Latest / Political Capital with Rob Shaw / BC's Donald Trump Election? | Political Capital Daily

Transcript

BC's Donald Trump Election? | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Airbnb.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Guests staying at Airbnbs in British Columbia typically spend an
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: average of $ 900 on other goods and services during their trip,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: meaning our hosts are driving economic growth in their own backyards.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Hosting creates an additional income stream for hosts, fuels visitor
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: spending in communities, supports jobs across industries, and contributes substantial
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: tax revenue for local governments. Today's show also brought to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: you with the support of Helijet, your connection between Victoria, Vancouver, Nanaimo,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: and the world now. Earn aeroplan points with your scheduled
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: or chartered flights. Visit helijet.com for more. It's Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: and this is Political Capital Daily.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the provincial election campaign in full gear. Day
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: one or days yesterday was day zero. Today is day
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: one of the I think that's how it works. Day one.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: The provincial election campaign means we have the entire pod
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: squad here. We have Jillian Oliver, Jeff Farrier, Angelo Isidoro,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: all here crammed into the podcast booth together, squeezed into
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the tiny headphones. You're listening here. How do we get
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: them into such a small space? I don't know. I
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: don't know. We'll see how the technology works. You guys
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: ready for this? Are you ready for... BC election. I
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: got bad news, you guys. That was a real children's orphanage.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: We blew the entire budget right there. It's gone. There'll
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: be no Christmas for those kids now that those sound
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: effects have been done. So there you go. I think
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: they'll understand.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: What?
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Okay. Well, with that scintillating sound effects extravaganza for your
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: ear holes at five in the morning, let us begin
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: to look at the provincial election campaign. Jillian, we're going
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: to start with you on this. Premier David Eby goes
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: to government house, gives a speech about hugging the Canadian
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: flag and so forth. What did you think of his
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: launch speech for this snap election?
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: It was very heavy handed. I think he said the
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: word Trump more than he said pretty much anything else.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: Certainly more than he said, conservative, which is the real
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: reason that he's running, because he thinks that this is
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: the best chance to beat them while they are in disarray.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: I don't think he sold it that well. It's going
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: to be really interesting to see how it lands. I
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: think that people hearing about the snap election are going
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: to feel like it came out of nowhere. They're going
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: to be confused as to why it's happening. And I
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: think Um, you know, it's like ever since we had
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: the 2020 snap election, um, the threat of another one
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: has been hanging over us. And I think that the
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: conditions are very different right now. EB is not as
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: popular as John Horgan and the, the emergency in front
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: of us with the trade war is really being managed
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: by Mark Carney at the federal level. And I think
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: that people really see him as the face of the response. Um, And,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: you know, also they have a majority government already. So
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: I don't think it was a great launch. He came
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: out with a bunch of pillars of how he's going
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: to respond to the trade war, which were very vague
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: and not different from what they're already doing and are
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: able to do with the majority that they already have.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: So I think it's going to be a tough sell.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a bit of an uphill battle for him,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: it seemed like. Jeff, what did you think?
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Well, I thought that the premier should have worn a tie.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's only calling a snap election. It's not
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: like he's got to dress up or anything.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: But yeah, no, I thought he effectively spoke to what's
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: at stake in the election and why there's a need
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: to have an election. Namely, the BC needs a government
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: that is with a clear mandate to take on, you
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: guessed it, Donald Trump. Trump, Trump, Trump.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. He's always looking around that corner,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: ready to jump at you.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Our prime minister said like two weeks ago that Trump
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: has attacked us, that we are at war with him.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: And I think and I think the premier made clear
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: that it's appropriate to give voters their say on B.C.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: and how it addresses this pressing issue, which I think
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: is even more. I don't want to say the word
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: existential because I don't know that people know what that
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: even means, but more pressing than the pandemic that we
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: were in in 2020 in terms of the impacts on.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: the province and British Columbians.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: More pressing. So if you cough in too close a
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: comfort to a Trumpian, it spreads, gives you magnetic powers,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: just like in the pandemic. Is that basically how that works?
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: Possibly.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: That's exactly how it works.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: That's exactly how it works. That's my understanding of how
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: the pandemic worked too. Angelo, what did you think of this?
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: And full disclosure here, we're working through some audio difficulties,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: but Angelo, what did you think?
