Amy Haysom isn’t ready to give up on becoming the local BC Green Party candidate in this fall’s provincial election.
The Salt Spring Islander who felt confident about her chances of being chosen by Saanich North and the Islands Green party members was left confused and frustrated after her name was removed from the ballot just hours before online voting commenced on Aug. 2.
As reported in last week’s Driftwood, after being unsatisfied with the explanation given for her removal, and noting irregularities with the process of her disqualification, Haysom launched a petition to press for another vote and has continued to publicize her experience, which she says points to irregularities in the party’s stated process. A number of signatories describe themselves as Green party members or supporters.
“I would say you’ve got a lot of livid people,” Haysom said on Monday. “I think this points to a bigger concern around internal party politics. So if we really are a democratic system, and particularly in a nomination contest, where a vetting process has already been completed . . . I mean, they won’t even highlight who made the decision, what the reason was, and it’s very non-transparent. In terms of a party that highlights participatory democracy as one of their core principles, that did not happen here.”
Haysom said she was contacted by BC Green Party returning officer Rylee Maclean on Aug. 2, the date of the vote, which had already been delayed by one day “due to technical difficulties,” and asked to withdraw from the race.
Maclean and Alex Brunke, party provincial field manager, indicated in a Zoom call that evening that the problem arose from an undisclosed person having a work-related “grudge” against her. Despite having successfully passed a thorough vetting process, where she disclosed a contract issue from when she taught some classes at Salt Spring Centre School, the returning officer said “new information” had been received about that situation.
No further details were shared, with confidentiality rules cited as the reason.
Green party officials said in an Aug. 12 statement that the actual complaint about Haysom was not investigated.
“The party is not an arbiter of whether background issues or concerns are objectively true or not . . . it is a confidential decision by the party as to who it wishes to move forward with in the upcoming election.”
But Haysom points out that BC Green Party bylaws state that “any complaint about a nomination contestant needs to be filed by a Green party member in good standing or another contestant, that it needs to be filed in written form, and that it needs to be investigated by the returning officer.”
She requested an investigation, but that did not occur. She also requested use of a 48-hour appeals process provision, but the vote proceeded less than an hour after she was disqualified, so no chance for an appeal was offered.
“I want to say it again: we were vetted. It was a very complete process. I mean, they were asking details about work history, about sexting, all kinds of things. So you have a very open vetting process that went on for about a week, and then they put three of us forward. And so it just seems so suspect that after two weeks of campaigning, nothing came forward until the last day.”
“The whole thing is very stinky,” she added.
Haysom said she has filed a complaint with Elections BC, highlighting the procedural breaches, and will proceed with an injunction next week if the party does not respond.
Salt Spring resident Dennis Lucarelli is one petition signatory who supported Haysom’s candidacy.
He said, “The mystery around the BC Green Party’s disqualifying Amy Haysom from the ballot, in which party members would choose their candidate, reminds me of one of those elite private ‘country clubs’ that don’t explain to applicants why they are being rejected. So I am no longer comfortable to vote for any BC Green candidate.”
When the Driftwood contacted BC Green Caucus press secretary JoJo Beattie to provide a response or update on this issue, she referred the query to John Kidder of the Green Party of Canada’s Federal Council. Kidder is also Saanich-Gulf Islands Green MP Elizabeth May’s husband. Neither Kidder nor May were able to respond to the Driftwood before Monday’s press deadline. May’s name had also appeared on the petition, but despite expressing support for Haysom’s situation, Haysom was assured by May that she did not add her name herself.
Haysom said she has received expressions of support from Green party members across Canada, including Quebec Green party leader Alex Tyrrell.
“He said, ‘You know, Amy, there’s a silver lining.’ He said, ‘None of us knew who Amy Haysom was a couple of weeks ago, but now we all do.’”
Robert Botterell was chosen as the riding’s candidate for this fall’s provincial election in the vote that occurred without Haysom on Aug. 2, with the result announced on Aug. 6.