Dear Saskatchewan Greens,
The day after the 2024 election, first and foremost, thank you to every candidate, without whom this campaign would have been impossible. Thank you to our members and supporters who volunteered and donated. Thank you as well to every single person who voted Green.
I’m reflecting back to when we suddenly needed to fundraise as a focus and raise a significantly higher nomination fee for our candidates. This arbitrary dictate by Elections Saskatchewan immediately impacted our organizing ability. But we made it through. One strength moving forward is that candidates are reaching out today expressing their eagerness to run again – and now they are bringing up the need to fundraise for their own campaigns between elections.
The strength in this large new team of inspiring, active candidates is the path forward for our party. We all know that our party needs opposition critics and this election has found those voices, committed to action between as well as during elections. Today I started phoning and making plans to meet up with candidates and plan the next steps, together. This will take a while, but I’m happy to say that everyone I spoke to so far is full of exciting new ideas for involvement and improvements.
We also struggled between elections with significant tech issues. Again, some of these were financial, such as Gmail monetizing. Another was creating a new website; now this is built, we have operational stability to move forward with. Much credit there goes to a team of helpers applying real expertise.
There is a gap between what people say is important to them and the actions they are really taking. For example, 32% of Canadians say climate change is the top cause for them, and 48% of Canadians express anxiety about climate change on a regular basis, but only 3.9% of charitable donations are made to environmental causes. The same kind of numbers persist with voting. Penetrating the mental daze of daily life with real survival issues remains our great challenge.
This was a make or break election for the NDP and the media fed into that; many people who might have otherwise voted Green, voted NDP. Support for the Green Party actually goes far further than the votes just received.
The results tell us that the SaskUnited are a mere splinter off the SaskParty. Green percentage stayed above other third parties and reached about the best we could hope for with this make or break NDP election. Perhaps just as important as our votes were the news stories around the issues we raised and the discussions that otherwise wouldn’t have been had without us.
If we wish to see better results moving forward, we will need to commit to building small groups to help in each area. I have always spoken of constituency associations – in all 61 ridings – but now I feel that realism about our numbers suggests Regional Associations as a more achievable goal. I have set my work life up at one shop with some helpers, so I have more flexibility to travel the province and help nurture the creation of regional Green get-togethers. I’m thinking of five provincial ridings (those within one federal riding) getting together, meeting and planning how they could be a local support system to help find local candidates and nurture them. I can see an achievable path to that.
As well, between elections, we need some training sessions on the role of financial agents (without whom we are not allowed to register candidates). We can come up with a guide for that role with the help of Barry Dickie, our party president. This election Barry stepped up and took on the role of financial agent for even more candidates than the legendary Dave Abbey did previously. But we are on unsteady ground if something happens to Barry and there aren’t (yet) others who have learned that information. A massive thank you to our president for his efforts with this very much-needed role!
As far as the party Leadership goes, I see such opportunity coming up – because of the team that has joined in, and the support I hope to continue earning – I am ready to build our movement as Leader and volunteer organizer if you will have me. I continue to be dedicated to our Green Values and getting our message out. I look forward to earning your vote to stay on in this role.
Yours sincerely,
Naomi Hunter;
SGP Leader
1-306-561-8880
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