The BC Green party candidate for Oak Bay Gordon Head has taken to Twitter claiming the NDP tried to get him to step aside.
Andrew Weaver, one of Canada’s top climate change scientists, says the NDP’s Michael Byers phoned him up asking him to step aside.
Weaver on Twitter then says Byers offered him a deputy minister of environment spot, if the NDP win the spring provincial election, if he were to bow out.
On the social media platform Weaver insinuates Byers, on behalf of the NDP, said the party was worried about Green support in the riding detracting from NDP votes.
The leader of the BC Green party is backing up her candidate in Oak Bay Gordon Head as he makes allegations the NDP tried to get him to step aside.
Jane Sterk says Andrew Weaver told her about the phone call from the NDP’s Michael Byers.
“Yes I was aware of it my recollection is around September around the nomination process time.”
While some NDP insiders take to twitter to say Byers is not a provincial party guy and has no power to make deals, Sterk agrees, sort of.
“I would imagine that, that is true if you want plausible deniability you don’t have your front line people make these kind of suggestions.”
She calls the move the difficult part of politics.
“People try and manipulate the system and believe there should be no Green party I guess is the bottom line.”
Sterk is also worried other potential green candidates will also be targeted.
“Well I think that as we become more competitive and they start to worry about us they will use strategies like this to try and prevent our candidates or discourage our candidates from running competitive campaigns.”
Below are tweets from BC Green party candidate in Oak Bay Gordon Head who tweets as @AJWVictoriaBC as he tweets to NDP insider David Schreck who tweets as @StrategicThghts
‘You never answered my question? Why did a senior NDPer ask me to step aside from the Green nomination in OBGH. Do u know?’
‘I was phoned up by Michael Byers. He said the provincial NDP would like me to step aside.’
‘.@StrategicThghts I said I was running for the Greens not against the NDP or Liberals.’
‘@StrategicThghts And then he talked about NDP potentially offering me Deputy Minister of Environment.’
‘NDP insider calls me up and asks me to step down as Green candidate in OBGH. Talks about party being worried about Green support.’
‘Talks about other ways I could be effective in an NDP government. Dangles the idea of my being Deputy Minister of the Environment’
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