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Tax/Eat The Rich | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

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Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily.
1:01
Speaker 2: Well, good morning.
1:06
Speaker 1: Good morning. Monday, old Monday morning. It's dark outside thanks
1:22
Speaker 1: to the time change, which may or may not have happened.
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Speaker 3: I don't know.
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Speaker 1: I don't keep track of these things. But you can
1:27
Speaker 1: thank David Eby for that. You can also thank him
1:29
Speaker 1: for pumpkin spice season in full bloom. If you're looking
1:32
Speaker 1: for a pickup this morning, why don't you try some
1:35
Speaker 1: pumpkin spice? Tell them Rob sent you to the pumpkin
1:37
Speaker 1: spice shop and see what they give you. Probably a
1:39
Speaker 1: latte or some sort of ginger pumpkin spice or pumpkin
1:43
Speaker 1: spice caramel twist. They're all good. It's a good way
1:46
Speaker 1: to start your Monday. That's a little free advice from
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Speaker 1: your Uncle Rob. Aileen Machel, former Deputy Chief of Staff,
1:53
Speaker 1: Premier David Eby, is joining me this Monday morning.
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Speaker 3: Hello, Aileen. Good morning, Rob.
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Speaker 1: Do you like Mondays? Are you a Monday fan?
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Speaker 3: I'm okay with Mondays. I'm not a huge pumpkin spice fan.
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Speaker 1: Well, that's all the time we have for today's show,
2:07
Speaker 1: so that's good. Thanks for coming on. All right, bye. Well,
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Speaker 1: I'll flip those around. Mondays... You know, the week stretches
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Speaker 1: out in front of you like a jammed, packed 10-lane
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Speaker 1: highway each day harder than the rest until finally you
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Speaker 1: reach Friday and you go, yes, the week is done.
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Speaker 1: And then, bang, it's Monday again. I don't know. It's
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Speaker 1: the week. Who came up? What old white dude with
2:34
Speaker 1: a stovetop hat and a mustache came up with the
2:37
Speaker 1: five-day work week? I'd like to find him in 1893,
2:40
Speaker 1: give him a piece of my mind about the five-day
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Speaker 1: work week, but I don't know who that guy is, so. Well,
2:47
Speaker 1: we got a lot in politics on our five days
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Speaker 1: coming up, six days coming up in Political Capital Daily
2:52
Speaker 1: this week. Remember, we have Aileen on Monday and Tuesday's show,
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Speaker 1: Green Strategist Jillian Oliver Wednesday, Allie Blades from the Conservatives
2:59
Speaker 1: on Thursday, Nicole Broussard from the Conservatives on Friday, and
3:03
Speaker 1: Jeff Ferrier for our Saturday morning Political Capital special where
3:07
Speaker 1: we just wrap a little bit about the week, just
3:10
Speaker 1: sit down, talk a little bit about how it went
3:12
Speaker 1: in hushed tones early on Saturday morning. It's a good listen.
3:15
Speaker 1: You failed to catch Saturday's show. If you're looking for
3:17
Speaker 1: what's on the campaign trail today, the B.C. Conservatives leader
3:20
Speaker 1: Lorne Dirksen in 100 Mile House for an announcement at
3:24
Speaker 1: 11 o'clock with a policy announcement billed from the Conservatives.
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Speaker 1: The B.C. Greens and their leader, plus the candidate for
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Speaker 1: Saanich North and the Islands, Emily Lowen, will be in
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Speaker 1: Fernwood to make an announcement about the ultra-wealthy paying their
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Speaker 1: fair share. Ironically, in the Fernwood neighborhood house where the B.C.
3:42
Speaker 1: NDP and David Eby had a rally. on Sunday evening,
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Speaker 1: the exact same spot, the exact same topic, going after
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Speaker 1: those rich, wealthy people, dragging them into the town square,
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Speaker 1: checking their pockets for extra pennies, both parties on that issue.
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Speaker 1: As for the NDP, I think they're in Victoria, but
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Speaker 1: as always, they don't really like telling anyone until the
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Speaker 1: last minute, so Good luck with that, NDP. The big
4:07
Speaker 1: announcement from the New Democrats, speaking of that, on a
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Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon, out of nowhere, a tax policy announcement by
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Speaker 1: Leader David Eby. Two tax policy announcements, really. A raise
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Speaker 1: of two percentage points to the top two tax brackets,
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Speaker 1: so that's people who make more than $ 190, 000 a year
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Speaker 1: and people who make more than $ 265, 000 a year. Your tax,
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Speaker 1: your provincial tax is going up. by two percentage points,
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Speaker 1: and a new tax bracket for millionaires at $ 1 million,
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Speaker 1: 24% tax rate for that. Here is the NDP leader
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Speaker 1: on that.
