Green Machine
Winnipeg Green Party brings slate politics back to civic elections
Nick Ternette
A civic election will take place on Oct. 25, and there are some
interesting things going on in the background.
For example, Markus Buchart, former leader of the Manitoba Green
Party, announced the formation of the Winnipeg Green Party, which
will run a full slate (15 candidates) in the upcoming election.
This could encourage other slates to come forward and run in this
election, enabling people to vote on political ideas rather than
on personality alone.
Then again, according to some sources, the Winnipeg Green Party
has been in a formative state for over a year now and, as yet,
has no candidates and no platform for the upcoming civic election.
Furthermore, it doesn’t plan to run a candidate for mayor
and doesn’t have the backing of the Manitoba Green Party
or the federal Green Party.
Recently, this newly formed civic party stated that it was definitely
not a “left wing” party. Frankly, such a statement
has turned off left wingers such as me.
People also might remember that when Buchart led the Manitoba
Greens, he clearly stated that his party would not get involved
in municipal politics, a position that forced several ‘green’
candidates to run as independents in the last civic election.
So, good luck to Coun. Harvey Smith, who said he would be a Green
candidate in the next civic election as long as he could remain
a part of the NDP.
It appears there is currently no viable candidate to run against
Mayor Sam Katz, but earlier this year there was some noise in
the labour movement about encouraging Prof. Jim Silver of the
U of W (founder of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)
to run. Silver, however, has since withdrawn due to illness.
Lately, former Radisson MLA Marianne Cerilli, who’s on the
outs with the NDP, is considering running for mayor. As a feminist
and an environmentalist, she could run as an independent and attract
support from the Greens and some elements of the NDP. She might
even be endorsed by the Winnipeg Labour Council.
Within the wards, there have been some interesting developments
that could have affect the October election. In the Fort Rouge/East
Fort Garry ward, Jenny Gerbasi will be challenged by another NDPer,
activist and musician Shane Nestruck.
In the St. Boniface ward, former councillor Dan Vandal will challenge
Franco Magnifico and has an excellent chance to score an upset
because Magnifico supports the hog industry.
Disability activist Ross Eadie, who ran a good campaign in the
last election, has an excellent chance of defeating incumbent
Mike O’Shaughnessy in Old Kildonan.
This election could have some serious repercussions on city council
if Vandal upsets Magnifico and Eadie beats O’Shaughnessy.
At the present time, an informal coalition of seven councillors
generally opposes Sam Katz — Donald Benham (a Red Tory),
Harry Lazarenko (left populist), Mark Lubosch (left liberal),
Russ Wyatt (right-wing populist), Harvey Smith (social democrat),
Jenny Gerbasi (social democrat) and Lillian Thomas (social democrat).
If Magnifico and O’Shaughnessy go down, the balance of power
might shift against Mayor Katz, and he will then have a more difficult
time implementing any of his policies.
Nick Ternette is a community and political activist, freelance
writer and broadcaster. |
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