Latest / Political Capital with Rob Shaw / October 9, 2026 - ICBC, taxes and candidate controversy | Political Capital

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October 9, 2026 - ICBC, taxes and candidate controversy | Political Capital · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Check podcasts.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Hey, everyone, and welcome to Political Capital, your source for
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: all the latest in B.C. politics and in this B.C.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: election campaign. We have breached the halfway point. We're chugging
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: on down to the final couple of weeks of the B.C. election,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: which is both going very quickly and so, so slowly
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: as this election campaign winds its way through. We're going
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: to talk a bit about ICBC. We're going to talk
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: about income tax cuts in the race. And we're going
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: to talk about candidate eruptions this week. We're going to
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: bring in the pod squad to do that. Allie Blades,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Jeff Barrier, Jillian Oliver are all here. Thank you for
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: being here. And let us dive right in. I did
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: not have on my bingo card that we would be
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: talking about ICBC no-fault insurance. as a massive campaign issue
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: at the midway point. But here we are, the Conservatives
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: with a letter to the legal profession saying they would overhaul,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: no fault, introduce a hybrid system, maybe bring in some
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: private insurance competition. David Eby coming out saying the NDP
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: would freeze rates for another three years for a 10-year
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: rate freeze, which is pretty good. Complex policy boiled down
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: to whatever we're talking about on ICBC. How do we
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: think it's landing, Jillian? Let's start with you. ICBC, what
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: does it mean in this campaign?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think obviously the NDP really seized on it
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: because it's their first opportunity to sort of question the
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: trustworthiness of Lorne Dirksen. Prior to this, I think it
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: had been really hard for them campaigning against him because
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: he's sort of this unknown quantity. And so people wanting
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: change can kind of just project their hopes onto him.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: And it's the first kind of inkling that we've had
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  Speaker 1: of like, okay, hold on, what is this guy really
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: going to do if he becomes premier? And sending a
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: letter to lawyers who would profit off going back to
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: a more litigious system is a little shady coming from
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: a former BC liberal that government was kind of pushed
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: out of power a based on the perception that they
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: were too cozy with industry, things out of touch with
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: how expensive things have gotten, allowing industries to profit while
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: things got more unaffordable for people. So I think it's
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: a good narrative for the NDP, and it's the first
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: thing that has kind of gone well for them in
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: the campaign. Of course, also, David Eby was responsible for
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  Speaker 1: overhauling ICBC and bringing in uh no fault and keeping
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: rates frozen it's kind of one of the things that
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: that he's been most successful on so it's a good
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: issue for them but i think you know the fact
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: that it has become such a big issue shows that
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  Speaker 1: like how few things are going right for the ndp
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: and how much they really need a win um i
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: don't think it's going to be enough to turn the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: tide but i expect them to make try to make
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: a bigger issue and kind of spin it out into
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: doubt about more other things um heading into the debate
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: this coming.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Week yeah no good point it is the first way
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the NDP have been able to kind of go at Dirksen, Jeff,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: in a kind of substantial way. Is it really about
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: ICBC or is it about something more? Are we going
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: to be talking about ICBC in the last couple of
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: weeks or what do you think of all this?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's about leadership and affordability. If you're
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: the NDP, it's leadership because you have Lorne Dirksen twice
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: saying that he made no promises to trial lawyers. And
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: as a result of some dogged journalism and some work
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: by the NDP, it became clear that He had made
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: promises and he was forced to apologize. And affordability is
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: the other main theme of this campaign. And the seven-year
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: ICBC rate freeze is probably the most popular thing the
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: BC NDP has done apart from tolls off bridges. It
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: saved the average driver around $ 500 and three more years
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  Speaker 3: of it is a good affordability promise for the NDP
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  Speaker 3: to make. I think the NDP is also, as Jillian
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  Speaker 3: points out, trying to push this into a narrative of
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: whose side people are on. NDP is trying to say
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  Speaker 3: we're on the side of average motorists, everyday families, whereas
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  Speaker 3: the other side is on the side of powerful interest
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  Speaker 3: in the trial lawyers who will go back on the
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  Speaker 3: gravy train. So I think it's about leadership. I think
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  Speaker 3: it's about affordability. And I think it's about whose side
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  Speaker 3: you're on, which is why the NDP is pursuing this.
