History
The party held fundraisers and staged publicity stunts to communicate their ideas and get media attention. Events included mascarade parties, handing out speeding tickets to fast-walking pedestrians, distributing calendars which highlight the three-day weekend, setting up an impromptu living room on the corner of Pender and Burrard Street, and attempting a nap-in at the BC Parliament Buildings (but was quickly stopped by police). As the 2005 provincial election approached, the party recruited 11 candidates, including author Bruce O'Hara in Comox Valley, 48-year old Gordon Scott in Surrey-Newton and The Georgia Straight-endorsed Ben West in West Vancouver-Capilano. The candidates did not win a seat in the Legislative Assembly with none finishing higher than fifth place in their riding. The BC Student Vote, in which people too young to legally vote select their preferred candidate, selected one Work Less Party candidate: Ben West in West Vancouver-Capilano.
Immediately following the 2005 provincial election, Schmidt registered the party with the City of Vancouver and the District of Saanich to sponsor candidates in the November 2005 municipal elections. In the Vancouver election, Ben West ran for mayor, coming in fourth with 1,907 votes (1.5% of the popular vote). In Saanich, Katrina Herriot ran for a council seat but lost, receiving 1,204 votes.
Schmidt registered a federal version of the party, called Work Less Party, with Elections Canada in October 2007 so it could participate in the next federal election. They recruited one candidate: author and environmental activist Betty Krawczyk who contested the Vancouver East riding. She received 423 votes (1% of the popular vote) in the October 2008 federal election, losing to Libby Davies of the New Democratic Party. The federal party deregistered in July 2010, before the next federal election.
In the November 2008 Vancouver municipal election the party sponsored one candidate for mayor, four for council and one for the Parks Board. Betty Krawczyk ran for the mayoral position and came in third, receiving 1,346 votes (1.1%). None of the council candidates, which included Paralympian Ian Gregson, were elected but ranged in voting between 11,237 and 7,435 votes. The lone parks board candidate was also not elected even though he received 10,919 votes.
The party only fielded two candidates in the 2009 provincial election: Keston Broughton in Kamloops-North Thompson and Chris Telford in Vancouver-Hastings. The party intended to nominate co-candidate in Kamloops-North Thompson and Kamloops-South Thompson with the intent to have them job-share but Elections BC only allowed one name from each party be on the ballot and the candidates in the Kamloops-South Thompson dropped out. Neither Broughton or Telford were elected, coming in fifth and fourth in their respective ridings.
Schmidt and several of the 2008 council candidates from the Work Less Party registered with the City of Vancouver to participate in the 2011 Vancouver municipal election as a party called De-Growth Vancouver. They fielded three candidates for council, who received between 8,219 (5.68%) and 4,690 (3.24%) votes, none being elected.
Read more about this topic: Work Less Party Of British Columbia
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