Green Party of Nova Scotia

Hello everyone!

The Green Party of Nova Scotia will be nominating  candidates for the 55 ridings to be contested in the next Nova Scotia provincial general election, starting… today!

There are lots of amazing people who are Green Party members already, and lots of amazing people that Green Party members know, who haven’t yet joined the party. All of those people are encouraged to join the process of finding our candidates. We believe that this will be the election where we elect the first Green MLA in Nova Scotia, and we’re working hard to find a great set of people to make that a reality!

We note that people often have to be asked more than once in order to seriously consider the idea of running, and people who have not traditionally seen themselves, or people like them, in positions of political power often have to be asked more than that. The Nova Scotia Greens are committed to doing our best to get out and ask those people, and that means our Members need to be doing this, too.

As for you, please consider this your first invitation!

The party will be working hard to support all of our nominated candidates. This means you will not be on your own for resources including graphic design, a template webpage, and a set of professional photos, as well as training and organizational help (database access, etc.).

The first step is to submit the application form (linked at the bottom of this post.)

The information gathered is used to do candidate approval (“vetting”), so we ask a lot of questions about your background. We will honour your privacy, and will not release any information to people beyond the people directly involved in its review. In fact, we will not tell even tell anyone that you have applied until and unless you are ready to make your candidacy public.

The GPNS does not use the candidate approval process to “pick” its candidates. We believe in local participatory democracy as one of our critical foundations, so the local members in the area to be represented will do the choosing. However, a candidate may not be approved during this first stage if they directly oppose fundamental Green values, if they have a history of hateful behaviour, or if they publicly support widely discredited scientific or historical theories. We expect no significant number of exclusions.

We are also deeply committed to transparency, so you always have a right to see any information gathered (including from reviews of your social media, or other sources), and to know why a decision to approve or deny your application has been made. There are appeal procedures if you feel a decision was unreasonable.

So – what are you waiting for? Let’s find our great Green candidates – like you!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask (your inquiry will be kept confidential): nominations@greenpartyns.ca

Link to apply: APPLICATION FORM

The NS Greens need a MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR.

(Elected, volunteer Executive position)

More and more Nova Scotians are choosing to become members of the Green Party of Nova Scotia – joining our amazing groups of existing members to participate locally and provincially in setting our policies and direction, choosing who our next round of leaders and candidates are – or becoming those people themselves!

The party’s Membership Director works on growing our membership – particularly in parts of the Nova Scotia population that are under-represented in our party at the moment – as well as making sure that our members have a positive experience as members of the party, being given opportunities to participate and help shape the party.

The party has a membership database, and the membership director will work with the party’s Administrator (staff person) to make sure that members’ contact information is kept up to date, that members are welcomed when they first join the party, and that they are notified if their membership gets close to expiry. The majority of this record-keeping work will be managed by the Administrator, but the Membership Director will help co-ordinate that work.

Our By-Laws state that the Membership Director is “responsible for encouraging a larger and more diverse membership, as well as ensuring that the experience of being a member of the Party is positive and rewarding.” To fulfill this, as Director, you will do the things listed above, and others that you choose to take on – you will be free to grow and shape the position to match your strengths and interests.

The Membership Director is also a voting member of the party’s Executive, which will mean helping to set the direction of the party through all areas, even those not directly connected to membership. This requires attendance at a monthly meeting. Most of these are videoconferences.

A good Membership Director likes personal communication with people, is excited about growing the party throughout Nova Scotia, and is interested in helping to determine what the party means to its members.

The position is vacant at the moment, so if you or someone you know might be good for the position, and has interest in helping to build the Green Party of Nova Scotia into an organization that can make a big positive difference in the next election, by growing, engaging and diversifying our membership, then please send an email to officer.elections@greenpartyns.ca on or before Friday, July 31st. The formal election process will include, at a minimum, an approval vote by the Executive of the party. If there is more than one candidate, a larger-scale election will be held, with all members of the party eligible to vote.

If you think this might be something you would be interested in, but you have questions, please feel free to inquire at the same address: officer.elections@greenpartyns.ca.

The Green Party of Nova Scotia (GPNS) requires a PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATOR. This is an employed (paid), part-time position.

It is expected that the position will require, on average, 10 hours of work per week. The total number of hours will vary from week to week.

The successful candidate understands the work needed to strengthen a growing public organization and demonstrates the abilities necessary to manage the diverse tasks required.

The Green Party of Nova Scotia is committed to equity in its policies, practices, and programs, supports diversity in its volunteer and work environments, and ensures that applications from members of underrepresented groups are encouraged and seriously considered.  All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

CHARACTERISTICS:

Primary:

• Organized and attentive to detail
• Excellent written and oral communications skills
• Positive and friendly
• Self-directed and skilled at working collaboratively with a team
• Trustworthy – capable of being entrusted with personal information
• Has an awareness of the type of structures and documents required of a public organization, including by-laws, minutes of meetings, policies, procedures, etc.
• Prioritization/self-care – The position contains more work than can reasonably be done by any single person in the amount of time allocated. We hope to employ a person who will be efficient and productive in the time allowed, but who will also be able to understand which work is critical and which work is only nice-to-have, so that the employee meets the most important priorities of the organization without burning out or suffering other personal ill effects.

