contorted itself in pretzel directions to claim all sorts of things about the need for change, including the dubious claim that the leader must resign from her position as leader to campaign in a leadership contest. And it's this lack of frankness and honesty with the Membership which continues to fuel my own dissatisfaction with what I see going on in the Party.
May's recent statement that this fact is really just (likely) very good legal advice will shed a little more light on this matter for the membership, and I commend May for making this statement in her blog, finally, after asserting elsewhere (in media interviews and in her June 29th email) that she would be forced to resign if certain by-law amendment motions were adopted by the Party.
However, May didn't take the next step after her clarification: does she feel any remorse at all for misleading the membership about this matter in the past? There is no evidence that she does; there isn't even any evidence that May considers that there has been any bias in the voting process at all. Certainly, she made no bones about the process, and instead chose to endorse the actions of Federal Council without question; nor does she question her own recent actions which assist in advancing Federal Council's position.
And that's why it appears to me that the battle lines are being drawn. May and Council appear to be determined to head into the BGM with confrontation on their minds, instead of contrition for their actions which, in my opinion, have undermined our internal democratic processes. And even if the desired outcome of our leadership is one which I endorse, I can't at all be happy with the way in which that outcome will be achieved.
Until lately, the group of dissenters in the Party have been marginalized and trivialized as folks unhappy with the outcome of May's leadership bid in 2006. Indeed, many that remain in the Party who are critical of our current leadership (May and/or Fed Council) might have supported another candidate back in 2006; I don't know, because I wasn't there. I've only been here since late 2007, but in my time I've picked up a few things, and I can't help but have noticed the departure of many of the “old guard” from the Party, both before the 2008 election, and especially afterwards. Some of our best performing candidates, such as Mike Nagy and Dick Hibma, are not returning as candidates (nor is Shane Jolley, one of the most successful Greens). Others have left positions of leadership, including former Party Leader Jim Harris, and Hugette Allen, who just recently resigned from Federal Council and who indicated she would not be standing as a candidate in Okanagan-Shuswap (This bracketed comment added August 10/10: please take a look at the Comments section, for I fear I may have not clearly stated my point here -SM)
Besides telling the current story of the leadership contest situation from her own perspective, and lending her support to Federal Council's recent actions, May makes reference to her accomplishments as Leader, using about a third of her post to enumerate her many achievements. This, to me, more than anything else, shows that May is positioning herself to take on all challenges, and not just to a future leadership contest. Specifically, she's throwing down the gauntlet to the dissenters. Instead of building a bridge, May is beating the war drum in a further attempt to rally Members to her cause.
This latest blogpost is sure to fuel the increasingly vocal group of dissenters, who now have a champion in Sylvie Lemiuex whom they are able to rally themselves around. I expect to hear more from Lemiuex's camp before this week is through, as they have no choice now but to respond to May. May's decision that conflict is the better path for her to take at this time will simply continue to polarize our Party.
Two questions remain to be answered, though. First, is the Membership paying any attention to what's going on inside of our Party? And secondly, has the entire leadership contest mess been largely resolved already through online voting? Let's look at the second question first of all.
If the Membership voted to green light Federal Council's resolution, while there still may be an opportunity to tear into the motion on the floor of the BGM, Lemiuex and the dissenters will have a very difficult time making a case that their resolution should be favoured over the expressed wishes of the Membership. Their only recourse will be to point to the inherent bias of the online voting process. And while I, and others, may agree that the inherent bias reached an unacceptable level, it will be a very difficult argument for Lemiuex to make to ignore the wishes of the Membership. Therefore, this whole issue might yet be put on hold. It would be best, however, that our leadership not equate “on hold” with “having resolved”.
