yawn

What a screamer of a leadership race this is. In keeping with the colour green, one could say that its almost a race amongst turtles. Once again, the Greens are showing how irrelevant to the BC and federal political scene they truly are. And just to add to Shawn's well spoken assertion... yawn bore snore!!! Wake me up when its over.

The name most recognizable to me in the list above is Monday Magazine columnist Andrew Macleod.

So I say, go for it, Andrew! The prize is yours for the taking! Embrace your destiny! Obscurity awaits!

The Green Party is very relevant to British Columbian politics, we are hovering around 15% in the polls without a leader, and the next election we will be up against two lame duck leaders. Gordon Campbell is looking tired and has nothing new to inspire people, and if Carol James lasts until the next election she will have already rendered herself obsolete.

For the Green Party, this election could be boom or bust for us, and with the right leader we could echo the feat accomplished by Gordon Wilson when he brought the Liberals out of the desert.

I think having a race between a Green who has been already elected to civic office (Dr. Sterk), Ben West who is a tireless campaigner and strong debater, and Damian Kettlewell who has an MBA in Leadership and has extensive connections in the business community, as well as Silvaine and Jack who have deep Green party roots.

While, as a Green, I have my personal favourites, this will shape the party as determine its place in BC politics. The party could go back to its roots as an activist force or could emerge as a centralist group in a province known for electing 40 years of a strange named "Social Credit" party.

While some of these candidates may seem obscure, name recognition comes the instant the press covers them and then credentials and personal qualities take over.

Dan Grice,
Vancouver Quadra Green Party Candidate.

I am not sure why anyone was expecting there to be household names? There are simply very few people like that within the Greens in BC.

I expect the race to garner more attention and interest than the last time around.

The field they have is a pretty good one for them.

Jane Sterk did top the polls in Esquimalt for city council.

Ben West is still young, but I am impressed by his drive. People will hear about him for years to come.

Damian Kettlewell is not well know, but a strong candidate. A Green party lead by him will be a threat to both the NDP and Liberals.

Jack Etkin and Silvaine Zimmerman are predictable Green candidates, but the fact that they have chosen to run is the important fact.

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There doesn't seem to be much that's green about this party except for its name.

What's the point, really?

Don't drink too much beer watching this leadership race. As the knives in the Liberal Party come out of their sheaths, I am predicting an across the board Socred Breakout.

Our membership lists actually have some very impressive and notable names.

We have current councillors, mayors, world renown university professors and others. You won't see their names on the ballots because many of them have career and family obligations and the threshold for elections is still very difficult. Especially, since unlike other parties, we have an outright ban on union or corporate donations which we have self installed so our fundraising efforts are typically smaller.