Green Candidate will run despite ‘none of the above’ letter
Cindy E. Harnett, Times Colonist
No amount of bloodshed between warring Green party members in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding will prevent a candidate from running if a federal election is called, spokesman Andrew Frank said yesterday.
“A candidate will be running in the riding regardless of the efforts of some people,” Frank said. “That’s the end of the line.” Frank is media liaison for the B.C. chapter of the Green Party of Canada.
An e-mail urging federal Green party members in Saanich-Gulf Islands to avoid splitting votes amongst the federal Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Greens was sent out by six members and activists Thursday.
Related Article: Greens urge party not to run against Lunn
Related Article: Green Party won’t bow out of Saanich-Gulf Islands
July 16th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
This discussion is messy for the Greens. We cannot afford to get into a debate about whether the Liberals, NDP or Conservatives are the worst. For us, the choice is between green versus grey; the Green Party versus everyone else.
July 17th, 2007 at 6:26 am
This is a tough place to be in.
Obviously, Greens are a factor to be taken into serious consideration in Saanich but it is also an immediately recognizeable fact that the Conservatives have been able to win because the other votes get split. It’s not like it’s a riding where there’s virtually no NDP or no Liberals. It’s not Alberta. It’s not even like parts of Quebec. It is almost a four-way race.
July 17th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Of course the Greens should run a candidate. If the environmental movement was sincere about getting together to defeat Lunn, discussion would have started months ago — before Briony Penn unilaterally announced that she would be running for the Liberals.
Now that the Liberals and NDP are running ‘green’ candidates, why not run a real ‘Green” candidate?
Anyway, this riding is not really winnable by either the Liberals or the NDP. It’s a very Conservative area. So the bottom line is that once again, the major political parties are pretending to be ‘green’ by allowing environmentalists to run in unwinable ridings.
Those of us who have been around politics for a while have seen these tactics before.
July 18th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
I guess this shows the desperation tactics of the NDP and the Liberals. Our popularity is the harbinger of doom for them. The NDP has been getting their asses kicked right across the country: PEI, Calgary, London North Centre, etc.
This is their attempt to avoid the steamroller.
September 4th, 2007 at 10:56 am
I am coming late to this dicussion - and will state upfront that I am the nominated Green Party candidate for Esquimalt Juan de Fuca. I do think that Andrew Lewis is doing the right thing by running. The Liberals and NDP are a lot more brown than green, but they want to appear green. They both opposed a revenue-neutral carbon tax, Mr. Dion has stated he will not interfere with Alberta’s oil boom, and Mr. Layton strenuously defends Big American Auto - that should tell you something about where they stand.
Brian Gordon
Nominated GPC Candidate
Esquimalt Juan de Fuca
September 19th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
I believe that Green voters have a right to vote Green and the only way to do that is by having Green candidates in every riding. I think strategic voting is a coward’s solution to the current dysfunctional political climate and I don’t think as Greens we should be trying to manipulate the voters’ agenda by promoting a strategic voting strategy such as this. Andrew Lewis is a strong candidate for Saanich and the Islands and that riding will be well served when he is elected MP. Since this incident happened, in fact, the Electoral District Association for this riding has had lots of new members join and they recently won a sign up and renewal contest for all ridings in the Green Party of Canada.
In 2009, the Green Party of BC will be running candidates in all provincial ridings and I will support all candidates to the best of my ability if I am leader.
In the end, this is really a non-issue. It comes from the perception that the Green Party is not here to stay. After 25 years, this perception is getting increasingly tiresome.