Sidney Green (born August 1, 1929) is a retired politician in Manitoba, Canada. He twice ran for the leadership of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba, served in the cabinet of Premier Edward Schreyer, and later formed the Progressive Party of Manitoba. Despite having some radical tendencies in his early years, Green never became involved with the Communist Party.

On the advice of Stephen Lewis and Lloyd Stinson, Green joined the federal New Democratic Party (NDP) in the early 1960s soon after it was founded. He was the party's federal candidate for Winnipeg South in the 1962 election, placing a distant third in a riding that the party acknowledged it would probably not win. Shortly thereafter, Green won election to the municipal council of Winnipeg for a North End ward, defeating Communist candidate William Kardash and John J. Thomas of the pro-business Metro Election Committee. Green was re-elected in 1964.

Green resigned his seat to contest Winnipeg South again federally in 1965. He became the first NDP or Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidate to receive over 10,000 votes in the riding, but still placed third.

Green was the first Jewish Canadian politician to make a serious bid for the leadership of a major party. He later claimed his efforts opened the door for future leadership bids by Dave Barrett, who won the British Columbia NDP's leadership in 1970, and David Lewis, who was elected leader of the federal party in 1971. Few other prominent Jewish New Democrats in Winnipeg supported his campaign, however. Green later accused Saul Cherniack, Saul Miller, and David Orlikow (the first two of whom were also MLAs, the last the MP for Winnipeg North, in 1968) of promoting "Jewish-fuelled anti-semitism", claiming that a Jewish lawyer would be unelectable in rural Manitoba. Green's relations with Cherniack, Miller, and Orlikow deteriorated during the 1968 campaign, and remained poor thereafter.

Green ran against Ed Schreyer for the party's leadership in 1969, in what proved to be a much less divisive campaign. Schreyer won this contest by 506 votes to 177.

Green was easily re-elected in Inkster in 1969, and with the NDP defeating the governing Progressive Conservatives at a provincewide level to form the first social democratic government in Manitoba's history, held several portfolios in Schreyer's government. He served as Minister of Health and Social Services from July 15, 1969 to December 18, 1969, Minister of Mines and Natural Resources from December 18, 1969 to March 3, 1972 (the position was renamed Minister of Mines, Resources and Environmental Management in 1971) and Minister of Urban Affairs from September 9, 1971 to March 3, 1972.

The Progressive Party was regarded as socialist initially, and supported traditional leftist causes such as full employment and increased profits taxation on resource industries. The party also opposed "special status" designations for minority groups, however, and was arguably closer to the political right in such matters.

The Progressives hoped to run a full slate of candidates in the 1981 election, but were unsuccessful. All the party's candidates were defeated.

In May 2013, Green wrote an opinion piece advocating the abolition of the Senate of Canada.

References

  • Schulz, Herbert. Betrayal: Prairie Agricultural Politics in the 1950s . Google Books