Latest / Political Capital with Rob Shaw / October 2, 2026 - Week Two of the BC Election Campaign | Political Capital

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October 2, 2026 - Week Two of the BC Election Campaign | Political Capital · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Check podcasts.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Well, hey, everyone, and welcome to Political Capital, your source
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: for all the latest in B.C. politics. I'm your host,
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Rob Shaw, back here on Political Capital Prime. I hope
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: you're listening to the daily podcast as well. And if
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: you were, a familiar voice filled your ears this week,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: the return of Ali Blades, back on the show, on
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Political Capital Prime as well. Ali, welcome back.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Thank you. I've missed you all so much.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: We have missed you as well. And the panel, back
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: in full flight with you returning and couldn't return at
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: a better time. Week two of the provincial election campaign.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Jillian Oliver and Jeff Ferry are here to help us
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: break it down. Okay, it's kind of an avalanche for people,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: but we did have new polling out this week showing
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: the Conservatives still kind of in the lead. Trump still
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: sort of a distant priority to big projects, kind of national,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: you know, announcements intervening in the Pacific Link oil pipeline
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: from Alberta and LNG Canada phase two. So let's just
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: put that together for now. And Ali, we're going to
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: start with you. What did you think of this week
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: on the campaign trail and these big projects and the
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: polling and everything kind of coming together there?
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's very interesting because it's kind of like we're
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: in 2024 campaign, which wasn't that long ago, thanks snap election.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: But in the 2024 campaign, it was neck and neck. Remember,
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: we couldn't really tell who the clear victor was going
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  Speaker 3: to be come election day. And it's kind of giving
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: me flashbacks from that where it really is day by
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: day that these candidates and these campaigns are going to
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: have to win over the hearts of British Columbians. But
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: what I think is very optimistic for the Conservatives is
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: that with a new leader, this is the new element
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: that polling causes. hasn't quite captured yet is the popularity
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: of the new leader, Lauren Dirksen.
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  Speaker 2: He's still got a lot of unknowns, I guess, in
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: an election. Just staying with you for a second, Allie,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: like when, when did the kind of lead, and I'm
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: thinking about John Horgan in the 2017 leadership campaign started
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: one way, ended in a totally different way in terms
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: of popularity. When does the public typically kind of coalesce
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: around how they feel about someone in a campaign?
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Just about now. I mean, we're seeing it take over
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: the six o'clock news. You're seeing it more on your
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: social feeds because campaigns are ramping up, especially as they
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: start to complete the team. And we're about in that
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: phase of the campaign where all candidates will be announced
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: because of the deadline from elections BC on October 3rd.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: And for those reasons, like everything is going to be
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: about these announcements. But The other part of this part
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: of the campaign, week two going into week three, is
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: you have an introduction to the candidate. You have an
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  Speaker 3: introduction to potentially the slogan and the themes of the campaign.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: And then you get into the fun stuff of the
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: policy of what distinguishes you versus your opponent. And that
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: is where I think the leaders are really going to
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  Speaker 3: separate because they're actually going to be talking about what
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: they would deliver should they win government.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: We'll bring up a couple of those in the next
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: segment after the breaks and policy stuff this week. Jeff,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: what do you think of week two, LNG Canada, phase
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: two involved the Pacific Link, I think it's Pacific Link
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: oil pipeline, the West Coast pipeline from Alberta being brought
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: into the debate. How do you think it all landed?
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: I think it was a better week for the BCNDP
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: than the first, though that's not saying a whole lot.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: The first week was brutal. I think we're still seeing
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: push back on the election call timing, but I think
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: that's subsiding. The polling has stabilized. The last show we
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: talked about an eight-point lead for the Conservatives. Now it's
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: down to two or three, with one showing the NDP.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: It's very, very slightly ahead. You pointed out some of
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: the developments in this campaign week. Good news on LNG
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  Speaker 1: Canada 2, government bringing home a final investment decision, positive
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  Speaker 1: one for the province, billions in investment. thousands of jobs.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: We saw the Howe Sound mill restart as well. More
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: good news for the NDP. And I think the hope
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  Speaker 1: with that campaign is the conversation is going to turn
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  Speaker 1: to change. What kind of change? And are the Conservatives
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  Speaker 1: too risky of change?