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Speaker 4: I celebrate the success of British Columbians. I say, if
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Speaker 4: you're doing well, that's fantastic. I love that. But a
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Speaker 4: lot of people in the province are really struggling. And
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Speaker 4: in a time like this, when our province is under attack,
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Speaker 4: when costs are going up so much for people and
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Speaker 4: they're making really hard decisions, do I fill up with gas,
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Speaker 4: do I buy groceries, what can I afford to do,
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Speaker 4: am I going to be able to make rent, that
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Speaker 4: if you're earning about $ 200, 000 a year or more, that
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Speaker 4: you can pay a little bit more. And so that's
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Speaker 4: what we're.
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Speaker 1: Going to ask people to do. Reminds me, Aileen, of 2017.
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Speaker 1: Carol James had a line, if those who have a
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Speaker 1: little bit more can afford to give a little bit
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Speaker 1: more back to the province back in 2017. Haven't heard
5:27
Speaker 1: it since then. Here we are in 2026 with a
5:30
Speaker 1: premier with a very similar pitch to voters on Sunday.
5:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's a line that's popular. I think, you know,
5:38
Speaker 3: what stands out to me on this one is it's
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Speaker 3: a Sunday announcement. And Sunday announcements can actually be really effective,
5:46
Speaker 3: especially when they're a talker. Because what it means is
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Speaker 3: that the week starts out with people talking about this announcement,
5:55
Speaker 3: about this policy proposal. And this one, I think, is
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Speaker 3: going to be one that people are talking about today.
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Speaker 3: One of the critiques that I've heard over the years
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Speaker 3: about election campaigns is that parties can promise a whole
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Speaker 3: lot and not really be clear about how they'll pay
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Speaker 3: for it. So some of these critiques have been leveled
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Speaker 3: at both of the major parties over the last couple
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Speaker 3: of weeks, for example, with Lauren Dirksen and his no
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Speaker 3: new taxes, no increased taxes announcement, raised questions about, you know,
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Speaker 3: how are you going to do that while also tackling
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Speaker 3: the deficit and also magically claiming no cuts to health care.
6:26
Speaker 3: So On this one, the BCNEP is putting forward some
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Speaker 3: strong examples on how they propose to actually fund stronger
6:34
Speaker 3: health care, and that's not by making people pay directly
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Speaker 3: for health care the way it's done in private systems
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Speaker 3: like the United States, but instead they are proposing these
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Speaker 3: major targeted tax increases, and they're targeted in that it
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Speaker 3: looks like it's, you know, the top four percent of
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Speaker 3: earners in the province that'll get this tax increase, and
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Speaker 3: I'm sure it is going to be critiqued by folks
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Speaker 3: like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, although their main guy is
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Speaker 3: now running for the Conservatives. But I don't think the
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Speaker 3: majority of British Columbians will complain about a path forward
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Speaker 3: for stronger services that's paid by the very top earners
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Speaker 3: in the province. I think, you know, people who do
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Speaker 3: have to pay it don't like paying more. But again,
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Speaker 3: the vast majority of British Columbians won't be paying more
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Speaker 3: under the plan. And, you know, some of these folks
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Speaker 3: include people who make a million dollars a year.
