Running Green candidate would only split vote in Saanich-Gulf Islands, environmentalists say

Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said yesterday she does not know what will happen if her party chooses not to run a candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands at a contentious nomination meeting scheduled for this afternoon.

"I'm just trying to respect the will of local members at this point," Ms. May said yesterday, refusing to speculate on what might happen.

A letter was distributed to Green Party members in the riding this week urging them to choose "none of the above" instead of voting for Andrew Lewis, the only candidate on the ballot.

Signed by six prominent environmentalists, including the climate-change critic from the party's federal shadow cabinet, the letter says that running a Green Party candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands in the next election would only lead to vote splitting that will allow the incumbent, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, to be re-elected.

"The Green Party does not have the chance of actually winning that riding, they don't have the infrastructure or the manpower to get out the vote," said Will Horter, who wrote the letter.

"At best, they would double their historic vote if they had a stronger candidate; That's not the case. At this point the strongest environmental candidates are not running for the Green Party."

Mr. Horter said that the most important goal for environmentally minded voters in the riding should be to get Mr. Lunn out of office.

Mr. Lewis said he thinks the letter is simply fear mongering.

"It's a unilateral move by a small number of members who don't have the authority or the right to do this. It doesn't flow with the overall party strategy or vision," Mr. Lewis said yesterday.

"I think the best person to bring a green agenda to Ottawa is a Green Party MP. The Liberals and the NDP are still the status quo. You can be on the cutting edge, but you're still the cutting edge of the status quo."

Both Briony Penn and Julian West, the Liberal and NDP candidates for the riding respectively, have been members of the Green Party. Mr. Horter, who said he did not sign the letter in his capacity as president of the Dogwood Initiative, said that a Green Party candidate would split the environmental vote three ways, given the other two candidates' strong green credentials.

"Splitting the vote three ways between the Liberals, the Greens and NDP by people who are thinking the same way is absolute nonsense," said Guy Dauncey, the Green Party climate change critic who co-signed the letter. Mr. Dauncey will be supporting Ms. Penn in the federal election.

There is general confusion over what will happen if Mr. Lewis does not win today. Mr. Lewis said that if the majority of the vote goes to "none of the above," the riding association will hold another nomination race, and he will run again. Mr. Horter said such a vote would send a strong message to the national party that there is a will not to run a Green Party candidate. Ms. May said she was unsure what will happen if Mr. Lewis is not nominated.

"I've been leader since August and I'm still trying to figure out what policies are in place," she said, explaining she doesn't know if the party's federal council has the right to appoint a candidate or if they would do so even if they had that right.

The party passed a motion in 2003 calling on it to have a candidate in every riding. However, that may not be valid in its newly passed constitution, Ms. May said.

Earlier this year, the party struck a deal with the Liberals not to run a candidate in Stéphane Dion's riding in exchange for not opposing Ms. May in her riding. However, Ms. May said that was sanctioned by the Green Party's federal council as "leader's courtesy" and the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding may not be subject to the same exemption.