Green Party of Manitoba
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Active provincial party | |
Leader | James Beddome |
President | Drew Fenwick |
Founded | 1998 |
Headquarters | 120 Sherbrook Street Winnipeg, MB R3C 2B4 |
Ideology | Green |
Colours | Green |
Seats in Legislature |
0 / 57
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Website | |
greenparty |
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The Green Party of Manitoba is a provincial political party in Manitoba, Canada, founded on November 11, 1998. The party is legally autonomous from the Green Party of Canada, though for several years many of its members also belonged to the Green Party of Canada in Manitoba, a federal organization established in 1996 (the two organizations were separated in May 2005). The GPM has maintained a position as the fourth largest party in Manitoba since the 2003 election, both in number of votes received and candidates run.
The GPM is not the first "Green Party" in Manitoba history. Former New Democrat Nick Ternette established a "Green Party" in Winnipeg in 1989, and fielded candidates under its banner in that year's municipal elections. Ternette was from the left-wing of the NDP, and opposed the party's centrist direction in the 1980s. His "Green Party" supported several progressive and environmental causes, and was further to the left than is the current GPM. None of its candidates were elected, and the party never ran candidates at the provincial level. Ternette is not affiliated with the GPM, although neither has he opposed it.
The current party was established by Winnipeg electoral reform activist Chris Billows in November 1998, with the assistance of the Green Party of Canada. Billows, Eymond Toupin, and future provincial leader Markus Buchart hosted the Green Party of Canada's national convention in Winnipeg in August 1998.
The GPM's policies are generally progressive. The party is primarily focused on environmental issues, and promotes the conservation of land and non-renewable natural resources. It has expressed concern about "urban sprawl" in Winnipeg's suburbs, has called for reform in Manitoba's commercial hog sector, and generally supports the rights of small farming interests over corporations.
The GPM also favours liberal positions on social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, and promotes accessible public health care with emphasis on healthy lifestyles and illness prevention.
The party supports the extension of labour protection laws to farmworkers and a reduction of Manitoba's standard work week from 40 to 32 hours. It has also endorsed full employment, and has criticized Gary Doer's NDP government for not reversing welfare cutbacks enacted by the previous Tory government of Gary Filmon.