Electorates seem much more forgiving of the Green Party and its politicians than of the Conservatives, Liberals or even the NDP. Elizabeth May was greeted warmly during her P.E.I. visit Sunday. She was in Charlottetown to campaign on behalf of Green Party candidates in next week’s provincial election.
Sharon Labchuk, a candidate in Charlottetown Victoria Park, would be the biggest beneficiary, although most party candidates were on hand. May spoke on Green policies and challenged voters to consider voting Green for the first time. She referred to her breakthrough victory in B.C. in the May federal election. It has to start somewhere, she told her audience.
That’s all well and good. But consider the reaction of many people and political analysts if Stephen Harper landed in town to support Olive Crane, or Bob Rae flew in to campaign with Robert Ghiz? The late Jack Layton might have even gotten a similar response. There would have been an immediate uproar, amid cries of desperation, and admonishments to leave federal politicians out of a provincial election.
There is a long tradition for the feds to give provincial elections a wide berth for the sake of maintaining good relations with whatever party wins after voting day, or of avoiding the label of appearing desperate. The sitting prime minister might suggest it would be easier to deal with a like-minded provincial government, but that is usually as far as it goes. Any Ottawa involvement in an election would be well behind the scenes and done very quietly.
To actually campaign in a provincial election is taboo for federal leaders. If it’s not acceptable for the PM or major opposition leaders, why is it OK for May? She and her party are being held to a different standard.
But no one is mad at May. The Greens can pull off a visit by a national leader without any of that negative reaction. They are the new kids on the block, can take more liberties and have almost no baggage. Who can argue with a party whose major platform items are clean water, pure air and a pesticide-free environment?
And it’s probably a good thing that some of those political barriers and taboos are finally being broken. Of course Labchuk was ecstatic to have the national leader in town to give her campaign a boost and additional attention. May was more than willing to help out her national organizer who is facing the wily Richard Brown, the minister of the environment.
No funny bones at utility
Someone at Maritime Electric is obviously not a fan of Saturday Night Live, the iconic, long-running NBC comedy show which has been staple viewing for a generation of television viewers. The company had a power interruption notice printed in Saturday’s paper that warned residents in Kings County of an outage later that night beginning at 1:30 a.m. and ending at 5:30 a.m.
After thanking residents for their co-operation “as we work to upgrade the electrical system in your area,” the utility pulled the plug right on schedule Sunday morning. And the last half hour of the season’s premiere of SNL was lost. Alec Baldwin was hosting for a record-setting 16th time, in a widely anticipated appearance, shortly after the recent controversy in the U.S. over Ben and Jerry’s ice cream brands.
Fans also wanted to see if there would be a re-enactment of his infamous Pete Schweddy skit of several years ago. SNL fans will have to wait for a re-run in several months time to find out. You can be assured this wouldn’t happen against a Hockey Night In Canada broadcast or a World Series game. What does Maritime Electric have against comedians? And what was wrong with pulling the plug at 2 a.m.?