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  Speaker 2: Ali, what do you think of all this?
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  Speaker 4: You know, the NDP are pursuing this because they think
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  Speaker 4: that they got a gotcha moment, when in reality, it's
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: none of that. Gillian is right that this is the
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: NDP banking on exposing the conservatives on this wild secret deal.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: Nothing is a secret when you're sending a letter to
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  Speaker 4: an organization of a thousand plus people. We have to
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: also look back on what the timelines of a campaign
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: look like. And with the debate coming up, with platforms
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: coming out soon, all of this gets laid out there.
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  Speaker 4: But a letter being sent out to a large group
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: is hardly a secret, nor was it intended to be.
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  Speaker 4: And I don't think that the leader apologized, that the
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: Conservative leader even needed to apologize, because he was putting
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: out something that is going to be news some point
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: during this campaign.
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  Speaker 2: I guess the issue is he put it out to
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  Speaker 2: the private interest groups before the public, which... It's not
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: like reforming no fault is a secret conservative position. They've
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: been talking about it for a while, but committing to
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: it before he sort of committed to it was the issue.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Let's just go around just very quickly here, kind of
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: springboarding off that. David Eby said this week he understands
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: that not everyone is as anxious or worked up about
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump as he was. Are we all kind of,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: is this an affordability election campaign? Is that where we've
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: landed on this? Springboarding off of ICBC, Trump is not
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: an issue anymore. This is all about cost of living. Jillian,
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: is that what this is boiled down to, do you think?
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I think cost of living is at the forefront of
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: voters' minds. And to the extent that people are really
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: looking for like specific commitments, that's like what's most likely to,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: you know, be sort of like kitchen table conversation and
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: what people are looking for. But I actually think the
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: selection is really about leadership and trust right now. Um,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: you see both the major parties trying to sort of, um,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: talk about how the other one, you can't trust them.
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  Speaker 1: You don't know what they stand for. They don't deliver
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: what they promise. And I think, um, it seems like
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: that's kind of a bit of a bigger theme. Um,
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  Speaker 1: who do you trust more? Who do you trust the least?
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  Speaker 1: I just because of where both the parties have been at.
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  Speaker 1: The Conservatives have been in chaos. Dirksen is sort of
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: an unknown quantity. He wasn't elected by voters. And Eby
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: is pulling a pretty naked political move without having delivered much.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: So I think that it's really going to boil down
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  Speaker 1: to trust on the ballot question instead of an issue.
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  Speaker 2: Allie, let's bring you back in. Affordability, Trump is a bust,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: or leadership, do you think?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I think David Eby wanted it to be about
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: Trump so that his true opponent in this election could
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: have been Trump. It worked well federally with Mark Carney.
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: And so he was hoping that he could mimic that,
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: I think. And ultimately what the voters want is more
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: affordability on the other side of this. As Jillian talks
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: about trust, we have to be aware to the fact
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: that a lot of politicians make these promises for voters
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: certain voter blocks. And so one of the things that
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: I was realizing this week, and I think I said
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: this in a previous show, was if David Eby thinks
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: that his threat is going to be on the center-right,
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: we're going to see a lot more of the resource announcements.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: But if he thinks his threat is on the left,
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: we might see him mimic some of the announcements from
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: Emily Lowen. And so now it's a matter of trust
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: on where the NDP actually stand as an organization. And
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  Speaker 4: one of the things that stood out to me was
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: the grocery store price caps. And it's actually more reflective
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  Speaker 4: of like an Abby Lewis policy, not a John Horgan
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  Speaker 4: NDP policy. And so my point here is that who
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: are the NDP? What do they stand for in an election?
