Latest / Political Capital with Rob Shaw / BC Conservative Super-Majority! | Political Capital Daily

Transcript

BC Conservative Super-Majority! | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Little Capital Daily is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Airbnb.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Rural and smaller destinations are leading the fall tourism season,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: with searches on Airbnb up 30% across Canada. Tourism is
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: critical to British Columbia's economy, and Airbnb helps bring millions
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of dollars to these communities every year. Little Capital Daily
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: also brought to you by Vancouver International Airport, YVR. YVR
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: is Canada's Pacific gateway to Asia and beyond, connecting passengers
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and high-value BC products to global markets today. via 129
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: direct non-stop destinations. Voted SkyTrack's best airport in North America
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: for a record 15 years, learn more about how YVR
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: is proudly connecting BC to the world at YVR.ca. Political
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Capital Daily, also supported by Helijet, your connection between Victoria, Vancouver, Nanaimo,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and the world, now earn Aeroplan points with your scheduled
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: or chartered flights. For more, visit helijet.com.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: BC is definitely blue!
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: It's Monday, October 26, 2026, and this is Political Capital Deal.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Well, good morning.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Monday of a new British Columbia government elect, the B.C.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Election.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Is over it's in the books and we have premier
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: elect lauren dirksen the 38th premier of the province province
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: of british columbia uh extraordinary election result on saturday night
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: bring in aileen machel former deputy chief staff premier david
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: eby uh with me good morning aileen good morning rob
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: You were on the Czech TV panel with me on
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Saturday night. Quite a night. That actually is all on
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Czech's YouTube page if anyone is interested. There's a lot
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: of analysis in real time done there on the results.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Still worth a watch if anyone wants to pull that up.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: But we have a super majority conservative government. The latest
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: numbers as of Monday morning. And these won't change until
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: probably kind of the first... somewhere between November 6th and
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: 10th when the final count is done. And I'm only
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: going to do elected and leading here to make this different,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: but the Conservatives are elected in 59, ridings leading in
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: four for a total of 63, the NDP elected in
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: 23 ridings, leading in five for a total of 28,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and the Greens at two. So that is a cut
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: of more than half to the NDP seat total, a
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: reduction down to quite a low number and a super majority,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: for the BC Conservatives as the new government of British Columbia.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Quite stunning results. Some of the ridings that are still
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: kind of too close to call here include Ladysmith Oceanside,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: where the NDP incumbent Stephanie Higgins leads by 13 votes,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Burnaby South Metrotown, where the NDP leads by 66 votes,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and Cowichan Valley, where the Conservatives have flipped that riding
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: with a 150-vote lead. A lot of those are going
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: to require a absentee and mail-in ballots to be counted
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: as part of the final count, like I said, November
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: 6th to 10th, and some of them may fall within
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: judicial recounts after that. We've seen that before. That process
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: can take some time. All right, Aileen, we've had some.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: And Kelowna Center is also fairly tight, I think, 132 votes.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I think there's about nine ridings right now that CBC
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: has not declared using its mathematical formulas actually elected because
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: they're too close, and Kelowna Center, one of those as well.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: So Aileen, we've had some time to digest this. It's
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Monday morning. What are your thoughts on kind of what
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: we saw on Saturday night?
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: Well, it's an incredibly challenging and difficult result for the BCNDP,
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: the MLAs who lost their seats, and the MLAs who
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: will be returning to the legislature as the official opposition
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: instead of being in government. And then the many candidates
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: who ran and did not win their seats and the
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: staff and volunteers.
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: And activists who have worked so hard.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: Along the way to move this project forward and continue
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: to build and support the movement. So very challenging result
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: for them. And I think, you know, some of the
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: analysis that is out there is looking at the total
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: number of votes and how Actually, the result shows significantly
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: fewer number of votes for the BCNDP this time around.
