KAMLOOPS — The Green Party is coming into this election after earning its first-ever seat in the B.C. Legislature. That was Andrew Weaver, now the party leader, 2013.
It hopes to build on that momentum four years later.
“We’ve had this surge,” says Green candidate in Kamloops-South Thompson Donovan Cavers. “People are tired of the two-party system. At the door, I’ve been telling people about how it’s similar to what you see in the U.S., where there’s this party on the right, party on the left, and it doesn’t make for functional government.”
The Greens, who just unveiled their full platform on Monday, have 22% support across the province, according to the latest polls.
Kamloops-North Thompson candidate Dan Hines says his party is the one looking to the future, where he see three big ‘tsunamis’ coming, including an aging population he says B.C. isn’t ready for, as well as others.
“Automation and the fact that employment is going to be different moving ahead with technology and what technology provides,” says Hines. “The third biggest one of all of them is climate change, and we are just not ready for what’s happening. We’re not preparing ourselves, we’re not mitigating the effects of climate change.”
Hines is a leadership consultant, and in the past served as an Anglican priest, an experience he feels helps him in politics.
“My whole experience being a priest has taught me a lot about what it means to be involved in social justice, in the betterment of the community, to be a deep listener as well to what’s going on,” he notes.
His colleague, Donovan Cavers, running in Kamloops-South Thompson, is familiar to these campaigns, both municipally and federally — officially his fourth.
“Whether it’s local government, provincial, federal, there’s a lot of different aspects of campaigning that carry on. A lot of it is just the ability to basically connect with people,” says Cavers. “There’s an example. I’m not the biggest fan of him as a past President, but a lot of people always said George Bush was somebody that you could have a beer with. A lot of people take stock in being able to connect with a candidate.”
While the Greens are a long shot to form government — against the two Davids in the Liberals and NDP — the party feels it’s the only one seriously thinking about B.C.’s future.
“What’s the plan? What are we going to do in response to this? Lets not panic, but lets look seriously at our options right now while we still have several options, and lets make good choices now and lets be wise about the future,” says Hines. “I think we’re the only party I’ve heard of that’s really serious about it. The rest are doing politics by focus group. Their policies are really coming out of what is politically expedient.”
