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Entering the era of the EDA: part 1 - resources

By MARK TAYLOR, former member of the Green Party's Federal Council and Shadow Cabinet

In the first twenty-five years of the Green Party of Canada’s history, a great deal of effort has been poured into forming and perfecting policies the party takes into elections. What Greens across the country are starting to learn, however, is that no matter how sound or valid these policies are a political party will never be able to implement their policies if they are never elected.

Greens are also learning that getting elected requires a different set of skills than that of developing good policy. As such, Greens are recognizing the value of political organizing as a key component of the party’s quest to elect Canada’s first Green MP, followed by a Green caucus, and eventually to form a Green government.

But political organizing extends far beyond the walls of the Green Party’s national office. It requires a network of grassroots organizers building an even vaster network of independent and competent electoral district associations (EDAs), which provide the structure for managing campaigns at the riding level.

At the end of the 2006 election, there were 126 registered Green EDAs that helped the party earn 4.5 percent of the vote. Fast-forward to the 2008 federal election; the party formed 206 EDAs gaining 6.7 percent of the vote.

While there are many factors attributed to the growth of Green Party support between the 2006 and 2008 federal election campaigns (more media attention, participation in the 2008 federal leaders’ debate, and a larger campaign budget), the value of EDA-growth is generally overlooked.

It is no coincidence, however, that the growth in EDAs (39 percent) mirrors the growth in vote percentage (33 percent) and total votes (29 percent). Neither is it a coincidence that the top performing candidates across the country were backed by strong EDAs.

The Canadian electoral system is not designed for strong candidates with strong policies to succeed without the support of strong EDAs. Between elections, EDA executives play an important role in recruiting quality candidates who in turn help the EDA draw in more funds for the local campaign, attract more volunteers, and increase local support. EDAs also help candidates fundraise effectively between elections and acquire campaign materials (signs, offices, etc.). The source for electoral success, in fact, lies completely in developing strong EDAs.

But because the Green Party does not have any elected Members of Parliament, it does not have the luxury to draw on Parliamentary resources to aid with political organizing efforts. The Green Party relies instead on national fundraising campaigns and funding it receives from Elections Canada in proportion to its share of the popular vote (the vote subsidy from the 2008 federal election was $1.95 per vote).

There are multiple demands for these funds. But as a political party focused on electing MPs, emphasis needs to shift to political organizing – and specifically to regional organizing – in order to register and activate EDAs in the remaining 100 of the total 308 ridings.

Based on my calculations, registering and activating the remaining 100 EDAs should result in the party raising its share of the vote from 6.7 percent to at least 9 percent in the next election holding other factors constant.

The next step in the process is training EDA executives on basic political skills like fundraising, media relations, membership drives and candidate recruitment. Once these skills are developed, volunteers can then be trained on Voter Identification, Get Out the Vote (GOTV) and campaign management.

The benefit of focusing on political organizing is that it quickly becomes a self-sufficient process that generates tremendous benefits for the EDAs and the party itself. Additional members will donate both time and money to local campaigns and central party operations. These donations help strengthen campaign efforts and messaging opportunities from the national campaign. And all of this leads to electing Green Members of Parliament.

Once elected, Green MPs will generate more local interest as well as more national attention to the Green Party. In turn, this will generate more members and the cycle repeats itself. However, the only way this cycle can start is if the party makes a solid commitment to political organizing with the goal of growing and empowering EDAs.

Mark Taylor is a former member of the Green Party's Federal Council and Shadow Cabinet and is in the process of forming his second Green Electoral District Association (EDA).