May says she's leaning to run against Lunn
'My heart is here,' says Green leader, who will decide next month on move to Sidney
By Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
August 12, 2009 5:58 AM
Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May is house-hunting in Sidney this week as she decides whether to run for election in Saanich-Gulf Islands against long-time Conservative MP Gary Lunn.
"I am so strongly leaning towards running here and I have got the most wonderful response," May said in an interview.
"My heart is here, but I just want to make sure."
The decision will be made early next month, said May, who is expecting a vote of non-confidence in the government in late September, followed by a federal election.
May, 55, who has led the federal Green Party since 2006, has had ties to B.C. for decades and believes voters in Saanich-Gulf Islands are ready to make history and elect the first Green MP.
"This is a traditional area of strength for the Greens. People have small-g green values and many people think it would be exciting and important to elect the first Green MP," she said.
May, who is from Cape Breton, N.S., ran in her home riding of Central Nova last year, even though she knew it was a long shot against cabinet minister Peter MacKay.
The priority at that time was getting the first Green elected. That didn't happen, and now the party is focusing on getting May elected.
May said she has her family's support for a move across the country.
"My youngest daughter is 18 and off to university in September and even taking the dog with her. I don't have empty-nest syndrome so much as nestless syndrome," she said.
Saanich-Gulf Islands, which Lunn has held since 1997, has seen the Green Party vote fluctuate from 16.7 per cent in 2004 to 9.9 per cent in 2006 and 10.5 per cent in 2008.
However, last year's election results were complicated by two former Green Party members running for other parties and the withdrawal of the NDP candidate.
In the end, Liberal Briony Penn, a former Green, was narrowly beaten by Lunn.
The waters were further muddied by an electronic phone message, fraudulently purporting to be from the NDP, asking supporters to vote for Julian West after he withdrew. It was never discovered who was responsible.
Investigations were also launched into four groups of third-party advertisers, which sprung up to support Lunn and spent more than $12,000. The groups all had links to Victoria lawyer Bruce Hallsor, a director on Lunn's riding association.
"Saanich-Gulf Islands did have the most dirty tricks and most skulduggery," said May, who wants to see an end to "brutal, toxic partisanship" in Parliament and to dirty tricks during election campaigns.
Lunn did not return calls yesterday, but May said she saw him at the Calgary Stampede this summer and he asked if she was going to run against him.
"I said, 'That's the rumour,' and he said, 'I will welcome the challenge,'" she said.
Penn said she would "dearly love" to see May in Parliament, but since March she's been backing Liberal nomination candidate Renee Hetherington in Saanich-Gulf Islands.
The Liberal nomination meeting will be held Sept. 12.
"I would hate to see the riding split because of two very good women candidates," said Penn.
jlavoie@tc.canwest.com
© Copyright © The Victoria Times Colonist
Wow, I nearly threw up in my mouth a little bit. I thought her heart was in Central Nova? Now her heart is in a riding where she thinks she has the best chance (which if she wasn't a complete ditzy own-hype-believing moron, she would have run here last election).
Despite Briony Penn's new political stripes, I'm sure that she will be there at the airport to help her lug her carpet-wrapped belongings to her new home.