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Well, I think if David Eby's goal was to be
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: like Mark Carney, I think he failed at that. David
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: Eby is not Mark Carney. I think if his goal
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: was to try and stoke some fear and look for
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: a very shrewd reason for an election, I guess he
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: tried to find it. I mean, when I look at
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: his announcement, it did focus on Trump entirely, and it's
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: clear the election is going to focus on Trump entirely.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: I should say again, if his goal... was to unite
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: the right, he absolutely achieved that. Because following the writ
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: drop almost immediately, Centre BC, I don't even want to
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: say merged, they essentially folded. I guess they won't like
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: to hear that either. They joined. They joined the BC Conservatives,
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: all of them except Eleanor Sturckow, who is now the
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: leader of Centre BC, but for all intents and purposes,
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: David E. Bethockt, a week ago, that he would be
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: going into a snap election against Carrie Lynn Finley and
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: a vote split on the right. Now he's going into
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: an election against Martin Dirksen, who's very well liked, even
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: by many Indy peers, and a unified right-wing coalition.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Let me just cut in really quick to do a
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: quick ad break. We'll be back after this. Political Capital
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Daily brought to you each and every day by our
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: presenting sponsor, Airbnb. In Vancouver, mornings start with a coffee
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: from Denman Street and walk around English Bay. An afternoon
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: is well spent at Dim Sum in Chinatown and nothing
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: beats happy hour oysters in Yaletown. Perhaps followed by karaoke
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: at a small bar in Mount Pleasant. That's the magic
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: of a stay with Airbnb. You get real local hosts
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: who can give you the best local tips. Thanks to
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Airbnb for sponsoring the show. And now back to it. Okay,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: jumping right back in. Fascinating. You know, Angelo sketched it
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: out there. Back to you, Jillian, on this, but we'll
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: pivot to the center-right response. Like, to see Center BC
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: basically kind of merge back in, most of them, except
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: for Eleanor Serco, who's still back. Carolyn Finley shot out
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: the space-locked door into wherever she's gone. Brent Chapman also
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: shot out the space-locked door onto the planet 1BC. Uh, like,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: and then this movement that brought together a whole bunch
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: of people who weren't even talking to each other, suddenly
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: they just coalesced into this massive new conservative movement that, um,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: as alert, it's just kind of rocketed out of the
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: gate in 24 hours. Um, what do you think of that?
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was surprised.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Um, Peter Milibar, just like, I mean, it's hard to
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: keep track of the exact sequence of events, but certainly
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: like a day before, maybe even hours before was saying
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: that he was still intending to run as the leader
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: for Center BC. After that, we heard that he didn't
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: even tell Center BC that he was going back. Dirksen
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: right now almost seems like a kind of like unicorn
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: that has been able to sort of straddle all of
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: the different factions. He was a BC Liberal MLA, but
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: he was the third to jump over to the BC
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Conservatives after John Rustad and Banman. So he was early
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: to come to the Conservatives, but he also has those
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: older BC Liberal ties. And so far, we haven't heard
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: really anything bad about him. And he also endorsed Millibar
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: for the leadership, which is so interesting. So right now,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: it seems, I mean, he looks like a hero that
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: he's been able to keep everyone together. I think it's
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: early days. And like, this is probably... the easiest day
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: to unite everybody. There still are MLAs that are loyal
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: to Finley and that supported her and that have bad
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: feelings about how things went down. The NDP, as we've seen,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: is very skilled at picking apart the divisions on the right.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: And as you mentioned, Brent Chapman, he's gone over with
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Dallas Brody to 1BC. We've also got Eleanor Sturckow with
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: center BC, they are weakened, but they are still entities.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: And I think there's so many, like, I think this
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: election really is a huge political experiment. I, this is
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: the fourth election that I've been involved in and paid
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: close attention to. And we've never seen such a complex, um, dynamic,
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: I think, uh, in a provincial election in BC, at
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: least in the last like decade.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Jeff, you've worked in opposition politics and other provinces and,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: and to, to get the opposition to whip into this
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: new form in, in, sort of record time. What did
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: you think while you were watching it happen?
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the opposition, uh, BC conservatives have come together. I think, uh,
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: to a certain extent that was always in the NDP calculus.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, you apply pressure, uh, to the right, uh,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: and they will always coalesce at the first coalesce rather
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: at the first, uh, sniff of power. I think, uh,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Lauren Dirksen had a reasonably good day. He didn't mess up,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: answered some questions. I thought it was something when he
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: was asked, what's the number one issue facing BC today?
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: And he said, DRIPA, not Trump, DRIPA. So instead of
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: committing to, you know, fighting a trade war with Donald Trump,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: working with Mark Carney, he's wanting to pick fights with
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: First Nations as the first order of government. I think
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: it's an interesting gambit and we'll see if it pays off.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: My question to EB in the event was, before Trump,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: we were waiting for his solution to DRIPA this fall,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: this kind of thing that he'd promised because it was
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: the hardest file he'd ever faced. He said just a
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: few months ago, does he have a solution for it?