Desirable:

• Bilingualism (French/English)
• Understanding of privacy considerations and requirements
• Basic familiarity with Google utilities and online conferencing platforms such as Zoom
• Basic website management experience
• Database experience – particularly CRM databases. The GPNS uses CiviCRM, and intends to implement the Green Party of Canada’s “GVote” system in time for the next election. Experience with either or both is an asset.
• Social media experience
• Fundraising experience

ASSIGNMENTS/TASKS

Primary:

• Provide first-line-of-contact services, monitoring the party’s primary contact e-mail address and phone number, to answer basic questions and forward all others on to the relevant people within the Party.
• Manage and update the website and reply to requests from GPNS members and organizers around the province.
• Manage communications with volunteers throughout the province. This will generally include the maintenance of a list of current volunteer opportunities, connecting new volunteers with locally-active Green members, and providing basic “on-boarding” services, perhaps through occasional videoconferences or other formats.
• Work with the Party’s Membership Director to manage the party’s membership database.
• Manage the Party’s formal records – Constitution, By-Laws, Minutes of Meetings. At the moment, this means managing a- online (cloud) filing system. However, legacy paper records from previous years will need to be stored in an accessible format, as well.
• Store and keep track of party supplies – banners, T-shirts, bumper stickers, etc.
• Arrange monthly meetings of the party Executive committee, including producing agendas (content provided by others) and taking minutes of meetings. The GPNS does not require detailed records of discussions, but records of decisions must be kept.
• Coordinate the work of organizing the party’s Annual General Meeting, including room bookings, agendas, notice, minutes, etc.

From time-to-time:

• Unique assignments associated with general election and/or by-election campaigns
• Unique assignments associated with special events: booking rooms, coordinating travel, arranging refreshments, coordinating with speakers or other special guests, other tasks as necessary.
• Basic graphic design / communications – event flyers, posters, or electronic graphics that may be needed from time to time to publicise events or campaigns of the Party
• Other tasks/responsibilities as determined by the Executive of the party, within the general field of administration and coordination.

WHAT THE POSITION IS NOT:

• The position is not a policy-writing position.
• The position is not a position that requires membership in a Green political party. However, it is understood that the work required of this position will further the goals of the Green Party of Nova Scotia. A successful candidate will be excited to do a job that does just that, and will be generally committed to the six principles of the Global Greens: (https://www.globalgreens.org/globalcharter)
• The position is not expected to be a “messaging” position – to the limited degree that the position will be doing communications work, the messages will be completely determined by the Party, and the successful candidate will not be expected to respond to media enquiries beyond the most basic items.

LOCATION:

• The position does not have a specific location of work, and we will entertain applications from candidates located anywhere in Nova Scotia.
• However, it should be noted that in-person meetings will be required from time to time, and travel costs will not generally be reimbursed for meetings held in a relatively central location (Kings, Lunenburg, Hants, Halifax, Colchester and/or Pictou counties), though the party will do its best to diminish such costs, through strategies such as carpooling. It should be noted that all members of the party, including elected party volunteers such as the Leadership and the Executive, are subject to the same cost limitations.
• The successful candidate will have access to personal transportation and to an internet connection, their own equipment necessary to access the internet (including by video), and basic office software. Reimbursement is not available for these basic requirements. If the requirements of the job extend beyond these basic requirements, reimbursement or some other arrangement will be made.

SALARY & BENEFITS

• The position offers a wage of $16.75/hour, in line with the most recent calculations for a living wage (based on a 40-hour work-week) in Halifax. It is expected that this wage will be increased by the cost of living for Halifax, or wherever the successful candidate lives. Raises associated with time-of-service and experience are not expected.
• The employee will be paid for all hours worked – no unpaid overtime is expected. However, the actual hours required of the position will vary from week to week. It is expected that the employee will be paid for 20 hours’ work every two weeks ($335), and that hours under/over the expected 10 per week will be tracked and managed by the employee, with weekly reporting to the party. Should the excess or deficit grow to exceed two weeks’ salary, the party and the employee will agree upon a resolution.
• All required Canadian and Nova Scotia benefits will be paid.
• No health care, dental care or other supplementary benefits will be provided.
• Two weeks of paid vacation are provided. In this context, that means that the party expects that its employee will take at least two weeks’ worth of non-working time at some point each year. During those periods, regular bi-weekly paycheques will continue to be provided. However, it may also suit the employee and the party to arrange some other mechanism for ensuring that the employee both takes sufficient time off and receives appropriate vacation pay.

Training

• The employee will be provided with training sufficient to do the tasks requested of the employee. However, it should be noted that the party does not have a significant budget for training expenses. Therefore, it is expected that the employee will generally seek out and determine required training. The employee will be paid for training time, though it should be noted that training is not expected to take up more than 50% of the employee’s time in any week, or 5-10% of the employee’s time overall.

Supervision

• The employee will be provided with a single person who will be the point of contact within the Executive committee of the party. This person will be one of the two Presidents of the Party. This person will be authorised to guide the employee’s priorities, task list, travel, and training. Should the relationship or communication between that person and the employee be unsatisfactory for some reason, the employee will always have contact information for, and the right to address concerns to, in order, the Human Resources Committee and the Executive Committee.

Please send a CV and cover letter to: humanresources@greenpartyns.ca   before 11:59 pm ADT on August 6, 2020.

Our regrets, but only candidates who are selected for an interview will be contacted.