A Green tide is washing over parts of the body politic in Canada.

But it hasn't swept up two former Liberal cabinet ministers.

Today, Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott announced that they will run as independent candidates in the October 21 federal election.

They've chosen not to not run alongside Green Leader Elizabeth May 

Wilson-Raybould represents Vancouver Granville; Philpott is the MP for the Ontario riding of Markham-Stouffville.

Their announcements came in their ridings less than two months after they were expelled from the federal Liberal caucus.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the decision after they publicly opposed his office's attempts to get Wilson-Raybould to consider granting a deferred prosecution agreement to SNC-Lavalin.

Philpott later accused Trudeau of breaching the Parliament of Canada Act by kicking her out without four votes being held by the Liberal caucus.

"With respect to expulsion specifically, section 49.2 lays out a clear process for expulsion and the bar is deliberately set high," she said in Parliament. "First, at the time, on April 2, at least 36 Liberal MPs would have had to write to the caucus chair requesting an expulsion and, second, a majority of the entire caucus, not just a majority of MPs present, would have had to vote in favour of expulsion in a secret ballot, an absolute majority.

"In other words, on April 2, 2019, when I and the member for Vancouver Granville were expelled by the prime minister, the Liberal caucus had 179 members, which means that at least 90 Liberal MPs would have been required to vote in favour of expulsion in a secret ballot. If only 120 MPs showed up to vote, 90 votes in favour of expulsion would still have been required."

The two former cabinet ministers' declaration occurred on the same day that Paul Manly is being sworn in as the Green MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith.

The Greens defy ideological pigeon-holing—and the proof is in the makeup of its two-member caucus.

May was once a senior policy adviser to a former Progressive Conservative environment minister, Tom McMillan.

She's an Anglican with considerable appeal to Protestant voters who are not fundamentalists. May is also supported by some former Progressive Conservatives who feel that Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is out to lunch on the climate crisis.

Manly's roots are in the NDP. He's the son of a United Church minister and former MP, Jim Manly, who supported Svend Robinson's NDP leadership run in 1995.

But as a result of the decisions by Wilson-Raybould and Philpott, the Greens will not be able to claim that they also have Liberal lineage in their caucus.