A year in review with Sonia Furstenau and her goals for the B.C. Green Party in 2024
'We have defied expectations,' says party leader
The B.C. Green Party currently holds two seats in the provincial legislature, both of which represent ridings on Southern Vancouver Island.
The next provincial election is scheduled for October 2024 and the party has put up nine candidates, including incumbent Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, and Party Leader Sonia Furstenau who represents the Cowichan Valley.
The party marked its 40th anniversary in 2023 and, despite its small numbers in the Legislature, Furstenau is optimistic about the future, saying she is ready to make history by electing the largest B.C. Green caucus ever next year.
She sat down in December with Gloria Macarenko, host of CBC's On The Coast, to reflect on what went right, and what went wrong for the Greens this year, and her hopes for 2024.
The following transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
You and Olsen are the only elected members of the B.C. Greens. As a two-person party, what exactly is your role in the Legislature?
It's really to bring evidence-based solutions to the challenges that we face, everything from being realistic about climate change to addressing growing inequality. For decades, governments have ignored growing problems and now we are in a place of overlapping crises.
We have a housing affordability crisis, more people dependent on food banks, health-care issues and a growing teacher shortage. The Greens focus on what solutions we could be implementing that would address the root causes of these crises.
An Angus Reid poll published in October showed cost of living is top of mind for most British Columbians. How do you think the NDP government dealt with that this year?
Affordability has gotten worse and worse for people. I hear from many people, renters in particular, that housing insecurity impacts their whole lives.
More supply is not going to address this. We need affordable housing, non-market housing, co-op housing, and housing that is geared to people's income. And with all of the measures the NDP introduced, very little to none of it is about affordability.
You have two seats and so does the Conservative Party, whose support appears to be building. In some opinion polls, they are tied with B.C. United, the official opposition. What do you make of this momentum?
I think people are looking for easy answers and Conservatives have come out saying that they don't really think climate change is a problem.
Climate change is a massive economic disrupter and we have a party saying they don't think it's a crisis we have to take seriously. That's quite a concern to us and I think should be a concern to all British Colombians.
But is there something the Conservatives are tapping into that voters want?
They're tapping into a very real sentiment that people have that they are not able to rely on the government for basic services like health care and education and infrastructure, but they're offering solutions that are not based in evidence.
Why are Green messages about our climate future not resonating in the same way and building similar momentum?
It's important to recognize that the momentum the B.C. Conservatives building on is the federal Conservative party's momentum. This is Pierre Poilievre and tapping into the sentiment that government is not living up to our expectations.
We have defied expectations. We just celebrated our 40th anniversary and have always been rooted in evidence-based, science-based responses to the world we're in and to deliver basic services and address crises before they are out of control.
Your deputy leader, Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi, resigned after he liked a tweet comparing Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry with a Nazi. How damaging is that?
It's really important we are clear with our candidates and supporters that we can go after policies, we can criticize legislation and public policy, but we have to make sure we are not focused on attacking people.
What is your long-term strategy for the B.C. Greens?
I think it is really rooted in our vision for this province, which is healthy communities, healthy people, healthy ecosystems and trustworthy government and institutions. That's what we should all be striving for in our work in public service and what I continue to focus on every day.
With files from On The Coast