The B.C. Green Party has announced its candidate for the upcoming Abbotsford–Mission byelection, in which B.C. Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay hopes to win a seat in the provincial legislature. Rick Hansen Secondary School teacher Stephen Fowler will be running for the Greens in the Sept. 26 contest, the party announced in a news release Saturday. The release highlighted his history of teaching students that “to make a difference in the world, you have to be engaged and determined.” A lifelong resident of the Fraser Valley, Fowler is running for the Greens because he shares the party’s belief that “rising inequality and government failure to confront a climate emergency already destroying entire communities in B.C. have the same source: political and economic systems geared to prop up the extreme wealth of very few at the expense of the safety and wellbeing of everyone else,” according to the release. “Government’s job is to actually make people’s lives better, to create opportunity and tackle problems together that we cannot face alone,” Fowler said, in the release. “But the two main parties lack the courage to champion proven solutions. That’s what I’m prepared to do.” Party Leader Emily Lowan described Fowler as “a passionate, caring community advocate.” “The people of Abbotsford–Mission deserve a politics that doesn’t just offer a vision of what it’s against, but what it can do to make life better—that’s why Stephen is the right candidate for this moment,” Lowan said, in the release. “Faced with a choice between culture wars that distract from real problems, or half truths and false solutions that make headlines but keep us on a dangerous path, I hope they will choose to vote for something better with the BC Greens.” Premier David Eby called the byelection on Aug. 31, just nine days after former MLA Reann Gasper resigned her seat to make way for Findlay to run. Gasper was named Findlay’s deputy chief of staff within a few days of resigning, and after former chief of staff Chris Delaney stepped down this week, Gasper was promoted to replace him. The other candidates in the byelection are former NDP agriculture minister Pam Alexis, who won the riding in 2020 before losing to Gasper in 2024, and CentreBC candidate Lakhwinder Jhaj. The as-yet-unnamed new party formed by former Conservative MLAs Peter Milobar and Ian Paton is not running a candidate in the byelection. Five of the nine MLAs who have left the B.C. Conservatives over their objections to Findlay’s leadership since mid-August announced the formation of the new party on Friday.
