With the majority win last evening by Premier Blaine Higgs in the 2020 New Brunswick pandemic election — an election to which politicians, both provincial and federal, were looking to for insight as to how voters felt about going to the polls in the middle of a pandemic — the decks are now cleared for British Columbia’s first-term Premier / man of the people, John Horgan — currently the most popular Premier in Canada, with a 56% approval rating — to call a British Columbia provincial election as early as this coming Saturday, and no later than next Tuesday, which means that given a 28-day election period, the B.C. electorate could be going to the polls, either on Saturday, October 17th or on Saturday, October 24th.
Although newly-elected B.C. Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau called out the Premier at the assumption of her leadership of the party, just because the Greens find themselves ill-prepared and underfunded for a provincial election campaign — with ex-B.C. Green Party leader, Andrew Weaver, stating bold facedly that he’ll campaign for the election of a majority B.C. NDP government led by John Horgan, as he told VanColour podcast host Mo Amir in an August 31st interview, “I hope [John Horgan] is Premier again. British Columbia has been very well-served by the Premier.” That there is no love loss between Weaver, and his former Green Party seatmates, Furstenau and Adam Olsen, doesn’t bode well for the Greens, particularly when recent polling shows the BC NDP sweeping Vancouver Island.
On July 29th, when Surrey-White Rock Liberal MLA Tracy Redies announced that she would be leaving politics on August 31st to start a new job as CEO of Science World in September, necessitating a by-election, with rumours out of Victoria that Andrew Weaver will resign his seat this month in order to care for his ailing wife, and the health of Finance Minister Carole James continuing on the wane, even moreso than when she announced on March 5th that she would not seek re-election after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, there is every reason to believe that in order to maintain a stable government in the midst of a deadly pandemic, Premier Horgan believes he must seek the support of the electorate going forward.
The latest 338Canada polling projection indicates 99.9% odds of the British Columbia New Democratic Party forming the next government with a majority mandate, while an EKOS poll conducted this summer shows the BC NDP with a substantial lead over their woebegone B.C. Liberal rivals.
British Columbia’s New Democratic Party is in full-on election preparation mode, with the largest war chest the party has ever gone into an election with, with new election legislation passed early in their current term of office that will limit expenditures by their B.C. Liberal opposition rivals, with BC NDP constituency associations across the province rushing to confirm candidates in each of the 87 ridings up for grabs, with the BC NDP running ahead in every part of the province — except the Cariboo, where polls indicate a statistical dead heat — with sitting MLAs across the province conducting fund raisers, with constituency associations seeking rental accommodations to house election offices, with BC NDP election preparation / phone bank instruction Zoom meetings scheduled across the province, well, it ain’t hard to believe that as early as this upcoming Saturday, British Columbians — or at least the 61.2% of the electorate the deigns to go to the polls — could very well find ourselves in the midst of British Columbia’s 42nd general election, when each and every one of us is afforded the opportunity to exercise our democratic franchise, as we set about to elect to Victoria a provincial government that will best represent our individual and collective interests over the next four years.
VanRamblings, now that we’re publishing again daily, is doing our very best to provide coverage of the upcoming 39th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, which we will continue tomorrow.
On Thursday, though, VanRamblings will publish part two of our British Columbia election prediction, as we seek to provide insight into what going to the polls will look like, which ridings are most contentious — both the politics within the ridings, as BC NDP candidates vie for a coveted nomination, and which ridings are most likely up for grabs — the achievements of the BC NDP government to date, as well as what the core issues will be as we head into an early provincial election, and - as well - where the governing party might well be tripped up — election outcomes should never be considered a foregone conclusion.
One last thing as we head into a provincial election: join the provincial political party of your choice, get out on the campaign trail to support the candidate running for the party you support in the constituency in which you reside, set aside up to one per cent of your annual income in donations to the political party of your choice (if you are able to do so), and break down any sense of isolation and anomie you might feel by getting to know your neighbours, those with whom you share the core values that give your life meaning, and who reside nearby you. Next to raising and loving your children, there is no better use of your time and energies than to contribute your personal and financial resources towards electing the candidate of your choice to represent yours, and your neighbours’, best interests.