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  Speaker 4: I see them going to the right. I see them
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: going to the left. But They don't have anything to
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  Speaker 4: stand on on their own.
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  Speaker 2: Jeff, what do you think the election is about if
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: you boil it down right now?
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  Speaker 3: Well, if you look at it now, it seems to
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: be about affordability. That's why you see folks talking about
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: tax cuts, caps on grocery prices, gas taxes down, those
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: sorts of things. I think that's largely because if you
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: look at the swing ridings, places like Surrey, places like
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: the suburbs around cost of living plays large there. So
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: it's really hyper-targeted at those folks. I think at the
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: end of the day, when folks go in to cast
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  Speaker 3: their ballots, that it's going to be about what the
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: NDP hopes it's going to be about is, are these
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: guys ready to govern? I think you've seen some good
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: polls for the Conservatives. They're showing momentum. I think the
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: hope is that at the end of the campaign, when
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: you're in the secrecy of that balloting area, Are you
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: completely convinced that an unproven leader in a party that
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: has been subject to chaos and division for quite a
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: long time, if they're ready to govern? And I think
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: whether people say yes or no to that is going
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: to determine who wins the election. Okay.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Good discussion on that. Let's take a break. When we
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: come back, we're going to talk about the conservative leader's
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: income tax cut process. and basically how everyone is going
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: to pay for their promises in this campaign right after this. Well,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: welcome back. BC Conservative leader Lorne Dirksen with one of
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: the biggest, most expensive election promises I've seen in quite
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: some time, a $ 1, 000 tax rebate by raising the personal
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: income exemption level on provincial income taxes from $ 13, 000- ish to $ 32, 000- ish
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: affects everybody, including high-income earners. I mean, someone working full-time
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: at a minimum wage job is now paying no provincial
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: income tax under this plan, somewhere around $ 2- 4 billion in cost,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: which is huge, more than the $ 1, 000 grocery rebate cost
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: that David Eby promised the last election and then cancelled. So,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: The issue of, Ali, we'll start with you on this one,
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  Speaker 2: the issue of the tax cut as a policy, it's
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: not cash, but it's income tax rebate. And then the
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: attack from David Eby, the counterattack being, how's he going
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: to pay for this? Where's the magic wand to do
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: all of this? How did it land for you?
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  Speaker 4: Well, the core of what I think the conservatives are
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: trying to accomplish are no new taxes. And to point
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: out that on David Eby's side, all of these promises
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: that he made for affordability, like to the grocery rebate
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: that was brought up last time, and then he completely
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: reneged on where who's actually going to be able to
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: deliver it this time. And the fact of the matter
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: is we have the highest taxes in North America and
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: And we don't have a plan for affordability without new taxes.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: I mean, even David Eby was on radio this week.
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: And how are you going to afford everything and pay everything?
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: More taxes. We just we can't continue to lean into that.
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: I think where the Conservatives and pretty much anybody other
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: than the NDP are thinking about productivity, they're thinking about
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: how do we get new investment into this province? And
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: not everything is about creating new taxes.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Jeff, what do you think? The argument from EB is
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: you cannot, if you're not going to increase taxes, and
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: you're not going to cut things like healthcare, and you
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: want to also promise that you're going to make big
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: spending announcements and reduce the deficit, where's your magic wand?
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: I will say that's kind of been the NDP's position
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: the last couple of budgets, and it didn't make sense then,
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: and it doesn't make sense now. But the tax offer
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: versus the counter offer on spending, what do you make
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: of it?
