Green leader will seek West Coast seat
One of the worst-kept secrets in Canadian politics has been confirmed — Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May has announced she will be seeking her party's nomination next week in the B.C. riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.
After months of speculation, May announced Tuesday morning she hopes to challenge long-term Conservative MP Gary Lunn for the riding, which includes suburbs north of Victoria and several Gulf Islands.
"I am excited by this challenge," May said in a news release. "Ever since Mr. Lunn fired the head of our nuclear safety commission I have wanted to hold Mr. Lunn to account for that shameful behaviour."
Lunn will likely be a tough opponent for May. He won the riding in 1997 as a Reform Party candidate and has held it through four straight elections. The veteran Conservative cabinet minister's portfolio includes Vancouver's 2010 Olympic Games.
But the riding, which includes several island communities, is also considered to have strong support for Green candidates, who won about 10 per cent of the vote in the past two elections, and nearly 17 per cent of the vote in 2004.
"Saanich-Gulf Islands has a tremendous appetite for change. People here are deeply committed to green values," May said Tuesday as she announced her intentions while standing on the Sidney seashore.
Not a parachute candidate
May already has the support of the former Green candidate for the riding, Andrew Lewis. But to win the nomination she still has to defeat local Green party member Stuart Hertzog, who has already announced he will seek the party's nomination.
May has led the national Green Party of Canada since August 2006, and the announcement comes in spite of her public vows that she would only run in federal campaigns in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova, where she finished second to incumbent Defence Minister Peter MacKay in the last election.
But last month she announced that she would not run in Nova Scotia again, and moved her home to the West Coast riding.
May has said her party has made her election to the House of Commons a priority and insisted that she run in the riding with the best chance of electing a Green MP.
But her campaign manager John Fryer dismissed the notion she's simply a parachute candidate.
"Canada needs Elizabeth May in Parliament and when we surveyed the country we found this riding seems to be the greenest," Fryer said.