Latest / Political Capital with Rob Shaw / September 11, 2026 - Early election speculation, Trump upends the agenda | Political Capital

Transcript

September 11, 2026 - Early election speculation, Trump upends the agenda | Political Capital · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Check podcasts.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Hi, everyone, and welcome to Political Capital, your source for
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: all the latest in B.C.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Politics.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, Rob Shaw. Welcome back after our summer break. Boy,
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: did a lot of stuff happen in B.C. politics this summer.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: We're going to get into a bit of that and
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: also the stories of this week. We are going to
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: bring in the pod squad refreshed and back. After a
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: summer holiday break, Angelo Isidoro, longtime conservative strategist. Jillian Oliver,
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: longtime green strategist. Jeff Ferrier, longtime New Democrat strategist and
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: co-founder of FramePoint Public Affairs. Thank you all for coming back.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Hope you had a good summer, but we're not going
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: to talk about any of that because we got so
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: much other stuff to talk about. And also, if you're
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: looking for more political content, make sure you subscribe to
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Political Capital Network. daily, which is your audio dose of
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: our show as well. Let us begin with counter tariffs.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: This week, Canada brought in their counter tariffs to the
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: United States and US President Donald Trump's new 50% tariffs.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: It upended the political agenda across the country. Here in BC,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Premier David Eby held what was called a rally in
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: the Inner Harbor. There was a ton of flags. There
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: was dancing MLAs. There was some guy doing a rap
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: performance about Putin and And it was.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: A whole thing. It was it was the thing. Let's
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: just start there.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump, tariffs, counter tariffs back being the dominant issue.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: How does that affect BC politics? How does it affect
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: all the parties? What does it mean for the agenda here? Angela,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: why don't we start with you?
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Well, at a base level, it causes the rally around
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the flag effect that we saw last year. And just
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: to give some context, Canadians felt we were very close
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: to a deal with the United States. At the last minute,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: it appeared to fall through. We don't have all the
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: details of what that deal would have been, but we
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: know from the prime minister that it would have involved
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: essentially the United States controlling who we can and cannot
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: trade with. And if that is the case, it's essentially
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: a non-starter. So now we're back in a trade war,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: and it does cause that rally around the flag effect.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: When we look at what we've done provincially and what
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the Premier did, this rally, frankly, was cringeworthy, but more
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: than cringeworthy, I felt as though it was shallow. It
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: was shallow in the sense that he didn't share any
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: details about what Canada would do that were sufficient. And
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: if we look at what, excuse me, British Columbia, I
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: should say, that were sufficient, if we look at what
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: BC has enacted, there was Bill 7 last year, which
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: ultimately didn't go anywhere because of the federal government. There
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: was the infrastructure project bill that the NDP passed that
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: still hasn't really done much because of First Nations consultations.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: And then the Premier also told the crowd to buy local,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: use a local accountant, use a local bookkeeper. Well, the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: issue there is that those services now have an added
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: PST on.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: Top of them.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: So it was a lot of positive vibes and a
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: lot of flannel and a lot of dancing. But ultimately,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: it's a shallow attempt to appeal to an election campaign.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: And I'll add one more thing, which is a report
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: from the Canadian press has now indicated that had we
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: built and should we build ferries in B.C., it would
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: stimulate our economy against the tariffs. So it's time that
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the NDP gets real and focuses on finding solutions rather
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: than performative campaign slogans.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: Gillian?
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: You can go far in politics on vibes and flannel,
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: I think. But what do you make?
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I think Angela makes a bunch of good points there.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: But what do you think of the Trump effect, that
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: rallying around the flag? How does it change the political
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: dynamic here?
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: I think it makes it hard for anything else to
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: break through. But I agree with Angela, leave it to
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: the New Democrats to go so hard on the virtue signaling,
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: signaling while going so light on substance. It was I
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: think they really just overshot the signs are a lot.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: I think they're even I would go as far as
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: a bit undignified. I think, you know, that he's going
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: to have these signs at the border crossing saying like,
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: I think one of them says kindness equals not weakness
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: and things like that. And most of the Americans still
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: coming to Canada are Democrats and people who don't agree
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: with their trade war. I think it's kind of a
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: bizarre message to send at a time when there's specific
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: industries in BC that are really suffering as a result
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: of the trade war. We did hear a little bit
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: um about a sort of amped up by bc initiative
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: that they're going to expand not just to products but
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: also to services i think it would have been much
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: stronger if they had just led with that um because
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: i think right now the tone that most people are
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: looking for is is serious solutions on how we're going
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: to sort of make up for the economic losses caused
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: by the trade.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: War the problem you know and some of the solutions
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: jeff is the government doesn't have any money The premier
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: kind of admitted that because of the big deficit. He's
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: looking to Ottawa to fund the financial aid. And so,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: as Angelo and Gillian pointed out, there weren't any announcements
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: as part of this, but there was a lot of
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: signs and vibes and rapping about toques and various things.