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: And so I think the one thing that everyone points to,
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: and it's supported by the conversations that I had knocking
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: on doors throughout the campaign, but also in conversations with
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: family and friends and really everywhere I went, was that
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: people weren't happy about the snap election. And so it
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: does seem like it ended up being a referendum on
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: the snap election and not ballot box question about Trump,
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: not a ballot box question about the values necessarily of
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: the parties, but definitely voter frustration around calling an early election.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Which ultimately lands straight back on the leader. That was
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: David Eby's decision to call that early election. He took
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: responsibility for it in his concession speech. But it really
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Elections can be very complicated, and this one seems to
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: just boil down to a very simple issue, kind of
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: a referendum on the premier, the government at the age
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: of nine years, and the decision to go early, and
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: a rejection, a sound rejection of the New Democrat administration
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: and David Eby there. I want to play a couple
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: of clips here. Let's just start with Lorne Dirksen on yesterday,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: talking a bit about being upfront in his leadership style
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: when he was addressing the media for his first press
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: conference as premier-elect.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: A lot to do, and we will do it together.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: These are serious times.
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: People are stretched, the economy has stalled, and too many
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: British Columbians have stopped believing government can get anything done.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: My job is to prove them wrong. I will govern
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: for everyone.
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: I will be straight with you about what is working
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: and what is not, and I will be up every
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: morning working on what matters to your family. Strong leadership
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: for serious times. That's what British Columbians voted for, and
• 6:30
  Speaker 6: that is what they are going to get.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And I also just want to play this, Aileen, where
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: he has a few comments, and then after this we'll
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: have a discussion of it.
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: People in every corner of this province, from the peace
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: to the island, from the Kootenays to the coast, place
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: their trust in us, and I have thought a great
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: deal about what that trust means.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: It was lent to us for purpose, and it must
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: be earned back.
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: Every single day with every decision that this government makes.
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: That is the responsibility I take on this morning, and
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: I take it on with my whole heart. I want
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: to begin by thanking Premier Eby. He has given years
• 7:06
  Speaker 6: of his life to public service, and his family carried
• 7:09
  Speaker 6: that load alongside of him. I spoke with him last
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: evening and thanked him then. I want to thank him
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: again now. I also want to thank every single candidate
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: who ran for every party.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Running for office is hard, of course.
• 7:23
  Speaker 6: It means time away from your family, criticism that gets
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: very personal at times. Every one of them did it
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: because they believe in a better British Columbia. To the
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: British Columbians who voted for another party yesterday, I heard you.
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: Starting today, I am your Premier as much as anyone else's.
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: You will have a government that listens to you, works
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: for you, and respects you.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: However, you marked your ballot.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: What do you think of those early comments from the premier-elect?
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: Well, I think he's trying to show broad-based appeal. He's
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: trying to appeal to British Columbians. He's trying to appear
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: moderate and reasonable. And he's trying to set himself up
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: to be premier of the province, which is what voters
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: have chosen him to do. And I think that it's
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: sort of keeping in line with the strategy that was
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: used during the campaign to present as normal. You did
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: see them try to keep quiet some of the more
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: extreme factions within their candidate slate and the movement. And
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: so I think that that is what I hear in
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: those clips. He's trying to appeal to British Columbians as
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: they prepare to do the transition into government.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: It's possible that he is a normie, as we sort
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: of call it. You know, on election night, he brought
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: his elderly mother on stage, got quite emotional. He thanked
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the premier, David Eby, twice. He didn't need to do that.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: I thought that was a rather classy kind of beginning
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: to his speech there.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Twice.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Like, there are people around him who would never like
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: to hear him say a positive word about David Eby again,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: and he chose to do it. So there's elements to that,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: I think, that set him out on maybe a good
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: a good start feeding into that blank page creation of
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Lauren Dirksen along the election campaign as this nice guy
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: that the Conservatives created. And they're still putting it into
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: that with a speech like that, I thought.
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: Yes, yes, definitely.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about transition. The business of government transition began
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: yesterday with Kim Henderson, named the chair of the transition team.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: She's the former deputy minister and head of the public
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: service under Christy Clark and the B.C. liberal government. Aileen,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: you have been involved in government transitions. From the outside,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: we never see any of it.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: What is it?
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: How do you explain to people what's actually happening in
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: a government transition?
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so transition is a very busy time. They will
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: typically be interviewing people for staff positions and they will
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: likely do interviews of their newly elected MLAs and they
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: will be you know trying to figure out who will
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: go into certain cabinet positions and they'll be trying to
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: figure out what are the cabinet roles right like will
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: there be the same ministries as before, or will they
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: switch up these ministries? Maybe they will combine some of
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: the ministries. And then they will also be looking at,
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: you know, which of the platform pieces that they have
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: that they want to move forward in the first year
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: and start to try to move that along. There's usually
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: mandate letter development that happens during this time as well.