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Speaker 1: I think The context that the NDP is going to
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Speaker 1: have to wrestle with on this is probably to go
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Speaker 1: back to the February budget, where it also raised personal
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Speaker 1: income tax on the lowest earning people, 0.6%, which generated
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Speaker 1: $ 500 million. So you have a 10-month period in which
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Speaker 1: the lowest and the wealthiest people in the province are
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Speaker 1: both getting tax increases, plus a PST expansion, plus a
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Speaker 1: school tax expansion, plus an empty developers' homes expansion. plus
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Speaker 1: a speculation vacancy tax expansion. And it's like a lot
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Speaker 1: of taxes in a 10-year spot, or 10-month spot. I
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Speaker 1: know the conservatives came out with a reaction that there's
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Speaker 1: not a problem the NDP doesn't think it can solve
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Speaker 1: with taxes. So I'm sure that's going to be their
8:08
Speaker 1: kind of pushback. The Greens saying it's not aggressive enough
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Speaker 1: with leader Emily Lowen saying that the premier has finally
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Speaker 1: discovered the wealthiest should pitch in. The Greens have long
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Speaker 1: been advocating for a wealth tax. But by taxing income,
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Speaker 1: Eby misses the point, the ultra-wealthy don't get rich on paychecks,
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Speaker 1: their fortunes grow in stocks and real estate, and his
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Speaker 1: plan doesn't touch a cent of that, pledging that the
8:32
Speaker 1: Green plan, coming later this morning at 10.30 a.m., will
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Speaker 1: tackle that part of the issue. So they're going to
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Speaker 1: get squeezed by criticisms from the Green, it doesn't go
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Speaker 1: far enough, by the Conservatives that it goes too far,
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Speaker 1: and then folks who maybe pay attention to politics throughout
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Speaker 1: the year are going to say, didn't we just have
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Speaker 1: a tax increase in February? And then I guess to
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Speaker 1: put it all together, I guess the only problem is
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Speaker 1: that it doesn't generate enough money to really dig out
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Speaker 1: the deficit. It's about a billion dollar revenue increase. And
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Speaker 1: so in that sense, it doesn't solve the budget problems
9:07
Speaker 1: in a $ 14 billion budget year. So I guess those
9:10
Speaker 1: are all kind of the contextual elements around the taxing. announced?
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Speaker 3: Well, it's one of the major solutions that they're putting forward.
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Speaker 3: I suspect we're going to hear more as the parties
9:21
Speaker 3: put forward more policy planks, including their full platforms. I
9:25
Speaker 3: would note that even under this plan, BC is the
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Speaker 3: second lowest income tax jurisdiction for folks who make $ 250, 000
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Speaker 3: a year. So I do think that the conservative attacks
9:36
Speaker 3: on taxes don't really make a ton of sense. And also,
9:39
Speaker 3: you know, it also shows that they're not willing to
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Speaker 3: tax millionaires more in order to fund public health care.
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Speaker 3: And they haven't really put forward what their solution would be.
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Speaker 3: We did see that attack about doctors being in this
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Speaker 3: income bracket, but you know, they also opposed EB's, you know, U.S.
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Speaker 3: doctor recruitment plan. They also have, you know, anti-vaxxers on
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Speaker 3: their candidate slate. And I think that their plan right now,
10:07
Speaker 3: given that they haven't really explained how they'll pay for it,
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Speaker 3: it does mean that health care cuts will become inevitable.
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Speaker 3: And so I think, you know, I understand that their
10:17
Speaker 3: take is always going to be to criticize taxes. on
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Speaker 3: the wealthiest, but they also need to put forward what
10:24
Speaker 3: their solution would be to actually fund stronger health care
10:27
Speaker 3: for British Columbians.
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Speaker 1: It's one of those challenges because incumbent governments have a
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Speaker 1: bigger expectation on them to sort of sketch out a
10:34
Speaker 1: detailed spending plan. And then the opposition party, whoever it is,
10:38
Speaker 1: they always get that kind of half out in an
10:39
Speaker 1: election campaign where they can say, well, we haven't seen
10:41
Speaker 1: the books yet, so we're not quite sure the state
10:44
Speaker 1: of the books. So there'll be two different thresholds of
10:49
Speaker 1: kind of fiscal analysis on this. You know, the NDP
10:52
Speaker 1: are going to be, everyone's going to count the pennies
10:54
Speaker 1: on their plan and the conservatives are going to be,
10:57
Speaker 1: get a little bit more wiggle room, I think, but
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Speaker 1: I don't expect either detailed plan until kind of near
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Speaker 1: the end of the campaign. I don't know, Aileen, do
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Speaker 1: you think they both, now with advanced voting, do you
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Speaker 1: think people expect to see them just before the advanced polls,
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Speaker 1: the kind of detailed platform spending, or is that something
11:13
Speaker 1: you think might come later in the campaign?
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Speaker 3: That's a really good question. I'm not sure where the
11:19
Speaker 3: campaigns are at. I think that this week you will
11:21
Speaker 3: see really significant policy announcements coming out of the campaigns
11:24
Speaker 3: just because it is an important week leading up to
11:27
Speaker 3: Thanksgiving when people are getting together and talking about stuff
11:30
Speaker 3: that matters to them. But I'm not sure if we'll
11:33
Speaker 3: see full platforms out yet.
