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Debate Day! | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

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  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily. Good morning, happy Wednesday to you, or
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  Speaker 1: as we're calling it today, TVs. Leaders Debate Day in
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  Speaker 1: the B.C.
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  Speaker 2: Election.
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  Speaker 1: That is the top item on the political agenda. You
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  Speaker 1: want to set your PVR. If you're one of those
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  Speaker 1: folks who still has cable, God bless you. Get the
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  Speaker 1: PVR rolling and rocking from 6.15 p.m. tonight till 8 p.m.
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  Speaker 1: for the Leaders Debate. You can watch it on most
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  Speaker 1: of the major networks. I would watch it on Czech TV,
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  Speaker 1: proud supporter of this show. And I will also be
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  Speaker 1: on the 5 and 6 o'clock Czech newscasts. to talk
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  Speaker 1: a bit about a preview for this leaders' debate, so
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  Speaker 1: why not just tune in right after that? You'll love it,
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  Speaker 1: each and every second. That debate will feature B.C. Conservative
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  Speaker 1: leader Lorne Dirksen, B.C. NDP leader David Eby, and B.C.
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  Speaker 1: Green leader Emily Lowen, Center B.C., and One B.C. are
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  Speaker 1: not part of the official leaders' debate, according to the
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  Speaker 1: consortium rules. You can also find this streamed online in
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  Speaker 1: a number of different places. areas as well, including on
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  Speaker 1: the Czech website and various other media outlet websites as well. Okay, well,
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot to look forward to in that leaders debate.
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  Speaker 1: I've written a column for Business in Vancouver this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Have a look for that. Just kind of going back
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  Speaker 1: to the 2024 TV leaders debate where John Rustad delivered
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  Speaker 1: what I wrote at the time was a, quote, cadaverous
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  Speaker 1: performance in which he looked like a mortician, had done
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  Speaker 1: his makeup, didn't smile, didn't look happy to be there,
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  Speaker 1: delivered kind of perfunctory answers, and was not very agreeable.
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  Speaker 1: And the main goal of Lorne Dirksen tonight is to
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  Speaker 1: give permission for British Columbia voters to vote for him
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  Speaker 1: without worrying that some sort of crazy, wacko weirdos are
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  Speaker 1: going to get control of the government. He's got to,
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  Speaker 1: you know, give permission confidence to voters that they can
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  Speaker 1: trust in him to take a shot at running the
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  Speaker 1: BC government. David Eby has the baggage of 10 years
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  Speaker 1: of NDP government at this point, 13 years as an MLA,
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  Speaker 1: and he's got an alternate task to not look like
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  Speaker 1: an arrogant, condescending, dismissive individual whose popularity of him and
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  Speaker 1: the party are at some of the lowest levels in
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  Speaker 1: its history and the time, the desire for change appears
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  Speaker 1: to be rising. So he's going to have to address
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  Speaker 1: that and how he deals with that. And Emily Lowen
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  Speaker 1: has an opportunity here to put wind in the sails
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  Speaker 1: of the BC Greens that have been running a very
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  Speaker 1: interesting campaign, get her message out directly to folks in
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  Speaker 1: some key riding. So we shall watch for that. And
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  Speaker 1: we'll have some interesting analysis on tomorrow's show as well
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  Speaker 1: with some of the pod squad coming by to give
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  Speaker 1: you their thoughts on that. I just want to touch
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  Speaker 1: on A couple topics here before we go to our
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  Speaker 1: first break. The first one being the ongoing $ 10 a
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  Speaker 1: day David Eby controversy issue. That is the NDP leader
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  Speaker 1: revealing that as premier the last couple of years, he
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  Speaker 1: has had one of his children in a $ 10 a
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  Speaker 1: day childcare space in BC, a coveted spot that... Some
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  Speaker 1: people look at it and say, a gentleman like Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Eby with a family household income of probably around $ 500, 000
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  Speaker 1: with his doctor wife, why does he have one of
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  Speaker 1: the very few $ 10 a day spots in British Columbia?
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  Speaker 1: And that is because the ADP government never set those
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  Speaker 1: spots up to be given to the needy. They are
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  Speaker 1: like a lottery system. And the premier saying that he
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  Speaker 1: did have one, he made a donation of, by the
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  Speaker 1: end of this year, he says, up to $ 8, 000 to
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  Speaker 1: the facility. because he felt like he needed to compensate
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  Speaker 1: them for his $ 10 a day spot, which he didn't need.
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  Speaker 1: That donation does not free up the spot for someone else.
