I’m part of a group of people who are profoundly concerned about climate change. Many of us worked on the proportional representation campaign, and have been involved with the Green Party or the NDP or both in the past.
I implore Kootenay-Columbia NDP and Green candidates Wayne Stetski and Abra Brynne to put the climate crisis ahead of partisanship and co-operate in the upcoming federal election so that when one takes the lead, the other encourages their supporters to switch their support. I ask them to do this so that one of them will defeat a climate denying candidate.
They have both made enormous contributions to our community, and have demonstrated their commitment to doing the right thing in the face of the climate emergency we’re facing. I hope that they will both take the bold and heroic action of doing what’s right for our environment, despite the pressures you’ll inevitably face from your respective Parties.
We’ve asked the leaders of both of your parties to co-operate during this election in order to not split the environmental/progressive vote and to maximize the number of federal political representatives who want to address climate change in a meaningful way. But neither have responded favourably.
By co-operating this way, both of you will both succeed. The candidate who gets the support of the other party will likely become our region’s federal representative. The one who doesn’t will have demonstrated their commitment to doing what’s needed in this critical historic moment.
If the voters who are gravely concerned about the climate crisis divide our votes between two parties, the victory of a climate crisis-denying Conservative is virtually certain. We have to rise above partisanship to meet this crisis. It is of utmost importance to elect a climate concerned representative from our riding.
Please do what is needed in this time of environmental urgency, and in the upcoming election put aside partisan concerns for the sake of the future we all want.
Diana van Eyk
Nelson