I am often surprised with the dismissive attitude some analysts take towards the GPC. Here is Henry Jacek, a political science professor at Hamilton's McMaster University, in an article about Jack Layton published today in the National Post:

"The Greens are going nowhere," he says. "Wake me up when they win a seat."

The Greens can and will win a seat, and soon. It will take a few years for us to have a larger impact in Parliament, but being so dismissive in the face of our steady increase in polling numbers and increasingly prominent national profile doesn't strike me as very good political analysis.

The important story here is not that we may or may not win a seat in the next election. Rather, the story is that if we can continue to make progress over the next few years there is the potential for a significant shake-up in Canadian society as a whole. Since we are drawing our support from across the political spectrum we will have the widespread support necessary to make our policies a reality.

Canada has the potential to be a world leader when it comes to economic, environmental and social innovations. Right now, the grey parties in Parliament are causing Canada to lag Europe and other areas of the world in all manner of policy-making. If rich Canada, of all places, can't be a leader, then how can we expect poorer countries to take the basic steps necessary to protect the environment?

Jacek and other nay-sayers may be snoozing, but the Greens are ahead of the curve when it comes to preventing a global environmental nightmare.