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UNCLAS OTTAWA 001162 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SENV PINR CA
SUBJECT: GREEN PARTY MAKES HISTORY WITH FIRST MP 
 
¶1.  The Green Party landed its first Member of Parliament on August 
¶30.  Sitting Independent MP Blair Wilson formally joined the party 
and said he will run under the Green banner in a Canadian federal 
election that local analysts expect to be called within days. 
Wilson's recruitment marks a first for the Green movement in North 
America and underlines the rise of climate change and the 
environment as mainstream electoral issues.  His switch bolsters 
Green Party leader Elizabeth May's demands to be included in 
nationally televised leaders' debates during the likely coming 
federal election campaign. 
 
A FIRST IN NORTH AMERICA 
------------------------ 
 
¶2.  Blair Wilson is the first sitting Green Party member of any 
federal legislature in North America.  Greens leader May hailed his 
recruitment as historic.  She said that having a federal MP means 
the party can no longer be described as fringe.  Green ideas and 
policies are now in the mainstream of public debate, she said. 
Climate change and the environment will be significant issues in the 
federal election, according to polling data and local analysts. 
Greens leader May used Wilson's ascension to bolster her demands to 
participate in the nationally televised leaders' debates during the 
likely coming election campaign.  Television network executives 
decide who is included in the debates.  In 1993, Reform Party leader 
Preston Manning won a spot in the leader's debates on the basis of 
his party's one sitting MP in the House of Commons. 
 
BIOGRAPHY 
 
¶3.  Born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, on May 18, 1963, 
Blair Wilson is a former businessman, chartered accountant, 
real-estate developer and self-styled entrepreneur.  Wilson won 
election to the House of Commons in January 2006 as a Liberal M.P. 
in the British Columbia riding of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea 
to Sky Country.  He left the Liberal caucus in October 2007 over 
allegations he improperly reported election expenses.  Elections 
Canada subsequently cleared him of any serious wrongdoing, but the 
Liberal Party refused Wilson's request to rejoin the Party as 
recently as July.  Wilson has also been dogged by legal difficulties 
stemming from a string of troubled businesses and real estate deals 
in Canada and abroad, including allegations of financial 
irregularities. 
 
¶4.  Comment: Wilson's recruitment marks a first for the 
environmental movement in Canada.  However, local political and 
media analysts say he is unlikely to win re-election in a federal 
election that many expect to be to be called within days.  His sole 
contribution to his new party may be to provide the pretext for 
Elizabeth May to win a coveted slot in the leaders' elections 
debates and attendant publicity. 
WILKINS