Greens seek to rebuild from election shutout

JOHN MOORHOUSE Tuesday, May 26, 2009 Pentiction Herald:

The rebuilding process has already begun for the B.C. Green Party, less than two weeks after being blanked at the polls in the provincial election. Julius Bloomfield, the Green candidate in the Penticton riding in the May 12 vote, was among about 100 party members attending the Greens‘ annual meeting in Victoria over the weekend. Bloomfield said Monday despite the election results, party members were in a positive mood. “The mood was remarkably good and I think there‘s a determination to build the party over the next four years. Nobody had any hint of giving up,” he said. “We know we had a bad result, province-wide, but there were a few bright spots in the results and Penticton was one of them.” The Greens garnered 8.1 per cent of the provincial vote, compared to almost 9.2 per cent in 2005 and 12.4 per cent in 2001. Bloomfield picked up 15.5 per cent of the vote in Penticton, fifth highest among Green candidates in the province. However, none of the party‘s candidates finished better than third. “There was a lot of discussion of what went wrong, what went right,” he said. “Why the vote was lower than previous elections.”

Bloomfield said the party will now conduct a thorough evaluation of the election results, to determine its strong and weak points in the campaign. Voters and non-voters will also be polled to gain additional feedback. B.C. Green leader Jane Sterk has indicated she wants to remain in her position and has vowed to rebuild the party. Bloomfield said Sterk gained full support from delegates on the weekend, although there was general agreement she needs to increase her profile in the media. Penticton was among a handful of Interior ridings Sterk visited during the campaign, as she concentrated on her own Esquimalt-Royal Roads constituency. The party constitution calls for an automatic leadership review in 2010. Bloomfield noted the party rejected any suggestion that it not run a full slate of candidates in the next provincial election to concentrate on those ridings where it is strongest. The key, he said, is to have stronger candidates. “The work that we do in the next three years will determine how easy it‘s going to be to get good candidates in the fourth year.” Efforts will also be made to boost party coffers, so the Greens can direct more election funding to those ridings they have a good chance of winning.
Bloomfield added he hopes to help establish a youth wing of the Green Party to encourage more young people to get involved. He noted the Greens traditionally do well in student elections, but those votes often fail to materialize as the young people turn 18 and become eligible to cast ballots in the general election. Bloomfield reiterated his interest in representing the Greens again in 2013, but noted ultimately that‘s up for local party members to decide.