The timing of two provincial by-elections is vintage Gordon Campbell, according to Vancouver-Burrard NDP candidate Spencer Herbert.

Jammed between the October 14 federal election, the November 4 presidential election in the U.S. that usually draws the attention of many Canadians, and the November 15 municipal election, the by-elections for Vancouver-Burrard and Vancouver-Fairview on October 29 may pass by with voters taking little notice, Herbert noted.

“Certainly it’s a challenge to let people know about it, and I think [B.C. Liberal premier] Gordon Campbell knew that,” Herbert told the Straight. “It kind of shows his disdain for the voters. Once people hear about it, the comment I get quite often is, ”˜That’s Campbell for you.’ ”

Herbert is going up against businessman Arthur Griffiths for the B.C. Liberals, Drina Read of the B.C. Greens, and Marc Emery for the B.C. Marijuana Party.

Margaret MacDiarmid, who is running for the B.C. Liberals in Vancouver-Fairview, isn’t blaming the premier for the way the by-elections were scheduled, but she admitted there are challenges in the campaign.

“I’m glad that you know that we’re having a by-election,” MacDiarmid, a former president of the B.C. Medical Association, joked in a phone conversation with the Straight. “What I’m finding is there are certainly some people in Fairview that don’t even know that there is a by-election.”

However, she said that setting
the by-election for December, with the Christmas season, would be even worse.

The Vancouver-Fairview race may prove interesting to watch with leader of the B.C. Greens and Esquimalt councillor Jane Sterk joining the contest. The NDP is fielding community activist Jenn McGinn, and Emery’s wife, Jodie Emery, is running for the Marijuana party.

Sterk admitted that her party was caught a little off-guard when Campbell dropped the by-election writ on October 1. “We didn’t expect it until after the municipal election,” Sterk told the Straight.