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  Speaker 4: It is.
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  Speaker 2: The narratives are kind of shifting a little bit, Gillian.
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  Speaker 2: They're sort of finding their footing on the second week
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  Speaker 2: of the campaign. What did you think of it all?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the other kind of question, in addition
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: to what Jeff mentioned, is sort of like, can you
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: trust the NDP to deliver? And I think that's why
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: compared to 2020, we will see some lingering concerns about
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: the need for the snap election call continue to play
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  Speaker 4: out as a dynamic throughout the campaign, although I think
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: to a lesser degree, but I think I expect it
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  Speaker 4: to sort of still be sort of like an underlying
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: dynamic of like, what game is EB really trying to
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: play here? What is he really trying to accomplish? And
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  Speaker 4: What can we expect if we decide to trust him again?
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: I think, you know, government was happy to be or
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: the NDP was happy to be talking about issues. It
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: is very remarkable to me how similar the Conservatives and
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: the NDP sound now that Dirksen is a more moderate
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: leader and with the NDP moving more towards the right,
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: there isn't a ton of daylight. They kind of spent
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: the week trading different kinds of um, tax cuts, uh, without, um,
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: any discussion of how they are going to pay for it. Um, it, it's, uh,
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  Speaker 4: it's interesting, uh, to me that the NDP seems so,
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: to be so lacking with the sort of broad strategy,
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: given that they were the ones that called the snap election.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: And also even on the candidates, I think, uh, recording this, uh,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: late in the week, but I think the conservatives have
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: become the first party to name all 93 candidates, which
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: is extraordinary to me when it was the NDP snap
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: election that, that they knew was coming, and they're slow
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: out of the gate on candidates. Anyways, I'll add that
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: to the list of questions. Maybe we answer at the
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: end of the campaign when everyone kind of picks this
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  Speaker 2: up and figures out how it went. Okay, let's take
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: a quick break because we've got lots of policy items
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: and Jillian mentioned tax breaks to go through. We'll do
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: that coming up right after the break. Welcome back. The
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: second week of the provincial election brought some tax cut
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: proposals from the BC Conservatives and the NDP. The Conservatives
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: starting today by promising to eliminate the 10% PST on
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Canadian alcohol at liquor stores and restaurants during the U.S.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: trade war. That could save you a couple bucks on
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: a $ 20 bottle of wine or your beverage of choice.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: The NDP turning around promising to cut 10 cents a
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: liter off the provincial fuel tax on gasoline could save
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: you around 20 bucks on a tank of gas depending
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: on your vehicle. Both parties accused each other of not
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: being able to figure out how to fund their costs,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: which is amusing. We'll maybe start with that and go around.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: But they're both affordability promises. Ali, we'll start with you
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: again on this. They're both, you know, designed, it looks like,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: to show voters in real time when they're pulling their
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: wallets out that they're getting a break. What did you
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: think of both of them and how do you think
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: they landed and the kind of reaction to them as well?
