Politics without power? Sonia Furstenau hopes BC United exiles swell independent ranks

Chilliwack podcaster Aaron Pete, a frequent collaborator with the Current, has interviewed the leaders of all four political parties. You can find those here: David Eby | John Rustad | Kevin Falcon 

The leader of BC’s Green Party won’t only be cheering on her own party’s candidates this fall.

With BC United’s collapse leaving several incumbent MLAs running as independents, Sonia Furstenau said she hopes the election brings a wave of Independent MLAs who could empower individual politicians (and, uncoincidentally, her own party) with much more law-making power.

Without a real shot at forming government, BC’s Green Party must continually make the case to voters that ballots cast for its candidates can still have a positive impact on the province.

In an interview with Chilliwack podcaster Aaron Pete on Sept. 14, Furstenau alluded to those challenges, while suggesting that this election has a potential to return the party to the height of the influence it wielded when former-leader Andrew Weaver held the balance of power following the 2017 election.

“I always say, if power is what interests you, BC Greens are probably not your best choice because, that's that's not an easy avenue to power,” she said, “but it is an avenue to being able to have a significant impact on public policy by raising issues that no other political parties will raise or talk about, by putting forward solutions, by putting things on the political agenda that wouldn't be there.”

Furstenau said she has thought about her dream post-election scenario. And it imagines the election not just of a larger Green caucus, but of independent candidates—some of whom are former long-time members of BC United.

“I have a vision for the best possible outcome for this election and the BC legislature,” she told Pete. “Number one, there are a number of independent candidates.” She pointed to Adam Walker, a former NDP MLA who was ousted after a human resource complaint, along with several BC United MLAs who are now standing as Independents.

“I look at Tom Shypitka, I look at Dan Davies, I look at Mike Bernier.”

“In a riding where you have a strong independent running—especially someone who has demonstrated that they are a strong and effective MLA—elect that independent,” she urged. She also urged voters to cast a ballot for a Green, in ridings where they are strong.

“The outcome ideally is we have a strong group of independents and a slightly bigger, stronger group of B.C. Greens. Then we have nobody with all of the power, because it's when we give all of the power to one political party that we start to see the outcomes where people feel disaffected, where people don't feel included, where governments are being able to use that power to ram through whatever they want.”

Furstenau argued a legislature in which Greens and independents hold the balance of power would be more, not less, productive than one in which a single party can easily pass legislation.

The Greens have not yet named candidates in the ridings of the four candidates Furstenau cited. But her pro-independent advice may have hit its inevitable limit shortly after she spoke to Pete last weekend. On Monday, ex-BC United MLA Karen Kirkpatrick announced would be running as an independent in her West Vancouver riding. Kirkpatrick matches Furstenau’s description of those respected and experienced incumbent that should be elected, but the Greens are already running a candidate in the riding.

Furstenau’s interview took place on Sept. 14, before Kirkpatrick’s announcement. We asked the Greens for a comment about whether her advice would be different in that West Vancouver rideing. We did not receive a response by the time we published this piece.

You can watch Furstenau’s comments about the potential of a minority legislature here.

Furstenau and Pete also discussed climate change, the drug and housing crises, and the Green Party’s stance on liquified natural gas—and a large LNG project at a northern First Nation’s proposed project.

You can watch the entire interview below, or here.

You can find the interviews with the other leaders here: David Eby | John Rustad | Kevin Falcon