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: So there's a ton of moving pieces and a huge
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: flurry behind the scenes, a very busy time. And really
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: it is just trying to set themselves up to head
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: into the first session. That's something that I'm interested to
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: hear about is, you know, are they going to have
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: a fall session? Are they going to wait until, you know,
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: the new year and then introduce a throne speech and
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: a budget? Those are all questions that I'm sure they
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: will be getting in the days ahead and talking about
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: as part of the transition team.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I can't, it's October 25th. I can't imagine a fall session.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: It took two months for the Horgan administration to, between
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: the election date and getting sworn in with his cabinet.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: That would bring us to Christmas Day. I don't see
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: a scenario where the legislature gets recalled. Premier-elect Dirksen was
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: asked that question yesterday. He said, I'm not ruling it out.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: But how would it even be possible to transition a
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: new government in with new ministry structures, new ministers, all hires,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: and everything within the month of November and conceivably get
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: a fall session started for the first two weeks of December.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Is that even possible, do you think?
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: Well, I think anything's possible, but it is, it would
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: be difficult to pull off. They also will have a
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: whole bunch of new MLAs that need to be sworn
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: in as well.
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: And they'd need to.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: Figure out, you know, who in the in the new
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: caucus has the skills that they want to go into
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: those cabinet roles. There's also a whole bunch of considerations
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: that go into picking a cabinet. Regional balance with the NDP,
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: there was always gender balance in the cabinet and diversity
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: around the cabinet table, different occupations and skills and experience
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: around the cabinet table. And so there was a lot
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: of different things that went into selecting the members to
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: make sure that they represented the different interests and skill
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: sets and needs of British Columbians. And so I'm not
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: sure what factors will be considered as part of the Conservatives.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: I would suspect that at least regional balance would be
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: one of those things that they're looking at.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Dirksen has mentioned numerous times governing Conservatives. for the
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: interior and north as well, giving them a voice at
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: that table. Let's take a quick break. There's a bunch
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: of other items we're going to discuss. A couple more
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: clips to play you right after this. Well, Political Capital
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: daily free each and every morning. Thanks to our premier
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: sponsor this season, Airbnb. Travel on Airbnb supported 20,000 local
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: jobs last year. Across British Columbia, guests are supporting their
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: local economy, whether they're traveling to the Kootenays, Colwood, Powell River,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: or Invermere. And tourism dollars spent on Airbnb stays in
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: local communities, big and small, which supports jobs and small businesses.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Thanks to Airbnb for its support. Back to the show. Aileen,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I did just want to play this clip. This is
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: a bit longer. This is from election night speech from
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Lorne Dirksen. And I want to play it and then
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I want to follow it with a clip from Port
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, who was on Global BC's panel,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: and just put these two items together here in the
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: overlap areas of them. And let's just have a listen
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: to this.
• 14:14
  Speaker 7: And together, our best days are still ahead of us,
• 14:19
  Speaker 7: my friends. I promise you that. So when I say
• 14:23
  Speaker 7: that we are going to supercharge British Columbia, I want
• 14:28
  Speaker 7: you to know where it happens.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: It isn't.
• 14:35
  Speaker 7: It isn't going to happen on one street or in
• 14:38
  Speaker 7: one city. It happens in Kitimat, where BC Natural Gas
• 14:43
  Speaker 7: leaves to power the world. It happens in Fort St. John,
• 14:47
  Speaker 7: where the gas comes out of the ground. In Prince George,
• 14:51
  Speaker 7: Quesnel and Williams Lake, where a mill job should still
• 14:55
  Speaker 7: pay a family nicely.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: In Kelowna, In Kelowna and.
• 15:03
  Speaker 7: The Okanagan, where orchards run right up against the tech companies,
• 15:07
  Speaker 7: you guys. Up and down Vancouver Island, where the fishing
• 15:11
  Speaker 7: boats still go out before the.
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: Sun comes up.
• 15:14
  Speaker 7: And in the Kootenays, where they've been smelting metal in
• 15:17
  Speaker 7: trail for more than a century. In Surrey, on its
• 15:22
  Speaker 7: way to becoming the biggest city in our province. And yes,
• 15:30
  Speaker 7: in Vancouver where the ideas and the head offices are.