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: Before I get to that, though, I mean, it's really
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: hypocritical for anybody on the NDP side to say that
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: they're finally going to be able to deliver affordability, anything,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: when they had the opportunity to do it during the
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: fall session. And so we scrapped that and went into
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: the election, I think, like, What Jillian mentioned in the
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: ability to trust whoever is saying what, and that being
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: one of the key issues with this campaign, I think
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  Speaker 3: that's exactly it. So we're going to see a lot
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: of similar policy potentially when it comes to these affordability things,
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  Speaker 3: because ultimately that is what's on the minds of a
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  Speaker 3: lot of British Columbians right now. But it's who is
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  Speaker 3: going to be able to deliver it. And my problem
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  Speaker 3: is we could have done this in a fall session
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  Speaker 3: and we're not doing it, but that's my rant on that. Um,
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  Speaker 3: now when it comes to the, this policy, they are
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: going to be very similar. Like we are seeing the
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: NDP be somewhat a center in their approach and the
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: conservatives really coming up with some really great ideas, uh,
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: that aren't to the NDP's chagrin, uh, so far right
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: that it's not relatable to voters.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: The PST cut from the NDP, Jeff, is something that
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: the party has resisted for a long time. And the
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: argument has always been, we need the money for revenue,
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: but also the gas company is just going to swoop
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: it in if we cut the gas price and take
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: the profit, like what appears to have occurred with the
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: carbon tax and the federal excise tax. how do you
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: think that promise landed versus the liquor promise?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think on the, will they swoop in and
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: take up the tax room? I think the other side
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: of the NDP announcement that I haven't talked about is
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: about regulating the oil and gas companies. It's what's done
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: in Atlantic Canada, and it prevents the kind of corporate
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: windfall profits and tax room taking that you flagged there.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: I think what the policy means for the NDP is
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: they're looking to have their 2026 tolls off bridges moment,
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  Speaker 1: you know, an easy to understand pocketbook policy that appeals
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: to swing voters in the suburbs, inspired by Wap Canoe,
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  Speaker 1: who did this in the most recent Manitoba election campaign,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: and it worked really well. I think the issue that
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  Speaker 1: I have with the boost tax, I like to support
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  Speaker 1: candidates loggers and ales like every other good British Columbian
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: who's of age. But the problem is that you can't
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: actually do what the Conservatives are saying they want to
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  Speaker 1: do because we have trade deals. We have a trade
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: deal with Europe that says that if we unilaterally change
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: domestic tax treatment of a good that's in that trade deal,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: it would trigger an international trade dispute and legal challenges.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Damn those Europeans, straight to Brussels.
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  Speaker 1: So it strikes me that it's like the action of
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  Speaker 1: a party that's making it up as it goes along.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: And that's, you know, people should ask if this is
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: their big tax measure and they can't actually do it,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: are they ready to actually govern?
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  Speaker 2: I haven't, I have to be fair. This is the
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: first time I've ever heard that criticism.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: I did.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: I was unaware that the conservatives couldn't do it because
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: of the EU trade deal. But that's an interesting take. Anyways, Jillian,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: what do you think?
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's so interesting, like that this is
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: the first time we're all hearing that it sounds like
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: super valid. It really goes to like, what is the
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: problem with snap elections, because there just isn't the time
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: and the resources both from the other campaigns and from
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: the media to assess the policies and to really provide
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: the scrutiny that is required to give voters good information
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: to make their decisions. And I think that's another reason
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: why sort of like sour taste of the snap election
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: will persist is because it just feels so chaotic and
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: hectic and disorganized from all parties at a time where
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: people really want certainty and clarity and strong leadership. So
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: I think it's really hard for anybody to do well.
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: On the gas tax, I mean, again, I think We
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: already saw EB backtrack on the carbon tax. I think it,
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: although so many people are looking for relief right now,
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: I think it just sort of like hits a little
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: bit at the like whatever was left of the progressive
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: brand of the NDP for people and makes more room
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: for the Greens, I think. Also, it tells us where
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: they think the battle is. They think that they're fighting
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: for commuters, for people in the lower mainland. And, you know,
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's kind of the case every election. But
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: I think that that really tells us where we're going
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: to be watching on election night to see where the
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: vote counts come in.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Jillian, staying with you on this one, then we'll go
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: around again. The question, and Ali has brought this up,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: the response to the NDP plan in part was, wait
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: a second, in 2024, there was a promise from the
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: NDP for a $ 1, 000 grocery rebate. Markey Promise got in,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: didn't do it. Can they be trusted to do it
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: this time? And the premier, the NDP leader, when he
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: was asked that question, didn't really have this convoluted answer about, well,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: we eliminated the carbon tax, therefore the money that had
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: to flow through needed to be net neutral, so we
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: were pressured on this side and we couldn't, and he
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: was like, okay. Do you think that, I mean, I
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: guess it's the issue of a government that's been in
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: power for as long as the NDP have it, nine
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: years ago. to what extent do their promises in the
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: campaign get kind of thrown back in their face? Even
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: if they look popular, like they look great, but the
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: time they've been in government undermines their own promise. Like what,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: how much of that do you think we might see?
