The Green Party of Manitoba (GPM; ) is a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

provincial political party in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, Canada, founded on November 11, 1998. The party is legally autonomous from the

Green Party of Canada The Green Party of Canada () is a federal political party in Canada, founded in 1983 with a focus on green politics. The Green Party is currently the fifth largest party in the House of Commons by seat count. It elected its first member of ...

, though for several years many of its members also belonged to the ''Green Party of Canada in Manitoba'', a federal organization established in 1996 (the two organizations were separated in May 2005). The GPM has maintained a position as the fourth largest party in Manitoba since the 2003 election until the 2023 Manitoba general election, both in the number of votes received and candidates run.

History

The GPM is not the first "Green Party" in Manitoba history. Nick Ternette, a political advocate for the left-wing of the New Democratic Party (NDP), established a "Green Party" in Winnipeg in 1989, and fielded candidates under its banner in that year's municipal elections. Ternette opposed the party's centrist direction in the 1980s. His "Green Party" supported several progressive and environmental causes. None of its candidates were elected, and the party never ran candidates at the provincial level. Ternette is not affiliated with the GPM, although neither has he opposed it. The current GPM was established by Winnipeg electoral reform activist Chris Billows in November 1998, with the assistance of the Green Party of Canada. Billows, Eymond Toupin, and future provincial leader Markus Buchart hosted the

's national convention in Winnipeg in August 1998.

Policies

The GPM's policies are progressive as the party is primarily focused on environmental issues, and promotes the conservation of land and non-renewable natural resources. It has expressed concern about "

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

" in Winnipeg's suburbs, has called for reform in Manitoba's commercial hog sector, and generally supports the rights of small farming interests over corporations. The GPM also favours liberal positions on social issues such as

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

and

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

, and promotes accessible public health care with emphasis on healthy lifestyles and illness prevention. The party supports the extension of labour protection laws to farm-workers and a reduction of Manitoba's standard work week from 40 to 32 hours. It has also endorsed full employment, and has criticized

Gary Doer Gary Albert Doer (born 31 March 1948) is a former Canadians, Canadian politician and diplomat from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He served as Canada's List of Canadian ambassadors to the United States, ambassador to the United States from 19 Octo ...

's NDP government for not reversing welfare cutbacks enacted by the previous

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

government of

Gary Filmon Gary Albert Filmon (born August 24, 1942) is a Canadian politician from Manitoba who served as the 19th premier of Manitoba. He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 1983 to 2000, and served as the premier from ...

. According to GPM's website, the party's Democratic Reform titled, "Encouraging Truth in Politics" was approved on January 17, 2025. The website states in a bulleted list that the party expects to expose political materials and politicians that have purposely caused false narratives.

2016 platform

The GPM released its 2016 election platform, entitled "Building a Sustainable Manitoba", on April 5, 2016. The document included promises to introduce Guaranteed Annual Income to Manitoba, a $50/tonne

carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions from producing goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the hidden Social cost of carbon, social costs of carbon emissions. They are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emis ...

, fare-free transit, and oppose the Energy East pipeline, among other items.

2025 platform

"Encouraging Truths in Politics" focuses on bringing forth the truth in the political realm of Canada. GPM's 2025 plan also includes the importance of verified information on media platforms and how it is vital that citizens are not shown falsely articulated material.

Election results

The GPM ran six candidates in the provincial election of 1999, and scored its best result in the Winnipeg riding of Wolseley, where Phyllis Abbé, also a prominent former New Democrat, received 386 votes. Former party leader Markus Buchart ran against

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

in the riding of

Tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and North American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal ...

, and received 126 votes. The party received 0.2% of all votes cast in the province. The GPM ran fourteen candidates in the 2003 election. Buchart received 1193 votes (19.5%) in Wolseley, placing second against New Democrat Rob Altemeyer. The GPM as a whole received 4.08% of the vote in the ridings that it contested. In the December 13, 2005, by-election held in the strongly conservative

Fort Whyte Fort Whyte is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created in 1999, after the provincial electoral boundaries commission determined that southwestern Winnipeg had experienced enough population growth to d ...

constituency, GPM candidate Shelagh Pizey-Allen garnered 1.77% of the vote. The GPM ran fifteen candidates in the 2007 election. The fifteen captured 1.33% of the vote, or 5.5% in the electoral divisions that were contested. The Green candidates received 12.32% in Wolseley placing second, 8.46% in Lord Roberts, 7.76% in St. Boniface, 6.38% in Fort Rouge, and third place in Minnedosa ahead of the

Liberal Party of Manitoba The Manitoba Liberal Party () is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late 19th century, following the province's creation in 1870. History Origins and early development (to 1883) Originally, there were no off ...

