B.C. Green Party celebrates 40 years, looks ahead to next provincial election

The B.C. Green Party's 40th anniversary celebration was peppered with talk of the next provincial election.

"We're not done reshaping the political landscape in British Columbia. We are ready once again to make history by electing the largest B.C. Green caucus ever," said party leader and Cowichan Valley MLA Sonia Furstenau at a celebration in Victoria on Wednesday.

The party currently holds two seats in the provincial legislature, down from three in 2020. All of their elected representatives have been on south Vancouver Island. The party gained their first seat in 2013 with former B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver's win in the riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head.

"The road to this week of celebrations hasn't been easy. Along the way many have told us that our goals are unattainable, or that we can't impact life or politics in B.C. with such a small caucus," said Furstenau.

Furstenau went on to list her party's work in 2023, including introducing legislation to restrict the use of non-disclosure agreements, tabling an amendment to B.C.'s Pay Transparency Act, proposing a four-day work week pilot, and advocating for increased disability assistance rates and a number of health-care policy changes.

Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, also touted the party's confidence and supply agreement, a partnership with the NDP that allowed that party to form a minority government in 2017 and put an end to 16 years of successive B.C. Liberal governments.

Both Furstnaeu and Olsen also spoke about their party's efforts to create policy addressing climate change and protecting old-growth forests.

Four of the B.C. Greens' recently announced candidates were present during the celebration: Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi, candidate in the riding of Vancouver-Renfrew; Ned Taylor, candidate for Saanich South; Nicole Charlwood for Kootenay Central; and Christina Winter for Victoria-Swan Lake.

"I look forward to standing side by side with them in the Legislature in the very near future," Furstenau said.

The party has announced nine candidates in total, including incumbents Olsen and Furstenau. The next provincial election is scheduled for October 2024.

'Pretty strong NDP territory': political scientist

Political scientist Hamish Telford, at the University of the Fraser Valley, said he thinks the two have a strong chance at retaining their seat in the next election. However, he said, they would be "hard pressed" to add any new seats.

"Their base of support is southern Vancouver Island, and for the most part, that's pretty strong NDP territory. So it's going to be hard to make that breakthrough," Telford said.

Telford said gaining power would come down to introducing strong candidates and sticking to a coherent party message, something Telford said the Greens are not historically strong at.

Telford also warned that in general, voters are less likely to vote based on environmental concerns when the economic picture is weak.

"Since right now people are focusing on economic issues, that's central, environmental issues are sort of taking a back seat for many voters."

B.C. United also announce candidates

On Tuesday, B.C. United leader Kevin Falcon announced that four more incumbent MLAs in the B.C. Interior will seek re-election: Lorne Doerkson, MLA for Cariboo-Chilcotin; Peter Milobar, MLA for Kamloops Centre; Todd Stone, MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson and Jackie Tegart, MLA for Fraser-Nicola.

"These incredible and accomplished candidates are committed to continuing their dedicated service to the people of British Columbia, upholding B.C. United's vision and values, and tackling the critical issues that our province is facing," Falcon said in a release.

He added that more candidates are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.