Former federal Green deputy leader Andrew Lewis will once again be running for his party's nomination in Saanich-Gulf Islands. Speaking with Public Eye Radio this morning, Mr. Lewis said, "I'll be throwing my hat in the ring. I want to win the nomination. And it would be great if some others threw their hats in as well and we had a real contest. It would be great if people with great community experience in Saanich would step forward and run for the nomination. But, if not, I'll be the candidate on April 21" - the date of the constituency association's nomination meeting.

If Mr. Lewis wins that nomination, he'll be competing against Liberal candidate and Land Conservancy of BC co-founder Briony Penn "No, I think it will drive it up. That's my personal opinion. It's fairly hard to tell at this particular stage. What I think will happen is Penn will raise Green issues and people well say, 'Well, if I want to vote for a Green candidate, I might as well vote for the real thing.' And that will help drive the vote up for the Green Party. I think it will be a very interesting campaign that will be driven by Green issues. And that will be very refreshing for me. That's why I want to get into this campaign again - to actually have a chance to talk about Green issues."