The election of Canada's first Green Party MP has changed the way Canadians look at the party, according to party deputy leader Adriane Carr.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May was elected MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands in this spring's federal election. However, in terms of total popular vote, support for the Green Party dropped from 6.8 per cent in 2008 to 3.9 per cent in 2011.
"We made the right choice - concentrating our efforts on electing [May]. It's pivotal in every country when the first Green gets elected," Carr said. "We broke through the barrier many people had about voting Green: can we get elected? Yes we can."
Carr was in Prince George on Monday to tour UNBC's bioenergy heating facility and meet with local party members.
With May in Ottawa, Green Party supporters have a voice in government to speak on their behalf, Carr said. In addition, it's showing people who may not have voted Green in the past that there is more to the party than the environment.
"They're seeing Elizabeth respond on everything. She was the only MP out of 308 to vote against extending Canada's [military] mission in Libya," Carr said.
"She's taken intelligent, compassionate stances on the postal worker strike and asbestos [exports]."
The Green Party plans to be a voice for northern British Columbians who are concerned about the environmental impacts of proposed projects like the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, Taseko Mines' Prosperity copper-gold mine near Williams Lake, B.C. Hydro's Site C dam on the Peace River and Rio Tinto Alcan's plan to complete the second Kemano water tunnel from the Nechako Reservoir.
These mega projects are issues which, "cross all political lines," and must be considered carefully, she said.
But while these projects, and others, are on the horizon the federal government is cutting funding to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Carr said. According to planning documents from the agency, federal funding is expected to drop from $30 million this year to $17.1 million in 2012-13.
"People are feeling our democracy is in peril right now. They are worried about what a majority Conservative government will do," Carr said. "Cuts to the Environmental Assessment Agency are the, 'Ah ha, this is what we were worried about,' moment."
Carr said the Green Party will continue to fight for effective oversight on all proposed major projects.
