Photo: Green Party of Alberta interim leader Coral Bliss Taylor.
It’s too small to be a Green Wave, so let’s call it the Green Ripple.
Last week, as Doug Ford swept the election in Ontario, Mike Schreiner cruised to victory in Gueph to become that province’s first ever Green Party MPP. The Greens have two MLAs in Prince Edward Island and are tied with the Liberals going into next year’s election. The New Brunswick Greens have one MLA and are competing with the NDP for third place in this year’s election. And, as most Albertans now know, Andrew Weaver’s Greens hold the balance of power in British Columbia’s legislature.
Closer to home, the Green Party of Alberta may have a way to go before it experiences its own Green Ripple. The party has spent most of its existence on the political fringe, achieving its best results in 2008 when it earned 4.5 percent of the province-wide vote. The Greens earned 0.49 percent in 2015.
But the first step to achieving any breakthrough that might be in the party’s future will be choosing a new leader.
Five months after being elected leader in a five-candidate race, Romy Tittel stepped down in March 2018, leaving the party leadership vacant one year ahead of the next election. Tittel released a statement on April 18, 2018 stating her resignation was a result of troubling internal party decisions and personality conflicts with party activists.
The party executive appointed Coral Bliss Taylor as interim leader in April 2018. Taylor is a past provincial and municipal candidate who some Calgarians may remember gave Ward 1 Councillor Ward Sutherland a run for his money in 2017.
The Green Party has scheduled a vote to choose its next leader on September 22, 2018. The deadline to enter the race is July 31, 2018.
