Is Green Power Rising?

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2014/12/31/2015-Historic-For-Greens/

How 2015 Could Be Historic for Greens

What Elizabeth May has to offer Justin Trudeau, and her prize just two elections away.

By Kai Nagata, 31 Dec 2014, TheTyee.ca

What would the House of Commons look like with the addition of a few dozen Green MPs? Under any kind of minority government, a Green caucus led by Elizabeth May would wield outsized political clout. For example, they could demand important environmental policy commitments every time they helped pass a government bill.

This could be reality in four years or less, if Green Party members in a few key ridings play their cards right.
Here's the situation. The Greens hold just two seats out of 308 in Ottawa -- one secured by Elizabeth May in 2011 and the other courtesy of Bruce Hyer, the former NDP MP for Thunder Bay who sat as an independent before joining May as a Green.
That's just 0.6 per cent of seats, despite the Greens polling as high as 10 per cent nationally. One survey commissioned by the party found as many as three in 10 Canadians would consider voting Green. What holds them back is Canada's first-past-the-post voting system, under which Green candidates almost never have enough concentrated support in a single riding to win.

News

http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/01/24/CBC_Defender_Runs_Vancouver_Island_Next_Green/

A CBC Defender Aims to Be Vancouver Island's Next Green

Driven to save the threatened broadcaster, Jo-Ann Roberts enters the ring.

By Andrew MacLeod, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca 

You've said both the Liberals and the Greens sought you as a candidate. How did you decide?
It was a hard decision. I looked at their platforms. I don't know Justin Trudeau personally. I grew up in the time of his father, whom I did admire. But I admire Elizabeth May, personally. I admire that she's trying to change the conversation. So when I looked at the party platforms, Vision Green was closer to my own values and what I think the country should look like going forward... Overarching all the issues in this election, I would think, is how we are going to approach the future of our climate and our environment.