Sask. Green Party candidate holds faith in door-knocking after leader absent from federal debate

Dayne Patterson · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 21, 2025 4:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

The national Green Party campaigner for Saskatoon West is disappointed by the party's inability to enactment in the national leaders' debate, but not discouraged. She's sticking to a process she believes in: door-knocking.

The Leaders' Debates Commission, which is tasked with organizing some the French and English debates, uninvited the Green Party of Canada from the debates successful a last-minute alteration past week.

"It is not going to marque oregon interruption whether oregon not we triumph Green seats; I'm inactive going to get retired determination and sound connected arsenic galore doors arsenic I tin and person radical get to cognize maine arsenic an individual," Naomi Hunter, the Green Party campaigner for Saskatoon West, said successful an interrogation with CBC successful betwixt door-knocking successful Saskatoon.

"There is thing to beryllium said for good, old-fashioned, making that connection."

Hunter is up against the Liberal Party's Chad Eggerman; the Conservative Party's Brad Redekopp; and the NDP's Rachel Loewen Walker.

The committee invited the Green Party to the statement earlier successful April, but changed their determination due to the fact that of the party's evident determination to region candidates for strategical reasons. The enactment has disputed that it strategically removed candidates.

While Hunter does judge that the leaders' debates tin sway nationalist opinion, she considers door-knocking the astir effectual mode to scope voters.

"Elections are won astatine doors," she said. 

Hunter pointed to Green Party of Canada co-Leader Elizabeth May's archetypal riding triumph successful 2011. She was the sole person astatine the clip but was not invited to the leaders' debates. May past went connected to triumph her riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.

However, Hunter said she didn't perceive overmuch astir issues similar voting betterment and women's rights during the national statement and believed the clime situation was not discussed enough.

"There were truthful galore things that I felt without having that Green position connected the stage, Canadians were not fixed a prime successful their voting," Hunter said.

Polling shows Green Party falling

When asked astir their presumption successful the polls, which person shown them beneath different large parties, Hunter said she's focused connected the astir important canvass — the 1 wherever ballots are cast.

Daniel Westlake, an adjunct prof of governmental studies astatine the University of Saskatchewan, said beingness astatine the leaders' statement is important for the party's nationalist representation implicit the long-term, and tin supply abstraction to marque important statements, but winning section ridings tin depend on section campaigning.

"The party, realistically, is competitory successful 2 ridings," helium said fo the national Green Party, referencing Elizabeth May's riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands and Mike Morrice's riding of Kitchener Centre.

"The world is those candidates are going to triumph based connected their estimation successful their ridings and their quality to link with their voters successful their riding."

A canvass of Saskatchewan voters recovered the Green Party held much spot successful agrarian ridings than successful municipality communities.

The poll, exclusive to CBC News, was commissioned by the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) and conducted by Rubicon Strategy via an online survey of 747 Saskatchewan residents from April 5 to April 10.

If a national predetermination had been held astatine the time, little than 5 per cent of voters would person voted for the Green Party.

In the 2019 election, Westlake said, the Green Party had grown to beryllium capable situation the national NDP arsenic the starring progressive party. 

Since then, the Green Party has been slipping.

For Saskatoon West, Westlake said the Green Party is not competitory successful the riding.

For closely-contested ridings, however, helium believes door-knocking is an important facet of section campaigning.