Green Party leader makes surprise, last-minute trip to back B.C. candidates
Federal Green Party leader Annamie Paul arrived Saturday morning on a last-minute trip to British Columbia to show her support for two Green incumbents in Parliament and stump for other candidates trying to win seats on Vancouver Island.
Paul landed at Victoria International Airport amidst cheers from dozens of supporters waving Elizabeth May signs.
“Welcome, welcome to Vancouver Island,” May said after hugging Paul in the terminal.
May, the former Green Party leader, is campaigning to keep her seat in Saanich-Gulf Islands, which she handily won in 2019 with over 49 per cent of the vote.
Paul’s team didn’t release a full schedule, and it’s unclear if she plans to travel to Nanaimo-Ladysmith on Sunday to campaign for the other Green incumbent, Paul Manly.
Manly was re-elected to the seat in 2019 with 34.6 per cent of the vote, after winning it earlier that year in a byelection held after the NDP’s Sheila Malcolmson stepped down.
At an afternoon news conference at Lime Bay Park, surrounded by half a dozen Green candidates, Paul called the elected Green MPs from the province “champions.”
“It was very important to us to do all we could in the last days of the campaign to come out here and support our candidates,” Paul said.
The trip is Paul’s first to the West Coast during the campaign, and only her fourth outside her Toronto riding, where she is trying to win a seat for the first time.
The latest Nanos Research polls for CTV News and the Globe & Mail show 3.9 per cent of decided voters nationally planning to vote Green, a slight drop from at the start of the campaign.
And just two per cent of decided voters nationally would select Paul as their preferred Prime Minister, behind the Bloc Quebecois and People’s Party of Canada leaders.
(The polls surveyed 1,200 voters across Canada from Sept. 15 to 17, with a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.)
Support for the Green Party in B.C., however, has held relatively steady.
“I think (Paul’s visit) sends a message to people who aren’t in British Columbia, that this is a party which is still competitive and could actually get a couple seats,” said Pollster Mario Canseco, the President of Vancouver-based Research Co.
At the news conference, Paul mentioned she was disappointed the party wasn’t running a full slate, something that Canseco said complicates its position ahead of the election. He said the party is on track for its worst showing in two decades.
“The numbers for the Greens don’t look that great provincially or federally,” Canseco said. “But if you have those two well-known candidates knocking on doors,” he said, referencing May and Manly, “they could be safe.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Rainfall warnings of up to 80 mm among weather alerts in effect for 6 provinces
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres and other alerts have been issued for six Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Bus plunges off a bridge in South Africa, killing 45 people. An 8-year-old child is only survivor
A bus carrying worshippers headed to an Easter festival plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames in South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 45 people, authorities said.
Calgary bridges remain closed due to ongoing police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.