Adriane Carr, deputy leader of the federal Green Party of Canada, fully expects an election will be called in the fall, and she‘s in the Okanagan this weekend to prepare the troops. Carr, a former B.C. provincial leader and the federal candidate in the riding of Vancouver Centre, spent Friday with Green party members in Penticton. She will be in Kelowna today to meet with candidate Angela Reid and attend a fundraiser in the evening. “We‘re expecting an election in the fall. (Liberal Leader Michael) Ignatieff and the other two opposition parties have boxed themselves into a corner. None of them want to be the party that props up the Conservatives. It will be like a game of chicken.” Carr, a former teacher, said the Green party will attempt different strategies in the next election, with its main focus being to elect leader Elizabeth May.
“We‘ve developed a very clear plan and set of goals, and No. 1 is to have our leader elected.
Elizabeth May has been open to doing polling where the most likely riding is to elect her, and it‘s not breaking news that Saanich Gulf Islands is one possible riding. We‘d love to have one person in each riding across the country offer to help pitch in and get Elizabeth elected.”Carr admits financing is always a problem for her party, but jokes, “we‘re not putting money into attack ads. We are doing training in fundraising, and I‘m out doing the barbecue circuit – good old grassroots fundraising, but the reception we‘re getting is good. Young people ages 18-34 are strong supporters. For some reason, traditionally, we have more support among women, but we have all walks of life. We have grandmothers concerned about the future for their grandchildren.” As for strategic voting, she believes it will soon come to an end. “How do you feel good about yourself voting for a party that you thought had the best chance of defeating the party you hate the most based on a poll you read? With strategic voting, it‘s really the voter who loses out.”
Carr said although the Okanagan is traditionally strong Conservative territory, her party has established a presence. “In the Interior, where it‘s traditionally been Conservative territory, people who‘ve thought about voting Green can do so with more freedom than in the tighter ridings. We have strong numbers in the Okanagan, and it may not be a breakthrough in the next election, but part of what we‘re training our candidates for is multiple elections.” She rhymed off several strong performances, including Penticton, where first-time candidate Dan Bouchard collected 13 per cent of the vote. As for the recent provincial election in which the Greens failed to elect a single candidate, the former provincial leader said she was more disappointed to see the Single Transferable Vote lose. “It‘s sad after all the work that went into it to see that it didn‘t pass. We need change to our electoral system. The federal Green party collected almost one million votes in our last election, yet didn‘t win a single seat. The Bloc collected 1.3 million votes and won 49 seats.”
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