Wow!
Just plain WOW!
I have been following politics in British Columbia for all of my life and it has rarely been boring. But Kevin Falcon’s announcement and the demise of BC United was definitely a head-turner. A real once-in-a-lifetime event. Only a handful of people can honestly say they saw it coming and they were the ones negotiating the capitulation.
The decision to fold BC United leaves a province more divided than ever. The BC Conservatives under John Rustad are at the very right end of the political spectrum. As one former BC United member described it to me, there was always a faction within BC United who wanted a more conservative approach but they were outnumbered by the more moderate fraction – MLAs like Shirley Bond.
With the rise of the BC Conservatives, this faction had a new home and split the coalition. What remained in BC United were the centrists and the path to victory got a lot more difficult.
I would surmise Falcon came back to politics and the leadership of BC United with the idea that he would one day be premier of the province. With any hope of him grabbing the top spot vanishing, his passion for politics waned. So, he walked away – and took his party with him.
Maybe that isn’t what happened but the collapse of BC United has left a big hole in the province. Will the moderates within BC United decide to run as independents? We already know that Bond and Mike Morris won’t be seeking re-election. But it looks like a significant number of candidates will still be going ahead. And if they are successful, perhaps we will see the rise of new political party out of the ashes of the BC United machine. Or maybe a handful of independents who will control the government agenda.
In broader terms, how will the moderate voters mark their ballots on Oct. 19? Will they hold their noses and vote for BC Conservatives? Or NDP? Or simply choose not to vote at all?
And where does the Green Party fit into all of this? A lot of their past platforms align with the right-of-centre policy objectives. Perhaps they will take a few more seats in the election – either through a protest vote against the two major parties or because some of the middle ground voters will see the Greens as a possible home.
The next six weeks will definitely be interesting. While we think we know David Eby and the NDP, John Rustad and the BC Conservatives are a relatively unknown commodity. We do know Rustad was part of the government which gave us a carbon tax and tried to bring in a Harmonized Sales Tax which expanded the GST to many more services. Will he be pushing to remove the Carbon Tax and bring back the HST? Will he interfere with the actions of the School Boards across the province? Will he try to revitalize the forest industry at the expense of the forests upon which it depends?
Hopefully voters will be watching, listening, and questioning the candidates as we move towards our provincial election. But one thing is for sure – the next six weeks will provide for exciting politics!
Todd Whitcombe is a chemistry professor at UNBC.
