Latest / Political Capital with Rob Shaw / October 16, 2026 - When Municipal and Provincial Elections Collide | Political Capital

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October 16, 2026 - When Municipal and Provincial Elections Collide | 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.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Politics.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: And boy, is there a lot of latest news to
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: get into here. We are down to the final kind
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: of stretch. The last week of the B.C. election is
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  Speaker 2: on the horizon. We've got lots to talk about, many
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  Speaker 2: topics to get into this week. We're going to bring
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  Speaker 2: in the pod squad to do it. Jeff Ferrier, Jillian Oliver,
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  Speaker 2: and Allie Blades are here, our political capital prime crew.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks so much for being here. Let us begin. Let
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: us dive in. We've had a busy week.
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  Speaker 2: We are now one week away from the provincial election.
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  Speaker 2: Advanced voting has opened as we record this on Friday.
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  Speaker 2: Where are we at? What's happening in this final week
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  Speaker 2: that's important for people to know and what do parties
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: need to do in this final stretch to kind of
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  Speaker 2: bring everything home? Ali, why don't we start with you
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  Speaker 2: on that?
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  Speaker 4: Well, for all of the get out the vote nerds
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  Speaker 4: that are on campaigns, tomorrow's going to be a little
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: bit different, I think. So typically you would have a
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: post debate. Then you think about momentum events. You think
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  Speaker 4: about the target writings that you need to reach and
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  Speaker 4: potentially larger audiences now. And tomorrow, Saturday, is going to
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  Speaker 4: be a bit of a weird day because you're getting
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  Speaker 4: out the vote for the provincial campaign, but as well
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  Speaker 4: as the municipal campaign. And so what I'm understanding in
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  Speaker 4: for multiple campaigns, not just the Conservative, that there's an
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  Speaker 4: interesting strategy of get out the vote plus voter ID
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: because of the nature of the snap election. And so
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  Speaker 4: no matter where you are in this province, I think
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  Speaker 4: you're going to be busy tomorrow.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think, Ali, we're going to get lower voter
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  Speaker 2: turnout municipally and provincially because of all this or... What's
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  Speaker 2: your best guess there.
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  Speaker 3: Do you think?
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  Speaker 4: Who knows? I'm hoping for better voter turnout because you
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  Speaker 4: would have the option to do both, not in the
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  Speaker 4: same location from what I understand, but maybe in hopefully
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  Speaker 4: nearby locations. So if you're already going out to vote,
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  Speaker 4: you might as well just do the other one too.
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  Speaker 4: Who knows? I mean, we haven't been able to find
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  Speaker 4: other cases like this anywhere in North America, really. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Well, hope springs eternal. Let's hope for.
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  Speaker 2: For a better voter turnout, it's good for democracy. Jillian,
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  Speaker 2: where are we at here in the campaign and what
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  Speaker 2: are you looking for as we kind of get into
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  Speaker 2: this final week in terms of what parties need to
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  Speaker 2: be doing and what voters might see?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it is definitely turning towards the voter motivation,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: which I think is going to be a bit of.
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  Speaker 4: A slog for everybody.
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  Speaker 1: I heard from a lot of people following the debate
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  Speaker 1: that they just found it really hard to watch, especially
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: that first section where you kind of had the like
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: worst tweet Olympics with Dirksen and EB just going after
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  Speaker 1: each other for like whose social media posts suck the
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  Speaker 1: most and who's got the most internal problems and utterly
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  Speaker 1: failing to address the problems that are top of mind
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  Speaker 1: for voters. I wonder, I'd be so interested to know
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  Speaker 1: if just a lot of people turned off their TVs
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  Speaker 1: at that point. And so, and then I think, you know,
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  Speaker 1: if they kept watching, they saw like EB really kind
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  Speaker 1: of looking like the most premier-like, but still so much
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  Speaker 1: disenchantment with him. So yeah, I think a really tough
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  Speaker 1: slog to try to motivate voters in those key ridings.
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  Speaker 1: The NDP and the Conservatives spending a lot of time
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  Speaker 1: in the Fraser Valley where it seems like it's really
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  Speaker 1: going to come down to for them and the Greens
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  Speaker 1: spending most of their time on their island where their
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  Speaker 1: top ridings are and really just trying to motivate people
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  Speaker 1: and convince people to get out there and make the
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  Speaker 1: effort and show up and cast their vote.
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  Speaker 3: The worst tweet Olympics. I like that.
