GREEN PARTY OF ONTARIO

(Redirected from Ontario Green Party)

The 'Green Party of Ontario' ('GPO') contests provincial elections in Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's second-largest provincial Green Party after the Green Party of British Columbia. The party is led by Frank de Jong with deputy leaders Sanjeev Goel and Victoria Serda.

Contents

Overview

Elected Greens

Election results

See also

External links

Overview

The Green Party of Ontario shares the same Ten Key Values as other North American Greens. The elements of green politics it emphasizes include a green tax shift, which would reduce income taxes and create taxes on pollution and resource consumption. Although the party is generally perceived as being left-of-centre, they claim to be an attractive alternative to all three parties in the legislature by combining ecologically and socially reformist policies with strong respect for the free market and entrepreneurship. Many key members are recruits from the former centrist Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, including, Elio Di Iorio who was a protege of former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark and Peter Elgie, son of former Ontario Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Robert Elgie.

Leader Frank de Jong is a key figure in the party's strategy, and has led the Ontario Greens since 1993. As of June 2003, the Ontario Greens stood as the fourth party, with support of 6% of the decided voters. The Party did not, however, win any seats in the October 2003 provincial election.
At the Party's 2006 Annual General Meeting (AGM) the Party adopted sweeping changes to the existing Constitution that amongst other changes, reduced the size of the Provincial Council and renamed it the Provincial Council Executive. One of the first acts of the new Provincial Executive was to strike a hiring committee to bring on a full time Campaign Manager in response to mounting internal pressures to ensure the Party was ready for the October 2007 Provincial General Election.
The GPO is a strong supporter of electoral reform. It is in favour of the Mixed Member Proportional representation system recommended by a Citizens Assembly in May 2007 and to be voted on in a referendum in October 2007. This system would make the number of seats attributed to the party in the legislature approximately equal to the percentage of the vote won by the party in separate party vote. The GPO, which has never won a seat in the legislature, believes it would benefit greatly.
As of August 2007 the GPO was between 6% and 8% of decided voters in provincial polls.[1],[2]

Elected Greens

★ Tom Adams, Oakville Town Councillor, Oakville

★ Elio Di Iorio, Richmond Hill Town Councillor, Richmond Hill

★ Warren Maycock, Orangeville Town Councillor, Orangeville

★ Victoria Serda, Saugeen Shores Councillor

★ Rob Strang, Orangeville Town Councillor, Orangeville

★ Richard Thomas, Reeve of Armour Township

★ Roger Villeneuve, Stormont County French Catholic School Board Trustee, Stormont County

Election results

Election	Candidates elected	Total votes	% of popular vote
1985	-	5,345	0.1%
1987	-	3,398	-
1990	-	30,097	0.7%
1995	-	14,108	0.4%
1999	-	30,749	0.7%
2003	-	126,651	2.8%

See also

★ List of Ontario general elections

★ List of Canadian political parties

★ Green Party candidates, 2003 Ontario provincial election

External links

★ Official Website of Green Party of Ontario

★ Official GPO History Online

★ A History of the Green Party in Ontario, by Frank de Jong