Green Party disbands contentious riding association

The Green Party of Canada has moved to deregister its Delta-Richmond East riding association, which was involved in complaints of alleged election violations by Green Party leader Jim Harris and a nomination controversy. Something seems fishy here.

From the Canada Gazette:

Vol. 140, No. 5 — February 4, 2006

PARLIAMENT

CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER

CANADA ELECTIONS ACT

Deregistration of a registered electoral district association

As a result of a request made by the Green Party of Canada in accordance with subsection 403.2(2) of the Canada Elections Act, the "Delta—Richmond East Green Party EDA" association is deregistered, effective on February 8, 2006.

January 24, 2006

JEAN-PIERRE KINGSLEY Chief Electoral Officer

I don’t really follow Green Party internal politics that closely, so I’ll point you to this article here which details the complaints made against Harris, including one filed by a Dana Miller. A former member of the party’s shadow cabinet, Miller was the Green candidate for Delta-Richmond East in 2004.

She hoped to be the candidate again in 2006, but as this article from December explains she was apparently muscled-out in favour of Jean-Phillipe Laflamme, an Air Transat flight attendant. The party leadership claimed she wasn’t a party member and was organizing for another party, accusations she denied. Laflamme was appointed as the candidate by the party brass, not the local Green Party members.

Here’s the part of the article I find interesting, and that seems fishy to me when taken in conjunction with the Canada Gazette posting above:

Miller is also questioning how Laflamme has been appointed as the candidate for the riding. She said she tried to organize a nomination meeting but the roughly two dozen members of the party in Delta-Richmond East were sent an e-mail by party brass informing them that she was not eligible because she was not a party member and that the electoral district association was de-registered.

It appears now however that the electoral district association was actually not de-registered. In fact, according to Elections Canada it won’t be deregistered until Feb. 8. So why did the Green Party leadership tell its members that it was, and not let them choose a candidate themselves?

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