Skip to content

Vancouver Island Party seeking candidates for election

A new political party envisions Vancouver Island becoming the 11th province of Canada.

But first, the Vancouver Island Party (VIP) needs to find candidates for the Island constituencies before the May 9 provincial election.

“We have some interest expressed by several people but we don’t have them formally signed up yet,” said party leader Robin Richardson, a Victoria resident who is a Harvard-educated economist and a former Progressive Conservative member of parliament in Toronto, back when Joe Clark was prime minister.

“My goal is to get 14 candidates in place by the end of this month. I think we’re going to be quite competitive in a number of ridings, if we find the right candidates.

“A lot of people are fed up with the other parties,” Richardson added. “It’s not just recently, but to go back 150 years ago from last year, in 1866, there was a forced merger by England of the two colonies (Vancouver Island and B.C.). It went against the wishes of the people on the Island. Even the people on the mainland weren’t really in favour of it. Since then, the Island as a region has been largely ignored by both federal and provincial governments…We are a serious party. We’re not a fringe party, but for a long time we’ve been a fringe region.”

Richardson feels the Island’s population of 765,000 would yield more benefits as a province than as a region of B.C.

“In my professional opinion, we would be much, much better off as the 11th province of Canada. Right now, we have more population on Vancouver Island than three Canadian provinces, and much more than the three territories.”

VIP candidates need to go through a screening process and meet with a selection committee. If approved, they need 25 signatures in their riding — to satisfy the party — and another 75 signatures to satisfy Elections B.C. If there is more than one candidate in a riding, a party council will hold a nomination selection meeting where candidates will each have 10 minutes to make a presentation.

The person with the most votes becomes the VIP candidate.

“As we elect MLAs, in return for our support to the governing party, we will ask for a referendum in the next election that would ask Island voters if they favour the Island becoming a province. If we get 50 per cent plus one people supporting, then we would move toward a re-distribution of the Island ridings to as many as 50 — 25 north of the Malahat and 25 south.”

Then an Island election would be held. If the VIP formed a government, it would begin “negotiating our way into Confederation,” Richardson said.

One of the party platforms is the subsidization of ferry travel for Islanders.

“We would be looking for a very large subsidy from Ottawa, based on population share, for BC Ferries,” said Richardson. “The subsidy would be 88 per cent from Ottawa, 10 per cent from the rest of B.C. and two per cent from the government of Vancouver Island. With this subsidy, we would be able to offer free ferry passage for individuals.”

And lower fares for vehicles.

“Transportation cost is the major reason that we have a higher cost of living on the Island than on the mainland.”

The party also proposes free tuition for post-secondary students with a residency, and preferential hiring of graduates from Island colleges and universities.

For more information, visit www.vanisleparty.com