BC inked another interesting chapter in BC politics with the bi-election on Wednesday. To hear the hype you would think John Horgan would be hiding under his bed, well he wasn’t.
The NDP had a candidate with presence in the riding as a federal MP. The riding itself leans to the left as a natural course and the Liberals failed to see some of their own short comings in the tea leaves. All they saw was they had a 13% lead. So what happened? I don’t really know for sure but I have been around BC politics for a long time. I have friends on all sides of the isle.
To start with the leader of the opposition is not an inspiration to anyone. This image will kill a parties hopes early. Think about it, as a rule a bi-election is a show of discontent and goes to the opposition most times. The leader of the Liberal Party is not a leader as this outing was a testament too.
At present people are still angry about the last sixteen years in some regions of the province. People are currently on the side of strengthening social legislation and affordable housing and healthcare top the list. The biggest problem for the Liberals is the fact they have lost the pulse of urban BC. The NDP have captured those places and now threaten to make gains in the medium sized cities. Nanaimo was a case in point.
The Liberal candidate didn’t help them either. Tony Harris proved he was not a wise man fit for the job.
His minor mistake spoke volumes of what people didn’t want. They didn’t want a swash buckler type who came to town wearing a Trump Make America Great Again Hat. Whose idea was that? Wearing a hat representing a politician of ill repute in America. This especially in a riding that leans left.
Meanwhile he was up against a woman with a proven track record serving the community. She stuck to her message and brought a positive progressive set of ideas to the discussion.
The image true or not is like pitting Mother Teresa against Attila the Hun.
You get the picture.
The most striking thing was the percentage of the vote distribution. All polls were saying the Liberals had a 13% lead.
The result was different the NDP just over 49% to the Liberals 40%. if the Liberals plan to bring the government down they do so at their peril.
Before anyone gets too happy about the Green Vote collapse don’t read a lot into it as a window into the future. If the NDP vote holds anything near 45% it would spell trouble for the Liberals this time. Why? More and more business people are in the transition to new technology and many see the Green Party as a vehicle to invoke meaningful change. So what did the bye election prove? All it proved is politically we live in interesting times
Fred Steele