11:36
Speaker 1: We'll talk some more, I think, tomorrow about the kind
11:38
Speaker 1: of the week, because as you touched on, it is
11:40
Speaker 1: an important one for various reasons for the campaign. So
11:43
Speaker 1: we might see So moving on that, we got a
11:45
Speaker 1: little bit more discussion after the break coming up on
11:47
Speaker 1: the candidate lists that were finalized. And we're going to
11:50
Speaker 1: take a look at the ads that have been playing
11:52
Speaker 1: so far by the parties and just have a quick
11:55
Speaker 1: talk about them after the break. Well, Political Capital Daily
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12:28
Speaker 1: Back to the show. All right, Aileen, we're going to
12:36
Speaker 1: take a look at the campaign ads that have been
12:38
Speaker 1: playing so far. There's a few of them, but we
12:40
Speaker 1: picked kind of two of the main ones here from
12:42
Speaker 1: the BC Conservatives and the NDP. We're going to play them.
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Speaker 1: And then I'm interested in your thoughts on different parts
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Speaker 1: of this, the language that is chosen, the audience they're
12:51
Speaker 1: playing to, you know, kind of the tone that's in them. Obviously,
12:55
Speaker 1: you can't see the visuals in our podcast format, but
12:58
Speaker 1: you may have seen them. They're online and they're pretty much,
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Speaker 1: you capture them with the audio. So let me play
13:04
Speaker 1: you the NDP and the conservative ads now.
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Speaker 2: BC's conservative parties are in chaos. Four leaders in 10 months.
13:13
Speaker 2: No one knows who will lead them next, but their
13:15
Speaker 2: plan will mean healthcare cuts and higher costs, like doubling
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Speaker 2: car insurance rates. They even said healthcare will take the
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Speaker 2: brunt of their cuts and they'll roll over for Donald Trump.
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Speaker 2: We can't afford their costs, cuts, or their chaos. Choose
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Speaker 2: David Eby's plan. Protect your job. Protect your health care.
13:37
Speaker 2: The BCNDP have broken promise after promise. They promised a
13:41
Speaker 2: family doctor to everyone by the end of 2025. But 320,000
13:46
Speaker 2: people are still waiting. They promised an EA in every
13:49
Speaker 2: K-3 classroom. But kids and teachers are still struggling without
13:53
Speaker 2: the help they deserve.
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Speaker 5: They promised your family $ 1, 000 a.
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Speaker 2: Year in tax relief.
13:58
Speaker 5: But they cancelled the program before it even began. David
14:02
Speaker 5: Eby will say anything to get elected. On October 24th,
14:06
Speaker 5: vote Conservative.
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Speaker 1: All right, Aileen, what stood out to you on both
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Speaker 1: of those?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, political ads are most effective when they tap
14:14
Speaker 3: into powerful emotions. And that's why you see attack ads
14:18
Speaker 3: like this during elections. Each campaign trying to associate the
14:22
Speaker 3: leader of the opposing campaigns or the party with negative
14:25
Speaker 3: emotions in the voters' minds. And this happens in most
14:28
Speaker 3: major political campaigns everywhere, no matter which party. So some
14:33
Speaker 3: of the negative feelings that the ads are trying to
14:35
Speaker 3: tap into are feelings like anxiety or anger or fear.
14:40
Speaker 3: And then on the other side, there are powerful positive
14:43
Speaker 3: emotions like hope and inspiration. And so you'll typically see
14:47
Speaker 3: the campaigns using elements of both in their campaigning. But
14:51
Speaker 3: when it comes to attack ads like this one, on
14:54
Speaker 3: the conservative one, they are going with a direct attack
14:58
Speaker 3: on David Eby, the leader of the BCNDP. And I
15:02
Speaker 3: think what they're trying to do here is that modern
15:06
Speaker 3: elections often come down to how voters feel about leaders.
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Speaker 3: That is like a strong factor in how people vote.
15:13
Speaker 3: And we know that in recent polls, David Eby has
15:17
Speaker 3: led among the party leaders in approval or favorability, as
15:21
Speaker 3: well as the question on who would make the best premier. So,
15:24
Speaker 3: for example, Leger, he was at 39 percent, 38 in liaisons.
15:30
Speaker 3: And then he's also got the name recognition because he
15:32
Speaker 3: is the incumbent premier. So I think what the Conservatives
15:36
Speaker 3: are trying to do with this attack ad, really focusing
15:39
Speaker 3: it on David, they're going for the direct attack because
15:42
Speaker 3: they know that their path to victory requires putting him
15:46
Speaker 3: in a more negative light. So they're trying to change
15:48
Speaker 3: the minds of voters on how they feel about Eby.
