Saturday September 18, 2021 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 6:55 pm]
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends | with notes and photos by Jalen Codrington
Hastily organized overnight, Green Party Leader Annamie Paul arrived in Victoria today for a round of events to garner media attention and boost the vote in BC. It was probably also the energy boost that Paul needed after a long tough campaign.
This is Day 35 of the 36-day 44th federal election campaign; for Ms Paul it’s been a Toronto-centric campaign until now, as she tries to win a seat in the next parliament in the riding of Toronto Centre. But today she was here on the coast.
Over the noon-hour Paul held a press conference at the Victoria harbour (Songhees area) and then a bustling rally at the busy street corner of Hillside and Blanshard.
There were organized cheers at the press conference (from volunteers and the Green team) earlier in the day, and then and drive-by honks and applause at the rally later in the afternoon. Paul arrived in a Tesla, and when former Green Party leader Elizabeth May (seeking re-election in Saanich-Gulf Islands) arrived the crowd itself ‘went electric’.
The rally was well-organized. People just seemed to spring up out of nowhere over a very short period of time to produce a sea of green shirts and signs, about 100 people in all.
Supporting the local candidates:
“Annamie Paul is here because BC is important for the Green Party,” said Nick Loughton who is running as the Green Party candidate in Victoria.
Loughton says BC is important for the Green Party. “It’s the home, the genesis, where everything started,” Loughton told Island Social Trends today.
In this campaign, Loughton is up against the well-backed NDP incumbent Laurel Collins and Liberal candidate Nikki MacDonald. But he’s hopeful: “We are driving towards victories here. All across the island, all across BC, all across the country,” said Loughton.
A fight on the island:
The Greens could boast two candidates across the entire country at dissolution of the 43rd parliament: Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands), and also Paul Manly (now running for re-election in Nanaimo-Ladysmith). Their third MP defected to the Liberals earlier this year.
The NDP had five ridings locked down at dissolution, but might expect some of this Green buzz to capture some votes from people who put climate change as their top priority.
Three NDP candidates in the south Island area are incumbents (Randall Garrison running for a 4th term in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke, Alistair MacGregor running for a 3rd term in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, and Laurel Collins running for a 2nd term in Victoria).
Vote-splitting on the progressive side is a concern in many ridings across the country, particularly today as Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau reminded voters in a press conference that his party is the ‘progressive choice’ when compared to the Conservatives.
===== RELATED:
Green Leader in Victoria: enough to tip the tide of Green fortunes? (September 18, 2021)
Elxn44: Campaign signage profile in central Langford (September 11, 2021)
Poor debate format a disservice to viewers & voters (September 9, 2021)
Elizabeth May: child care boost, supporting other Greens (August 30, 2021)
Day 6 #elxn44: Elizabeth May lunches in Cordova Bay (August 20, 2021)