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: Well, the premier's sartorial choices and preferences for entertainment aside,
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: I think the politics here are pretty simple. It's the
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: premier wants to see himself standing up against an aggressive U.S.
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: neighbor who's targeting Canadian independence and sovereignty in these trade talks.
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: Notwithstanding what Angelo and Gillian have said, I think his
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: announcement was in many respects quite substantive. It was support
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: Mark Carney and the counter tariffs and other measures that
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: Ottawa is bringing in. Other provinces are vacillating on that.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: B.C. will not.
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: There was a strong threat of economic nationalism in here,
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: as Gillian and Angelo noted, by Canada, by BC. There
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: was talk about reducing dependence on the US markets through
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: expanding markets for BC products. a sense that we need
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: to be ready to dig in our heels and be
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: ready for an awful long negotiation with the Americans because
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: we're dealing with the president who has no real interest,
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: it sounds like, in actually getting a deal with us,
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: at least if you watch his memes. I think on
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: the money, though, I think the real test for the
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: government will be can it get its elbows up? Can
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: it tap into the money that Mark Carney is putting
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: forward because he says he will do whatever it takes?
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: to protect Canada and workers.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: And if B.C.
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: Can get some of that money, our fair share into
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: here will be a real test of the Premier's leadership.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: And just quickly, let's just go around quickly one more
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: time here.
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: What does it do to the opposition? And I know
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: this is being debated federally as well.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: It kind of squeezes them out of some of the conversation,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: at least a delicate dance, Angelo, of like you want
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: to criticize government policy but not look like you're criticizing
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: the flag and the nationalism and the patriotism. What does
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: this dynamic mean for the opposition party in B.C.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Well, just like you said, it's the same case both
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: federally and provincially. Anywhere where there's an opposition party, it's
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: going to be difficult because of the rally around the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: flag element that is affecting people. I think what's interesting, though,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: is what we saw federally, which is Pierre Polyev going
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: abroad to American markets and American media corporations and really
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: critiquing the United States, sort of carrying the flag for Canada.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: But he was very careful not to criticize the prime
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: minister on foreign soil. So I think opposition parties have
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: to be nimble and very careful in how they traverse
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: this as to ensure that we're all on the same
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: team here, ultimately being Team Canada. But really what they
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: should be criticizing is maybe the methods and the substance
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: of what the province or the federal government is actually
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: delivering rather than the virtue signaling.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: It was a smart move by Polyev on those American
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: interviews to kind of defend the prime minister in a
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: weird sort of way. Jillian, what do you think it
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: does for the opposition path?
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it makes it tough to break through
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: for sure. People, in some ways, it kind of reminds
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: me of COVID. I think I've said that before, where
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: people are very much in sort of like a crisis mindset.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: And that makes it really hard for opposition parties because
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: people are really looking for stability in times of crisis.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: But I think the other thing that opposition parties need
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: to watch for, especially on the right, is similarities and
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: sort of tactics and tones in anything that looks like Trump.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: I think to Angelo's point, we're seeing Pierre Polyev sort
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: of take those lessons from the last election where he
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: borrowed too many sort of Trumpian tactics and that really
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: turned voters off. I don't think we've seen the right-wing,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: six right-wing parties, maybe not all of them, take the
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: same lessons yet here in BC.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Jeff, just quickly, and Gillian's point there, it certainly has
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: been a point from the BC NDP that, you know,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: the BC Conservatives are Trumpian and that seems like maybe
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: a weakness that they're going to have to modify as
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: this trade war plays out.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I know.
