Green Party leader Elizabeth May says there are winnable seats in B.C. Interior

Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May stepped outside of the party's campaign office in Kamloops to speak to supporters and lead them on a downtown march, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. (JENNA WHEELER / iNFOnews.ca)

October 15, 2019 - 4:52 PM

Green Party leader Elizabeth May brought her election campaign to Kamloops today and marched with supporters in the city's downtown.

May was joined today, Oct. 15, by local candidates including Iain Currie from the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding, Robert Mellalieu from Central-Okanagan-Similkameen, Travis Ashley from Kelowna-Lake Country and May's husband John Kidder, who is running in the Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon riding.

She says her visit to B.C. hs been highly anticipated, particularly in Ashcroft, where Kidder owns a small farm.

“We’re going to places where we can win seats,“ May says. “We’re seeing very interesting things on the ground and particularly here, these are winnable seats for us.”

Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Green Party candidate Iain Currie, left, and leader Elizabeth May marched with a group of supporters through downtown Kamloops during a campaign stop, Tuesday, Oct.15, 2019. (JENNA WHEELER / iNFOnews.ca)

May won't be making any other campaign stops in the B.C. Interior before election day on Oct. 21.

“Right now the Maritimes look very good for us," May says. "I was just campaigning in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and also campaigning in Quebec in Ontario. We have winnable seats all over the place but obviously, B.C. is ground zero for us.”

Supporters squeezed into Currie’s small office in downtown Kamloops to speak with the media and moving outside to march up Victoria Street.

May and the candidates visited a Blenz coffee shop while supporters waited outside. May spoke with owner Lothar Helwing, who was pleasantly surprised to see the federal candidate.

Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May shakes hands with Blenz owner Lothar Helwing on a campaign stop in Kamloops, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. (JENNA WHEELER / iNFOnews.ca)

Helwing says he and his partner have been planning to vote Green after previously casting Conservative and Liberal ballots.

“We’re going Green primarily because it’s a future thing. The footprint people leave on the planet is really important,” Helwing says. “It seems more positive when you try to be more environmentally friendly it spills over into all other sorts of facets in people’s lives.

May spoke about her plans for Canada if she is elected leader, including tax system reforms, finding revenue in new areas and the creation of a green economy. She talked briefly about where her party would find the money to fund platform promises such as dental care for people with low incomes, tuition and student debt forgiveness and a pharmaceutical care plan.

“Our budget is balanced by finding new sources of revenue where we thought it might be - where rich people hide their money,” May says.

May suggests higher taxes on the wealthy, as well as a different approach to the taxation of e-commerce companies like Amazon, Google and Airbnb.

May and Currie also had a private discussion with T'kemlups te Secwepemc chief and council.

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