Fuhr will have a fight on his hands in 2019 election
Kelowna-Lake Country Liberal MP Stephen Fuhr, who benefited from the absence of a local Green candidate on the ballot in the 2015 federal election, expects to face opposition from the party next year.
And he also expects to see a “parade” of high-profile Conservatives pass through the riding in the run-up to next year’s election as that party tries to reclaim a riding it long held before his victory in 2015.
“There’ll be the entire Conservative Party of Canada machine coming for this riding,” Fuhr said Wednesday. “I mean, that’s what I’m staring down the barrel of. It’s just part of the job.”
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer kicked off a B.C. tour this week with a visit to Kelowna, a riding held by small-c conservative parties from 1972 until threeterm Conservative MP Ron Cannan lost to Fuhr.
“The bottom line is the Conservatives want this riding back, so I would totally expect to see Andrew here more,” said Fuhr, who was meeting with Okanagan farming and agri-business leaders in the company of federal Liberal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay.
In the 2015 election, local Greens decided not to run a candidate against Cannan, throwing their support instead to Fuhr after the Liberals promised to introduce a form of proportional representation.
The Greens had won nine per cent of the local vote in the 2011 federal election.
Aided by the Green’s support, Fuhr won the 2015 election with 46 per cent of the vote, six per cent more than Cannan received.
Since the Liberals abandoned their promise to move toward proportional representation, many Greens have felt betrayed and regretted their decision to support Fuhr.
On Wednesday, Fuhr acknowledged that animosity, but said he did all he could to live up to his promise to urge the government to implement electoral reform.
“I did the very best I could to advocate for them. They got legitimate representation from me on that issue, which they wouldn’t have gotten from the other guy (Cannan),” Fuhr said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was no consensus in the country that the voting system should be changed, or what model should replace it, when he abandoned his pledge to introduce electoral reform.
“Electoral reform at the end of the day just didn’t make the cut of the list of things that really mattered to people,” Fuhr said.
He acknowledged his path to re-election might be a bit more challenging if the Greens decide to run against him next year: “It would be a little bit of an advantage for me if there’s one less name on the ballot and they’re progressive. But that’ll be up to them to make that decision.”
An email sent to local Green Party spokesman Gary Blidook asking the party’s intentions for running a candidate next year did not draw an immediate response Wednesday.