Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May did not mince words when she spoke to reporters late Monday night after voters in SaanichB次元官网网址揋ulf Islands sent her back to Ottawa.
May said she has no B次元官网网址渄oubtB次元官网网址� a targeted New Democratic campaign B次元官网网址渇looding our mailboxes and airwaves with untruths about the Green PartyB次元官网网址� robbed her party of a stronger showing in Greater Victoria, where internal polls had shown B次元官网网址渧ery strong leadsB次元官网网址� in the ridings of Victoria and Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke.
B次元官网网址淲e really learned some things,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淲e didnB次元官网网址檛 think that smears and attacks would be sufficient to erode the leads we had. So we were wrong and we didnB次元官网网址檛 respond in kind. We basically didnB次元官网网址檛 respond at all. We assumed that voters would be as outraged as we were.B次元官网网址�
Speaking to reporters earlier, she even spoke of B次元官网网址渃oncentrated campaigns of disinformationB次元官网网址� aimed only at Vancouver Island seats.
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With these comments, May referred to advertisements and flyers, which suggested the Greens would prop up a Conservative minority government and curtail abortion rights. New Democratic officials, for their part, defended the advertisements, which appeared in the final days of the campaign and further intensified the verbal sparring between May and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh.
The sparring also confirmed the regional race in Greater Victoria was between the New Democrats and the Greens, who had hoped to turn the region into a springboard for greater national recognition. In the end, the New Democrats prevailed by holding off Green challenges in Victoria, Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke, and Cowichan-Malahat-Langford.
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In Victoria, Coun. Laurel Collins won 33.2 per cent of the vote, ahead of Green Racelle Kooy, who won 29.7 per cent, to retain a seat that New Democrats have held since 2006. Collins will take the place of former MP Murray Rankin, who had held the seat for seven years. In Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke, Randall Garrison returns to Ottawa after winning his third straight election, beating Green David Merner by a margin of 34.1 per cent to 26.3 per cent. Greens had identified both ridings as pick-ups. Sharing a stage with May at VictoriaB次元官网网址檚 Crystal Gardens on election night, both Kooy and Merner told the audience that they had not seen the last of them.
Less competitive was the race in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, where New Democratic incumbent Alistair Macgregor defended the seat he had won in 2015, beating Conservative Alana DeLong by a margin of 36.2 per cent to 25.8 per cent, with Green candidate Lydia Hwitsum coming in third place with 20.2 per cent of the vote.
Ultimately, New Democrats retained the three out of four Greater Victoria seats they held before the writ dropped. Looking across Vancouver Island, they retained five out of seven ridings with a connection to Vancouver Island (North Island-Powell River straddles Vancouver Island and the northern coast of the mainland).
Greens, meanwhile, retained both of the ridings they held before the election: MayB次元官网网址檚 riding of Saanich Gulf-Islands and Paul ManlyB次元官网网址檚 riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith, which he had won in a byelection held in May.
Merner had predicted at the time that ManlyB次元官网网址檚 victory would help spark a Green wave. In the end, the status quo prevailed.
Jamie Lawson, associate professor of political science at the University of Victoria, acknowledged the Greens did not have the breakthrough they had anticipated but also added that they can take some comfort in the fact that they showed strength in Atlantic Canada.
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