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  Speaker 1: It just provides money for the facility. It does not
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  Speaker 1: open up another position for another person because the NDP
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  Speaker 1: government has frozen new entrants into the $ 10 a day
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  Speaker 1: system this year in the February budget. So lots of
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  Speaker 1: different questions flying at David Eby on that issue. I
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  Speaker 1: don't think that's the last we have heard of that
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  Speaker 1: story because there's a lot of kind of, I think,
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  Speaker 1: dawning resentment from thousands of people on wait lists to
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  Speaker 1: get a $ 10 a day space. Only 10% of BC
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  Speaker 1: child care spaces are $ 10 a day, eight years and
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  Speaker 1: billions of dollars later into that promise. And he has
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  Speaker 1: become a kind of flashpoint for the frustration of an
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  Speaker 1: ADP government that's promised multiple times to do something better
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  Speaker 1: on that file. Another issue to canvas here, three polls
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  Speaker 1: out yesterday with Research Coal, Ipsos, and Pallas, all producing
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  Speaker 1: new data for the BC political nerds to analyze. Research
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  Speaker 1: Coal having the conservatives at 44% decided voters, the NDP
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  Speaker 1: at 42%, the Greens at 8%, and 1BC at center,
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  Speaker 1: BC at 2% each. The Ipsos and Pallas polls, more
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  Speaker 1: around the 43% Conservative, 38% NDP, so a wider five-point lead,
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  Speaker 1: slightly higher for the Greens at 11%, 4-5% for 1BC,
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  Speaker 1: and 2% for Centre BC. Interestingly, this is the first
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  Speaker 1: time in Palace that Lorne Dirksen, the Conservative leader, is
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  Speaker 1: leading David Eby in who folks would consider to be
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  Speaker 1: the best Premier for the province. Still a lot of
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  Speaker 1: undecideds on Dirksen, but slumping popularity for David Eby as
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  Speaker 1: his personal approval ratings in this election have only gone downward.
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  Speaker 1: So those are some polls. You throw them into the
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  Speaker 1: polling aggregate machine. I've mentioned before that I use a
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  Speaker 1: website called Polywave. Don't get any money from Polywave. Hey, Polywave,
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  Speaker 1: join up and sponsor the show. Anyways, it's an aggregate
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  Speaker 1: site that puts all of these numbers in. The most
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  Speaker 1: current numbers from it are 43.6% conservative, 38.7% NDP, 10%
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  Speaker 1: green and downwards from there and the aggregates of many,
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  Speaker 1: many polls. So that's kind of looking at those numbers
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  Speaker 1: as a conservative majority, depending on the poll that you
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  Speaker 1: might want to use the model, you can get to
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  Speaker 1: a switcheroo scenario where the NDP might be switching places
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  Speaker 1: with the conservatives, giving the conservatives one or two seat majority. Again,
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  Speaker 1: modeling and polling together two layers of speculation in an election.
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't put a lot into them right now, but
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  Speaker 1: they do show how tight a race is. this is
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  Speaker 1: okay quick break when we come back we're going to
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  Speaker 1: talk about some board of trade events from the candidates
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  Speaker 1: some announcements from the different parties lots to get to
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  Speaker 1: just after this Well, Political Capital Daily free each and
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  Speaker 1: every morning in your pod box. Thanks to our premier
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  Speaker 1: sponsor this season, Airbnb. Over 55% of Airbnb hosts say
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  Speaker 1: And for many British Columbians, the income they earn by
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  Speaker 1: sharing their home enables them to keep up with rising
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  Speaker 1: costs of living across this province. Thanks to Airbnb for
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  Speaker 1: its ongoing support. Back to the show. Another big event
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  Speaker 1: that occurred yesterday to bring you up to speed on
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  Speaker 1: the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade hosting what was kind
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  Speaker 1: of an all candidates forum where the three party leaders
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  Speaker 1: had a chance to speak to the business audience and
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  Speaker 1: then take questions from CEO Bridget Anderson. They did not
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  Speaker 1: debate each other. That will be in the TV leaders
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  Speaker 1: debate tonight. But they did make some interesting comments to
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  Speaker 1: the business audience. Among the more interesting, David Eby returning
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  Speaker 1: to his Donald Trump rhetoric about uncertain times, extraordinary crisis,
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  Speaker 1: needing help. The mandate, the majority mandate to do things,
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  Speaker 1: the first time we have heard him talk like that
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  Speaker 1: since the very first week of the campaign. It did
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  Speaker 1: not land then, but he has resurrected it now, which
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  Speaker 1: is an interesting thing to note, promising to make a
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  Speaker 1: $ 60 million manufacturing jobs fund permanent, fulfill a 50-50 agricultural
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  Speaker 1: land reserve food processing promise that was under consultation before
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  Speaker 1: the snap election occurred, and build a new shipyard in
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  Speaker 1: British Columbia. with Ottawa to build future BC Ferries ships,
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  Speaker 1: but not roll back the decision to build the next
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  Speaker 1: four ships in China. Despite a lot of controversy there,
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  Speaker 1: the NDP government refusing to budge on that. Lauren Dirksen.