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the obvious question here, as it is with any
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: big ticket item that a party puts forward in an election,
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: is how do you pay for it? So let's be conservative.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: This would cost the Treasury $ 2. 5 billion to raise the
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: deficit to $ 17 billion. And the argument is always, as
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: you point out, economic growth. Economic growth will drive the
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: government revenues that are needed for health care, education and
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: tax cuts. Well, economic growth is important, but it doesn't
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: happen overnight. If you're promising billions in new spending in
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: year one, you need to tell British Columbians where the
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: money is coming from in year one, because it's not
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: going to come from economic growth. And I think you'll
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: see the NDP go at that. You just said that
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: they have. They're going to call it thoughtless, and they're
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: going to suggest that it shows the BC Conservatives need
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: more time in opposition before they're ready to govern.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: That's going to be such a hard argument, though, because
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Economic growth has been what the NDP have been talking
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: about for two years as the only way to get
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: out of the budget deficit. Jillian, I mean, I guess
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: that's what elections are about, is people altering their message.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: But I find it kind of fascinating. We're talking about
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: this way right now on this issue.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it is.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, I said this earlier on The Daily Show.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: It's really remarkable to me how Similar, the NDP and
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: conservative campaigns are now, you know, they've got slightly different
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: promises on affordability, but they're kind of really promising some
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: version of more of the same, really, with a little
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: bit of cuts here, you know, a little bit of
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: benefits here. I think that the Conservatives costing is probably
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: going to have some really optimistic figures on economic growth.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: They've talked about supercharging LNG. I'm not sure how credible
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: that is when the NDP has already essentially rolled out
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: the red carpet for every LNG project that has been
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: proposed and they're, you know, fast tracking mines and getting
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: money from the federal government. I'm just not sure that
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: there is that much more that could be done more quickly.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: And these projects, like Jeff said, take many, many years.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: It would be a long time before we actually see
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: those revenues come in. I think it's interesting. We've talked
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: about this too. The Greens are the only ones with
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: a really starkly different plan. They really want to put
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: in a big tax on wealth. I think they call
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: it extreme wealth on fortunes over $ 50 million. The only
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: party with a plan to actually solve the deficit crisis.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: If they could get that done, they released a huge
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: 38-page industrial strategy plan Um, this week that is just
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: very distinct from the other parties. And it's such an
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: interesting dynamic where we have these two major parties more
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: or less saying a lot of the same things. And
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: then the Greens with like a completely different vision at
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: a time where people are looking for new ideas and change. Yeah.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: The Greens running an interesting campaign, uh, for sure. Okay.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Let's come back after the break and talk a bit
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: about candidates and candidate controversies and how that affects the
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: campaign as well after this. Welcome back. BC Conservative leader
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Lorne Dirksen firing his first candidate of the election campaign,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Victoria Beacon Hill's Joachim Agu, who the NDP dug up
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: some social media posts from this young man where he
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: shared a meme of US President Donald Trump making disparaging
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: comments about Pakistanis and also suggested a driver who had
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: rammed into a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters in Switzerland should
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: have reversed the vehicle and gone back over them again.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: An interesting way that this happened with the NDP putting
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: this out, as Lauren Dirksen was getting up to make
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: an announcement, he was surprised by the question, said he would,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: right after leaving the press conference, get into this, and
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: within 90 minutes, that candidate was dismissed. Jeff, let's start
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: with you on this. The risk to the conservative campaign
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: of candidates like this, how high do you think that is,
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: and what do you make of the impact of Yeah.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: I think in quick elections, candidate eruptions is always a
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: fear of campaigns, which is why you see them shut
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: down candidates from talking an awful lot during elections because
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: it's a fear for everyone. Look, I think Dirksen did
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: the only thing that he could possibly do here, given
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: what this guy said. Now, I don't think you should
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: get credit for cleaning up a mess you should have
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: prevented in the first place, but we'll see what the
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: public thinks about that. Vetting isn't a forte of the
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: BC Conservatives, we know from the last election, so we'll
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: see if there's any other folks out there. I think
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: one question that has been asked, and I think it's
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: Eleanor Sturco who raised this, was about if Dirksen's going
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: to fire this candidate, why isn't he firing other candidates
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: who have said equally egregious things? Heather Moss saying LGBTQ
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: folks are groomers and pedophiles. Anna Kendi, you know, RFK Jr.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: of British Columbia talking about vaccines and how herd immunity
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: is better than vaccines. I think maybe the only difference
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: between the candidates is you can't win in Victoria and
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: you can win those other seats and you don't want
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: to do something that takes a seat off the board
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: for you.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Well, plus I think voters have already elected those two
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: people at least once, so they've passed a certain test,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: I guess. But yeah, I guess the question is, in
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: my mind, how many candidate firings can the conservatives withstand
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: before they reach that point of 2024 when the public
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: just comes up short and says you're not ready to
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: take the reins of power because of this? I don't know, Allie,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure if there's a number to be associated
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: with that, but how much, how many scandals like this,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: problems like this can a party withstand, do you think?
