In the 2004 election, David Chernushenko faced a daunting task — running head-to-head with Canadian political legend Ed Broadbent in the latter’s return to federal politics. In 2006, Broadbent was gone, but the battle no less intense, as Chernushenko’s Ottawa Centre riding became a political ground zero for the Liberals, NDP and Conservatives in the mad dash to win a new seat in the House of Commons.

Considering all of that, Chernushenko is certainly well aware of what it takes to get noticed as a Green Party canadidate. In the most recent election, he was more than merely noticed. He captured an impressive 10 per cent of the vote, more than any other Green candidate anywhere in Canada.

Chernushenko is hoping to parlay that hard-won experience into a chance to shape the immediate future of the Green Party of Canada. He’s one of three candidates for the party leadership, which will be decided at the Greens national convention at the end of August. The major news media might be pre-occupied with the higher profile candidates vying for the chance to run the Liberal Party, but Chernushenko is convinced that the Greens are an emerging political force in Canada. If he’s correct, then whoever wins this leadership contest could make as much an impact on Canada’s future as a Bob Rae or Michael Ignatieff.

One thing does immediately differentiate the two leadership races, however. While the Liberal hopefuls know they will be stepping into the shoes of Opposition Leader and stand a chance (remote though it may be) to form the next government whenever the Conservative minority is done, Chernushenko and fellow candidates Elizabeth May and Jim Fannon face a longer road.

“I have a two election strategy,” Chernushenko says in a phone interview from Ottawa. “Leading up to this coming election and during the campaign it will be all about the groundwork. We’ll hope to get the Greens into the leader’s debate on TV and maybe even have a person elected. Then, by the time of the next election, we will have MPs elected.”

Former Green leader Jim Harris’ exclusion from the televised debates was a hot topic for the Greens in the last election. Some suggested that it cost the party a chance to truly build on an impressive increase in vote share from 2004. Chernushenko thinks that the onus has to be on the Green Party itself to build momentum to point where it will no longer be feasible for their leader to be kept off the air.

“I can’t promise anything about getting into the debates, but what I can promise is that we will put in the work to get us there,” he says. 

Chernushenko’s leadership campaign has been all about putting the groundwork in so far. He’s commited to travelling as far and wide as possible before the deadline for new memberships rolls around, and he recently spent a week in Alberta — hardly a Green Party stronghold.

“The terrain is very ripe for us in Alberta right now,” he says. “Both politically and socially, people are thinking about sustainability, and the other factor that helps us out here is when the outcome is not in doubt, people who want to vote Green can do so without worrying about strategic voting.”

Should a Green MP ever be elected from Alberta, or from anywhere else in Canada, Chernushenko believes it will be because the party gets outside of its comfort zones.

“We need to have a pyramid with a very large base. That includes fundraising, memberships and awareness outside of our traditional areas of support. We need to start going to the chamber of commerce, to the new immigrant communities,” he says.

A failure to build the base is Chernushenko’s greatest criticism of his predecessor, but he’s not one of the many people affiliated with the party who line up to bash Jim Harris.

“It’s not that some things couldn’t have been done better, but on the whole, Jim did an excellent job,” Chernushenko says. “2004 to 2006 has been unfairly painted as the lost years for the Greens, and those who have painted it as such don’t understand the process of organizational planning.”

One key criticism of Harris was his insistence to run candidates in all 308 federal constituencies, something Chernushenko believes is crucial to the future success of the party. 

“Every voter in Canada has had a chance to look at the Green Party,” he says. “They might not be ready to vote Green now, but they will be. It will become inevitable that we will elect MPs.”

While he didn’t make it to Jasper during his tour of Alberta, Chernushenko does have some strong opinions on what to do about Canada’s national parks. At the heart of his strategy is the creation of buffer-zones around park boundaries.

“The role of provincial governments and private land-owners across the country is crucial in terms of habitat protection,” he says. “Our parks can’t become islands.”

Chernushenko would like to see a system of education and initiatives to encourage the protection he desires.

“The first reaction when it comes to government preserving habitat is that big stick approach, but that tends to create enemies, rather than potential partners,” he says.

Within current park boundaries, meanwhile, Chernushenko is behind an increase in funding to Parks Canada.

“I don’t have dollar figures or percentages at my fingertips, but there’s no question that we need to keep investing in our parks system.”

That said, Chernushenko would like to see the bulk of any additional funding go towards public education and the preservation of ecological integrity, rather than the improvement of services in some popular parks like Banff and Jasper.

“There are situations where the urban experience has enroached on the environment, certainly in Banff and to a lesser extent in Jasper,” he says. “I don’t see room for any more of that, and in fact it would be nice to see a reduction in the impact of what’s there right now. Maybe the physical footprint can’t be changed, but if the hotels and golf courses could make a softer impact if you will, on energy consumption, water, that would be a good step.” 

Watch for a profile of Green Party leadership candidate Elizabeth May in the coming weeks.