The B.C. Green Party is putting out feelers to try to find a candidate in Boundary-Similkemeen for next May’s provincial election.
“I’m looking for somebody really sharp,” said Dave Cursons, who is co-ordinating the search on behalf of an informal group of local Greens that isn’t organized as a formal riding association.
“An enthusiastic young person who has a real commitment to help out the environment,” he added.
The party has managed to field a candidate in every election since 1986, he said, and several times in the past Cursons has put his own name forward to ensure the party was represented.
Once he even stepped forward to run as a Green candidate in Kelowna East when they couldn’t find a local candidate, he said.
Boundary-Similkameen, however, has always managed to find a candidate from within the electoral district, he added.
As the rules stand, the would-be nominee would have to have been a Green Party member in November to be nominated as the candidate, Cursons said.
However, he suggested there could be flexibility if someone who is not currently a Green wanted to carry the banner for the party.
“If somebody contacted me and said that they really wanted to run for the Greens and they weren’t already a member, I would immediately be on the phone to the Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver,” he said. “I would open discussions immediately. Because my goal is that people should have a good Green candidate to vote for in Boundary-Similkameen.”
Cursons said he has not yet heard from anyone interested in running, which is why he is putting the word out through the media.
He hopes also to talk to people who are past party supporters.
Those who meet the party’s criteria and are eligible for a nomination package would need to raise a set amount of money for the party and recruit a set number of members, Cursons said.
Past candidates have not always been dynamic, but it’s always been possible to find someone who can speak credibly to the party’s platform, he said.
In the 2013 election, Green Party candidate John Kwasnica picked up just 8.8 per cent of the vote. By contrast, winner Linda Larson of the B.C. Liberals had 46.6 per cent and second-place finisher Sam Hancheroff of the NDP had 39 per cent.
Although a win for the Greens is a long shot, Cursons thinks it’s important to give people a chance to vote for the environment rather than ending up voting for candidates they don’t share common interests with.
If, instead of not voting Green because they think the Greens can’t win, people looked at the party platform and voted to turn things around for the environment, the Greens would win, Cursons said.
While some perceive smaller parties like the Greens as “spoilers” because they can only draw votes from the two main parties, but can’t win, Cursons said that’s only because of the first-past-the-post electoral system.
“You can form government in British Columbia with less than 50 per cent of the population voting for you, so anyone who detracts from the horse race between the two ‘main parties’ can be characterized as a ‘spoiler,’” he said.
But he thinks the existence of the Greens pushes the other parties to be more environmentally conscious.
B.C. has had two votes on changing to proportional representation (PR) voting, the system favoured by small parties like the Greens. In 2005, 57.7 per cent voted in favour of a single transferrable vote system, but the result fell below the required threshold.
In 2009, a second referendum only saw 39.1 per cent support PR.
With a PR system, the Greens would not be seen as spoilers, Cursons said.
“The word ‘spoiler’ wouldn’t have any meaning because it wouldn’t be that kind of a horse race and the expression ‘first by the post’ would go the way of the dodo,” he said.
Anyone interested in running for the Green Party can contact Cursons at 250-499-5417.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
