BC Greens field fewer candidates than in 2017, blame snap election call

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The BC Green Party won’t run a full slate of 87 candidates when British Columbians go to the polls on Oct. 24.

In fact, the party will have fewer candidates than in the last election three years ago.

Then, the Greens had candidates on the ballot in all but four northern electoral districts. Nominations closed Friday afternoon with the party having candidates in only 74 constituencies.

Party leader Sonia Furstenau says the reason is because the election call was a snap one.

“We did not have the head start that the BC NDP had. We did not even have the head start that the BC Liberals had who had begun nomination processes long before this election was called,” Furstenau told reporters.

On the day the election was called, Furstenau says the party had no candidates.

RELATED: Furstenau says BC Greens aim to run full slate of candidates in election

The NDP and Liberals will, again, be the only parties with a full contingent on the ballot.

Conservative Party spokesman Alan Forseth told NEWS 1130 that Elections BC was still going through final paperwork on a few of its nominees, so he could not say how many candidates it will run. The party had 10 candidates in 2017.

The Elections BC website reports other parties that will have nominees in this election are the Libertarians, the Christian Heritage Party of B.C., B.C. Vision, the Communist Party of BC, and the Rural Party of BC.

The site also reveals that the once-powerhouse party of Premiers W.A.C. and Bill Bennett — the Social Credit Party — will not be running a single candidate.