Greens fail to make breakthrough

It was another disappointing election night for the B.C. Green party, which saw its support drop, as it again failed to elect any candidates.

Green Leader Adriane Carr had been seen as the party's best chance, but she finished third in her riding of Powell River-Sunshine Coast more than 4,000 votes behind the NDP winner.

"This province has been so highly polarized between right and left, and this campaign has been no different," Carr said, following her second shutout as party leader.

• LINK: Elections B.C. results in Vancouver-Burrard

Many observers thought she made a strong showing in the televised leaders debate, and she spent much of her time campaigning in her own riding.

But the party's support dropped from 12 per cent in the 2001 election to about 9 per cent on Tuesday night.

• INDEPTH: Adriane Carr

Green deputy leader Dennis Perry blamed his party's poor showing on the first-past-the-post electoral system.

"Let's face it, there are 70 governments in the world that have Greens in the legislature. They all have some form of proportional representation," he said.

Carr will face a leadership review before the next election, but says she has no plans to step aside.

"We will work in this party," she says. "We will work to build our party's capacity, to build our membership, to build our constituency associations, to build our donor base. So in fact we are on a level playing field with the other ones."

The Green party has never won a seat in a senior level of government in Canada.

• INTERVIEW: The Early Edition's Rick Cluff speaks with Adriane Carr.