Green Party hoping to grow on Election Day

Manitoba Greens poised for a breakthrough? Jeff Keele on if a strong performance by the Manitoba Greens will translate on election night gains for the party.

A growing party is hoping to make a break through on Election Day next week.

The Green Party of Manitoba does not hold a seat in the Legislature, but the party is running 30 candidates this time around.

With a strong showing in Tuesday night's televised debate, Leader James Beddome, running in Fort Garry-Riverview, is hoping voters give his party a chance.

"We're the party of the future today, and we're asking Manitobans to put us into power. You now get Greens into the legislature, give us some seats, let us show what we can do," said Beddome

The Greens’ best shot of winning a seat could be in Wolseley, where the party finished in second place in the last three elections.

The Green candidate in Wolseley is David Nickarz. He's raised more than $3,000 from a GoFundMe campaign. Nickarz said he's blanketed the area with signs.

“We've put out the largest campaign we've ever put out in the Green Party of Manitoba's history,” said Nickarz

But the NDP incumbent, Rob Altemeyer, won the last three elections in Wolseley by a decisive margin. On top of that, a recent Probe Research poll has the Green Party at only six per cent among decided voters in Manitoba.

James Beddome is counting on the undecided from that survey, as high as 24 per cent.

"With that number of undecided, I could see Greens elected across Manitoba," predicted Beddome

The party will be getting some backup on Friday. Federal leader and MP Elizabeth May is scheduled to be in Winnipeg.