Another minority government would be good for British Columbia: Green leader
All three main parties have released their full lists of candidates
Political parties in British Columbia continued to jostle for position Saturday as election day draws closer.
B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau was the first to hold an event Saturday. She said the most successful result for the Oct. 24 provincial election would be another minority government.
Furstenau said no single party should have absolute power in the legislature because it would be unaccountable for the next four years.
"We know that majorities deliver scandals, crises. What we've had with a minority government for three-and-a-half years has been stable governance that has moved forward on a number of issues, many of which were in the B.C. Green platform in 2017."
An agreement reached with B.C.'s Green party in 2017 allowed John Horgan's NDP minority government to function.
74 candidates 'an extraordinary achievement': Greens
B.C. has a fixed election date for October 2021, but Horgan said he called an early election because the government needs stability during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furstenau said during a campaign stop in Victoria with some of her party's candidates that they were "blindsided" by the election call.
She said they had no candidates nominated in any of the 87 ridings and she's proud they managed to fill most of those positions by Friday's deadline.
"In 11 days, one week after I became leader of this party, a very small, very committed, incredibly hard-working staff managed to get 74 people on ballots across this province and I think that is an extraordinary achievement."
She said those who made the quick decision to run for the Green party are "heroic."
Both the Liberal and New Democratic parties have fielded candidates in all 87 ridings.
NDP leader in Revelstoke
New Democrat Leader John Horgan was campaigning in southeastern B.C. on Saturday. Horgan spoke in Revelstoke alongside Columbia-Revelstoke candidate Nicole Cherlet.
He promised to revitalize B.C.'s struggling forestry sector.
"The B.C. Liberal government didn't put the effort in when the beetle kill came through to prepare for when that wood was gone," Horgan said, referring to the pine beetle infestation and the damage it has done to B.C. forests.
The B.C. Liberals didn't hold any events on Saturday, but on Friday party leader Andrew Wilkinson also announced support for the forestry sector.
Wilkinson said his party would review stumpage fees and increase investments in reforestation.
Garry Thind investigation concludes
Also on Saturday, Elections BC said it wrapped up an investigation into allegations of corrupt voting by a Liberal candidate, saying it found no evidence to shore up the claims.
A probe was launched earlier this week after a complaint from the NDP saying the campaign for Liberal candidate Garry Thind was gathering personal information to illegally request vote-by-mail packages.
It's illegal to obtain a ballot on behalf of another voter.
A statement from Elections BC says it found no evidence of improper vote-by-mail package requests.
It says the complaint against Thind, the candidate in district of Surrey-Fleetwood, has been closed.
Voting by mail is expected to play a large role in the Oct. 24 provincial election because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 494,000 ballots requested so far by voters.