They are the not-so-few and could end up making a big difference as the clock counts down toward the 2024 provincial election.
The record-breaking 54 independent and unaffiliated candidates running in this year's provincial election account for almost 17 per cent of all candidates. As polls continue to show a tight race between the B.C. NDP and the Conservative Party of B.C., these independents along with B.C. Greens running in selected riding could end up holding the balance of power.
One such candidate is Kevin Acton. He is running in Vernon-Lumby, where the B.C. NDP's Harwinder Sandhu won by a narrow margin in 2020 ahead of an incumbent B.C. Liberal MLA with the Conservatives in third. The NDP would naturally like to keep that riding, while the B.C. Conservatives' path toward electoral victory may depend on running the table across B.C.'s Interior. Acton, well-known as the long-time mayor of Lumby, could up-end this calculation for either party.
He was initially running for B.C. United before leader Kevin Falcon withdrew the party from the campaign, and is confident that this year's election could see independents win seats. He pointed to Mike Bernier (Peace River South) and Dan Davies (Peace River North) as prospective winners.
"We could be in the same situation that (former B.C. Greens Leader Andrew) Weaver was back in 2017, where we were getting really good legislation, because we can hold the government accountable."
Acton is pitching himself as the centrist, potentially powerful alternative to Sandhu and Conservative Dennis Giesbrecht.
During an all-candidates' meeting in Vernon, Acton stressed his local ties and denied the existence of vote-splitting. He added that there is just the "far-left," the "far-right" and the "just right" — himself — in stressing his potential to hold the balance of power as a fiscal conservative with a social conscience.
Acton's self-description has not gone unnoticed. Adam Walker, the former New Democratic MLA for Parksville-Qualicum now running for re-election as an independent in Ladysmith-Oceanside, quoted his line when talking to Black Press Media.
"It resonates with a lot of people," Walker said. "I have no ambitions of joining a party."
Like Acton, he stressed his local connections in arguing that being free of a party label has been liberating.
"I think the challenge is that the political system we have right now is broken," he said. "We have got elected officials that are loyal to the party and not to the people they represent, not the people that voted them in, not the people, that put them there."
He added that he "fundamentally disagreed" with many things the B.C. NDP did when he was part of its caucus, pointing to concerns around the environment and health care among others.
Eby kicked out Walker out of the caucus in the fall of 2023, citing unspecified misconduct following complaints from a staffer. Walker for his part said he had "recurring and serious issues with a unionized employee" in his office.
Walker is among six incumbent MLAs running as independents, the other ones being Bernier, Davies, Carolee Oakes (Prince George-North Cariboo), Tom Shypitka (Kootenay Rockies) and Karin Kirkpatrick (West Vancouver-Capilano). All except for Walker were B.C. United MLAs. Four of them (Bernier, Davies, Oakes and Shypitka decided to press on with their re-election campaigns after B.C. United had suspended its campaign. Kirkpatrick had initially decided not to run again, but then re-entered the race after the suspension.
"It was originally motivated by a combination of anger and fear, but that was just the beginning," Kirkpatrick said. But this changed, when she considered the impact of Falcon's decision on the larger democratic process.
"There are a lot of federal Liberals, disenfranchised (New Democrats) and certainly federal Conservatives, who just don't see themselves in this (Conservative Party of B.C.)," she said. "Those people all needed a place to go and they (Rustad, Falcon) tried to take it away from them."
Like Acton and Walker, Kirkpatrick said the lack of a party label gives her a level of flexibility she did not have before when campaigning.
"We've got the freedom to do what we want to do and do it quickly," she said.
But if all three are trying to leverage their lack of a party label to their advantage as part of locally focused campaigns, they also acknowledge institutional obstacles, the key one being fundraising.
As independents, they could not start to fundraise until after the writ had dropped.
"We started two and a half weeks ago with $0 in the bank," Kirkpatrick said. "We are probably going to be at $60,000 in the next couple of days (and) a fully funded campaign is $70,000. So because of that, I don't feel we are behind the eight-ball at all."
In fact, Kirkpatrick sees her run — which has drawn support from political and business leaders — as proof-of-concept for a centrist alternative.
"The fact that we were able to raise so much money so quickly, demonstrates that there are people that need and want that centre. We wouldn't have known that until we stepped into it and then we saw the support that came with that."
Depending on their strength, independents also often face the charge of siphoning votes away from candidates on the same side of the political spectrum, thereby allowing candidates on the other end to win.
Acton does not buy this, citing an internal campaign analysis that shows his campaign does not need to worry about the Conservatives based on the 2020 results.
"So I don't really feel like we are splitting the vote," Acton said. "We feel it's a three-headed race -- far left, far right and the centre candidate."
Pointing to the electoral histories of their ridings, Kirkpatrick and Walker also dismiss the possibility.
Ultimately, all independents face a tough road. When Vicki Huntington won Delta South in 2009, she became the first Independent candidate in 60 years to win her riding. She made history again when she won re-election in 2013.
Speaking to Canadian Press, Huntington said two things are critical to be elected as an independent member of the legislature in British Columbia — trusted name recognition and an angry constituency.
With six incumbents MLA, several recognizable names left over from the collapsed B.C. United campaign and polls showing residents thinking B.C. is heading in the wrong direction, both conditions may be met.
-with files from Canadian Press
