B.C. Green Party leader Jane Sterk dismisses any suggestion that the Green Party might not run a candidate in the Penticton riding due to the strong environmental reputation of NDP candidate Dick Cannings.
Cannings was chosen as the NDP candidate for Penticton on Sunday, stating he hopes to draw away some of the traditional Green Party support. Cannings is a well-known naturalist and author and co-founder of Penticton's annual Meadowlark Festival. 
Sterk said Monday the Green Party has agreed to not run candidates against independents Vicki Huntington and Bob Simpson and is considering doing the same with John van Dongen. She said NDP leader Adrian Dix was approached by the Greens, but he's not interested in a similar arrangement.
"It is our intention to run strong candidates throughout B.C.," said Sterk in an interview with The Herald. "I think it's pretty clear from our discussions with Adrian Dix and (federal New Democrat leader) Thomas Muclair's public comments that the NDP has no interest in any sort of seat-by-seat accommodations."
Sterk claimed the NDP has weak policies on the environment.
"The party whips its members so Cannings will be supporting the expansion of fracking in northern B.C., gas pipelines, the construction of LNG plants and the shipping of gas to China using LNG super tankers,” she said. “He will be non-committal on Site C and will be non-committal on the proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. He will have a modest agenda which includes no meaningful policy to deal with climate change." 
The Green Party has yet to announce its candidate in Penticton. Julius Bloomfield, who finished third in the 2009 election and was among the top five Green Party candidates in B.C., has stated he will not run again for the party.