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  Speaker 2: I kind of wish in the debate format that maybe
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  Speaker 2: Those questions have been at the end, once everyone was
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  Speaker 2: kind of, you know, like there was a lot of
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  Speaker 2: nervousness off the top, and suddenly we're talking about some
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  Speaker 2: of the most controversial issues right off the go, and
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  Speaker 2: it didn't go well for anyone involved. Jeff, how are
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  Speaker 2: you feeling about this last week, and what should we
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  Speaker 2: be looking for?
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  Speaker 5: My perspective is that there's no question that the Conservatives
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  Speaker 5: have momentum at this part of the campaign. They're ahead
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  Speaker 5: by two to five points, depending on what opinion poll
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  Speaker 5: you're looking at. They'd much rather be where they're at
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  Speaker 5: than the NDP is at right now. But there's still
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  Speaker 5: lots in play. If you believe the public opinion polls,
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  Speaker 5: there's a significant green vote where folks have indicated they
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  Speaker 5: are ready to move, especially in close ridings. And once
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  Speaker 5: folks go into the privacy of their ballot box areas,
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  Speaker 5: the reality is that wanting a change in government in
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  Speaker 5: this province is one thing and being comfortable with the
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  Speaker 5: alternative is another. I think that's the tension at the
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  Speaker 5: heart of the election and the results that will play
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  Speaker 5: out on the 24th.
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  Speaker 2: It is a good point that that brief moment in
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  Speaker 2: the in the ballot box, you get that little stubby
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  Speaker 2: little pencil in your hand and you have to kind
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  Speaker 2: of seize up on what you're actually doing and think
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  Speaker 2: about it can actually change right up into the last minute.
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  Speaker 2: The old line about the 60 second Socrates, the people
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  Speaker 2: who just could not articulate publicly why they would do something,
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  Speaker 2: but then for 60 seconds in the ballot box would
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  Speaker 2: be able.
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  Speaker 3: To get their mind around. voting for social credit is
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  Speaker 3: a good point.
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  Speaker 2: So we've got polling that shows, as Jeff pointed out, Ali,
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  Speaker 2: a really, really tight race here. If you aggregate all
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  Speaker 2: the polling, you're kind of in around four or five
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  Speaker 2: point lead for the Conservatives, but it's sometimes within the
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  Speaker 2: margin of error. Sometimes it's even closer than that. What
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  Speaker 2: does that mean in your mind at this point in
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  Speaker 2: the campaign? And does it Are there other things that
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  Speaker 2: are coming out of the polling numbers on leadership and
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: voter intention and geography and issues that you think may
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: be kind of interesting and critical in these final few days?
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  Speaker 4: The reason for polling is so that campaigns and the
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  Speaker 4: public can really decide whether or not where to put resources,
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  Speaker 4: specifically for a campaign, right? If the polling is good,
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  Speaker 4: then we can shift resources into other areas where it
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  Speaker 4: would be more of a long shot for a campaign. So,
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  Speaker 4: That is important to understand because the other part of
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  Speaker 4: this is that because it's so close, I hate to
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  Speaker 4: continue to talk about get out the vote, but that's
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  Speaker 4: just the time that we're in. It means that that
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  Speaker 4: is going to be oh so important. And then there
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  Speaker 4: are some factors that I forgot to mention. The fact
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  Speaker 4: that there's voter confusion because we have conservative municipal groups
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  Speaker 4: that are not connected to the provincial group. There are
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  Speaker 4: a lot of NDP supporters that are both involved municipally
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  Speaker 4: and provincially. And on Sunday, all of those NDP supporters
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  Speaker 4: now get to go on to provincial campaigns because they've
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  Speaker 4: been so focused on municipal campaigns. And so because it's
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  Speaker 4: so close, here's the point. Because it's so close, it's
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  Speaker 4: really going to be interesting to see where that momentum
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  Speaker 4: goes post the results of the municipal campaign. Because if
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  Speaker 4: more left-leaning folks win on the municipal, then the NDP
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  Speaker 4: get that momentum. If it goes our way on the
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  Speaker 4: conservative side, then sure, they would be motivated to wake
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  Speaker 4: up on a Sunday morning and hit the doors for
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  Speaker 4: a conservative campaign.
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  Speaker 3: It's possible.