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  Speaker 1: talking about repealing the PST expansion that was in the
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  Speaker 1: February NDP budget. No new taxes, $ 1, 000 tax break for individuals,
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  Speaker 1: saying business is the engine and he's got to get
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  Speaker 1: government out of the way. Neither he nor EB could
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  Speaker 1: really say when they would balance their budgets. And Green
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  Speaker 1: Leader Emily Lowen talking about the wealth tax. that she
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  Speaker 1: has promised, which could generate $ 22 billion in its first
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  Speaker 1: year and do a whole bunch of things, and also
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  Speaker 1: talking about the need for a better economy with local
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  Speaker 1: businesses and not just giant foreign-owned corporations. Here's some clips
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  Speaker 1: of all three of them speaking to the Board of Trade.
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  Speaker 2: When you have the kind of existential challenges that we
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  Speaker 2: have right now as a province and as a country,
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  Speaker 2: you need a government that moves quickly in response to it.
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  Speaker 2: When you have a one-seat majority, after you appoint the Speaker,
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  Speaker 2: you don't have a majority anymore. Every single vote is tied.
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  Speaker 2: You can't control the schedule of the legislature, and you
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  Speaker 2: can't have anyone miss a vote or the government collapses.
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  Speaker 2: You may have seen my colleagues voting from hospital beds,
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  Speaker 2: from chemotherapy, cancer surgery, with a brand new baby, because
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  Speaker 2: the Conservatives tried to take down the government on 13
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  Speaker 2: separate occasions. And when you can't control the schedule in
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  Speaker 2: the legislature, it means you have to pick through the
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  Speaker 2: bones of what you might actually be able to get
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  Speaker 2: through during the session. And you cannot take the kinds
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  Speaker 2: of actions that I just outlined for you. It's a
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  Speaker 2: wildly frustrating experience not to be able to know what
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  Speaker 2: British Columbians need and want you to do and have
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  Speaker 2: a legislature that's not able to deliver that. And so
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  Speaker 2: I'm asking for a clear mandate to be able to
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  Speaker 2: take these actions to deliver for British Columbians.
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  Speaker 3: With a Conservative government, you will have an ally in Victoria.
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  Speaker 3: I promise you that. A government that respects the people
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  Speaker 3: taking risks, creating jobs and investing in our communities. And yes,
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  Speaker 3: we will have high expectations as well. We want investment growth.
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  Speaker 3: We want job creation and environmental responsibility. Our job is
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  Speaker 3: to clear the roadblocks. And one last thing before I
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  Speaker 3: get the hook. We will invite the world to Vancouver
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  Speaker 3: next year for a business summit that will show that
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  Speaker 3: British Columbia is open for business. Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 4: We would start with a steeper one-time tax that would
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  Speaker 4: be retroactive to that tax year to avoid wealth shifting,
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  Speaker 4: followed by more marginal taxes in the following years. And
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  Speaker 4: the idea with this is that it would actually meet
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  Speaker 4: the moment of our deficit issue. We would be able
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  Speaker 4: to spend down the deficit and then have the sustainable
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  Speaker 4: revenue in following years. We've seen similar models work in Spain.
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  Speaker 4: We've seen it work in Sweden. And I think in
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  Speaker 4: particular examples, maybe in France years and years ago, when
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  Speaker 4: that policy didn't work, it was because industry and the
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  Speaker 4: ultra-wealthy had their hand in government and were creating real
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  Speaker 4: loopholes in that policy.
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  Speaker 1: All right, some other announcements from yesterday to bring you
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  Speaker 1: up to speed on. The NDP announcing Women's Health Initiatives,
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  Speaker 1: a new perinatal mental health unit at BC Women's Hospital,
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  Speaker 1: among other things. The NDP release out yesterday saying that
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  Speaker 1: David Eby takes twice as many questions from the media
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  Speaker 1: as Lauren Dirksen in the campaign. Whoa, my goodness. That
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  Speaker 1: is insider, insider baseball. The NDP alleging that Dirksen is
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  Speaker 1: not as available to the media. I will say, that's
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  Speaker 1: not true. I'll just spoil that down on that. It's
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  Speaker 1: easier to get Lorne Dirksen to take an interview request
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  Speaker 1: than it is David Eby these days. So a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of spin-duggery there by the NDP. The NDP also
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  Speaker 1: coming out with crime plans at around the same time
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  Speaker 1: as the Conservatives. So the NDP saying they would hire
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  Speaker 1: 50 more Crown prosecutors and dedicate a unit to gang-
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  Speaker 1: They had been asked to do both of those things,
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  Speaker 1: at least for the past year, and had not committed
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  Speaker 1: to that, but are now doing it in the election.
