NDP were looking to collaborate with Greens in P.E.I. byelection

P.E.I.'s New Democratic Party was ready to throw its support behind the Green Party in last week's Charlottetown-Parkdale byelection, but the Green Party said no, CBC News has learned.

The New Democrats were prepared to not field a candidate and instead endorse Green candidate Hannah Bell, who went on to win the election for the Greens.

According to NDP Leader Mike Redmond, the plan was proposed by a Green Party member during a meeting with him. Informal discussions about some kind of electoral collaboration had been on and off since the 2015 general election. 

"This is not new, but it was in the context of a byelection," said Redmond. 

"The opportunity for us to address it as a unified group had significant merit." 

A rushed process

Redmond said the speed with which the byelection was called — 12 days after former MLA Doug Currie's resignation — made it difficult to mount an effective campaign, and that made the idea more attractive. After what Redmond described as a heated debate, the NDP executive voted to run with the plan. 

Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker received a message from Redmond the night of Bell's nomination on Oct. 30, and then exchanged text messages with him. Bevan-Baker said it was the first he heard of the proposal.

The Green Party provincial council met on the issue the next day, said Bevan-Baker, and decided not to pursue the offer. 

"It was all very rushed. It just did not feel right," said Bevan-Baker.  "We decided that it's better if voters have a wider choice of candidates."

To unite or not

Bevan-Baker said the door is not closed to future collaboration, but any such collaboration on fielding candidates would likely have to be discussed by the full membership. The Greens run a grassroots party, he said, and such a plan would require wide discussion, but he added he personally is not convinced it would be a good idea. 

"It should not be assumed that all NDP voters would vote Green, nor vice versa," he said. 

"I don't think Green candidates and NDP candidates are interchangeable. There is overlap and there are some common causes but there are many things that make us distinctive or different."

Redmond disagrees, saying that since 2015 a number of groups and individuals have approached the NDP to promote some kind of strategy to unite the left "for a cause of changing the political landscape of Prince Edward Island."

"I think he's completely wrong. I think people on the left are sick and tired of the two-party system and they want to see a unified front. On that one I think he's completely missed the mark," said Redmond. 

Bevan-Baker said a proper solution to the issue is a proportional representation system, where all parties could feel free to run candidates to run candidates without fear of vote splitting.

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