PDP #25: Not the Best of First Impressions

While my opinions have changed in the intervening years, my first real encounter with representatives of the Green Party of Ontario didn't exactly reflect well on the organization. Today's photo was taken in Peterborough on September 17, 2003, during the height of the provincial election campaign that resulted in Dalton "Evil Reptilian Kitten-Eater From Another Planet" McGuinty putting an end to eight years of Progressive Conservative leadership in Queen's Park. I know that, as a university and college town, Peterborough was and probably still is more open to the Green agenda than most - that still doesn't mean that a rally centered around a guy in a blue-and-yellow inflatable fat man costume parading around downtown is the best way to get potential voters to take you seriously.

Tim Holland was the GPO's Peterborough candidate for the 2003 election, and despite compelling inflatable-fat-guy parades, the 1,605 votes he captured were only enough to put him past one independent candidate and another from the Family Coalition Party. In the 2007 election the Green Party's vote total under Miriam Stucky increased to 4,444 votes, which is pretty cool for the numerological significance alone.


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