The first question, regarding whether the Membership at large is paying much attention to this conflict is a much more difficult one to answer. Let's wait and see how many Greens actually cast ballots through the online voting process, and that might give us an idea of actual numbers. If the number of engaged Greens remains low, say at less than 20% of the Membership, I think it would be fair to say that the issue of upholding the Constitution hasn't found much resonance with the Membership. Others, of course, will arrive at the opposite conclusion, and say that the Membership expects that the Constitution of the Party should be upheld, and therefore a leadership contest should be called. I would disagree with that interpretation; instead, I would suggest that most of our Members are likely unaware with the Constitutional requirements for holding a leadership contest, and instead are likely largely happy with the status quo: Elizabeth May as leader of the Party. I strongly suspect that if most of our Members were told that May might have to run again for her current job, they would find that circumstance to be a bizarre one.
With or without answers to those two remaining questions, however, it seems clear heading into the BGM in two weeks time that May and Federal Council have decided to fight it out, rather than attempt to find some common ground with the other side. Not that finding common ground would be all that easy to do at this point anyway, but offering apologies for past transgressions would go some way to heal the growing rift in our Party.
It doesn't look like our leadership feels that anything in the way of an apology might be in order. Had May decided that a little conciliation might have gone a ways towards healing, she would have made an attempt to acknowledge and address some of the criticism being levelled at her. Instead, she used her blog as an opportunity to rally the troops and beat the war drum.
Looks to me as the growing rift in our Party will continue to widen. Where this might go now is anyone's guess, but likely it's going to spell trouble for the Party. My best hope now remains with the Membership having voted online to pass Fed Council's motion to change the way in which a leader is elected, and in strong numbers which show a high level of engagement.
And “mess” it clearly is. If anything, perhaps that term is starting to become a little understated.
Rather than use her blogpost to find balance between the two sides on the Constitutional matter of leadership contests, May falls back on her battle-hardened position. She claims rightly that she was not involved in Federal Council's decision to pursue the changes to the Constitution, but it has been clear for some time now, and echoed in this latest post, that she supports Fed Council's efforts to remove the 4-year leadership contest requirement. She concedes that if the membership expresses its desire to do things differently than as recommended by Fed Council, she'll go along with it. But the post itself poses a question regarding the wisdom of a membership that would vote to continue on with the process mandated in our Constitution, as she clearly sides with Federal Council's solution, stating: “Council did its best, working with a range of options. What the majority of council has put forward to the membership is a fair and sensible effort. Accepting it would solve issues not only for the immediate future, but for future leaders and unforeseeable elections.” So, if you disagree with May and Fed Council on this matter, you're not in favour of a “fair and sensible” resolution.
I absolutely agree that it was high time that Elizabeth May publicly begin the process of responding to some of the criticism and concerns which have percolated around the blogosphere regarding the leadership contest conflict. Although this conflict originated with our Federal Council, which did not want to follow the Party's current Constitution for, what remains in my opinion, some very good reasons, May herself has contributed to the current criticism directed at her through her June 29th email to the Party's membership which communicated an unfounded message about her being forced to resign as Party Leader should a leadership contest be held. May blunts her own assertion somewhat in her latest blogpost, by providing a clarification which bloggers have been writing about for months now: she indicates that the Party obtained a legal opinion which stated that, “to be prudent, a leader would have to step down in order to run for leadership due to changes made in 2003 [to Elections Canada rules]”.
This admission, or clarification if you will, moves May's message from “I will be required to step down as Leader during a leadership contest” to “To be prudent, I really really should step down as Leader during a leadership contest”. May could have expressed these nuances in her email to Members which sent during the online voting timeframe for Constitutional and By-law amendments. The nuances aren't that difficult to explain. It's quite different to have a legal opinion which strongly advocates a particular course of action, than stating as fact that there is a requirement (somewhere) for said action. Back in June, May tried to sell the Party's Membership the Party's legal opinion as fact. By not referencing this “legal opinion” and instead claiming only that the approval of certain motions would force her resignation, and by omitting critical information regarding the current requirement for a leadership contest embedded in our by-laws, she left a biased impression with the Membership during the online voting period.