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: I think it squeezes the Conservatives both federally and provincially.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: There's not a lot of room for them to criticize
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: government in a way that's going to land well with
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: a public that really, as Gillian points out, is craving
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: stability in the face of crisis. You think of Winston
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: Churchill in World War II. I'm not saying that the
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: Premier is any way or sense Winston Churchill, but the
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: dynamic of people rallying around their leaders in times of
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: crisis is a very powerful political positioning for a government.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Okay, we're going to leave that topic there coming up
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: after the break. Is there going to be a B.C. election,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: an early election? You got to wait. You got to
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: wait till you come back from commercials for the answer
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: to that. We'll be back after this.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: Well, welcome back.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: The talk of the political world in BC. Are we
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: going to have an early election? Will the NDP take
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: advantage of the disarray of the BC Conservatives, nine defecting
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: MLAs to try to plunge an early vote that could
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: consolidate its majority? Everybody's talking about it. Jeff, let's go
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: to you first on this. What do you think? I mean,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: I thought the rally we were just talking about in
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: the previous segment had election vibes to it.
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: Do you see a.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Snap election, uh, being considered, uh, what would the pros
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: and cons be, uh, for the, the premier in that case?
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: Uh, never say never something that set him professional wrestling.
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: When someone was trying to choose between which wrestling leagues
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: to go in, you know, you choose one, but you say,
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: never say never.
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: To the other one.
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: And I think that's the dynamic. That's the dynamic, uh, here.
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: I think that, uh, the government is looking at, uh,
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: It could tell the story of the government is in
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: different times now that there is a need for whoever
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: is in government to have a mandate for the people
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: to deal with the U.S.-Trump tariff war on Canada and
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: ask the people for a mandate. I think it's the
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: other dynamic, which is, of course, at play here is
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: an opposition that is in disarray, that has little ability
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: to organize and fundraise. And that hasn't gone through the
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: kind of primary that we saw with BC United and
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: BC Conservatives ahead of the last election where those two
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: sides competed. And out of that, one party came out
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: as the clear alternative to government. So if we call
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: this a quick election, the chances of those parties being
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: able to do that are slim and you might end
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: up with a government versus four different parties.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that is the math, Angelo, that the Premier's probably
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: thinking about is that he's got two years left in
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: the mandate. He's internally had problems. He could try to
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: get a supermajority out of this, very similar to sort
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: of John Horgan in 2020 during COVID.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: To get out of his agreement with the Greens.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's absolutely right. I mean, I go back to 2024,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and I recall when I was managing the Conservative campaign,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: there was a fear, there was chatter that maybe Eby
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: would call the election, not when it was meant to
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: be called in October, but earlier in the spring in March.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: And had he done that when the conservatives were at
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: 27% and BC United was at 20, it would have
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: been catastrophic for the opposition, but he didn't do that.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: I have to wonder now whether he or people around
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: him are telling him that this is an opportunity, not
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: withstanding the opposition, but looking at the context of the
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: United States and tariffs, there are midterms coming up. Those
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: midterms may very likely not go Donald Trump's way. And
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: if they don't, it'll be more difficult for Trump to
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: enact these tariffs and to essentially govern for the remainder
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: of his term.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: He's going to be.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Cauterized in many ways. So there's a limited window in
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: which EB and other political leaders in Canada can utilize
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the fear of the United States to take advantage of it.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: And you mentioned the word super majority. I mean, I'm
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: sure the NDP would like that. They don't necessarily need that.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: What they need is just a cushion of picking up
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: a series of seats that they lost, perhaps some seats
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: that their ministers lost in the last election. And getting
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: back to a majority. So if I were the NDP,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: and I put on my very rare NDP hat here,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: I would try to concoct a narrative, as Jeff says,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: around stability and the need for essentially a refresh. So
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: I absolutely think there is going to be a snap election, notwithstanding, again,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: that I've been wrong before, but it feels a little
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: different this time, I believe.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: It's amazing in a way, Julian. This is a government
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: nine years in power with just a ton of baggage
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: and some incredible policy reversals that have been viewed as
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: immense weaknesses against it. And it comes sort of completely
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: different direction in some ways that only a few months ago,
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: we thought David Eby was a dead man walking in
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: the premier's chair. And now he's looking like the luckiest
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: man on earth. What do you think of him taking
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: advantage of that politically?
