Green Party of British Columbia
The Green Party of British Columbia is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party received over 12% of the vote in the May 2001 provincial election, but elected no members to the provincial legislature.
The Greens' main competitor for members and votes is the BC New Democratic Party, which often accuses it of 'splitting the vote' to the benefit of the BC Liberal Party. Under BC's first past the post electoral system, the three-way split reduced the BC New Democrats below the minimum number of seats (four) required for official party status and access to funds for staff and research. Although Premier Gordon Campbell could have granted the NDP (or some joint opposition composed of the NDP and other parties such as the Greens) this official party status, he chose not to do so, leaving British Columbia with no official opposition.
The Greens are particularly strong in lower mainland BC, where leader Adrianne Carr and former punk musician Joe Keithley (of the D.O.A.) ran, and each received over 25% of the vote. As with the Green Party of the United States, the BC Greens receives support from middle-class professionals and students, environmental activists, and political figures from the arts, but has had difficulty appealing to the working class.
The party has moved towards an allegedly "eco-capitalist" position in recent years, claiming to be 'neither right nor left', and causing some members, including Carr's predecessor as leader, to leave for the NDP. It also has a reputation for being anti-labour, including opposing a strike by Vacouver transit workers.
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