Okanagan Greens and Liberals collaborate

KELOWNA — The effort to unseat the Kelowna-Lake Country Conservative MP in the upcoming federal election has begun.

The Green Party and Liberal candidates teamed up in hopes of uniting centre-left voters.

“I’m not sure this has happened before, but you know, given what we are facing, especially in this riding being very, very conservative, it certainly doesn’t get us all the way there but it certainly helps to do that,” says Stephen Fuhr, a federal Liberal candidate for Kelowna-Lake Country. “The best part about this is it’s grassroots and it’s democracy at its finest, that’s exactly what it’s all about, coming together for a common good.”

Local federal Green Party members voted Thursday night to cooperate with federal Liberals in the Kelowna-Lake Country riding to try and unseat Ron Cannan.

Fuhr says there are four areas where the Liberals and Greens agree on and he says “getting rid of Stephen Harper” is at the top of their agenda.

Fuhr adds both parties also support the idea of electoral reform, evidence-based policy and urgent action on climate change.

However, the partnership doesn’t mean endorsement of the other party’s platform.

“Both parties to the cooperation agreement point out that it does not constitute Green support for the Liberal platform, or Liberal support for the Green platform,” says Lance Greenberg, President of Kelowna-Lake country Federal Liberal Association. “Instead, they say, its purpose is to achieve the common goals that Fuhr and Green Party members share.”

The local liberals hope to inspire other riding associations to take on the same inter-party cooperation strategy.

“It’s Green Party policy to cooperate with other parties, but implementing that is easier said than done,” says Dan Ryder, the Green Party member who proposed the cooperation idea. “But our efforts here show that it is possible.”

Global News tried contacting MP Ron Cannan, but was told he is not available for comment.