In response to what I perceived as not insignificant bias in the online voting process, I blogged about my concerns (“Green Party Voting: Much More Than Just Going Through The Motions, Part 1: How to Influence People and Game the Vote”, July 25, 2010, for which I've received some pointed criticism). I have heard other members express their concerns about the perceived bias in the “Considerations” (formerly dubbed “Party Opinion”) preface to all motions, and I know that some concerns were raised by Fed Councillors at their meeting on July 11th (although Minutes of that meeting remain unavailable to the Membership, almost a month later).
May had the chance in her latest blogpost to address these concerns with the appearance of bias in both the Considerations and in her email of June 29th, which was, after all, intended to provide a “here's how I see it” perspective on the leadership contest matter. By not addressing these accusations of bias, it's likely that May doesn't have a problem with what she herself has done, and with what's being done by Fed Council to advance the cause of keeping her on as Leader until after the next election.
Again, I need to indicate that I agree with the intended outcomes of this process: I believe that it would be a disaster for our Party to go into the next Federal Election after fighting our way through what is bound to be a divisive leadership contest process, which will only return our current Leader to that position. I understand the arguments that leadership contests can build parties by signing up new members and engaging the membership, and that parties can benefit from increased media coverage. However, the negative arguments for holding a contest now are more robust in my opinion. The typical Canadian, if they are paying attention to our Party at all, will be terribly confused by efforts underway within the Party to “dump” the only widely-known Green in the Party, Elizabeth May, as Leader. The media will paint a picture of a house divided (which would be an accurate portrayal of our Party's situation), and May will most likely wind up as Leader again anyway, for four more years. But what of the Party she will be tasked with leading? Having gone through these further divisions, I expect many important Greens to throw in the towel, or at least back away from what I see as the very important initiative of electing our Leader to parliament in the next federal election.
That's where I'm coming from. I believe that the political reality is such that we need to figure out a way through this current situation so that our Party can continue on with May at the helm until at least shortly after the next federal election (and May, if unsuccessful in her bid to take SGI, should not go and do anything foolish like resigning as Leader on election night, unless a clear majority is won by the one of the other parties, or unless we Greens fail again to elect anyone to parliament. Otherwise, while behind-the-scenes machinations for power are playing themselves out, as they are likely to occur with coalition talks, we will continue to have the need of a strong and known Leader to advance our Party's position). I suspect that May and our Federal Council agree with the political rationale of keeping May on as Leader.
But those aren't the only reasons which have been advanced by Federal Council as rationale for changing the way in which we elect a Leader in this Party. Rather than simply going with the political argument, Council has contorted itself in pretzel directions to claim all sorts of things about the need for change, including the dubious claim that the leader must resign from her position as leader to campaign in a leadership contest. And it's this lack of frankness and honesty with the Membership which continues to fuel my own dissatisfaction with what I see going on in the Party.
May's recent statement that this fact is really just (likely) very good legal advice will shed a little more light on this matter for the membership, and I commend May for making this statement in her blog, finally, after asserting elsewhere (in media interviews and in her June 29th email) that she would be forced to resign if certain by-law amendment motions were adopted by the Party.
However, May didn't take the next step after her clarification: does she feel any remorse at all for misleading the membership about this matter in the past? There is no evidence that she does; there isn't even any evidence that May considers that there has been any bias in the voting process at all. Certainly, she made no bones about the process, and instead chose to endorse the actions of Federal Council without question; nor does she question her own recent actions which assist in advancing Federal Council's position.
And that's why it appears to me that the battle lines are being drawn. May and Council appear to be determined to head into the BGM with confrontation on their minds, instead of contrition for their actions which, in my opinion, have undermined our internal democratic processes. And even if the desired outcome of our leadership is one which I endorse, I can't at all be happy with the way in which that outcome will be achieved.