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Is it going to be part of the election campaign?
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: And he, and perhaps won't surprise you, didn't answer that question.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I think he talked about Trump. So at some point,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: maybe that's going to come up as an issue. I
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: don't know. Angelo, bringing you in on this, the you
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: already talked about it, but the coalescing of the right,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: you know, you have been in this area of politics
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: for years now, the very first bit of center of
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: the BC conservatives back in the day with Aaron Gunn.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Now you're kind of looking at this version. What's different?
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: How does it feel different? What's the, what is this
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: that has happened the last 24 hours?
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: Well, when I look at history, when we took over
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: the BC Conservatives, we were essentially an island of misfit toys,
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: rejected from the BC Liberal elitist status quo, and we
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: built up this new party. Really where it came into
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: a real opportunity to form government was when Kevin Falcon
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: fell on his sword and resigned and folded the BC
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: United Party, BC Liberal Party. So it's interesting for me
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: to look at this because I've had some experience in
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: the mediation process of bringing parties together. I participated intimately
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: in that between myself and Caroline Elliott. And essentially, there's
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: nothing like an existential threat of an election to force
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: you to rally around the flag and put your differences aside.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: When there's a majority government or when there's just no
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: election looming, you allow these micro issues to take over
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: or personality differences or whatever that may be. Now the
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: election is here. It's happening. They have a matter of
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: weeks to get themselves their signatures and their signs and
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: their literature and to go out there and fight. And
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: I think what happened here is Lauren Dirksen was able
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: to manage to persuade Senator B.C. to fold. I think
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Lauren Dirksen now is perhaps the right choice. for the Conservatives,
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: and there's a reason why he was so unanimously chosen
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: by caucus, because again, he's well-renowned for being well-liked, salt
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: to the earth, good man. And that may be what
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: this moment calls for in unity. What we saw today
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: from the BC Conservatives was probably the most united we've
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: seen them in several months, because it also included other
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: leadership candidates standing behind Lorne Dirksen as well, who seemingly
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: intend to run themselves. So I feel like there is
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: a bit of momentum right now. behind the BC Conservatives.
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: And just like in 2024, they may be the underdogs here.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Interesting. Let's just go around one more time here. There
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: were some NDP departures as well that surprised me. The
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: big one in the last 24 hours or the launch
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: of the campaign was Ravi Kalan, the health minister from
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Delta North, out, not running again. And he's the third
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: cabinet minister. Lana Popham, the agriculture minister, Kelly Greene, The
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: emergency management minister, although in her case, I think she
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: made pretty clear the LNG, Tilbury LNG facility in her riding,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: which she did not agree with, which the government approved,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: may have led to that. But holy Yakimo, as they
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: say in politics. No one says that except me. Ravi
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Kalan is big. Jillian, like, that's his lieutenant. He's the
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: minister of everything. Did jobs, housing. Trump, now he's doing
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: health care and he's gone. And at one point, he
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: looked like he might be replacing David Eby if David
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Eby fell earlier this year. So I thought that was
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: very interesting.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think it speaks to maybe just
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: how not fun it is to be in government right now.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: And health is like one of the hardest files. Um,
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: back when David Eby was, uh, gearing up to run
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: for leader, Kalon was the other major candidate in caucus that, um,
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: was rumored to, to think he'd be thinking about running
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: against him. He didn't cause he's got a young family. Um,
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: and then just a couple of months ago, we thought
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: that we might be into an NDP leadership election again.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: And now, you know, it looks like, I mean, that
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: could happen if they lose, but probably not if they win. Um,
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: so I, you know, you got to wonder, it could
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: be personal Kalen's reasons, but also could be, um, you know,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: some disenchantment with, with those internal political dynamics, but it's
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: a big loss because he was really well-liked and capable
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: and they don't have a super deep bench on the
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: government side or on the NDP side right now. Um,
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: Kelly Green, I think that, um, is interesting. She had
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: already been a little bit outspoken about her opposition to
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: some of the, uh decisions that the ndp have been
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: making on project approvals and on expanding fossil fuels i
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: think it shows some of the opening um on the
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: left flank on the environmental side on more progressive issues
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: that the greens are going to be looking to fill
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: um it's going to be tough for them to break
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: through but it shows i think there's more room maybe
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: than there's ever been on those issues um they could
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: benefit from some protest vote additionally you know everybody else
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: is so deep in the political weeds, I think right now,
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: so many people are politically homeless. Um, it'll be interesting
