New deputy Leader
I didn't like G. Laraque as a hockey player( maybe cause I am a Canuck fan). I like him less as a Deputy Leader of the Greens. What happen to democracy?. The members don't have a say!
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Appointed now, perhaps next BGM.
The GPC has its deputy leader positions as appointed. (GPO does it differently). So far, no member has successfully put forward a by-law change to make the deputy leader an elected position.
It is more of a title for the press than an official role, as they have no official responsibilities. (Adrianne Carr takes on a lot of role on shadow Cabinet and in fundraising, but this isn't constitutionally defined.)
Mainly, it is a fancier spokesperson role, to fill in for the leader at a media event or at a speech.
If there is any place we should consider adding an elected element, it should probably be a party president/internal administration before a spokesperson/deputy leader.
I can see benefits to keeping the deputy leader role responsible to the leader.
Agreed on DL, Dan
I heartily agree with Dan. Deputy Leader is an outreach position which has no governance responsibilities over the party or membership. As such, there is no need for the membership to elect this person. It is absolutely critical that the Deputy Leaders be compatible, comfortable, and co-operative with the Leader, something which might not happen if they were elected separately.
As Elizabeth May likes to point out, in her own role as Leader she has zero constitional rights and only 3 rights specified in by-laws: one vote on Federal Council, the right to appoint/replace Cabinet members, and the right to appoint two Deputy Leaders.
The Green Party of Ontario has chosen to directly elect the deputy leaders, but I can't say that this has yet proven to be a superior system. Certainly it is easier for members to choose among potential candidates at the provincial level than it is to choose at the federal level, simply due to distance and scale.
On a related note, let me say that I heartily approve of the selection of Georges Laraque, and am honoured that he agreed to serve. There is now an excellent DL balance between long-time politician Carr and non-politician Laraques. Georges' style of speaking, his attitude, his whole image can only help to broaden our appeal outside the more narrow group of environmental activists or political reformers who together don't have enough votes to elect us. We desperately need to broaden our appeal into new demographics, get more people to become aware of us and "kick the tires" so to speak. That's the only way we can get past the old stereotypical "one issue party" or "tree hugger" albatross and engage the majority of the electorate as a serious ballot option.
Erich Jacoby-Hawkins, Barrie ON - although I'm on Cabinet (Nat'l Rev. and Ecol. Fiscal Reform), views here are my own and may not reflect official GPC positions. Please visit www.ErichtheGreen.ca
Bouncing an idea about DLs
Just off the top of my head and interested in getting feedback, what about electing a leadership slate rather than a leader who then appoints two Deputies?
As an example I point to the United States where a nominee for President runs and a candidate for VP is also added to the ticket. You don't vote seperately for VP but voters know in advance to who they are getting as a leadership team. Of course, there is a more functional reason for this in the USA but it would go a long way in demonstrating the team/consensus spirit we have as a party versus the leader-centric model other parties use?
Mark Taylor (Cypress Hills - Grasslands)
http://ReportonGreens.blogspot.com
This statement is purely my own opinion and no way is to be mistaken for the viewpoints of the party
Not sure why, but who says you can't.
A leadership contestant could make that commitment in advance if they wanted to as of now, as they will get power of appointment for those two spots.
But why and for what advantage?
There is no official role in Canada for a deputy leader, and its not like we really have a constitutional succession issue if our leader voluntarily or involuntarily vacates the position (even if we were the government.) Unless we're paying each a premium salary (we don't, and only one of our DLs has been full time), we should undertake that we may have change over. Maybe, when we have are 12 seats in the house and get a house leader bonus to toss out, it would be a consideration, but at that point we would likely want to choose one of our MPs.
Rather, the deputy leader positions have been used for the advantage of the party. In 2006. May brought Carr with her, who brought executive experience from the BC Green Party.
The other position was given to David Chernushenko, who she had ran against in the campaign, and this was an Olive branch to amongst other things, to placate his supporters. Being able to give such a position to your opponent for the purpose of party unity is far more effective than to name someone in advance.
If we do have a leadership process in the future, I suspect that may be a consideration for bringing together leadership camps.
BTW. In the US, the VP candidate is also appointed by the party's nominee. Quite often, it is given to one of the runner-ups in the campaign.
Clarifications
Technically, the 2nd DL position was awarded to Claude Genest by Ms. May but you are right that the olive branch was extended Mr. Chernushenko when he was appointed "Senior Deputy to the Leader" due to the Constitution limiting Deputy Leaders to 2. Both Ms. Carr's and Mr. Chernushenko's positions were paid.
As for your US reference, I do note that the VP-nominee position is appointed by the presidential nominee. In Obama's case, Biden was a runner-up and provided foreign affairs experience to the Obama campaign. However, in McCain's case, Palin was not a runner-up but was used to offer balance in the areas of youth and gender. This is premise of my suggestion... that leadership teams would compliment each other. While only one may be in the contest as leader, the team would offer balance in policy base, gender, race, geography or a host of other areas.
Mark Taylor (Cypress Hills - Grasslands)
http://ReportonGreens.blogspot.com
This statement is purely my own opinion and no way is to be mistaken for the viewpoints of the party