According to the latest Angus Reid British Columbia election poll published earlier today, as one of the most unique provincial election campaigns in our province’s history runs through its third week, John Horgan’s New Democrats continue to maintain the support of 49% of the electorate, leading Andrew Wilkinson’s B.C. Liberals by 18 points, with BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau’s campaign mired at a mere 14% of voter support.
The overriding concern among British Columbians all across our province is the issue that has been consuming us all the past seven months: COVID-19, and which leader and which political party best represents the interests of our families to find our way through this deadly pandemic which has the world, and our provincial part of the world, in its mortal grip.
COVID-19 will remain the primary issue on voter’s minds throughout the election period leading to election day October 24th, and will remain the core issue that will inform how British Columbians will cast their ballots.
Let us make no mistake, since their first press conference in late February — note should be made that British Columbia was the first jurisdiction on the planet to hold daily COVID-19 news conferences — then Health Minister Adrian Dix and B.C.’s Public Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, gained the confidence of all British Columbians, who have come to rely on their inviolable hearts, their robust intelligence, their indestructible compassion, and their unwavering commitment to fidelity in all of their communication, even when their truth-telling proved challenging, grueling and onerous.
As much as we’re voting for John Horgan and the New Democrats, more we are casting our ballot for hope, for the return of Adrian Dix as our province’s Health Minister, working closely in concert with Dr. Bonnie Henry.
On Sunday afternoon, feminist digital wunderkind Brenda Bailey kicked off her energized, action packed Vancouver-False Creek election campaign with 101 supporters “in attendance” on Zoom, including British Columbia’s New Democratic Party leader John Horgan (he’s the person who’s highlighted — and who remained online with all of us for the entire 45-minute kickoff to Brenda’s campaign!); Vancouver Point Grey’s David Eby, who zoomed in (with his five-year-old son, Ezra) while campaigning on the ‘other side of the Inlet’ with North Vancouver-Lonsdale incumbent candidate Bowinn Ma (who was also present and accounted for); along with recent Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Bruce Ralston, and former Vancouver Mayor and much-loved British Columbia Premier, Mike Harcourt, along with 96 other Brenda Bailey and BC NDP supporters tried and true.
Make no mistake, the BC NDP desperately want this riding, and are pouring resources into taking the seat from vaporous B.C. Liberal, Sam Sullivan.
Along with BC NDP leader John Horgan, the hardest working man, the Superman in British Columbia politics, for the past three plus years David Eby has emerged as the strongest Minister of Justice and Attorney General our province has seen in decades, dedicated to bringing about a fairer and a more just British Columbia for all of our province’s citizens.
Currently running for office for the third time in his west side riding of Vancouver-Point Grey, David can be seen above campaigning for re-election, out on the street, talking to constituents, answering their questions, and being what he’s always been — a man of the people, working every day on behalf of his constituents, and for all of us.
Below, a little something VanRamblings posted on social media last week …
You know who has my favourite voice, that when I hear it – as is the case with all British Columbians, I believe, and as was the case when he called me at my home this morning to thank me for my recent donation to his sure-to-be winning re-election campaign in Vancouver Point Grey — I am filled with the warmth of his spirit, and hear and feel in the timbre of his voice the integrity of his active engagement in the life of our province, the person who best embodies what it means to be a citizen of our province, a person — and since 2013, an elected official in Victoria – who is always on our side — and a future Premier, I believe — as has long been the case in the various roles he has played, represents the aims and desires of all of us, David Eby — who embodies everything and more that I, and other British Columbians, look for in a leader: an uncommon and grace-filled ability to touch our hearts, a warm and captivating intelligence, an integrity unparalleled in the political life of our planet, and a dedication and a devotion to each of us as citizens of the province and to all of us collectively, to our families and our friends and neighbours and colleagues.
All of the above is true, and in addition, David Eby is one of the great all time dads, a loving father to his two young children.
One time, awhile back, when at an intimate social gathering with a group of friends, VanRamblings — ever the educator, with a degree in Early Childhood Education, and ever the observing sociologist in family-like gatherings of people — amidst the near pandemonium of the birthday celebration to which we had both been invited, VanRamblings was afforded the opportunity to observe David with his son, Ezra.
In all our years on this planet, we’re not sure that we’ve ever observed a more loving, a more tender and appreciative interaction between father and son, an affectionate and age-appropriate passing along of values, a contextualization of a son’s experience of the world that provided the circumstance with context, within the cherished embrace of all who his son was in that moment, and all that Ezra would be as he grows to be a man.
So, you see, David Eby is not simply a political figure, a Member of the Legislature for the British Columbia provincial riding of Vancouver-Point Grey, a recent Minister of Justice and Attorney-General — and likely to be again should the John Horgan-led New Democrats be re-elected to government on October 24th — but David Eby is, as well, a good man and a loving father, and as he cares for his children, he cares for us, as well, but as partners and community members and citizens who are all in this thing we call life, together, and who means better for us each and every day.
One week from today, October 13th at 6:30pm, the one and only, sure-to-be-contentious televised 2020 Election Debate involving the leaders of the three main B.C. political parties vying to become the head of government in the province of British Columbia, will be broadcast across our province on Global BC and CBC, as well as on CBC radio and the network of radio stations affiliated and originating with Global CKNW radio in Vancouver.
B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan, B.C. Liberal Party Leader Andrew Wilkinson and B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau will debate key election issues in the 90-minute televised debate, a presentation by the British Columbia Broadcast Consortium, scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m and air across all British Columbia platforms, including television, radio and online.
Shachi Kurl, president of the non-profit Angus Reid Institute, will act as the debate moderator. There will be direct questions presented to the candidates, as well as an opportunity for head-to-head debate between the individual party leaders. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, there will be no live audience, and participants will follow public health guidelines.
And, finally for today, the entirely heartening campaign launch video for BC NDP candidate Nathan Cullen, who was from 2004 through 2019 the immensely popular NDP Member of Parliament for the riding of Skeena — Bulkley Valley, who in this year of 2020 is running in the current British Columbia election as the BC New Democratic Party candidate in the provincial riding of Stikine, encompassing much of the land and the people within his former federal riding. Likely to be British Columbia’s next Finance Minister should a John Horgan-led BC NDP be re-elected to government, and should the people of the Stikine favour his election to the British Columbia Legislature, the above is Nathan Cullen’s campaign launch video.
