In my opinion, because the Green party in Canada has become the identity politics party instead of the climate party.
this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2026
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A myriad of reasons, but one that often gets overlooked is that the Canada and the US use a first-past-the-post electoral system which is not used in Europe. Canada does not use proportional representation on a federal and (mostly, with exceptions) provincial level so our politics, like the US, trends towards a two party majority system where niche parties and politicians get shoved aside.
In the majority of federal riding in Canada, voting for the green party would be a waste of a vote and would result you getting zero political representation that you want. You might as well roll up your ballot sheet and smoke it instead. This results in people voting strategically to prevent certain outcomes instead of voting for what they actually want.
IMO it is the biggest failing of our political system and is going to send us down the exact same road the US is going down right now. We are already on the brink of losing the NDP entirely our federal green party is barely even a shadow in the corner.
That's not entirely true. Greens are much more active in Britain for example than Canada despite using almost precisely the same electoral system.
A significant part of why I think they're so weak in Canada is they're not as coherent in their message. Their platform and base is actually much more conservative than a lot of European Green parties, which turns off the more progressive left environmentalists, and leaves them struggling for more conservationist moderates, who are kind of a dying breed.
Green tories essentially. Maybe they could take some steps toward being overtly social fascist, like Die Grune?
Avi running on electoral reform was a wise decision. I think everyone with a decent understanding of civics understands how harmful FPTP is for us working class folk.
It helped Justin Trudeau. No idea how much but it got my vote.
Regrettably same here. If only Tom Mulcair had made the same promise
We are a petro state, and our dollar tracks the price of oil.
If that's true, why is the CDN dollar .72 USD?
We also loooove big trucks and quads and snowmobiles and big camper trailers and boats, and we all live in the suburbs. The physical construction of our cities and infrastructure is basically anaethema to any kind of green transition, and our worst idiots (30+% of the country) have this tied up in an idea of personal freedom, with any steps toward sustainability being totalitarian communism
Look at municipal zoning in the most progressive areas of Canada, let's not pretend its just the Cons at fault for our current state.
The left also supports mass immigration with no place to put anyone given our housing deficit, leading to even more people commuting hours to work.
To the extent that there's a left in Canada, anyway. The purpose of mass immigration is to keep housing prices high, as financialized housing is both the primary means of retirement savings and is also a cornerstone of the economy.
Ya I agree, David Eby is the closest we've got. But he's torching himself with indigenous land rights issues, by giving privately owned land away.
Look at this new clown: https://thewalrus.ca/ndp-leader-avi-lewis-wants-to-reverse-carneys-immigration-cuts/
Lewis's proposals seem reasonable to me. On one hand you can't just have a destabilizingly high rate of immigration, but on the other it's extremely unjust to just deport a bunch of people who are already here, Trump style. We need a reasonable level of immigration as well as protection for refugees - this century is going to see a massive influx of refugees in general, and if we become Festung Kanada it will rot us from the inside out.
Sure, eat the young to feed the rich old boomers that own all the real estate. Let's see if that resonates.
At some point we're going to have to definancialize housing, and the NDP Lewis is the closest option to that. The libs and cons sure as hell would never do it
Its financialized due to cheap debt and a shortages, caused by the BoC and the NDP themselves supporting mass immigration.
I don't see anything Avi is pushing to definancialize it, if anything he wants to exacerbate shortages to encourage further speculation. I'd be curious what you think he's suggesting that will accomplish it.
Broadly, he's a step in the right direction, turning the NDP back to its socialist roots. At some point we could just have the government build housing and old age pensions, eliminating the need to have a house be a financial instrument for retirement
Margins aren't very high on houses for developers, its largely government policy that is the highest cost, largely things like zoning and developer taxes. So how far can prices possibly fall by eliminating the developer profit, 10% as a non-profit, assuming they can do it with the same efficiency?
You also eliminate contractor profit and so on. Much of the cost is also tied up in land value, which can be simply expropriated.
What part of Canada isn't conservative?
The largest cities tend to be very Liberal, and zoning laws, developer taxes, and slow pemitting are the worst.
zoning laws, developer taxes, and slow pemitting are the worst.
These are anti-liberal policies.
And the Liberal Party is conservative.
Doesn't Liberal mean freedom, or you're saying it as the Liberal party?
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy that emphasizes individual rights, liberty, and equality before the law. It advocates for a government that protects personal freedoms and promotes democratic values, often supporting a market economy and civil rights.
Laws restricting freedom that you mentioned were anti-liberal. (Liberalism)
The Liberal Party however is conservative.
You're confusing liberalism with the liberal party. Very different things.
That was what I was asking, if it was worded poorly.
They're weak because their candidates are weak and not serious leaders. They come across as single issue voters running for office. Or as environmental student graduates who couldn't find a job and are padding their resume.
They're also incredibly partisan. Like good luck convincing a Green candidate to endorse an NDP candidate who might have a chance of flipping a CPC incumbent. And I know someone is gonna reply to this with their tired tirade, "Expecting GReen voters to sacrifice their prinicples blah blah BLAHHHHHH."
I want better environmental policy. But the green party isn't capable of getting us there. Their candidates have no vision beyond themselves standing at a podium hearing the sound of their own voice. They have no plan to accomplish their platform and nobody interested in working with them either.
The last time I looked at the Greens, they seemed anti-science with their anti-nuclear leanings, and Elizabeth May's pseudoscience tendencies. There was also that whole mess with Annamie Paul that revealed some infighting. Looks like May at least tried to pass the party on to a newer generation with Pedneault but that failed too.
I'd love to see a competent Green party, even if I wouldn't necessarily vote for them, because I would hate Canada to turn into a two-party system like the US. The more serious contenders, the better. Hopefully leaders like Emily Lowan can turn things around for them.
I had to remind myself about the details surrounding Annamie Paul. Based on this article, there's a good chance that the party is still pro-Zionist, which makes it a no go for me unless a newer leader puts an end to that.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/07/20/The-Man-Who-Upended-Canadas-Green-Party/
Greens have become an identity politics party instead of a party concerned about the climate. NDP are going to go the same way.