Editorial: The Greens—ain’t no single-issue party

Aside from the major political parties—Conservative, Bloc, Liberal and NDP—there are a lot of other parties trying to gain power within the federal government. While parties like the Marijuana party are pretty cut and dry being a one-issue party, others, like the Green Party, are somewhat more ambiguous. At first glance, one might think the party is a decidedly “left” one, putting environmental issues on the table for concrete policy change. And besides, Jim Harris began the party’s leaning to the right when he introduced issues on which he was a fiscal conservative. But Elizabeth May, the leader of the illusive party, is the one that has placed herself and her party in the murky position of opposing abortion. She has been harshly criticized for her comments, made during a recorded talk to sisters at the Mount St. Joseph convent late last year. The loaded question: what was her stance on the abortion and same-sex marriage issues? May answered with the pre-packaged official position (GP is pro-choice and supports therapeutic abortion, while the same-sex marriage issue is a closed one since it is a human rights one). What the audience was privy to however, is May’s personal opinion, a rare thing in Canadian politics. May said abortion was, to her, “a moral dilemma” and expressed a wish to reopen the debate on the woman’s right to choice.
May said when she hears “a woman’s right to choice” she gets “queasy,” adding that she didn’t think that “a woman has a frivolous right to choose.” After these comments went public, Judy Rebnick, in an open letter on the online news website rabble.ca (which Rebnick founded) officially removed her support from the Green Party. Rebnick addressed her discontent with May’s insistence on reopening the debate, an issue Rebnick should no longer be up for debate after its long, sordid history. It’s not also coincidence that May is being courted by the Liberals, a fence the Canadian public might soon see her jump.

Elizabeth May will be participating in a discussion about climate change policies under the Blueprints for Change conference at Concordia University.