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  Speaker 2: The polling indicates maybe, Gillian, we might even be into
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  Speaker 2: a situation where there's some type of minority government again.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if the prospect of that influences people
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  Speaker 2: in the final week. It certainly might buoy the Greens,
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  Speaker 2: but might scare some of the other parties. The tightness
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  Speaker 2: of the polls and that idea that maybe someone doesn't
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  Speaker 2: quite have it in the bag. How do you think
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  Speaker 2: that all plays out in this last week?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think it's definitely the most motivating
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  Speaker 1: for green voters. And I think to Jeff's point could
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  Speaker 1: be a factor in those sort of like tight NDP
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  Speaker 1: green ridings for people who are really feel let down
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  Speaker 1: by the NDP and David Eby decide this time that
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  Speaker 1: have voted strategically in the past decide to take or
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  Speaker 1: take a bit of a risk and see if they
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  Speaker 1: can elect more greens and have a better chance of
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  Speaker 1: getting that minority outcome in order to have some more accountability.
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  Speaker 1: I think that, you know, people look favorably on the first,
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  Speaker 1: you know, three and a half years of the Horgan government,
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  Speaker 1: which is a minority. And that's, you know, maybe is
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  Speaker 1: something like a good goal to shoot for to the
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  Speaker 1: extent that you can. For the others, I mean, maybe
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  Speaker 1: it kind of motivates their volunteers. I'm not sure how
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  Speaker 1: much it motivates, maybe it motivates conservative voters a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more, but I don't know if it would be
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  Speaker 1: much more than they already are. They're really wanting a change.
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  Speaker 2: Jeff, what does the NDP need to do here to
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  Speaker 2: turn this thing around and and win what Premier David
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  Speaker 2: Eby said at the beginning of the campaign was his goal,
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  Speaker 2: is a stronger majority. The polls don't indicate he's there,
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  Speaker 2: but he's got a week left to do it. What
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  Speaker 2: does he need to do to achieve what he set
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  Speaker 2: out to on the snap election for, do you think?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, the polls are a mixed bag for the NDP.
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  Speaker 5: There's enough bad news to keep them awake at night,
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  Speaker 5: but enough good news to get them up in the morning.
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  Speaker 5: So they're going to push hard right through to election day.
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  Speaker 5: They need to do two things, drive message home and
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  Speaker 5: get the vote out. So they need to flood the
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  Speaker 5: airwaves and social media with messages about affordability, keep raising
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  Speaker 5: doubts about conservative policies, candidates and readiness to govern, more
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  Speaker 5: campaign events, more advertising is going to be really important.
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  Speaker 5: Take out the intermediary and get direct messages in front
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  Speaker 5: of people and hope that You get some aligned advertising
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  Speaker 5: from third party groups as well that amplify your message.
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  Speaker 5: And we've been talking about the ground war, volunteers organized,
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  Speaker 5: get your voter list ready, phone banks running, digital tools working,
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  Speaker 5: supporters get into the polls. The air war that we've
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  Speaker 5: been focused on all throughout this campaign gets the headlines,
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: but the ground war gets the votes into the ballot boxes.
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  Speaker 5: So I think that's what the NDP needs to do
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  Speaker 5: in a close election. they can't afford to leave a
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: single vote on the table, especially with the Conservatives with
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: the momentum right now.
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  Speaker 2: I forgot to ask Gillian and Jeff, but I did
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  Speaker 2: ask Ali. Do you think voter turnout, up or down, Jeff?
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  Speaker 5: Consistent.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: Gillian, do you think up or down?
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  Speaker 1: I think down.
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I kind of think down too. But again, hope, hope.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: Get out there and vote, everybody. You can do it.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: There's six days of advanced voting. You can vote anywhere
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: for advanced voting too. So get out there and do that. Okay,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: we're going to take a quick break. Lots more coming
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  Speaker 2: up after this.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: Well, welcome back.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Key ridings are going to decide the fate of this election.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: It looks like given how close it is, every party
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: focusing in different areas, different zones that they need to
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: really kind of win or hold or avoid collapsing in
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: to form the next government or to win the seats
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: they need to win. Jillian, why don't we start with you?
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  Speaker 2: When we're looking at the Greens, where are they most hopeful,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: do you think? And what are the sort of key
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: areas that they might be watching for on election night?
