BC Green candidate in Kelowna Centre wants political reform

Bryce Tippe is the Kelowna Centre candidate for the BC Green Party and says he would push for more accountability in the legislative assembly if elected. “I want to reform the system to make it so that politicians have to be more accountable to their constituents and representatives as well,” he said. Tippe said introducing new ways to hold politicians accountable is difficult to put in place since there is no incentive for people in power to give some of that power away. “I would like to push for a code of ethics to be instituted into the legislature and an empowered ethics commission that would basically make it so that elected officials have to abide by the code of ethics. And that would include things like lying to people, over-promising, conflicts of interest and cover ups,” Tippe said. “Why would they change it? Because that's what let them get into power in the first place.” Tippe said he’s running because he wants to change how people view the government. “I just really wanted to be able to get into the race and kind of speak to the main issues that I think are facing British Columbians and Canadians as a whole and that's essentially the disillusionment that a lot of people feel towards their institutions,” he said. His opponent for Kelowna Centre, BC Conservative Kristina Loewen, has refused to agreed to an interview with iNFOnews.ca, and also declined to attend the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce’s all-candidates forum. “I find it quite infuriating because Kristina Loewen specifically, who I'm running against, has said some pretty awful things and some stuff has come out about her, but you can't even call her out on it because she refuses to even be in the same room with me,” he said. “She's indicative of why I'm running in the first place, because I want to increase transparency and accountability and she's doing the exact opposite.” READ MORE: BC Conservative Kelowna Centre candidate posted conspiracies, pandemic holocaust comparisons, and more https://infotel.ca/newsitem/bc-conservative-kelowna-centre-candidate-posted-conspiracies-pandemic-holocaust-comparisons-and-more/it106660 He said part of the reason  people vote for parties rather than individual candidates is the fact that most parties expect their members to toe the line.  “One thing that sets me apart from the BC NDP and the BC Conservatives is the BC Greens don't whip their votes. I would be free to vote how I'd want to on legislation versus the other parties where you have to vote based on how party leadership tells you to,” he said. Tippe said people shouldn’t discount the BC Greens’ impact as a party. “A lot of people say you don't have a chance and that could be true. But I think a lot of people really want to see a difference and a change. A lot of people who I've spoken to really are tired of the status quo,” he said. Click here for more information about Bryce Tippe. https://en.votemate.org/bc2024/candidates/9271 To contact a reporter for this story, email Jesse Tomas mailto:jtomas@infonews.ca  or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .