What a night!
The people have spoken loud and clear ( evidently not loud enough for the pollsters to hear) and unbelievably the BC Liberals are returned to power.
The shocking result of the night?
For me it was Jag Brar losing his seat. Never saw that coming. Politics aside he is as nice a guy as you will meet.
So what happened? Christy Clark and Mike McDonald ran a great campaign ( I give credit where its due)
Adrian Dix and the NDP spent far too much time keeping quiet and yes trying to prop up the BC Conservatives rather than concentrating on winning their campaign.
They played not to lose and as happens so often in sports when you play that way you usually do lose.
I would expect at some point soon he will leave and some of his handlers will get canned too. ( Marcella Munro might be free lancing )
They should have come out swinging and hammered the Liberals on their record. They didn’t and showed weak leadership.
I had heard later in the campaign that some of their supporters were so upset at Dix that they were going to stay home or vote Liberal to do him in.
Given the result and the low voter turnout maybe thats what happened.
What else happened? The Greens won a seat and that means Jane will leave ( she said she would ) and I would expect Andrew Weaver will become leader. He won his seat and by all accounts he is great so why shouldn’t he.
I haven’t done the math yet but by all quick accounts the green split in the vote cost the NDP seats. ( you might want to check the Conservative vote, I noticed we split with the NDP in a few areas costing them seats too!).
The Green win is more interesting in that if they can build on it, the NDP may have blown their only chance to win in the foreseeable future.
It’s not all roses for Clark as she lost her seat and must now look for somebody to step down to run in another expansive by-election.
Where? Already talk of Richmond or North Vancouver.
She likely deserves a chance to run again but her party is fickle and believe me the 801 club is no figment of any reporters imagination.
Chief Soap Box orator Stockwell Day will likely be the saddest of the BC Liberal crew today. Despite his blustery rhetoric during the election about vote splitting, I think he actually wants to lead the Tomorrow’s BC Liberals and last nights result ( barring a late appearance by team 801) might have ended that.
If it has I say good riddance. If you are that scared of a vote split you should move any ways.
What about the BC Conservatives?
Who knows but one thing for sure is that this result is more of a reflection of people wanting to drive the vote out than anything we did.
What stands out in my mind? Our line from the debate: yiu are thinking that premier Clark and The BC Liberals are going to lose the election and you tuned in tonight to see what kind of Premier Adrian Dix would make.
Kinda backfired eh! They didn’t like what they saw and it hit them that the Libs were going to lose.
So if you are looking for a BC Conservative to throw under the bus than look no further than here.
After all I ran the campaign.
THIS NEEDS TO BE SAID., forget most of the theories or excuses. Bottom line, considering the mess the Liberals found themselves in they would have been flattened if the NDP had not kicked CAROL JAMES out of the leadership. She would have presented a far more personable face in the TV debate–Dix’s personality came across like that of a cardboard box– she is more moderate ( remember the frantic supply of cash flowing into the attack coffers as businesses began getting scared out of their wits) and even before Christy started shooting her foot big time, held a good lead in polls when the old boys knocked her out of the leadership.These hard liners think they can win a majority with the unions alone, like mayber5% of the people? The NDP shot themselves in the foot.
THIS NEEDS TO BE SAID., forget most of the theories or excuses. Bottom line, considering the mess the Liberals found themselves in they would have been flattened if the NDP had not kicked CAROL JAMES out of the leadership. She would have presented a far more personable face in the TV debate–Dix's personality came across like that of a cardboard box– she is more moderate ( remember the frantic supply of cash flowing into the attack coffers as businesses began getting scared out of their wits) and even before Christy started shooting her foot big time, held a good lead in polls when the old boys knocked her out of the leadership.These hard liners think they can win a majority with the unions alone, like mayber5% of the people? The NDP shot themselves in the foot.
They shot themselves in both feet and with Dix hanging on this week are continuing to shoot whatever is left of their feet!
I will work for Clark’s opponent in a by-election and I encourage everyone else to do the same.
Get rid of the Green Party. All they do is take votes from parties that are legitimate. & Career politician Nix should step down. Much like Tim Hudak in Ontario, he was handed this election but lost it on his incompetence & lack of awareness of what BC’ers were feeling.
Crusty is just another shciester much like Campbell. All those scandals & yet no one seemed to care, much like again Harper & his cronies. Get ready for the sell off.
The scandals will come to light again and soon. The euphoria of the election will wear off. The 801 club will call for her head yet again. This time they just might get it.
There’s way too much to talk about here, but suffice it to say that you did, just now in this article, what real leaders do: you took responsibility for your actions.
The leader of the BC Conservatives did not do that last night. His arrogance and pride, coupled with poor judgment about whom he should trust and whose counsel he should heed, cost the BCC dearly.
His truest feelings came out at the end of his concession speech, when dealing with unscripted reporters’ questions. Unprompted, he lashed out at Stockwell in a feeble attempt to give his campaign meaning. He came across as captain Ahab but hey, at least he finally demonstrated some passion. Perhaps because he had rehearsed these lines so often in his truck or in front of the mirror.
Pity he didn’t prep like this for his debates.