Skip to content

Election night: Myron Jespersen praises Green gains

The failure of Green Party leader Elizabeth May to get a seat at the televised leaders debates proved a turning point in the election campaign, said Nanaimo-Alberni candidate Myron Jespersen.
98290parksvilleGreenteamweb
Members of the Nanaimo-Alberni Green Team in Parksville on election night.

The failure of Green Party leader Elizabeth May to get a seat at the televised leaders debates proved a turning point in the election campaign, said Nanaimo-Alberni candidate Myron Jespersen.

“I think not getting in the leaders debates was a big issue because we were counting on that,” he said. “Had we known that wasn’t going to happen we might have taken a bit of a different strategy. The reality is she wasnt in the debates, so the Greens were there to be forgotten on the national scene.”

However, Jespersen stressed he wasn’t overly concerned about the collapse of the Green vote across the country.

“That’s to be expected,” he said. “We didn’t run a national campaign like we did last time. We focused on getting Elizabeth May elected.”

He said a victory for May would be a huge win for the Greens, regardless of the result in Nanaimo-Alberni.

“If she wins her seat we have something we can build on,” he said. “If she doesn’t it’s back to the drawing board.”