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: to see if they can capitalize on that.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Jeff, the departures of these cabinet ministers, do they stand
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: out for you? I know Ravi Kalan in his statement
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: said he had told the premier quietly he wasn't going
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: to do another term by going early. He cut short,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: you know, uh, his time there essentially. Um, but that
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: seems like a big loss to the NDP, but I
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: don't know what you thought of those three ministers.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: It's, uh, with Ravi, it's a, a big loss, uh,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: for the government. He had been there since 2017. He
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: has a young family. You know, my dad was a
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: provincial politician and my brothers and sisters and I, you know,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: for 10 years, he was away. And that's, uh, not
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: an easy thing if you're a husband and father. And
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: I think that weighed on Ravi an awful lot. And
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: that more than politics is what made him decide what
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: he's doing. I, uh, I think, I think, um, with
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Kelly Green, a good MLA, a good person. I think
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: on the Tilbury LNG issue, I think that actually helps
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: the government in northern and interior ridings where federal liberal
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: voters are looking for proof that the government can be
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: trusted to advance major projects and focus on economic development.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: And Lana Popham is one of the longest serving members.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: I think she's been around since 2005.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: 17 years, I think, yeah.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: 17 years.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: That's a good record of service. And if anyone sticks
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: around in politics for 17 years, I'll throw them a
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: parade for being able to stick it out in the
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: nasty world of politics that we have now.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Angela, did anything stand out for you on those ministers
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: not running again?
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: I think what stands out for me is the ridings,
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: notwithstanding Saanich South. Richmond-Steveston, it's incredibly competitive for the Conservatives.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: In fact, the only reason why the Conservatives didn't win
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: it last time was because of a vote split with
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: an independent candidate. When you look at Delta North, that
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: may potentially be competitive just because of how prominent Ravi
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: was as a minister. I am hearing rumors, and these
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: are rumors, so forgive me, that there may even be
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: one more minister who chooses to not run in this election.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: So it's a big turnover for David Eby, including a
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: turnover for someone who may have been his competitor or
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: successor in Ravi Kailan. But you also have to wonder,
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: you know, Ravi was given the file of health care
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: on the heels of this. And to me, getting that
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: file under this government is a bit of a poison pill.
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: It's a really tough file.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah. No, that's a good point. That is probably the
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: hardest– Ministry of Government right now, the healthcare ministry with
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: the cost pressures that are being faced. Okay, just we'll
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: close it out here. Let everyone have one more thought.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: If there's anything that stood out for you in the
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: first 24 hours, anything you're looking for today on day
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: one or zero or two of the campaign, however we
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: call this, and your thoughts kind of at this launch, Gillian.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: Uh, well, today we're going to hear from the Greens.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: They didn't really put anything out yesterday, um, except for
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: a statement sort of just deriding the election call in general,
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: but we're going to find out where their leader is
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: running and the plans for their incumbent MLAs. Um, 1030, 1030,
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: 1030 in Victoria. So it'll be interesting to see low
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: and hinted last week that she's going to run somewhere
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: in the South Island. So we find out today.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Okay, great. Jeff, any final thoughts here?
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: My final thought was that for all of the pushback
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: against EB on the election call and the reason for
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: it and the, you know, an awful lot of cynicism
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: and cynicism in the print, everything that I've, I've heard about,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: had him conveying the Trump message really clearly. So I
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: think that's why you have one event a day these
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: days in elections. I think that's why you have that
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: kind of message discipline. It's to get your message out.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: And I think that he pretty effectively got his message
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: out on campaign launch day.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Okay, Angelo, final thoughts?
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: Do not underestimate Lorne Dirksen. I think that's what we
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: learned today. His press conference was stellar. He was clean,
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: he was sleek with how he answered his questions, and
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: I think he's going to be a very good campaigner.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, great.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: All right, well, thank you all for doing this, and
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that. And what was that? You wanted to
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: hear the explosion one more time? Well, I can do that. D.C.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: Election. Ha, ha, ha, ha.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Oh, my God, I'm so tired. Thank you, everyone, for
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: being here. Political Capital Prime Squad for being here. The
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Pod Squad, we really appreciate it coming in early. We're
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: going to have the show on Friday, as always. And
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: thank you for listening. We're going to be here every day. Oh,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: and by the way, we may actually extend the show
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: into weekends. It's on the table. It's on the table.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know. It's on the table. Everything's on the table.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: We'll see you tomorrow, at least, on Political Capital Daily.