Green Party engaging in politics of bygone era with new war room hire

OTTAWA—What is Elizabeth May thinking? Bob Fife tweeted that Warren Kinsella, former Liberal surrogate, will be joining the war room of the Green Party for the 2019 election. Kinsella made a name for himself as part of Jean Chrétien’s campaign team more than two decades ago. Somehow it does not seem to bother the Green Party that Kinsella appears to have been too toxic for even the Liberals to keep around. He successfully worked on Dalton McGuinty's election campaigns, and the last successful campaign he worked on was John Tory's Toronto mayoral campaign in 2018. But that’s old news. The man has been a political strategist for years, surely he has expertise to share. In fact, he’s offering it up for free as recently as July 12 on the Toronto Sun’s website, if, that is, you’re a Tory looking to “stop Trudeau’s rising popularity.” There are plenty of great nuggets of wisdom too: “say represent every Canadian, in every region and every province!” Genius. (Kinsella is also a regular columnist in The Hill Times.) And to think, this grand political baby boomer wisdom was hiding in plain sight. Kinsella, who—or someone with the same name, according to Elections Ontario records—made a political contribution to Doug Ford’s party in 2019, has been cheering on Andrew Scheer all year, all but explicitly endorsing him, and running to his defence in The Sun every chance he gets. This includes trying to convince us that Scheer’s tough on hate groups and anything to the contrary is a Liberal smear campaign (“Dishonest Trudeau campaign against Scheer must stop,” Toronto Sun, May 29, 2019). Sounds like this guy really knows what he’s talking about. At first blush it’s puzzling why the Green Party, which purports to distinguish itself on its principles, is relying on advice from the likes of Warren Kinsella, gun for hire. It’s almost enough to make you believe in the conspiracy theory that Kinsella’s support of the Greens is merely an effort to split the Liberal vote in favour of the Conservatives. Almost. Maybe the Greens figure the way into the big time is to get you a political hack of your own. Our advice: no need for the Liberals’ and Tories’ sloppy seconds. For their part, the Greens say Kinsella’s role is strictly in the background for research and that he’s not running the party’s campaign or crafting policy. May even went so far as to say that the famously unleashable Kinsella had committed to living by the party’s “values of respect," which seems antithetical to Kinsella’s entire raison d’être, but maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. Let’s be real: Kinsella has not lived up to any modicum of respectable conduct, whether making a racist remark (that he later apologized for) about “cat meat” at a Chinese restaurant in 2009, or mocking Stockwell Day’s faith in 2000 by tossing around dinosaur props on TV. Kinsella is truly the Ezra Levant of whatever side of the political spectrum Kinsella’s on today, since loyalty isn’t his hustle. Truth be told it’s just the last in a string of poorly thought-out schemes from May. Just six weeks ago, May offered to quit as Green Party leader if Jody Wilson-Raybould wanted it. She didn’t. Who would with that level of thirst? In addition, she called for an end to foreign oil imports and in the same breath called for a pivot to Albertan oil. Way to take a Conservative position, Liz. But that’s what the Greens are: Conservatives in tree pose. Elizabeth May is not interested in changing the existing oil-based economic structure—much less the existing social structure—and although she touts the importance of women in politics, when push came to shove she turned to a mediocre white guy to advise her political strategy. If the Greens are truly looking to make inroads, they should not be soliciting tired advice from politicos of yesteryear. A man like Kinsella who is so daft as to believe Scheer is tough on white supremacy is too daft to appreciate the issues of the day. Erica Ifill and Amy Kishek co-host the Bad+Bitchy podcast. The Hill Times CLARIFICATION: This column has been updated to reflect that the last successful campaign Warren Kinsella was involved in was that of Toronto Mayor John Tory in 2018, not former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty's in 2011. The Hill Times apologizes for the oversight.