The Green Party of Canada is a federal political party that contests elections in the 301 Canadian federal ridings, each of which sends one Member of Parliament to the Canadian House of Commons. In the most recent Canadian federal election, in 2000, it fielded candidates in only one third of these ridings.
The federal party was founded and originally promoted mostly by members of the largest provincial green party, the Green Party of British Columbia, and until recently members of the latter were also considered to be federal Greens. This practice, seemingly copied from the New Democratic Party of British Columbia and New Democratic Party of Canada's similarly close affiliation, is not followed by other Canadian Greens, e.g. the second largest provincial organization, the Green Party of Ontario. It seems likely to be abandoned by all provincial green parties in Canada.
However, the parties remain closely affiliated. Despite the lack of unified membership, the Green Party of Ontario and of Canada actually share their office space in Toronto, Canada. Many candidates for federal posts also run for provincial offices.
The leader in the 2000 election was Joan Russow. She had previously run directly against Stockwell Day, then the leader of the Canadian Alliance party, in his home riding of Okanagan. She won 8.8% of the vote, due largely to the failure of the Liberal Party of Canada and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to run candidates, as is customary for major parties when a party leader runs in a "safe seat".
In the 2001 Quebec City protest against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, Russow was the very first person thrown in a jail built specially for protesters, for taking a photograph of it from outside.
The present leader of the Green Party of Canada is Jim Harris, a management consultant who seeks to refine the Party's approach away from protest and more on green politics and green economics. He was elected in 2003 b an overwhelming majority with the support of all provincial green leaders.
The GPC supports the Ten Key Values originally authored by the Green Party of the United States.
The GPC is a member of the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas and recognized by the Global Greens as representing Canadian Greens federally.Relation to provincial parties
History
Leadership
Policies
Affiliations