• 15:34
  Speaker 7: Every one of those places is part of the same engine.
• 15:39
  Speaker 7: A mill running in Quesnel keeps the trucker working in Surrey.
• 15:43
  Speaker 7: A mine opening in the north keeps a port busy
• 15:46
  Speaker 7: in Delta. It's one economy and it runs through every
• 15:50
  Speaker 7: town on our map in British Columbia.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Well, one of the things we have to start doing
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: is acting as though we're one province. You know, often
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: it is the case that in the lower mainland, it
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: feels like we can be in a little bit of
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: a bubble. And there's this disconnect where people are not
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: understanding that, you know, when you access the health care system,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: thank a forestry worker. When you send your kid to
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: a good school, thank a miner. You can't build a
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: provincial economy on whale watching and coffee shops. We have
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: to have a robust resource sector. And it is as
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: important to the lower mainland as it is to the
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: other parts of the province. And so we really have
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: to get to a mindset where we are acting as
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: one province with a shared future and shared destiny.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: That fascinates me because that is potentially maybe the next
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: leader of the BCNDP, Brad West. Who knows? We don't
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: know how this is going to shake out. But certainly
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: a top contender in everyone's minds saying almost the exact
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: same thing. as the new BC Conservative Premier-elect on the stage.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: And I was just sort of struck by the overlap
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: there in terms of where both of them think voters
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: are at right now, Aileen. What did you make of that?
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: Very similar message box.
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: And I think what's interesting about it is that David
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: Eby was also pushing a pro-jobs and resource economy message
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: through much of the campaign. Remember the second week when
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: we had the LNG Canada phase two announcement. And the
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: day before that, there was the whole plan around critical
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: minerals and mining, where the NDP talked up their successes
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: on mining, pushing forward, I think, nine major mine projects,
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: about one every quarter since 2024. And so these are
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: important messages and it sort of ties into the economic
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: challenges that have been brought on by tariffs and other
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: conditions and global uncertainty. And so it is an important
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: message Jobs, of course, are important in order to help
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: families make ends meet and build a good life for themselves.
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: And so I do think that it is a message
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: that resonates with people. I do like the message that
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: brings together all of the regions. Having lived in Prince
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: George previously, I understand how important that is because every
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: region and every community in B.C., contributes to the overall
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: success of the province. But yes, it is a very
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: interesting parallel between Brad West, who was hanging out at
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: the NDP party in Vancouver and mirrored with Lauren Dirksen's messaging.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: And it'll be one I think the NDP and their
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: rebuild and their review will have to keep in front
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: of mind because as a party that has shrunk in
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: size to many metro ridings, representing and continuing to think
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: about the rest of the province when there are no
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: MLAs there remains even harder, I think. So that's an
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: interesting kind of, I just thought those two clips, when
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: I heard them, I thought, wow, something there. Let's move on.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Lorne Dirksen was asked a number of issues in his
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: press conference yesterday. Here are some of the things to
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: keep an eye on for the initial new conservative government.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: According to him, an immediate independent review of the financial
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: picture of government. He mentioned that in his platform and
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: he mentioned it as his top item in his first
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: press conference as an outside number of experts, he didn't
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: name who they are, are going to come in and
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: look at the debt and the deficit. That, I think,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: New Democrats have quickly turned around and said, well, that's
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: a classic kind of way to cover up, you know,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the fact that the books are even worse and the
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: plan you presented isn't going to pass muster.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: I guess.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: But it was in the platform to do this, Aileen,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: and It was the first thing out of his mouth
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: at his press conference.
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think that the NDP.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: are rightfully pointing out a risk there, that this review
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: is going to lead to some of the platform commitments
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: from the Conservatives being walked back, potentially the tax cut
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: of $ 1, 000 for British Columbians is one of those things.
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: I think that you know, the tax cut promises that
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: they made added up to, you know, $ 3 billion or more.
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: And so that's one thing.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: The other thing is, you know, they avoided questions throughout
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: the campaign about how they were going to fund health care,
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: and they repeatedly denied that they would make any cuts
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: to health care. And so perhaps this review is also
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: going to be a roundabout way of trying to justify
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: health care cuts in the end. Of course, we don't
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: know yet, because we won't until they are through transition
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: and start to make some of these announcements, start making
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: policy changes behind the scenes. But those are certainly risks,
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: and they are risks that had been pointed out during
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: the campaign.