Until lately, the group of dissenters in the Party have been marginalized and trivialized as folks unhappy with the outcome of May's leadership bid in 2006. Indeed, many that remain in the Party who are critical of our current leadership (May and/or Fed Council) might have supported another candidate back in 2006; I don't know, because I wasn't there. I've only been here since late 2007, but in my time I've picked up a few things, and I can't help but have noticed the departure of many of the “old guard” from the Party, both before the 2008 election, and especially afterwards. Some of our best performing candidates, such as Mike Nagy and Dick Hibma, are not returning as candidates (nor is Shane Jolley, one of the most successful Greens). Others have left positions of leadership, including former Party Leader Jim Harris, and Hugette Allen, who just recently resigned from Federal Council and who indicated she would not be standing as a candidate in Okanagan-Shuswap (This bracketed comment added August 10/10: please take a look at the Comments section, for I fear I may have not clearly stated my point here -SM)
Besides telling the current story of the leadership contest situation from her own perspective, and lending her support to Federal Council's recent actions, May makes reference to her accomplishments as Leader, using about a third of her post to enumerate her many achievements. This, to me, more than anything else, shows that May is positioning herself to take on all challenges, and not just to a future leadership contest. Specifically, she's throwing down the gauntlet to the dissenters. Instead of building a bridge, May is beating the war drum in a further attempt to rally Members to her cause.
This latest blogpost is sure to fuel the increasingly vocal group of dissenters, who now have a champion in Sylvie Lemiuex whom they are able to rally themselves around. I expect to hear more from Lemiuex's camp before this week is through, as they have no choice now but to respond to May. May's decision that conflict is the better path for her to take at this time will simply continue to polarize our Party.
Two questions remain to be answered, though. First, is the Membership paying any attention to what's going on inside of our Party? And secondly, has the entire leadership contest mess been largely resolved already through online voting? Let's look at the second question first of all.
If the Membership voted to green light Federal Council's resolution, while there still may be an opportunity to tear into the motion on the floor of the BGM, Lemiuex and the dissenters will have a very difficult time making a case that their resolution should be favoured over the expressed wishes of the Membership. Their only recourse will be to point to the inherent bias of the online voting process. And while I, and others, may agree that the inherent bias reached an unacceptable level, it will be a very difficult argument for Lemiuex to make to ignore the wishes of the Membership. Therefore, this whole issue might yet be put on hold. It would be best, however, that our leadership not equate “on hold” with “having resolved”.
The first question, regarding whether the Membership at large is paying much attention to this conflict is a much more difficult one to answer. Let's wait and see how many Greens actually cast ballots through the online voting process, and that might give us an idea of actual numbers. If the number of engaged Greens remains low, say at less than 20% of the Membership, I think it would be fair to say that the issue of upholding the Constitution hasn't found much resonance with the Membership. Others, of course, will arrive at the opposite conclusion, and say that the Membership expects that the Constitution of the Party should be upheld, and therefore a leadership contest should be called. I would disagree with that interpretation; instead, I would suggest that most of our Members are likely unaware with the Constitutional requirements for holding a leadership contest, and instead are likely largely happy with the status quo: Elizabeth May as leader of the Party. I strongly suspect that if most of our Members were told that May might have to run again for her current job, they would find that circumstance to be a bizarre one.
With or without answers to those two remaining questions, however, it seems clear heading into the BGM in two weeks time that May and Federal Council have decided to fight it out, rather than attempt to find some common ground with the other side. Not that finding common ground would be all that easy to do at this point anyway, but offering apologies for past transgressions would go some way to heal the growing rift in our Party.
It doesn't look like our leadership feels that anything in the way of an apology might be in order. Had May decided that a little conciliation might have gone a ways towards healing, she would have made an attempt to acknowledge and address some of the criticism being levelled at her. Instead, she used her blog as an opportunity to rally the troops and beat the war drum.
Looks to me as the growing rift in our Party will continue to widen. Where this might go now is anyone's guess, but likely it's going to spell trouble for the Party. My best hope now remains with the Membership having voted online to pass Fed Council's motion to change the way in which a leader is elected, and in strong numbers which show a high level of engagement.
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