Editor’s note: Green Party candidate Ernie Sellentin was unavailable for interview on Tuesday night, for our post-election coverage. Scott Stanfield met with him Thursday morning to discuss the campaign.
Ernie Sellentin, the Green Party candidate for Courtenay-Comox, placed third in voting in the May 9 provincial election with nearly 5,000 votes. Ronna-Rae Leonard of the NDP had 10,058 votes and Jim Benninger of the Liberals 10,049.
Province-wide, the Liberals won 43 seats and the NDP 41. The Greens won three seats, all on the Island. Party leader Andrew Weaver was re-elected in the Oak Bay-Gordon Head riding, Adam Olsen won Saanich North and the Islands, and Sonia Furstenau took the Cowichan Valley riding.
Four seats are needed for official party status.
“We have 16-point some odd per cent of the vote. That’s a large number of people that are not represented, just because of the way the voting system is, first-past-the-post,” said Sellentin, 65, of Comox. “People were voting because of what they could see the Green Party stood for.”
He notes Liberal numbers dropped about 4.1 per cent on Vancouver Island, and the NDP’s 3.5.
“We took votes from both. I’m hoping the voter turnout continues to rise, to have a chance to vote in something you believe in, versus voting for somebody that you don’t want to get in. It’s a much better option.”
Mail-in and absentee votes will be counted May 22-24, after which election results will become official.
Sellentin wasn’t surprised by the tight race in Courtenay-Comox.
“This whole strategic voting thing? It’s gone now. You can’t argue that point any more. When someone gets 5,000 votes, it’s because they don’t want to vote for either one of the other parties, because they don’t believe in what they’re putting forward.”
There’s a chance Sellentin will again run for office. If there is a next time, he expects to be much more prepared.
“We’re not going to get fewer votes next time. Our platform is built for the 21st century. It’s built from a brand new look at what’s going on in today’s economy, and around the world globally, and climate change,” said Sellentin, who is trained in climate science. “The way the whole world is going with flooding and everything, people have to wake up pretty quickly. We need to change. Christy (Clark) has been living off what (former premier) Gordon Campbell did way back, and hasn’t done anything more.”