A Yes for Green’s Lowan because ‘someone has to save the trees,’ voter says

VICTORIA — Jim Leard had just cast his ballot for Emily Lowan on Friday when he ran into the British Columbia Green Party leader outside a high school in Greater Victoria.

“We have a saying in the family, because we all vote Green, ‘someone has to talk for the trees,'” he said with a chuckle.

Lowan had also just voted in the advance ballot at the school when Leard approached her. She told him the party’s prospects were looking good as the election approaches on Oct. 24, including in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, where Green candidate Jeremy Valeriote is running as the incumbent.

“But it would be incredible to have a few more breakthroughs,” she said. “So, tell your friends, get everybody out to vote.”

Lowan lives in the nearby riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill, not in Saanich North and the Islands where she is running. Residents can vote at any advance voting place in B.C., although they must cast the ballot for a candidate in their own riding.

Lowan voted alongside her father and grandparents on Friday.

“We are all just so thrilled to be casting our ballots,” she said.

Lowan had her own personal breakthrough earlier in the week, when she appeared in the only televised debate of B.C.’s snap election.

“It helped introduce me to the province,” she said.

Lowan became the party’s leader little more than a year ago, running on a platform that opposed large resource projects and a pledge to tax the wealthiest residents to fund social programs.

The promises, coupled with a strong commitment to the Declaration of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples Act, earned her the endorsement of Grand Chief Stewart Phillip in her leadership campaign, and again on Friday in her bid to win in the Vancouver Island riding.

Lowan posted the endorsement from the president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs on social media.

Phillip said he was “totally honoured” to support the candidate for Saanich North and the Islands.

With days left in the election campaign, Lowan said she would be spending a lot of time in the riding and others on Vancouver Island, which the party has targeted.

The Greens have held the Saanich North riding since 2017, but the party has never won more than three seats in an election.

The NDP on Friday also issued a statement saying Phillip had endorsed Eby as premier, saying he was “the best choice as leader of this province.”

“David Eby has a good heart, and true genuine friends and allies are forever,” Stewart said in the statement.

Phillip has been a strong supporter of the NDP, with his wife Joan elected as a New Democrat legislator in 2024 before she died this past summer.

He backed the NDP in 2024, standing alongside Eby and telling an audience in Victoria that a vote for the Greens was a vote for the B.C. Conservatives.

In his statement posted by Lowan, Phillip said the Green leader’s understanding of the climate crisis as well as her “proactive, principled, evidence-based approach” to finding solutions were key reasons for his endorsement.

“She is a strong and courageous ally for Indigenous Peoples in B.C. and approaches environmental stewardship with full respect for Indigenous rights,” the statement said.

Phillip said he was supporting Lowan “in a riding that the Greens have held for the past three elections, because she has earned my full respect and admiration and is part of our future.”

Phillip previously had a falling out with Eby over the NDP government’s handling of B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

Eby backed down earlier this year on changing or suspending parts of the legislation in the face of opposition from Stewart and his late wife, among others.

Phillips’ statement about Eby on Friday said he strongly supports “the principles and ideology” of the NDP under Eby and called on voters to place their trust in him.

“I have been a longtime supporter of the BC NDP since Dave Barrett, and my late wife Joan Phillip was a proud BC NDP (legislator) in David Eby’s government,” he said.

“We have known David Eby and his family for over 20 years. He attended Joan’s funeral and went to her graveside in our community cemetery.”

Eby said during an unrelated campaign announcement on Friday that his government had points of disagreement and differences with Indigenous leadership.

“But at the end of the day, the only way this province will be successful is working in partnership with First Nations,” he said. “It not just lifts up the whole province, it lifts up First Nations communities that have been living in grinding poverty.”

Eby said he and Lowan share a commitment to working with First Nations and noted the Conservatives have proposed to toss out the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and other economic partnerships.

“Doing so will create unbelievable chaos at a time we need to be building up this province,” he said.

Eby was in Coquitlam on Friday, while interim Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson was in Port Moody, both in Metro Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.