Green Party gaffes won’t make much of a difference come election day: political scientist

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — Controversy and criticism over federal Green Party candidates’ ideologies may have party supporters shaking their heads or rolling their eyes, but a UBC political scientist says it’s not going to make much of a difference come election day.

Max Cameron says what’s most revealing is not Green candidates saying they are anti-abortion or for Quebec’s ban on religious symbols, but how the party handled it, and that the information wasn’t discovered before they became candidates.

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“We’re really just seeing a lot of amateurish behaviour on the part of people who don’t really understand how to do their work,” he says. “Honestly, they all need to go to some training camp where they could learn the ropes.”

However, he says the party wasn’t going to make great gains to begin with.

“Will it have a lasting or longer effect on the Greens? It raises the question of whether the Greens are ready for prime time,” he says. “I don’t think people who were voting for the Greens expect them to form office anyway. I think they’re more like to be the recipients of a protest vote.”

Cameron says this isn’t all bad; the party is not changing position on the issues, but allows members to speak and vote their conscience.