15:52
Speaker 3: And whether they can trust him too, right? Yes, and
15:54
Speaker 3: on trust, which is the same sort of attack that
15:58
Speaker 3: we heard Dirksen use in a press conference last week
16:01
Speaker 3: where he used a line about not being able to
16:03
Speaker 3: trust David. So I also noticed recently that they have
16:07
Speaker 3: a different attack ad focused on costs. And we know
16:11
Speaker 3: that polling has shown this is a top issue for
16:13
Speaker 3: a lot of folks. And it has sort of a
16:15
Speaker 3: ticking clock that conveys a sense of urgency and it
16:18
Speaker 3: talks about various costs going up. So I think that
16:20
Speaker 3: one is meant to tap into anxiety and pressure that
16:24
Speaker 3: people face when they're trying to get by, which of
16:26
Speaker 3: course is not just a BC issue. It's something that
16:28
Speaker 3: people across the country face, but it really is an
16:31
Speaker 3: important one. And so I think that's the strategy on
16:33
Speaker 3: that one. On this more direct attack around trust, I
16:38
Speaker 3: think trying to point out these things is about sort
16:41
Speaker 3: of trying to stoke a bit of anger in order
16:44
Speaker 3: to associate David with more negative emotions. So I think
16:49
Speaker 3: that's the strategy there. When it comes to the NDP ad,
16:53
Speaker 3: it's interesting because it shows recent proof points from the
16:56
Speaker 3: past year to remind voters who probably have heard by now,
16:59
Speaker 3: but maybe need to be reminded that there's been some
17:02
Speaker 3: turmoil among the right-wing parties in recent years. So it
17:06
Speaker 3: has those images of the many leaders that various parties
17:10
Speaker 3: on the right have had over the last year.
17:11
Speaker 1: It has a cool image in particular at the end
17:14
Speaker 1: where it's like, one of those magazine things where you
17:17
Speaker 1: take different parts of people's face and you cut them together.
17:19
Speaker 1: So it has like these little rectangular slices of the
17:23
Speaker 1: different leaders of the conservatives, but also includes Dallas Brody
17:26
Speaker 1: and Eleanor Sturco in this mishmash face at the end,
17:29
Speaker 1: which I thought was quite a striking visual to illustrate
17:32
Speaker 1: their point. Yes.
17:34
Speaker 3: And I think like, even if you're just listening to
17:36
Speaker 3: the ad, the use of the word chaos, I think
17:40
Speaker 3: is quite powerful because And chaos is part of the
17:43
Speaker 3: message that has been repeated by the NDP campaign frequently.
17:46
Speaker 3: And on that, the chaos theme is, I think, meant
17:50
Speaker 3: to be a direct contrast with the stability theme that
17:52
Speaker 3: they've also used to frame up themselves, so their government
17:55
Speaker 3: and David's leadership. And the reason there, again, it comes
17:57
Speaker 3: down to emotion, because I think when there's global uncertainty
18:00
Speaker 3: and a trade war caused by Trump, people are worried
18:04
Speaker 3: about their livelihoods. And so the last thing they want
18:06
Speaker 3: is chaos. They're looking for stability. So in my view,
18:09
Speaker 3: that's what the NDP is trying to do here is
18:10
Speaker 3: make that like really strong contrast. And then tied together
18:15
Speaker 3: at the end of that ad was a little bit
18:17
Speaker 3: more of a positive message. Build BC Strong. And of course,
18:20
Speaker 3: the image is that big, beautiful maple leaf flag flying.
18:23
Speaker 3: So that taps into the emotion associated with Canadian pride
18:29
Speaker 3: and unity. I think I can understand why folks get
18:34
Speaker 3: cynical about attack ads and messaging and campaigns because it
18:39
Speaker 3: can be not nice, right? But it is important for
18:42
Speaker 3: people to know the choice that's in front of them.
18:44
Speaker 3: Voting is your chance to shape democracy. It's your chance
18:47
Speaker 3: to say, this is what I believe in. This is
18:50
Speaker 3: where I think we should go as a province. And
18:51
Speaker 3: so the messaging used by all the parties, that contrast messaging,
18:55
Speaker 3: is about telling the story of that choice because we
18:58
Speaker 3: know the names on ballots aren't just names. They are
19:00
Speaker 3: candidates with values and an idea of where they think
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Speaker 3: the province should go and how we should get there.
