B.C. Green leaders won’t work with NDP in election

B.C. Green leaders won’t work with NDP in election
By Carlito Pablo
http://www.straight.com/article-178515/bc-green-leaders-won%3F%3Ft-work-ndp-election

Green Party of B.C. leader Jane Sterk still won’t entertain suggestions that her party work together with the NDP to defeat the B.C. Liberals in this May’s provincial election.

“It’s not my intention to try and win seats for the NDP,” Sterk told the Straight. “It’s my intention to try and win seats for the Green party.”

Sterk noted that the Greens plan to run candidates in all of the 85 constituencies delineated by the Electoral Districts Act of 2008, dismissing notions that her party will step aside for certain NDP candidates in order to not split the anti-Liberal vote.

For her part, Sterk said that she will be nominated as her party’s candidate in the new electoral district of Esquimalt–Royal Roads on January 14. Known as Esquimalt-Metchosin until the election, the constituency is currently held by NDP MLA Maurine Karagianis.

As a candidate for council in the Township of Esquimalt, Sterk topped the election polls in 2005.

Green deputy leader Damian Kettlewell doesn’t know yet where he will run. Like Sterk, Kettlewell is bullish on fielding Greens in every constituency.

“We’re focused on electing Green MLAs,” Kettlewell told the Straight. “We have no interest in helping the NDP or the Liberals. We have a better plan for British Columbia, and we want to implement that in the legislature.”