Elizabeth May delivering a barn-burner of a speech Saturday morning. Photos by Camille Labchuk

The Green Party of Canada is energized and united behind our leader Elizabeth May. She received an unheard of level of approval from Green Party members who endorsed her leadership to the tune of 85%.

The peak of the convention for me was Elizabeth’s speech Saturday morning. When she finished, had someone handed me a clipboard and a voter list I would still be out canvassing. It seemed as if every few sentences the crowd erupted in a applause and often standing ovations.

The best leadership team in Canadian politics. Photo by Camille Labchuk

Our deputy leaders did a great job bringing us through the Pledge for the Planet webathon.

Adriane’s political experience and fundraising expertise make her a huge asset to the party.

Georges was right when he said he speaks a differently than most political people and politicians. His ability to genuinely connect with Canadians will be a big boost in the next election.

Four Green women and four guys lucky to be in this photo.  (left to right) Rebecca Harrison-White, Nyssa McLeod, Sharon Labchuk and Julie Nolan.  Photo by Nyssa McLeod (but how is that possible, edit: Camille took this photo)

A theme throughout the weekend was the strong female leadership in the Green Party of Canada. From Elizabeth and Adriane to the dozens of women who got up to the mic in the plenary female leadership was constantly on display.

Don Drummond giving us his thoughts on Vision Green, photo by Michael Paskewitz thanks to Nyssa McLeod for tracking down the photo.

We are the top of the class. Don Drummond (former chief economist for TD bank and former deputy minister of finance) gave Vision Green a solid B+. We’re not on his honor role yet however he gave the other parties an F for lacking the courage to lay out their plan for Canada, to Canadians, in such detail.

He pointed out where we have done well and more importantly where we could tighten up our policies and improve. In true Green spirit we ate it up. Elizabeth May joked (kidding on the square) the next day that the cabinet was already working on getting an A.

Greens gather for a speech by GPC leader Elizabeth May. Photos by: Nyssa McLeod

This week I’m going to be blogging about what I feel are the top five highlights or takeaways from last weekend's thrilling BGM in downtown Toronto.

One of the great things about these meetings is that it brings Greens together from across the country. You meet so many new people or you finally meet in person those who you have known online for quite sometime.

I recently received an email from Mark MacKenzie (a prominent local Green who ran in the recent Ottawa-West Nepean by-election) that I think misrepresented what was accomplished at our last AGM.

Removing CA ratification was a step in the right direction. Giving the CA presidents the power to approve or block all changes made a General Meeting is absurd. No process is defined leaving it up to whoever receives the ratification email to make the decision. I’m not exaggerating there is no defined process for how CAs ratify General Meeting changes. Here are two examples of this process in Ottawa:

After consulting with a squirrel and an electric pencil sharpener, Ottawa-Vanier votes to ratify.

I’ve been avoiding going over the council race but I said that I would (and have been recently reminded that I said that I would) so I might as well get it over with.

First, before I get into things, I’m disappointed in the rather small number of people who are seeking a councilor-at-large position. Had I known that there were so few people running I would have likely thrown my hat in the ring. I’m not the only one who feels this way as I’ve heard similar sentiments from Greens in the Ottawa area. We have 7 choices for 5 positions.

Anyway there’s nothing we can do about that this time around. I might as well get into the options. I think I know who my first three choices will be, it’s the last two that I’m not really sure about. I’m not going to rank candidates but rather just let you know who I know I’ll be supporting, who I’m not sure about.

So I was thinking that a few of you probably read through all 10 of the resolution posts but most of you probably skimmed a couple and probably decided to wait for a summary. So, here’s a summary. Make sure that you read all of the governance and policy resolutions. Also for reference you should review the current constitution and Vision Green.

Thankfully we have reached the end of the policy resolutions. Today is the final part: Intergovernmental Relations, oh joy. Gauging by the discussion page for each motion of all the sections this one seems to have captivated the least interest. As of this writing only one resolutions has any discussion at all. However this section is still very important. Here is a link to Vision Green for reference. Also if you haven't gone through yet take a minute to look over the previous resolutions:

Well I wanted to post this last Wednesday but I ran out of time and was busy with Canada Day and then the weekend, but now here’s part 4 of the policy motions: Justice and Democracy. Here is a link to Vision Green for reference. Also if you haven't gone through yet take a minute to look over the previous resolutions: