Green Party Leadership Debate Exposes Fault Lines Over Party’s Future

By Althia Raj

The TVO-hosted event featured 10 candidates seeking to replace Elizabeth May.

Ten candidates vying to replace Elizabeth May as leader of the federal Greens squared off in two rounds of debates Tuesday, exposing a range of perspectives on the party’s political positioning, the case for cap and trade over a carbon tax model, even a call to abolish — not just defund — the police.

Moderated by TVO’s Steve Paikin, the debates were broken into two 37-minute sessions with mostly the same questions posed to each group of five contestants. While there was unanimity against the building of new pipelines, and on the necessity of the Green party (several candidates noted the B.C. NDP’s support for carbon-heavy projects), the mostly collegial exchanges did expose some fault lines on where and how the candidates believe the party should grow.

On one side of the spectrum stood Burnaby astrophysicist Amita Kuttner, who argued that the party should be “squarely socially left,” and former Vancouver Island candidate David Merner, who believes the Greens should be known as “the most progressive party in Canada.” On the other side seemed to stand Glen Murray, a former Liberal Ontario provincial cabinet minister, who said the Greens are a “big-tent party” that attracts  everyone from Green capitalists to eco socialists, and Andrew West, a lawyer and past candidate, who views himself as a moderate and pitched a party in the political centre.