Leading nowhere

We'll find out before long whether or not the Greens will follow the advice of some activists in declining to nominate a candidate for Saanich-Gulf Islands. But whatever the outcome of today's nomination meeting, Elizabeth May's reaction to the possibility of a "none of the above" vote raises some serious questions about her leadership:

Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said yesterday she does not know what will happen if her party chooses not to run a candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands at a contentious nomination meeting scheduled for this afternoon.

"I'm just trying to respect the will of local members at this point," Ms. May said yesterday, refusing to speculate on what might happen...

There is general confusion over what will happen if Mr. Lewis does not win today. Mr. Lewis said that if the majority of the vote goes to "none of the above," the riding association will hold another nomination race, and he will run again. Mr. Horter said such a vote would send a strong message to the national party that there is a will not to run a Green Party candidate. Ms. May said she was unsure what will happen if Mr. Lewis is not nominated.

"I've been leader since August and I'm still trying to figure out what policies are in place," she said, explaining she doesn't know if the party's federal council has the right to appoint a candidate or if they would do so even if they had that right.

The party passed a motion in 2003 calling on it to have a candidate in every riding. However, that may not be valid in its newly passed constitution, Ms. May said.

It's well and good that in this case, May claims that she'll at least listen to what local members have to say. But it would surely make sense then to have some understanding of how to give effect to the will of the riding association - and May seems to be sorely lacking in that department.

Remember that the Greens have already faced a similar issue in St. Catharines, where former party leadership candidate Jim Fannon proposed that the Greens bow out of the riding (albeit through a slightly different process).

Given that the potential for the Greens to bow out of ridings has already received substantial media discussion, it's remarkable that May doesn't seem to have either any knowledge of the immediate effect of a "none of the above" nomination vote, or a sense of what the party's national council could or would do in response. And if May can't be bothered to keep track of either the rules or the prevailing sentiment within her own party, there's all the more reason to think she'd be similarly ineffective in dealing with national issues in Parliament.