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, of course, the first tier and priority will
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: be to hold on to those two seats in West Vancouver,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Sea to Sky and Saanich North in the Islands where
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Emily Lowen is running. And then beyond that, I think
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: all of their target ridings are going to be sort
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: of in the capital regional district near Victoria, Victoria Swan Lake,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: where they've got the chair of the Victoria School Board.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: or sorry, Teachers Association, who's running and has got a
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: strong campaign there. In Oak Bay, Gordon Head, where they've
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: got a local councillor and an interesting vote split with
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Andrew Weaver running for Centre BC. That's going to be
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: such a fascinating riding to watch. And that's a riding
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: that's gone Conservative, NDP and Green in the past. And
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: then also in Lankford, Juan de Fuca, where they've got
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: a strong candidate in David Evans, who ran last time
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: and is well-known locally and well-liked. So I think that's
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: where they're going to be looking on election night.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Jeff, for the NDP, I know we get to the
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: lower mainland and there's kind of battleground ridings. They have
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: traditional areas of strength as well. What are you looking
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: at to sort of figure out the fortunes of the
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: governing party based on how they win or lose?
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, we've talked a lot about kind of
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: horse race numbers. Ali touched on this too. There's some
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: races that could be decided by the number of people
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: in a reasonably busy coffee shop on election day. So
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: on Vancouver Island, I'll be looking at Courtney Comox, where
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: the Conservatives won by just 93 votes in 2024. They
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: have a strong candidate, but we'll see what happens. And
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: there was a strong green vote in that ride in
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: the last election. We'll see where that goes. Juan de
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: Fuca Malahat, the NDP won that by just 141 votes.
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: If they hold on to that, it's a sign that
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: maybe they're going to be able to hold on to government.
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: If you're looking at the lower mainland... Sir Guildford, Gary
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: Begg won that by 22 votes last time. Who wins
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: that will be, I think, a barometer of who's got momentum.
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: And in the interior, one riding I'm looking at that
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: I think is really interesting is Kelowna Center. The Conservatives
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: won there by just 40 votes. Loyal Woodridge, the NDP candidate,
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: is running again. And it might be an opportunity for
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: the NDP to make a rare breakthrough into the interior.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: Gillian, sorry, Allie.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Areas that stand out for you? There's probably some overlap
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: with what Jeff just said as well. But on the
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: conservative side, where do you think they might be focusing?
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: Well, just going further to what Jeff was saying, I've
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: always known that Kelowna was going to be a place
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: of interest for the NDP, just considering the amount of
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: time that the NDP government and particularly David Eby spent
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: in Kelowna over the last two years. I also saw
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: him in Vernon quite a bit for government announcements. And
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: so I always thought, sure, I think they might think
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: that they could flip a Kelowna Center again because it
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: was so close. At the beginning of the campaign, I
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: wasn't entirely sure where the NDP would be able to
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: pick up votes just because on any given day they
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: could make an announcement that more appeals to the right
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: or to the left. But I think my guess is
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: that David Eby is going to be spending more time
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: in areas where there is a green candidate so that
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: he can take away those votes from the green candidate
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: to the NDP, because this is really going to be
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: that close.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, the NDP have tried that as long as
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: I've been covering politics, you know, trying to squish the
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: greens at the very last minute.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: And it never really works.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Because I think people, especially after Emily Lowen's debate performance,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: kind of like the greens and Um, but it is a.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: Real threat in some writings.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Uh, and, uh, what about, um, we could spend an
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: entire show just on Surrey because it's fascinating and it
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: has so many writings more than the entire Northern half
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: of the province. That's, uh, the suburbs, the tri-cities, I mean, even, uh,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: you know, Richmond and areas that are in play this time. Um,
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: there is a lot, I think we'll, you'll want to
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: tune in on election night because all four of us
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: will be breaking down those writings in real time as
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: the results, um, Come in.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Let's take a quick break. We have time left. We've
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: got other topics we're going to get to right after this.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: Welcome back.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: A couple of issues we want to get into. Let's
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: start with the Massey Bridge, a promise from the conservatives
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: in the final days of the campaign. Stop the tunnel
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: project of the NDP. Build a bridge. That was the
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: original plan prior to 2017. The NDP are proceeding with
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: a tunnel project. I'm not sure it can be stopped
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: or if it should be stopped or if a bridge
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: is better or a tunnel is better at this point,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: but everyone's talking about it. Let's go around quickly on that. Jeff,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: what do you think of the bridge versus tunnel?
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: I understand the politics has taken a long time to
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: get the new crossing in place, but it should be
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: a tunnel. We have $ 3 billion from the government of
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: Canada that will go away if we go to a bridge.
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: It'll be delayed by a number of years. operating engineers
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: and teamsters are out saying this would take thousands of
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: workers off a project, maybe hundreds, not thousands. So I
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: think for those reasons, the NDP is on solid policy
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: ground for keeping the tunnel going.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: Ali, is this a vote getter to go back to
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: the idea of a bridge?
