Elizabeth May wants to clean up Parliament as well as the Environment

Elizabeth May made history this past election for having been the first ever Green Party MP elected to the Canadian house of Parliament. Her riding, Saanich-Gulf Islands, had one of the highest voter turnouts in the country with over 75 per cent of the riding going out and voting. Having one by a landslide against a former Conservative cabinet minister, it's safe to say that voters who stayed home in 2008, came out to show their support for the Green Party leader.

What does this mean having a lone Green MP in the house of commons? Well, with a Conservative majority, probably not a whole lot, especially considering that the two parties sit at the opposite ends of the politcal spectrum. There isn't a single specific point where the Green and the Conservative party platforms lines up. May, however, doesn't seem very phased by this.

In a recent interview with CBC (the television stations seem to have remembered she existed all of a sudden) she sounded optimistic that her voice in parliament wouldn't just be a shout from the back row, but possible to make a real difference.

Citing some of the many occasions in which our parliament has recently degenerated in shouting matches, name calling and the pointing of the finger, May hopes to bring a dignified composure, and a calm demeanour to the house that will help her get noticed and her party be taken seriously.

Honestly, I find her outlook, if perhaps a little too optimistic, to be somewhat refreshing. As our larger parties have begun acting like American politicians in recent years, using personal attacks and smear campaigns agaisnt one another, it would be quite nice to see our government start acting like... well, a government again. If the sole MP from our smallest serious political party can actually control herself and show Canadians that it's possible to act responsible on parliament hill, all the better.

In fact May has also announced a few plans for her riding, which seem rather commendable. On the last election campaign, MP absentia from the house as well as their riding was a growing target of attacks, which is something May hopes to avoid. This week she announced that she would be holding a meeting every 6 weeks in her riding where anyone could come and approach her and her staff and discuss issues facing the area, kind of like an open meeting at a small town.

This is certainly something quite a bit different than what some of our other MPs have been doing, such as going on lengthy vacations out of the country.

I honestly hope this works out for her. Just as Canadians vote for many different parties, we need many different voices on parliament hill. As well, our house of commons could use a lesson in etiquette, and if she is the one to do it, then all the better: I hope the other parties learn something about being proper representatives of their ridings.