Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Green gains in Vancouver but no break-through win

In 10 of 11 ridings, the Green Party grew their share of the popular vote
Jerry Kroll
Jerry Kroll, the Green candidate in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, and party volunteers watch as results come in. Photo Rebecca Blissett

The B.C. Greens will finally break through in Vancouver once voters see what the party’s leader and now legislative kingmaker is made of, says the party’s candidate in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.

“Either party is going to have to look at what Andrew Weaver is looking at,” said Jerry Kroll, who came second in his riding to incumbent NDP candidate Melanie Mark and intends to run again in the next provincial election.

Vancouver-Pleasant Green Party candidate Jerry Kroll at his headquarters at Kingsgate Mall before th
Vancouver-Mount Pleasant Green Party candidate Jerry Kroll beside his one-person electric car at his campaign office in Kingsgate Mall before polls closed May 9. 2017. Photo Rebecca Blissett

He said both parties will benefit from courting the Greens to win leverage in the Leg, and British Columbians will reap the rewards.

“This could be brilliant. In a year or two, we might be looking back at this night and going, ‘Wow, that was a magical evening after all,’” said Kroll.

With results still too close to call, even at midnight, the Liberal Party held a slim, two-seat lead over the NDP and stood on the cusp of forming a minority government with 43 seats, one shy of a majority.

The NDP had 41 seats while the Greens held the balance of power with three, one seat shy of official party status. All counts are unofficial.

“I don’t know who he is going to support,” said Kroll of Weaver, a climate change specialist at the University of Victoria.

Across Vancouver, the Green Party made gains in all ridings since the 2013 general election.

In Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, Kroll finished second with 17 per cent, as did Green candidate Pete Fry in a 2016 byelection when he garnered 26 per cent but still lost to the NDP's Melanie Mark, who was elected with 65 per cent support after Jenny Kwan vacated the seat to run for federal office. In the 2013 provincial election, the Green candidate won 12 per cent support in the riding.

In 10 other ridings, the Greens grew their share of the popular vote, climbing from 11 to 17 per cent in Vancouver-Hastings and nine to 16 per cent in Vancouver-False Creek, where Liberal Sam Sullivan narrowly beat popular first-time NDP candidate Morgane Oger.

The Green vote more than doubled in Vancouver-Quilchena from seven per cent in 2013 to 15 per cent this election though the Liberal candidate garnered nearly 60 per cent support to win the riding.

The lowest Green vote came in Vancouver-Kingsway, but the nine per cent support this time around in the riding is triple the three per cent they won in 2013. 

Correction: This story was updated May 10 to reflect the fact Pete Fry ran in a byelection, not a general election, in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.