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: And so we'll just have to see what happens.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: The other items that he mentioned here, his expert commission
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: on keeping ERs open and cutting wait times within the
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: first 100 days, drawing on frontline doctors and nurses. He
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: said he's going to launch that immediately. He did mention
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the basic personal income tax exemption change that you mentioned there,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: which would go up to the first $ 32, 000 of a
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: person's income effectively, meaning if you make minimum wage in
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: the province full-time, you would pay no personal income tax.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: He said that's coming right away. Another immediate change when
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: he can do it in one of his first bills
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: would be the local, or I think it's called the
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Respect Democracy Act to decouple the municipal and provincial election
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: four-year cycle that has now been put in place by
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the snap election that was promised on the campaign trail
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: He also talked about DRIPA because he was asked about DRIPA,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: and he said he could see in the spring session,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: his first session, repealing DRIPA. He was asked if DRIPA
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: would then lead to problems with First Nations and working
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: with them, and he said he's going to set a
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: new path forward on respect, partnership, friendship, and cooperation there,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: but he will repeal DRIPA as quickly as he can,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: he said, and perhaps in the spring session. So if
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: we don't have a fall session, all those things or
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: in the spring session in the budget, that's a pretty
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: heavy agenda right off the bat, I think.
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: Yes, and I.
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: Think that they will run into significant challenges with repealing DRIPA,
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: if that is their first order of business or one
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: of their first orders of business, because I think there
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: are First Nations who will fight, and it could lead
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: to litigation and confrontation rather than negotiations for their four-year mandate.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: A couple other items here I just want to throw out,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: and then we'll talk about one other topic here. But
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: he did mention, again, cancelling the Massey Tunnel and building
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: the bridge. Said experts have guided him on that decision.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Can save money. We'll get the bridge done. He's not
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: backing down on that. He was asked about $ 10 a
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: day childcare, which was not in the NDP platform. He
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: said the plan is to expand the $ 10 a day program,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: and he will speak to the federal government about putting
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: money in to get more private facilities expanded to capitalize
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: on the $ 10 a day program, which is how it
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: works now. Uh, facilities opt in to that program. It
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: was frozen currently, uh, for three years. So he mentioned that.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: And then he said he intends to speak to the
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: prime minister, Mark Carney and the Alberta premier, Daniel Smith,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: about getting the Pacific link pipeline joint provincial review panel
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: that the prime minister mentioned, getting BC and Alberta on
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: a review panel together to get it going and get
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the pipeline working, going out of his way to say
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: he wants that oil pipeline, uh, done to, uh, British Columbia, uh, Um,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: some other questions he got there, but there's a lot
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: in his first press conference. He did take follow-ups too
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: in his first press conference as premier elect as well. So, um,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: I don't know if anything else jumps out at you there, Aileen, uh,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: but there is one other topic I wanted to mention,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and he did get a question about this as well,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: which is, uh, US president Donald Trump, uh, actually mentioning
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the BC election on his, uh, uh, truth social. Is
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: it true social or truth social?
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Oh man.
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: Truth, truth social.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Truth social.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: On his Truth Social account with a, what do they
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: call it on their tweet? Is it a truth tweet?
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: Post?
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: I'm not really sure what it's called.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Social post? He says the Conservative Party wins in British
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Columbia for the first time in almost 100 years. And
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: then he links to a news story about that. Several
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Trump officials out using this alien as kind of like
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: some sort of proof point of the success of conservatism
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: or something like that. I wasn't quite sure. What did
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: you make of their amplifying of that victory?
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: Well, I think that it is a risky situation for
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: the Conservatives because we know that there are, well, MLAs,
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: candidates that are in their caucus who are mega supporters.
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: You know, there were some who voted against denouncing Trump
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: even as he put tariffs on Canada and threatened to
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: make Canada the 51st state. There are people in their
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: caucus who were against removing American liquor off of the
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: store shelves.
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: And have said things like, you know, EB should comply
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: with Trump and that sort of thing. So they're there.
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: And I think, again, because during the campaign, this strategy
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: was very careful to make sure that Dirksen was using
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: similar messaging to EB when it came to Trump, calling
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: Trump a bully, saying we were going to stand up
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: for BC, that sort of thing.
