Obiter Covers the 2019 Election
Last month, in Fundy National Park, a 40-something lumber mill worker named Brent told me, “I just want Trudeau gone – I don’t trust him! Might go Green this time around.” A few days later, in Montreal, a group of friends nodded solemnly over cans of beer when I asked if they’d consider voting for the Green Party this October. Regardless of where I was, a sense of growing momentum for Canada’s eco-friendly underdogs permeated the late summer air. Call it a green wave if you want spectacle; call it increased political action from 18 to 24 year olds if you’re a demographer; call it too little too late if you’re a climate pessimist. But no matter what you call it, consider Paul Manly’s recent federal byelection win, and record high polling numbers for the Green Party nationwide, as indicative of something.
Polls suggest 1.5ºC of global warming, forest fires, and starving polar bears will all conspire to turn October 2019 into a single-issue election for some of us, as the Green Party, at press time, is projected to take as much as 12% of the vote nationwide. But others might be unconvinced by a party that has few well-known policy positions besides being environmentally progressive.
For my own interest, and for anyone who might have an uncle working an oil rig outside Fort McMurray, or a mother who litigates for Imperial Oil, or who values low tax rates and small government as much as the environment, I sat down with Humber River–Black Creek Green Party candidate Mike Schmitz to hear what he has to say about himself, his vision for the riding, and his country.
Schmitz, a first-time candidate, is an earnest man with a gentle manner, easy laugh, and big plans for society. He lacks the bearing of a seasoned politician, but compensates with his passion for the riding and his major priorities: universal basic income, free tuition, and electoral reform.
“This is one of the hubs of the GTA’s working class and they’re not being treated very fairly,” says Schmitz, who has volunteered for decades in community organizations around Jane and Finch. “I’ve seen some people thrive in that neighbourhood. I’ve seen a lot of people not thrive in that neighbourhood. And that hurts.”
“These are my friends, the people I grew up with. I love this area, it’s got everything.”
At $53,000, the average household income for Humber River–Black Creek ranks 303rd out of 388 nationwide. Schmitz sees the Green Party’s campaign promise of instituting universal basic income as a direct response to his riding’s issues.
“An extra $1000 a month, if you give it to the working class, goes back in the economy. That’ll give everyone a chance to focus on training, schools, and give them a chance to be at home with their kids more.”
Schmitz understands the radical nature of the Green Party’s proposals, but believes the resources to pay for them could come from changing tax policy: “Taxation is wrong the way we’re doing it. The biggest corporations making the biggest amounts of money are paying the least taxes.” He adds that structural change is necessary, with a smile, because “the planet can’t handle business as usual right now – we gotta close for a couple of sick days”.
Childhood summers spent catching crayfish in the Humber River, and attending schoolyard rallies against the garbage it contained, have instilled in Schmitz a deep sense of duty concerning the area. He sees education as a means of enacting positive change. With a combined 61,000 students and 7,200 faculty, York and Osgoode are obvious grounds for recruiting support.
“I would like to talk to the students, I would like to get to know them, I would like their help,” Schmitz says. While outlining the Green Party’s campaign promise to abolish tuition, Schmitz didn’t just make promises – he also described opportunities for students to contribute to the local community, including the Humber River Community Health Centre, (“A lot of people there could use some help navigating the system”); Black Creek Community Centre, (“They do social outreach programs; they had a voter information session last week; they could always use help”); and, of course, the Green Party itself.
But even for campus Conservatives or die-hard Trudeau fans, Schmitz is accommodating, saying, “The best things you can do about what’s wrong with society or systemic problems like climate change is talk about them and vote for the government that you think is gonna make the change you want.” His only ask?
“Vote for what you believe.”
Schmitz briefly addressed the recent resignation of Green Party candidate Erik Schomann due to a 2007 anti-Muslim Facebook post (the second Green Party candidate to do so recently), stating, “That’s not who we are.” He was also unequivocal in his stance on whether he believed Quebec Green Party candidate Pierre Nantel’s open calls for separation had a place in the party: “I do. That’s his right. It’s a democratic party.”
In 2015, the Green Party took 3.45% of the popular vote. With support now almost triple that amount, a clumsy attempt at calculating their theoretical share of seats (if the election were held tomorrow under a proportional representation electoral system) yields roughly 41 theoretical Green Party MPs – enough to tempt a coalition with the minority Liberal government, now projected as likely by many poll aggregators.
Justin Trudeau’s undelivered promise to reform Canada’s first-past-the-post system still frustrates Schmitz – “it’s hard to do anything with the electoral system like it is” – but he’s more concerned with the patterns of strategic voting that have scuttled previous Green Party campaigns: “The only truly wasted vote is a vote that’s made in fear. The Green Party has grown, we’re doing exponentially better, we’re on TV now.”
Indeed, party leaders, except for Trudeau, had met the previous night for a televised debate, and Schmitz was happy with Green Party leader (and lawyer) Elizabeth May’s performance.
“Some people think Elizabeth May is a little bit crazy but crazy is what goes off the path, and if you take the same path every day nothing’s gonna change. So you gotta say, ‘okay we can’t take this path anymore’ – let’s go walk in the woods.”
For Schmitz, and those of us viewing the present climate crisis with growing anxiety, the woods may be the only reasonable path left.