• 14:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, I've been pretty, um, against the idea that
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: the NDP is going to call a snap election. I
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: think EB showed previously that it's not his inclination to
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: do that. But when I saw the rally this week,
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: that was the first time I thought that it could
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: be a real possibility. There's a short window to go
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: before the midterms. We've got municipal elections coming up October 17th,
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: I believe. There's also the by-election that Carrie Lynn Finlay
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: is running in. it would have to happen pretty quick
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: there because I think waiting until the spring is a risk,
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: especially given what happened last time with the BC United
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: and the BC Conservatives basically forming an alliance and a
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: deal to not split the vote on the right. So
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: we'll know soon if that's what they're thinking, but I'm
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: sure that it is, there's a lot of conversations happening
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: behind the scenes because, you know, they would be, not to,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: I think, at this point. And I think the other
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: thing right now, the only positive plan that the government
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: has is to get a lot of these big major
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: projects like the Northwest Transmission Line, number of mines, those
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: sorts of things, moving along to show that they have
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: a real plan for the economy and the future of
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: the province. Those things take a long time to come
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: to fruition. They're going to be a lot further along
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: in four years if they're able to reset the clock
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: on government right now than in two years when we're
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: planning to go to the polls right now.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I agree with the short window in more ways than one,
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: because we've seen the Trump effect with David Eby in
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: early 2025. He went way up in the polls to
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: a historic kind of mid-50s. And then the public kind
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: of got tired of being scared after a few months
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: on Trump, and they moved back to the domestic issues,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: and he collapsed back down to the 30s. So there
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: is a window of fear that he could utilize here.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: But does it extend to the spring, as Jillian pointed out,
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: is the question, because Unless you plan on having an
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: election in November or over Christmas, I'm not sure the
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: calendar works.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: But what do I know? Only the premier knows if
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: we're heading to an early election. So we'll watch that.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: We're going to come back after a break and talk
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: about the B.C. Conservative shadow minister critic portfolio shuffle and
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: the new leader and her activities there coming up after
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: the break.
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: Well, welcome back. New B.C.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Conservative leader Carolyn Finlay shuffling her critic portfolios this week
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: to try and make up for the nine MLAs were
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: the summer who had defected, quit the party due to
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: lack of confidence in her leadership. The 28 remaining MLAs
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: getting a whole bunch of doubling up portfolios. The most
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: important or consequential thing I saw here, Jillian, we'll start
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: with you on this. No Indigenous relations portfolio survived the shuffle.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: It used to be Scott McInnes had that. Now it
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: doesn't exist at all. Finlay has just named herself shadow
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: minister for land and property protection. What do you make
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: of the complete absence of that portfolio?
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it really shows that the Conservatives under Findlay,
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: if there's a difficult reality they don't want to engage in,
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: they're just going to pretend that it simply doesn't exist.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: The reality in BC is that we don't have treaties
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: over most of our land and that partnership and relationships
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: with Indigenous people is absolutely critical to getting anything done,
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: not to mention the right thing to do. in light
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: of the very real need for reconciliation. I also noted
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: they don't have a critic for climate change. They got
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: rid of the anti-racism portfolio that Theresa Watt had. So
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, they're going to be engaging in
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: the version of reality that they want to see, not
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: necessarily what there really is. And, you know, I think
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: it's out of step with where many people are. We
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: know from other conservative leaders, both John Russett and Pierre
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: Polyev have been clear about the need to have productive
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: relationships with First Nations in BC in order to get
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: things done, I don't think it's going to serve them.
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: Angela, what do you think of all this?
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Well, certainly this is all unprecedented in Canadian history. I
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: think what the Conservative leader is trying to do right
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: now is stabilize things because in addition to running in
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: a by-election and the necessity to obviously win that by-election,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: she's also trying to create and establish the new reality
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: of the caucus because we're going into session. And in
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: many cases, people that are in executive roles are in
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: those executive roles for the very first time. The Conservatives
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: had a very strong session in the spring, probably their
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: strongest they've ever had. I think given everything we just
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: spoke about, about the possibility of a snap election, either
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: in the fall or in the spring, it's paramount that
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: this session be just as strong, if not stronger. So
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: it's trying to juggle and run at the same time.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: It's a challenge for sure, but it is certainly worth examining.
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: Jeff, anything jump out at you on this?
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: Well, what jumps out at me, a couple of things.
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: One is just how hobbled the opposition is and how
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: compromised its ability to hold the government to account is.