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: I don't think it's necessarily solid policy ground. It The
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: question here is the believability of who's actually going to
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: build whatever's going to fix the problem the most. And
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: the NDP have received a ton of criticism of the
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: fact that every project goes over budget, never on time.
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: And so it's less about tunnel bridge, rather, which party's
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: actually going to be able to deliver this because we
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: have no more time to give to this. The port
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: there is going to expand big time over the next
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: little while, and we have to be able to move things.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: The tunnel is not environmentally approved yet, and it's a
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: salmon-bearing Fraser River, and there may be issues with that.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: The bridge hasn't even begun. I mean, it is the
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: biggest traffic bottleneck in the province. People are frustrated daily
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: by it. It used to be a massive issue. Do
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: you think it's resonating the same way this time?
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think people that are affected by this
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: are just fed up with it being a political football
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: and 10 years of waiting in their cars while these
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: parties kick it back and forth and nothing gets done.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I think that people are going to be more inclined
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: to want to stick to the current plan because that
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: probably seems like it's the most likely to be faster
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: rather than going back to the drawing board on this.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: But I mean, what better issue than to exemplify the
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: problem with the sort of like polarized hyperpolitical two party
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: system that we have?
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, bridge and tunnel, two parties.
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: Super quick, super quick. I drive by that through the
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: tunnel frequently during the week because where I live, there's
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: lots of work going on right now. You see all
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: kinds of prep work being done, but Jillian's right. People
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: just want this solved and this project to move forward
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: in some way that gets them to work or wherever faster.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Let's talk briefly about the B.C. Green leader, Emily Lohan,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: coming out during and after the leaders debate, saying if
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: she holds a balance of power in a minority government,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: her number one issue to die on is implementing proportional representation,
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: changing our voting system three times. Voters have rejected that
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: in referenda. Ali, what did you think of the Greens
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: making that the big issue?
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: I just think this is so comical because at the
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: beginning of the campaign, the whole part of David Eby
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: asking for this election was a strong mandate. And now
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: he's in a position where this very well could be
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Emily Lohan giving him that strong mandate or not. I
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: just think it's funny.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: Jillian, PR, is it even possible to do it without
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: going back to voters? I feel like that might tick
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: people off. But it's certainly what the leader of the
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Green Party says she wants done.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting to see if that
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: plays out. I mean, I think that this election in
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: particular represents like the reason why it might be time
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: to change the voting system when there are the two
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: big parties. There's so many people who don't think either
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: of them are a great option. It's so hard for
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: the other parties to break through. At the same time,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: of course, there will be lots of pushback from that.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: But in some ways, I think 2017 with a functioning,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: healthy minority government under first past the post almost like
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: undermined its own argument for changing the system. Whereas now
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: we're in a position where, you know, the system failed
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to keep extremism out. We still have extreme candidates in
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the House. We still have extreme parties like 1BC in
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the House. And I think there might be some appetite
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: for change.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: So we'll see.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: I think that, though, they would be wise to put
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: some other things on the table that more address people's
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: immediate top of mind concerns as well.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I kind of feel like they may have to
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: do that.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: Words here. Priority for the Greens, not for voters.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: It would benefit the Greens.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, that is obviously the issue, that they gain
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: more popular vote than they do seats.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: And therefore, if they switched it around.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: But you remember how complicated the last PR referendum was,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: the mathematical equation? where your vote was going looked like
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: the Oppenheimer equation, you know, it's like divisions and pie
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: and charts. And it's like your votes divided vision reaction.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: It was so difficult to explain. I don't know how, um, that,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: and David Eby has said, no, he's been asked this before.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: He said, no, I'm not going back to that. So, uh,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: just briefly, Jeff, just on you, do you think Eby
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: would put it back on the table if it meant
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: staying in, uh, getting the green support to stay in power?
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: Just briefly.
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: Uh, I, I suppose it's something, uh, he'd consider, but
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: I think, uh, the real focus that, uh, he would
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: want to get some deals on our healthcare and affordability
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: and that's where I think he'd focus.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: And there is some overlap with the greens, certainly in
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: healthcare and community health centers and, uh, on some affordability
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: issues too.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: Okay. All right.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: Well, so much going on.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: You want to make sure you subscribe to political capital daily,
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: where we're breaking this down each and every day next week.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: We do have a show as well right on the
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: eve of the election and on election night. The panel
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: will be live with their analysis of what's happening in
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: real time. So thank you so much for joining us.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Thanks to the panel for being here. And we'll be
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: back next week with all the latest in BC politics
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: here on Political Capital.