It appears the Green Party was all in when it came to one of its more high profile candidates in last fall’s federal election, only to come up short.
Burnaby North-Seymour Green candidate Lynne Quarmby spent $104,104 on her campaign, while receiving a near identical $104,935 from the party in transfers, according to Elections Canada’s campaign finance summary.
But the investment didn’t pay off, at least in votes, as Quarmby picked up just 2,765 votes, or 5.3 per cent of the vote.
In contrast, Liberal Terry Beech spent $129,730 on his winning campaign, while picking up 18,938 votes.
Despite the cost and outcome, the SFU biochemistry professor said there was a lot gained for the money spent in terms of “affecting the conversation.”
“The percentage of the vote I garnered on election day is not a good reflection of the impact I had on the campaign,” she told the NOW, adding she wouldn’t have run if the party wasn’t willing to back her.
Though Quarmby acknowledged money does make a difference in a campaign, she believes that credible campaigns can be mounted with less, and doesn’t want to see anyone dissuaded from running because of the expense.
Her Green colleagues in the two other Burnaby ridings received significantly less for their campaigns.
Burnaby South candidate Wyatt Tessari received $2,000 in transfers from the Green party, while New Westminster-Burnaby Green candidate Kyle Routledge received $800 from the party.
Wyatt and Routledge received 2.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent of the respectively.
On election night, the Green Party retained its one seat in Parliament and received 3.4 per cent of the national vote.
Quarmby said the spending on her campaign wasn’t a waste, arguing other ridings with less funding had benefitted from the profile put into her campaign.
She said she has no regrets running in the last election, but hasn’t decided whether she would try again, adding it’s too soon.
The NOW reached out to the Green Party for comment, but was told in an e-mail it would not comment on party contributions to individual campaigns.
Neither the NDP candidate Carol Baird Ellan or Conservative candidate Mike Little have filed their campaign returns.
The election expense limits for all candidates is $206,738.