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: You know, you have nine MLAs who stepped away from
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: the party. You have chief of staff and director of
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: operations who've both left under a cloud. You have MLAs leaving,
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: talking about the KLF's ability to win. her ethics, how
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: she treats people, not a caucus that looks like it's
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: going to be in any position to manage itself, and
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: even more, hold the government to account. There was this
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: tradition in British Columbia politics when there were divisions amongst
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: conservatives and federal liberals that big business would bring the
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: parties together and say, we'll give you tens or hundreds
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: of thousands of dollars, but if you're the party that
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: we choose, so figure out your differences, figure out the
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: issues between us, and it's got to be this person,
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: and it's going to be that person because we're giving
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: you all that money. But because that doesn't exist anymore,
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: you see the kind of the fluid, difficult situation that
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: the opposition finds itself in now.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: It is an interesting critic shuffle. Some of the things
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: that stood out for me, John Rustad, the former leader
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: who had used to be in a kind of co-Indigenous
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: relations critic portfolio, moved to the critic for Treasury Board.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: I don't know how you criticize Treasury Board when the
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: meetings aren't public, there's no documents, it doesn't exist.
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure what he's going to be doing there.
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: Former leader Trevor.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Halford, who everyone thought had done a good job in
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: kind of getting the opposition going. He's left a languish
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: back in ICBC critic portfolio, which is a misuse of
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: his talents. And some folks got big promotions. Misty Van
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: Popta got the housing portfolio with the departure of Alia Warbus.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: So we'll see how it goes.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of eyes on the Conservatives, as Angela
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: pointed out, this fall to see how they do. in
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: the legislature when it comes back in October. Okay, continuing
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: the conversation here, unless anyone has any final thoughts on
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: the conservative critic shuffle, we'll move on to our Plays
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: of the Week in BC Politics, just highlighting some interesting, fun, funny,
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: sometimes not even BC Politics-related Plays of the Week. One
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: person on this panel, I'm not going to say who,
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: it's a particular issue with e-scooters, but that's not a
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: topic this week.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: But that person is magnificent, and their takes are incredible. Again,
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: no names.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: But let's do the Plays of the Week. Let's go
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: around and talk a bit about that. Jeff, why don't
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: you go first?
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: Yeah, my Political Play of the Week goes to the B.C.
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: government for proving that some political lessons apparently need to
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: be relearned every generation. And I'm talking about the rally
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: for Canada and Victoria and how they brought out O.G.R. Scintilla.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: Parody rapper to fire up the crowd.
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: Now look i admire the enthusiasm but i thought we'd
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: settled like in 1995 that grown white men rapping is
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: not necessarily the surest way to demonstrate that you're hip
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: with the kids i remember back in the day when
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: homer simpson rapped i'm a white male age 18 to
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: 49 everyone listens to me no matter how dumb my
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: suggestions are that was That was supposed to be satire,
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: not a government communications strategy. So, look, the rally, good idea.
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: Celebrating Canada, absolutely. Having some fun with it, sure, why not?
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: But when government starts rapping, somewhere a communications director should
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: have the courage to gently reach for the microphone and say,
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: we're good, thanks.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: No, you had a lot of songs there, too.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Some of which have been stuck in my head all week,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: which is deeply unfortunate for all concerned. But that was cringe.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: Not based, as the kids say.
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: Cringe. I think they say.
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: As the youngest person, Angela, you'd have to. Yeah, I'm
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: not sure. Not cool. Not cool.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: It was a weird rally. It reminded me kind of
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: like Gordon Campbell. Remember when, this predates everybody, I guess,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: but he put on a plaid shirt and played guitar
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: at one point when he wanted to show everyone he
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: was cool.
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: What happened after that?
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: He didn't do well. He didn't do well in the election.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: Those were different times. Those were different times.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: The center right was fractured, you know, and the Democrats
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: had just been in power for almost 10 years. So
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: totally different times, completely. Angelo, what's your play of the week?
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: We talked about it on the show a little bit.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: It's not BC related, but I'm going to give my
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: play of the week to federal conservative leader, Pierre Polyev,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: for doing the American mainstream media circuit, Fox Business, MSNBC
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: or CNNBC. I think there's a tremendous amount of value
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: to someone with peers level of, I think. Prosecution and
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: how he points issues out to.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: Go and do that.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: He's in a tough spot as are all opposition leaders,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: like we discussed because of the rally around the flag effect.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: And I think there's utility in going and showcasing your
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: ability to articulate the value of free trade to Canadians
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: and Americans, what we've built together, how far we've come,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: you know, we fought on the beaches together. I think
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: it'll pay dividends.
