VANCOUVER B.C. – With growing momentum in the polls and a strong performance in the televised leaders’ debate, B.C. Green party leader Andrew Weaver has launched an ambitious final week of the election as he takes the campaign into the heart of traditional B.C. Liberal and B.C. NDP strongholds.
Returning to the Lower Mainland today, Weaver spent the last two days campaigning in the traditional B.C. Liberal strongholds of Kamloops, Kelowna and Vernon where the B.C. Green Party is now seeing unprecedented levels of support. Weaver’s tour will now spend the next few days in traditional B.C. NDP strongholds in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island, where the party has been consistently polling in first place according to Mainstreet Research.
“Everywhere I go, I hear people sharing the same story about this election,” Weaver said. “They are excited about our momentum. They are tired of both the B.C. Liberals and the B.C. NDP and are excited to have a new option in the B.C. Green Party.
“Having spent the last couple of days in the Thompson-Okanagan region, one thing is clear: there is surging support for the B.C. Green party in these areas that have traditionally voted B.C. Liberal,” Weaver said. “Supporters of the federal Liberal party, who may have once thought of the B.C. Liberal party as their provincial home, are furious with Christy Clark, who does not represent their values. I am here to tell them that they have a home in the B.C. Green party.”
Last week, 2015 federal Liberal candidate for Kootenay-Columbia Don Johnston endorsed B.C. Green candidate for Nelson-Creston Kim Charlesworth.
“At the same time, there is nothing particularly new or democratic about the B.C. NDP,” Weaver added. “They have had 16 years to inspire British Columbians with a vision for our province that is not co-opted by corporations and unions, and they have failed. Even this election, they are only offering to be better than the B.C. Liberals. That’s not a convincing vision for B.C.
“The B.C. Greens are running with an ambitious plan for this province: a bold, progressive vision that embraces change, that prepares British Columbians to succeed in the emerging economy, and that puts people at its centre, not vested corporate and union interests. We are offering British Columbians something to vote for, not against.”
Earlier today, Forum Research released a new poll that has the B.C. Green Party at 24% across the province, 10 points above where it stood just two months ago. "We’re beginning to see a considerable increase in support for the Green Party, and the favourability of their popular leader Andrew Weaver is well ahead of either of his main opponents,” Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research said in their press release. Forum Research was the closest of all polling firms to accurately predict the results of the 2013 B.C. provincial election.
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