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  Speaker 1: The Conservatives had promised 50 new Crown prosecutors last week,
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  Speaker 1: 500 more RCMP officers last week as well. Yesterday, they
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  Speaker 1: pledged an anti-extortion action plan, a dedicated repeat offender court stream,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: and stronger bail and monitoring conditions for folks. Another interesting
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: item I want to draw your attention to, because you
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  Speaker 1: rarely see this, BC's market and non-market and non-profit housing
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  Speaker 1: organizations all getting together, and they often have very different
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  Speaker 1: needs and asks, to unite, to call on BC political
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  Speaker 1: parties to do a few things if they win government.
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  Speaker 1: The main one being to demand a GST exemption on
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  Speaker 1: new homes for all buyers. Restore the cut community housing
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  Speaker 1: fund money that the NDP cut in the February budget.
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  Speaker 1: Reinvest rental funding and reduce the development cost charges levied
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  Speaker 1: by municipalities on housing projects. It was a press release titled,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Unlikely Allies, BC's Market and Non-Market Developers Unite on the
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  Speaker 1: Cost of Building Homes. The Urban Development Institute, which EB
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  Speaker 1: had attacked recently, very strongly during this campaign as a
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  Speaker 1: bunch of wealthy developers out to gouge you and hoard housing,
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  Speaker 1: signing with the BC Nonprofit Housing Association, the Aboriginal Housing
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  Speaker 1: Management Association, and the Cooperative Housing Federation of BC, calling
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  Speaker 1: for the parties to do this. I will note that
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  Speaker 1: the GST exemption on new homes for all buyers was
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  Speaker 1: something the federal government offered British Columbia earlier this year
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  Speaker 1: as part of an aid package. It is something that Ontario,
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  Speaker 1: and the Ontario government has already brought in, but BC
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: and the NDP government said, no, they didn't want that.
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  Speaker 1: They wanted money for a buyback unsold condos program instead,
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  Speaker 1: which blew up in the federal and provincial government's faces
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  Speaker 1: as a criticism that it was a developer bailout of
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  Speaker 1: condos they couldn't afford to sell. The government was proposing
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  Speaker 1: to buy them and then turn them into affordable housing.
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  Speaker 1: And if it wasn't complicated enough, Then David Eby, during
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  Speaker 1: this election campaign, pulled the old switcheroo on that policy again,
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  Speaker 1: stuffing that aside and saying actually he would tax the
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  Speaker 1: developers on unsold condos, not help them with a bailout.
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  Speaker 1: So three levels of complicated, but that GST exemption was
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  Speaker 1: on the table from the federal government and the BC
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  Speaker 1: government did not want it. So it's not something I think,
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  Speaker 1: unless we see another major reversal from David Eby, that
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  Speaker 1: you can expect him to do despite that unusual, rare
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  Speaker 1: unity call from different players in the housing sector. Two
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  Speaker 1: more quick things here. I want to get through these
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: because there's so much going on. BC Green's out with
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  Speaker 1: a fully costed platform yesterday. Emily Lowen referenced it in
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  Speaker 1: her Board of Trade speech that you heard. There is
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  Speaker 1: $ 9 billion in new annual spending, but offset in those
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  Speaker 1: wealth taxes and a whole bunch of new promises from
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  Speaker 1: universal free child care to rent caps to free public
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  Speaker 1: transit to networks of public grocery stores and raising the
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: disability and income assistance rates and integrating mental health into
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: the healthcare system and freezing post-secondary rates, all sorts of
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: interesting things in that green platform. Centre BC also on
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: the weekend put its platform out with costing. So those
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: are the first two out there for you to peruse.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: And I did just want to mention, because we didn't
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: get to this the other day, but the BC Conservatives
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: came out with a several announcements on BC Ferries, including,
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  Speaker 1: this is the kind of thing that actually people think about,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: getting working Wi-Fi on BC Ferries. So you're not sitting
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: there without cell phone service for part of your two-hour
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: trip from Vancouver Island to the mainland. The Conservatives saying
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: they would get some private companies in there and get
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: that done. Nothing about rejuvenating the arcades. That would be
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: a vote-getter. Get those arcades, get Cruisin' USA and Mortal
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Kombat back in working order. Maybe Guitar Hero? They didn't
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: go that far. A ferries charter was proposed by the
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Conservatives to hold the organization and executives to task when
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: there are late sailings and delays. No major changes from
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the Conservatives on the structure or funding of BC ferries.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: So much, so much going on. Thank you for listening.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Make sure you tune in tomorrow because we're going to
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: break down the BC televised leaders debate. Talk a bit
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: about that, how it went, the winners and losers, the
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: trends that we saw as we start to approach, not
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: quite the finish line, but you can see the finish
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: line in the horizon. Advanced voting later this week, the
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: election the following weekend. Oh my goodness, so much going on.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see you tomorrow here on Political Capital Daily.