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: For the federal leader.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: And I think, again, his tact to be classy and
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to not attack the prime minister on foreign soil will
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: likewise pay dividends, especially, not that it matters, he doesn't
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: need American audiences necessarily, but I do find it amusing
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: that the American panelists and American audiences found it odd
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: that he refused to attack the prime minister because American
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: culture is so used to just the bloodiest of bloody
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: lowbrow political fights. Not that we know anything about that
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: in BC, but I thought that was very interesting.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: I agree with everything you said, Angelo, but then there's
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: that part of the conservative base you saw sort of
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: like go after Polyev for not being, for not taking
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: the opportunity to dump on Carney on American TV because
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: they view Carney as the real problem and Trump as
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: the mature adult in the room. That part of the
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: conservative base kind of went after him and I I
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: guess there's no win in navigating that, but he's certainly
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: picking a path there.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: I'll just say real quick, that part of the base,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: which is obviously near and dear to my heart, needs
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: to also consider and ask the question, to what end?
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: What is the point? What would be the point of
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: the federal leader going to the United States strictly to
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: attack the Canadian prime minister? What utility does it serve?
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: What ends are you trying to Actualize. People often don't
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: think that way.
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: I think they.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Should because this is politics and you have to behave
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: a certain way to win.
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: Okay. Julian, what was your play of the week?
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: I was going to give mine to the three left-wing
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: parties in Vancouver running in the municipal election who decided
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: to work together. First, they decided to work together to
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: only run smaller council slates to not split the vote.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: And this week we had their last week COPE mayor candidate,
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: Stephanie Allen bowed out. And this week we had the
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: one city candidate, Merrill candidate, bow out to support Pete
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: Fry from the Greens because he has the likeliest chance
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: of beating Ken Simm. And I think it was just
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: good to see a little bit of strategic thinking from
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: a very difficult election. I'm from Vancouver. I haven't lived
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: there in a long time. But if anyone's ever voted
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: in those races, it's a really tough election because there's
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: like this crazy long ballot. There's no award system. It's
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: a mess. It was good to see people put just
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: doing the right thing ahead of their own egos.
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: So that takes us down to how many?
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: We've got about five now. We've got Ken Sim, Kareem
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: Allam with the Liberals, Pete Fry with the Greens, and
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: then there's Rebecca Bly and Colleen Hardwick also.
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: I was just going to say the left-wing parties in Vancouver,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: you wouldn't know more about this than me, Jillian, but
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I think there's like beef everywhere. Among them, these left-wing
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: municipal parties all hate each other.
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's very unusual. Which is refreshing to see, I guess.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and they've got like the Pete Fry's run for
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: the BC Greens before. They got lots of ties there,
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: lots of like staff crossover. And then one city mayor
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: or minister Boyle was a one city councillor. So lots
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: of rivalries at the provincial level too related to those parties.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: So it was no small thing for them to do that.
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: It's nice to see the left attack each other. Well,
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: if you think that the left doesn't have beefs with
• 27:58
  Speaker 5: each other, you should go to an NDP convention. That'll
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: dissuade you from that belief pretty quick-like.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: And yet, somehow they all end up coming out of
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: that thing mostly united. The weird thing about the NDP
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: conventions is somehow they come together, you know? But anyways,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: for my play of the week, I'm just going to,
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: I think, take a global view of the last couple
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: months in BC politics and say the political player of
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: the moment for me right now, I think, is Peter Milibar.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: And I think we're going to look back on Milibar
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: at some point in BC political history as perhaps a
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: consequential player in what's about to happen in politics. He,
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: in the last couple weeks, has very clearly laid down
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: a marker to everyone that you rally behind him as
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: the alternative to the conservatives, or you get out of
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: the way, that he's going to mobilize these nine MLAs.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: He's going to plow through the white spot, triple O
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: summit crew. He's going to push center BC to extinction.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: And he is going to be the guy who rallies
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: the alternative to the conservatives.
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: And whether this works or not, I don't know.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: If it works, he's going to look like some sort
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: of hero of profit of BC politics. If it doesn't,
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: But he is the man of the moment, I think,
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: in BC politics, and he's kind of pushing forward at.
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: An interesting pace.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: So my political play of the week is Peter Milibar
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: and his, whatever's happening, the Peter Party, which is not the.
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: Name, but he's going to come up with a name
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: fairly soon. soon as well. So keep an eye on Milibar.
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: All right. Good show. Thanks to the pod squad for
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: being here.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Make sure you subscribe to Political Capital daily in your
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: inbox every day.
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: Make sure you're watching us on.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: YouTube and Check TV and all of the other platforms.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: Thanks to Angelo, Jeff and Jillian for being here. And
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: we'll be back next week with all the latest on
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: political capital.
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: Take care.