Some random and final thoughts on last weeksa国际传媒 sa国际传媒 provincial election by our reporters who covered the 2024 sa国际传媒 election:
听
Among the ranks of newly-elected BC Conservative MLAs there are said (by the NDP anyway) to be racists, conspiracy theorists, and anti-vaxxers. But conservatives must hope there isn鈥檛 someone truly scary -- a Darryl Plecas-wannabe.
Plecas was the Liberal MLA from Abbotsford-South who succumbed to the wooing of the NDP after the close election of 2017 and agreed to become Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. His bit of turncoatery enabled the NDP to gain power in their alliance with the Greens, even though the Liberals had won the most seats.
Since the NDP spent most of the campaign this year vilifying the BC Conservatives for their supposedly extremist views, it would be odd indeed for them to try to snatch up one of them for the non-partisan job of Speaker.
But if this weekendsa国际传媒 final count flips a seat or two to the Conservatives, the NDP will surely be sniffing around for another sell-out.
鈥⑩赌⑩赌
Speaking of partisanship, politics isn鈥檛 a four-letter word. Itsa国际传媒 the lifeblood of democracy. Which as Winston Churchill said, is the worst possible form of government, except for all other kinds.
How strange then it is to hear -- from politicians no less! -- moanings about partisanship.
On election night, NDP candidate for sa国际传媒 Centre Loyal Wooldridge bizarrely thanked his campaign volunteers for 鈥減utting partisanship aside鈥.
If they weren鈥檛 highly motivated by the prospect of another NDP term in office, what in the world were they doing working on his campaign?
And perhaps Wooldridge overlooked the previous daysa国际传媒 mass email from his own party.
听
That 40-point screed accused BC Conservatives of believing that (take a big breath here) climate change is a hoax, wildfires are being deliberately set by climate change activists, Donald Trump really won the 2020 election, the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was faked, that Trudeau is Hitler, gay people are groomers, COVID-19 can be cured with a hair dryer, etc etc.
The Dippers sure spent a lot of time trolling through decades-old social media posts. Maybe it helped them, maybe it didn鈥檛, but it certainly was partisanship behaviour. As you would expect, and indeed want, in an election.
鈥⑩赌⑩赌
听
Sonia Furstenau must not be much of a poker player.
With the balance of power apparently in her hands, the Green Leader 鈥 who is hanging on despite not being elected personally because, really, what else does she have to do? 鈥 turned over all of her cards this week.
The sensible thing to do in the circumstance shesa国际传媒 in would be to be circumspect. Appear calm, neutral, expressionless -- poker faced!
Instead, she must have thought she was still campaigning when she ripped into the BC Conservatives with her usual denunciation of them as brainless monsters out of the Stone Age.
She was practically begging NDP Leader David Eby to come calling, and in doing so lowering her own bid to join government even though she has a sweet hand.
If she鈥檇 had the sense to at least appear open to BC Conservative entreaties for an alliance, instead of contemptuously saying she wouldn鈥檛 even answer a call from John Rustad, Furstenau would have greatly increased her bargaining chips with the NDP.
But itsa国际传媒 clear the Greens, who province-wide got barely eight percent of the vote, are desperate to get back into government, like when they cozied up to the NDP in 2017.
That alliance was brokered by former Green Leader Andrew Weaver, who has long since cut ties with this former party. Weaver posted this campaign that the the differences between himself and Rustad on climate change are 鈥渘ot as wide as some might imagine鈥, Victoria Times-Colonist columnist Les Leyne noted before the election.
Weaver even campaigned for a BC Conservative candidate this election, saying in other online posts that his former Green comrades are 鈥渓ost in an eco-socialist hinterland鈥 and are 鈥渧irtue-signalling a pathway to economic collapse鈥. He also lambasted Eby for pursuing 鈥渞adical ideological-drive activism鈥.
So maybe Furstenau and Eby aren鈥檛 really different poker players at the same table after all.
鈥⑩赌⑩赌
Furtenausa国际传媒 election bid brings back memories of Green Party leader Elizabeth May. In 2008, rather than run in a much-safer Vancouver Island riding, May challenged the wildly-popular Peter MacKay in Central Nova. Gutsy, yes; successful, no. She lost by 5,600 votes, keeping her off the floor in Parliament. 听
Instead of staying put in her safe Cowichan Valley seat, Furtenau ran against a sitting cabinet minister in Victoria-Beacon Hill鈥 and lost. When you have a party with only a handful of elected MLAs or MPs, itsa国际传媒 always best for the leader to take a safe riding.
鈥⑩赌⑩赌
To find the most winnable NDP candidate in Penticton-Summerland you have to go all the way back to Richard Cannings in 2013. Before becoming MP, Cannings ran unsuccessfully against Dan Ashton for MLA, coming within 1,400 votes.
Tina Lee was fine as the NDPsa国际传媒 candidate this time, but Linda Sankey, who lost the nomination to Lee, probably had the better chance against the eventual winner Amelia Boultbee. Sankey was far better known and also had more support in the business community. The party members also didn鈥檛 want Doug Holmes in 2020 and Toni Boot in 2017... both who stood the better chance of winning at those times.
鈥⑩赌⑩赌
Considering how easily Eby can consolidate power by getting just two MLAs to cross the floor, we鈥檇 be trying to entice both Green MLAs to join the NDP and Get Sonia out of the picture. Offer them cabinet positions 鈥 it would be pretty hard to say no to becoming the Minister of Environment, Energy or Transportation.
Or better yet 鈥 the pair of Greens can demand four-day work weeks as their party promised. We all deserve three-day weekends by now.
More realistically, itsa国际传媒 our bet the Greens will use their leverage to ensure the carbon tax doesn鈥檛 get scrapped.
Since all it takes is one or two seats to tilt the scales, imagine how high the stakes will be if we get any byelections.
鈥⑩赌⑩赌
There clearly wasn鈥檛 an appetite for independent candidates. People seem satisfied -- or at least content -- with the party system. Stephen Johnston in West sa国际传媒 managed 20% of the vote鈥 and he was one of the more successful ex-United, turned-unaffiliated.