. In 2011, the GPM ran 32 candidates across the province and took 2.52% of the vote province-wide, or 10,886 votes, and won 4.56% of votes in ridings they contested. Party leader

James Beddome James Robert Beddome (born October 2, 1983) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who was the former leader of the Green Party of Manitoba from November 2014 to March 2023. He has run in several elections for the provincial party, and was also the ...

placed second in the Wolseley constituency with 19.64% of the vote, while nine other candidates placed third in various ridings ahead of Liberal candidates. In 2016, the party more than doubled its total votes from 2011, breaching the 5% total vote threshold for the first time in its history. Green candidates won an average of 9.14% of the vote in ridings they contested. In Wolseley, David Nickarz would take 35.94% of the vote and come within 500 votes of unseating longtime NDP MLA Rob Altemeyer. Beddome, still the party's leader, would take 18.77% of the vote in

Fort Garry-Riverview Fort Garry-Riverview was a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by the decennial electoral redistribution in 2008, out of parts of Lord Roberts and Fort Garry. It was in south-central Winnipeg. It ...

, an increase of 14 percentage points for the Greens over the previous election in that riding. The Greens also came in second in La Verendrye with Janine Gibson,

Morden-Winkler Morden-Winkler is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by redistribution in 2008 and was created out of part of Pembina. The riding includes the cities of Winkler and Morden Morden is a dist ...

with Mike Urichuk and Midland with Stacy O'Neill finishing ahead of NDP and Liberal candidates in ridings easily won by the Progressive Conservatives. In 2019, still under Beddome's leadership, the party ran candidates in over 40 ridings for the first time ever. Greens took over 6% of the total vote, an average of 8.25% in the ridings they contested. Despite this, no Green was elected and the party finished second in only three seats (Morden-Winkler with Mike Urchik, Wolseley with David Nickarz, and Turtle Mountain with David M. Neufeld), largely due to an improved performance by the New Democratic Party. In 2022, Beddome announced he was stepping down as leader of the GPM. He was replaced by Janine Gibson in March 2023, ahead of that year's provincial election. The Greens suffered a major setback, running only 13 candidates — the fewest since 1999, their first election — and receiving less than one percent of the total vote, and fewer raw votes than they did in 2003. The party did not finish ahead of third in any ridings, and finished third in just one riding where there were more than three candidates:

Portage la Prairie Portage la Prairie () is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. In 2016, the population was 13,304 and the land area was . Portage la Prairie is approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Highway (exactly ...

, where Arishya Aggarwal finished 65 votes ahead of the last-place Liberal candidate. In 2023, Janine Gibson's action plan consisted of ways to make the Earth a healthier habitat. The plan strived to promote operations that decreased hazardous toxins and emissions by advocating for energy efficient operations using both solar and wind technology. In addition, GPM acknowledged the expensive cost of living and discussed ways in which the party would combat the issue.

Leadership

Leaders of the Green Party of Manitoba * Markus Buchart, 1998–2005 *Daniel Drimes, 2005 * Holly Nelson, 2005–2006 *Andrew Basham, 2006–2008 *

, 2008–2013 *Alain Landry (interim), 2013–2014 *

, 2014–2023 * Janine Gibson, 2023–present Markus Buchart resigned as party leader in late February 2005. The party's second leader was Daniel Drimes. He served as leader from April 2 to 22, 2005. The party's first leadership contest under the rules of

Elections Manitoba Elections Manitoba () is the non-partisan agency of the Government of Manitoba responsible for the conduct and regulation of provincial elections in Manitoba. Its responsibilities are to operate free of political influence; conduct Manitoba's ...

began on July 1, 2005, and a new leader was chosen on November 20, 2005. She was Holly Nelson, a retired electrical technologist and professional writer who owned a Winnipeg New Age book store, the Philosopher's Stone, during the 1990s. James Beddome May 2022

In September 2006, a few weeks before the party's leadership convention, she stepped down, having accepted an out-of-province job. On November 19, 2006, the party chose 23-year-old Andrew Basham as its new leader. On November 15, 2008,

was elected leader, defeating incumbent leader Andrew Basham and contender Shane Nestruck. Beddome's first term expired November 2010, and he was acclaimed a second term. Alain Landry was appointed interim party leader for the Manitoba Greens in Nov, 2013 after the resignation of former leader

. James stepped down to focus on his new career as a lawyer after graduating from the faculty of law at the University of Manitoba in 2013. Landry ran as a candidate in the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

elections. In January 2014, he ran in the

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia * St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Man ...

by-election. Former leader

sought to return to the leadership of the Greens and ran in the leadership race held in November 2014. He defeated past Green candidate Kate Storey in the contest with 21 votes to 9 for Storey. In May 2022, Beddome announced that he would step down as leader of the Green Party of Manitoba. He was succeeded by Janine Gibson on March 26, 2023. Janine Gibson is the present leader of GPM and her focus is primarily on economic conditions and improving the health of the environment. Gibson's main priority before her involvement in politics centered around natural food growth and sustainability.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Green Party Of Manitoba 1998 establishments in Manitoba Environmental organizations based in Manitoba Organizations based in Winnipeg Political parties established in 1998 Provincial political parties in Manitoba