Green showing improves, but still no seats

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This article was published 04/10/2011 (5279 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

James Beddome, leader of the Green Party of Manitoba, had hoped for a watershed but it was more like a trickle.

With a second-place result in Wolseley, Beddome won 50 per cent more votes than the party achieved last election. The Greens scored a record number of third-place finishes.

“We’ve got another four years to chip away at it,” he said.

Beddome likened the challenge the Greens faced in this election to the independent organic grocery story going up against Safeway and Superstore.

Beddome, 27, ran an aggressive campaign to steal NDP votes in Wolseley but it was not nearly enough to make a dent on the NDP’s grasp on the Winnipeg riding.

His spirited performance in the televised leaders debate probably did win some people over to the virtues of the Greens.

But the marketing might of the major parties trumped his fresh ideas.

The party fielded 32 candidates this year, twice as many as it did in 2007 and garnered 2.5 per cent of the popular vote a strong increase compared with the 2007 election.

“We more than doubled our slate of candidates this year and I’m confident we’ll have a full slate in the next election,” he said.