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: Well, I'm going to spend as much time as the
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: Conservative leader spent on his decisive decision to remove the candidate,
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: which is basically when you're promoting violence, it is absolutely
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: no question, out you go. When it comes to a
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: larger piece of how much a campaign can spend on this,
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: I'm sure the NDP would love it if they could
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: attack us every day. But that's not going to happen
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: this election like they did in the last election. These
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: are two very different campaigns. These are two very different times.
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: Last election, it was still a startup party. It was
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: just days old, whereas now they've been in opposition. They've
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: been MLAs. They have the experience and they've built a
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: party that can compete against the NDP.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: It's also it's the challenge, I guess, in candidate vetting
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: when it's a snap election where 48 hours prior to
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: the snap election, there wasn't even a leader for the
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Conservative Party in place, a current leader. So putting 93
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: candidates in place and vetting them is a hard thing
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: for a party to do in that situation. Jillian, how
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: big of a risk is this to the Conservatives, do
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: you think?
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: I think it's a risk. I mean, you could kind
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: of look at it either way.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: We had tons of these kinds of eruptions last election,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: and we still saw people like Brent Chapman get re-elected.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: or get elected, although he's- Way to go, Siri. since booted.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: I think that when the drive for change is strong enough,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: it's also, I think, going to be a pretty low
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: information election. People may or may not even hear about
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: these things given that we also have the municipal elections.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: This is a time where I think appetite for engaging
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: in politics is quite low because people are just exhausted.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: On the other hand, though, I think it does remind
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: people of the recent instability in the conservatives and the
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: difficulty in keeping the caucus together. And I think the
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: choice of Dirksen to expel this candidate, but not others,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: like including Sheldon Clare, who also recently said that municipal
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: politicians should be hanged, which is a threat of violence.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I would say, you know, speaks to the delicate balance
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: that any conservative leader is going to happen. And I
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: think voters may be thinking, OK, if we do elect them,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: then what? And, you know, how soon is it until
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: we start to have more expulsions? I mean, this is
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: a story we've seen play out again and again from
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: BC United to the various incarnations of the conservatives where
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: they just are unable to hold their caucus together. So
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: are they ready to lead? I think will continue to
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: be a question that will bedevil them until Election Day.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: In some ways, are they ready to lead? I think,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: to me, is the question of the election. This is
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: a change election in my mind. Just like 2024, you
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: seat in the polls, people are looking for a change.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: They're kicking the tires of the alternative. They're asking, could
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: we trust these guys if we put them in power?
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: And 2024, the answer was, I'm just not sure. And
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure how many candidate eruptions the party can
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: withstand before it gets to that same point. So Fascinating.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Fascinating election. Interesting times. We've got the TV leaders debate
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: coming up this week on Wednesday. We've got advanced voting
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: opening up shortly after that. We will be here on
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Political Capital Daily each and every day on your audio
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: podcast feed and also on the Prime show here on
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: YouTube and Check Plus and Check TV. Thank you to
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: the panel for being here. Thank you for listening and
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: for watching. And we'll be back very soon with all
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: the latest in BC politics here on Political Capital.