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: Totally. And I think the NDP seems a little bit
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: caught off guard because I don't know if that's been
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: as strong of a dynamic for them in the previous campaigns,
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: because even though, you know, 2024 was the third election and,
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: that they won, it was EB's first. And so I
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: think people were still kind of giving him a little
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: bit more benefit of the doubt, like see what he
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: can offer and what he can deliver. And I said
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: this on The Daily Show as well. I think it
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: also shows us how much the NDP is also making
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: this up as they go along. Because when we go
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: back to the spring, to the budget, where they made
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: all these cuts and they didn't deliver on so many
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: of their promises, I thought there was no way they
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: would go to a snap election. And then they called
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: the by-election against Carrie Lynn Finley. I think as recently
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: as like, you know, a month or two ago, they
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: also didn't think that we were going to be in
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: a snap election. And again, I think voters are really
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: seeing that, that it feels very destabilizing that there is
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: not really any party that has a really clear, thoughtful
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: plan for leading us through like very difficult times and
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: difficult decisions ahead.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Jeff, what do you think of that? How much of
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: a risk is it for government when they're, for the
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: governing party, when they're making announcements, but they've been in
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: power for so long and an opposition's able to, or
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: other parties are able to throw it back in their
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: face and kind of say, you're running against yourself in
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: a way with your own tax cuts on yourself that
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: you could have done earlier or didn't do in the past.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's the curse of incumbency in an election. You
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: have 10 years of tough decisions that you've made of
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: people feeling that you haven't followed through on some things.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: The government hopes that Voters recognize that they followed through
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: on most of what they promised and put the province
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: on the right track. And we'll see what voters think
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: of all that in this campaign with how they mark
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: their ballots. I wanted to go back to something Gillian
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: said about the NDP moving too far to the center
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: based on this announcement. I think that it actually appeals
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: to the left flank of the NDP in the sense
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: of the gas tax announcement, because it's all about mistrust
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: of corporations and corporate greed. And in that respect, it
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: kind of goes into, and we'll talk about the Greens
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: in the next segment, but the Greens have really staked
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: out that territory as well, the anti-corporate, anti-rapacious capitalism agenda.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: And I think that this announcement from the NDP appeals
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: to those folks.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: I'll be interested to see, I asked the NDP for
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: some details on the gas cut because there isn't 10
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: cents a liter on the motor fuel tax in Vancouver.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: There's only $ 1. 75. The rest comes from transit. And so
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: the answer to what they're actually doing here is they're
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: cutting funding for TransLink and BC Transit and then restoring
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: it back in cash. So they're cutting money that would
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: go from the pump to public transit and then giving
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: it back to public transit to make them whole to
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: fund the tax cut, which is complicated and weird and...
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: just goes to show this policy is a little bit
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: odd because it really isn't 10 cents a liter in
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: provincial motor fuel tax. Some of it is TransLink tax. Anyways,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: there's my rant. Sometimes I do the rants. Sometimes I
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: get the feelings and I do the rants. It's fine.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: It's okay. Ali, back to you on the incumbency curse,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: but also advantage, as Jeff has pointed out, because people
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: know who you are and sometimes they trust you and
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: they recognize you and they like you or they're loyal
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: to you. And that issue here on some of these promises.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: I'd like to also remind people of just the trends
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: that we've seen with David Eby. And that's when he's
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: in hot water, he likes to deflect and pin it
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: on a senior former cabinet minister or somebody else. And
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: I think that that's probably what we're going to see
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: here too, that if he ever gets into hot water,
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: he always gets somebody else to be on the microphone
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: rather than him. But you can't escape that in an election.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: So that's going to be something to watch out for.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: But then When it comes to more of the platform things,
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: because I was very interested in what Jillian was saying,
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: because of the snap election, are we really getting these
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: thoughtfully laid out things? Again, how is this surprising for
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: the NDP? Theirs should be the most thought out because
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: they had the longest runway since they're the ones who
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: decided that we were going to be in this.