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: And so I think for them, the risk is that.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: Some of these mega supporting types start weighing in and
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: trying to celebrate this. When I think that British Columbians
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: still don't like Trump. You know, they may not have
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: listed Trump as a top issue in public opinion polling,
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: but I.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: Don't think they like him.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: And so I do think that there is a risk
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: there that that sentiment starts to get whipped up. And
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: so I think the strategy probably will be, if they
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: want to stick with something that was similar to their campaign,
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: to try to keep those folks quiet on this issue.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: I think what's interesting about it is that it's a
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: bit eerie that Trump has sort of noticed us here
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: in BC and put that out. But it does remind
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: me of when I went to DC with Premier Eby
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: and all of the other premiers across Canada early in
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: the trade war, when we were trying to meet with
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: lawmakers in Washington, DC about the tariffs and trying to
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: get them to convince the Trump administration to not proceed
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: with tariffs. And there was a situation where Eby had
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: come out of the White House and talked to media
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: about the people that he'd met with, including Trump's deputy
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: chief of staff, James Blair. And in Eby's comments, he
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: said that, you know, we had a frank conversation about
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: the 51st state comment where we underlined that that was
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: a non-starter. And then that deputy chief of staff ended
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: up actually tweeting out the news article from Eby's comments
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: and said, pleasant meeting with the premiers, but we never
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: agreed that Canada would not become the 51st state.
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: And it was.
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: Part of sort of an eerie feeling that we had
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: when we were down there.
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: So it's not the first time.
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: That I guess BC has caught the attention of the
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: Trump administration.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: And you're right. The risk is that some people predisposed
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: to supporting Donald Trump within the conservative movement think this
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: is some type of good development that now they're free
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: to go back to linking to Trump. And I think
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: you're absolutely right that although it did not resonate at
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: all in this election the way the NDP wanted it to,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: and it was not a Trump election by any means,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: and he was not the villain that they hoped the
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: voters would find, people still dislike the guy a lot.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: And you can't look for a second, no matter which
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: party you're from, that you are taking the side of
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump or suddenly the non-Trump issue will become the
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: issue again. It'll just rear back up out of nowhere
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: and just take you down, I think.
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: Yes, and remember.
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: That the Conservatives, when Carrie Lynn Findlay was leader, actually
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: met with the Trump administration and promised them that they
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: would put the American liquor back on the store shelves.
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: So maybe that is why.
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: Trump has tweeted this. Maybe Trump is looking forward to
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: that sort of move. I know that Dirksen had committed
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: to keeping the American liquor off of store shelves and
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: And I think that, you know, British Columbians would not
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: be happy if he changes his position on that.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: No, but I'm running out of bourbon. I got to
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: be honest with you. Sweet, delicious Kentucky bourbon.
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: I mean, if anyone's got any out there, just let
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: me know.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Anyways.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: I need some after that election. Man, I am exhausted, Aileen.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: And we just did a 30-minute show there. But to everyone...
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: who participated in the BC election, who put their name
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: out on a ballot in for public office at a
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: time of just immense public threat sometimes and personal consequence
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: to the people who put their names on ballots and
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: how hard that can be, including the people who are
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: on ballots who make it hard for other people to
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: be on ballots because they can be so hateful. One BC. Still,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Congratulations for being on a ballot and putting your name forward.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: That's no small thing. And for participating in democracy, whichever
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: party you help support and volunteer and work for, it
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: does make our province better to have all that out
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: there in a free, fair, and informed election, right? I mean,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: it was a... We pulled off an election without any
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: massive controversies. No one disputing the results. That's something in
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: this day and age to celebrate as well.
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: That's right. And also.
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: huge thank you to all of the volunteers and staff
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: out there who worked so hard on campaigns. And, you know,
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: these elections can be very emotional. And sometimes you can
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: have a really tough night on election night and it
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: comes after a whole month. of working absolutely nonstop in
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: a very dedicated way.
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: And so I'm also thinking.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, except 1 BC. Anyways, okay, that's it for the show. Thanks, Aileen,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: for being on the show this morning.
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: Thanks, Rob.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: And thank you, everyone, for listening. Yes, we're back to
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: the old daily cycle here, Political Capital Daily, each and
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: every morning, Political Capital Prime on Fridays. Make sure you subscribe.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: We'll be back tomorrow with all the latest here on
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily.