When the Canadian Green party leader, Elizabeth May, was excluded from three of the televised leaders debates ahead of Canada’s federal election, she still managed to force her way on to the political stage.  As the other three party leaders gathered to spar over the economy, she hosted her own parallel debate with the assistance of Twitter.  The tactic was similar to the digital debate the social networking site had helped orchestrate for the Scottish National party in the UK earlier this year – and it was equally effective.  May’s comments were retweeted thousands of times, her Twitter mentions far outstripped those of the other leaders – and the Green leader featured prominently in press coverage of the debate.  May, who has led the party since 2006, has shown a talent for getting her voice heard in a way that has given her party influence and impact far beyond its weight in votes.  “She’s a machine, she’s driven like no other, she doesn’t take no for an answer,” said May’s chief of staff, Debra Eindiguer.  Unlike Green parties in Europe, Canadian Greens have failed to become a serious national political force, with support hovering nationally around 4%.  May was the party’s first MP in Canada when she was elected in 2011. (The party’s seat count in parliament briefly doubled when she was joined by a New Democrat who switched parties.)  But with Canada looking likely to elect a minority government in Monday’s federal elections – maybe a slim minority – May is positioning herself as a potential power broker.  “We have the clout and the influence in a minority parliament,” May told the Guardian. “Ideally we can have the balance of power.”  May said her ultimate goal is to get rid of Canada’s first-past-the-post political system and replace it with some form of proportional representation.  The centrist Liberals and leftwing New Democrats are also promising to pursue democratic reforms.  Green strategists say the party has raised $3.7m so far this year – far behind the other main parties but $2m more than it raised in all of 2011. They have also tripled their number of active donors.  Those resources are being poured into establishing a beachhead in British Columbia – where voters have a strong environmentalist streak – and targeting a scattering of other voter districts (known in Canada as ridings) across the country.  It is an effort that has frustrated some New Democrats, who worry about splitting the progressive vote in a close election.  “The Green party has jettisoned its moral superiority this election by targeting people – New Democrats and Liberals – who share many of the same environmental values,” said former New Democrat strategist Bill Tieleman.  May was born in the US but as a youth moved with her family to Atlantic Canada. She embraced environmental activism not long after, leading campaigns against uranium mining and herbicide use in the 1970s and going on to head the Sierra Club of Canada.  She said it was Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s first 2006 federal election win that spurred her Green party leadership bid.  “I realized the traditional tools I was using as an environmentalist would not be effective in dealing with a prime minister as dedicated to stopping climate action as Stephen Harper was and is,” she said.  Related: Canada election: how Stephen Harper’s fossil fuel gamble may have backfired  Canada’s environmental record under Harper has come under scathing international criticism, including for its withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol because the accord didn’t cover the US and China.  Conservatives have also been accused of focusing too heavily on the development of the oil sands sector at the expense of renewable energy and industries like manufacturing, and of gutting domestic environmental legislation.  And while Canada’s GHG emissions are lower than in 2005 – a fact touted by Harper – May and others have noted the 2008-09 financial crisis and provincial efforts are responsible for the drop, not federal policies.  May says that Canada under Harper has “moved from evidence-based policy making to policy-based evidence-making” – but she has also been accused of arguments based on shaky science.  May has raised concerns about Wi-Fi’s effect on schoolchildren and has called for the mandatory food labeling of GMOs over concerns they are potentially harmful. The broader scientific community does not consider either a threat to human health.  The controversies have not stuck. May is expected to hold the British Columbia riding she won in the last election.
The party doesn’t enjoy the same high profile in Canada as in Europe, but the tenacious May could very well wind up a power broker in a minority government