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: But.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: Once the platform comes out, that's when we can kind
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: of get into how this would be delivered. And maybe
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: we'll be able to answer the question that Jeff was
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: saying about the European issue. But I think the incumbency
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: issue that we're talking about, people will be reminded that
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: David Eby doesn't like to answer the tough questions.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you this. I'm not letting anyone from Bilderberg
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: take my toonie away and savings on my wine. Feel
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: free to use that one.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: You tell it, Rob.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Tumbleweed goes by. All right. Let's take a quick break.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: When we come back, we'll talk about some of the
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: positions the BC Greens have staked out, which are super interesting,
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: right after this. Welcome back. Interesting to focus a little
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: bit on the BC Greens here, the only party talking
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: about AI regulations, overdose prevention plans, and the toxic drug crisis.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Restoring community housing funds, rent caps tied to units, not tenants,
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: pipeline and environmental concerns. Very interesting that the Greens kind
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: of have their own space in this election to talk
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: about issues that otherwise other parties in the past had
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: talked about. Jillian, how do you think it's going for
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: the Greens?
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, what's so interesting is that the things
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: that the Greens have come out with, obviously in support
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: of them all, they're not different from what the Greens
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: have campaigned on under Sonia Firstenow or even under Andrew Weaver.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: What's different is, like I said before, how much the
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: NDP has shifted to abandoning those issues. canceling the Community
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: Housing Fund, which was like slated for real projects in
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: many communities, including ones where the Greens could pick up support,
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: like Nelson and child care, that was a shared promise
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: that they worked on that the NDP have since frozen.
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: But the Greens have campaigned on universal child care since 2017,
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: when Andrew Weaver was leader. So it really is sort
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: of like an abandonment of that space and all of
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: those issues. And shift of the NDP to sort of
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: competing on what they see as sort of like these
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: kind of popcorn issues of the day in this campaign.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: I think it's still going to be really hard to
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: break through, especially if we continue to see the Conservatives
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: and the NDP pull neck and neck. But another really
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: interesting thing is that the NDP did not nominate really
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: strong candidates in the two incumbent Green ridings. And I
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: think that tells us that they are sort of aware
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: that they're abandoning this abandoning this space and that they're
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: going to probably not ever be able to accomplish their
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: goal of wiping the Greens off the map, at least
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: not this time.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: Jeff, just quickly, how do you think the Greens are
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: doing here talking about issues that really no one else
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: is talking about?
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Jillian, besmirching good NDP candidates. I can't believe it. I
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: think the Greens have some good ideas. I think their
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Bernie Sanders politics is calculated and smart. I think that
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: there's a broad range of voters who find leaders like
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Sonia First and Emily Lowen, that they resonate, that they
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: like them. I think the struggle in First Past the
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Post is that if you're trying to be the conscience
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: of the legislature, you find yourself wrapped up in a
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: binary choice between two other choices who will drive the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: vote dynamics on election day. So, and I think folks
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: want to see the Greens have a role in the
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: legislature as a conscience, but if you can't form government,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: it's going to be really tough for you to break through.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Allie, just quickly, what do you think?
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: Well, the easiest thing that we will likely see is
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: that one of these parties, the NDP or the Conservatives,
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: might just take one of these ideas as well, which
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: we've seen with the Green, pardon me, with Green policy before.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's possible. We still got three weeks left,
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: I think. Oh my God, three weeks.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: Oh Lord.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, three weeks of the campaign left. Any party
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: could pick these up at any point too.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, great.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much to the panel for being here.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: Thank you for watching. Make sure you subscribe to the
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: show in the audio format and Political Capital Daily. We're
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: on YouTube, Check Plus, and Check TV. We'll be back
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: next week with all the latest in BC politics here
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: on Political Capital.