Letter: Distressed by early election
By Letters to the editor
Editor, the Rossland Telegraph:
I want to be wrong about this. I am only half certain. I think the BC NDP are heading for a defeat.
Premier Horgan has watched New Brunswick’s election result and drawn a conclusion, but he is wrong about British Columbians. We are not tolerant of crude political tactics to sustain his power by an election one year ahead of schedule just because he sees his popularity is at a high point. Is there a “ballot question” in this BC poll? Yes: “Do we reward a political leader making an obvious grab at extended power?”
If only he first unveiled a radically-ideal manifesto for BC in the post-Covid world. Items: A rebuilt BC with much less dependence on raw resources like timber, gas, and mining. Cancel Site C. Pursue a vision of social justice with better supports for the poor, for women, for Indigenous people. Clear blueprints for reliable policy to deal with addiction and mental illness, using viable precedents from progressive European models. A plan to end homelessness and build affordable homes that is credible and costed-out. More Green-style economic foundations, less corporate ones. Spending that prioritizes public healthcare, education, and forward-looking economics.
But perhaps this manifesto is about to be announced? who can know? What I can see is, seven of his cabinet ministers (M. Mungall among them) declaring, in the last few months, they are not returning for re-election. And the Green Party leader has denounced him for pretending his government is insecure, when she has told him she will not desert the alliance her party made.
History should warn Horgan what his future is. The NDP do not get second mandates easily. Glen Clark only got his by back-stabbing Mike Harcourt in 1995. Horgan faces a weak Liberal leader, yes, but BC voters are generally conservative, not progressive. They will default to the Liberals.
As I said, I hope to be proven wrong. If not, BC will suffer the bad old Liberal days of corporate business and big unions’ backward economics (government mega-projects for jobs) again.
Charles Jeanes
Nelson
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