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Speaker 3: And so it is important for voters to know that
19:08
Speaker 3: choice and know about those values so that they can
19:10
Speaker 3: make an informed decision when they go to mark their
19:12
Speaker 3: ballot based on their own values.
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Speaker 1: Do you think the tone of both of these, which
19:17
Speaker 1: are very similar sort of tones, do you think they
19:19
Speaker 1: change as the campaign progresses? Do we get the positive
19:25
Speaker 1: ads that sometimes occur in a campaign where it's just
19:28
Speaker 1: all for, you know, like one candidate and they get
19:30
Speaker 1: their grandkid on their knee and they're they don't attack
19:33
Speaker 1: the other side? Or have we missed that entirely in
19:34
Speaker 1: this campaign and it's just attack ads getting harsher and
19:38
Speaker 1: harsher all the way through to the end kind of thing?
19:42
Speaker 3: I think the campaigns will use both because voters do
19:46
Speaker 3: want to know what the plan is and they want
19:48
Speaker 3: to know what your values are are. And so the
19:52
Speaker 3: negative attack ads can be effective, but they aren't going
19:56
Speaker 3: to be 100% effective if you don't have a plan
19:57
Speaker 3: and that you can't show your plan to British Columbians
19:59
Speaker 3: on how you're going to actually solve the problems that
20:02
Speaker 3: people are facing in their day-to-day lives. I remember there
20:05
Speaker 3: were some positive ones from the last campaign There was
20:08
Speaker 3: one of David walking in a forest, and I think
20:11
Speaker 3: he had his daughter. He was carrying her.
20:15
Speaker 1: That was on the front of the platform, too. It's
20:18
Speaker 1: like a piggyback.
20:20
Speaker 3: Yes, a piggyback. That's what I was looking for. Yeah,
20:25
Speaker 3: so I think we will see more ads. I think
20:29
Speaker 3: that campaigns can sometimes refine or sharpen their message as
20:34
Speaker 3: well based on how they feel. things are landing. And
20:38
Speaker 3: there's still, you know, a few more weeks left in
20:41
Speaker 3: this campaign. So we'll see where they go.
20:42
Speaker 1: That brings up also something that happened on the weekend
20:46
Speaker 1: worth just touching on here. I know we're running out
20:48
Speaker 1: of time, but the final candidate slates were revealed for
20:52
Speaker 1: the parties. The Conservatives with 93 candidates, the Greens with 73,
20:57
Speaker 1: which is actually quite impressive and more than I thought.
21:00
Speaker 1: They jumped very high very quickly at the end there.
21:04
Speaker 1: 32 candidates from center BC, 32 from one BC, 92
21:08
Speaker 1: candidates from the NDP, which is worth pausing and just
21:12
Speaker 1: mentioning here because that is not a full slate from
21:15
Speaker 1: the party that called the snap election, knew it was coming,
21:18
Speaker 1: planned it. The one riding that's missed, Peace River North,
21:22
Speaker 1: where the incumbent Jordan Keeley is currently facing a charge
21:25
Speaker 1: of sexual assault. Now he does have a conservative candidate
21:30
Speaker 1: against him in a riding that the NDP has it
21:33
Speaker 1: was a long shot for them to win anyways, but, um,
21:36
Speaker 1: there's only 75 signatures to get to get on a ballot, uh,
21:40
Speaker 1: in BC. And the fact that I think it may
21:42
Speaker 1: be the first time in history and full disclosure, I
21:45
Speaker 1: did not go back all the way in the history books,
21:47
Speaker 1: but I think it may be the first time in
21:48
Speaker 1: history that the BC NDP has failed to field a
21:51
Speaker 1: full slate of candidates in a provincial election, which is
21:55
Speaker 1: kind of amazing because it's their election. They knew it
21:58
Speaker 1: was coming. I don't know, Aileen. I know, um, The
22:02
Speaker 1: leader was asked about that yesterday, and he said that
22:05
Speaker 1: a version of, I'd rather have 92 great candidates than
22:09
Speaker 1: 93 crazy people. And that is his response. But I
22:13
Speaker 1: do think there's a little pause there that it's not
22:17
Speaker 1: a full slate, I think.
22:19
Speaker 3: Okay. Well, it's not ideal, is what I'll say. We
22:23
Speaker 3: want to see major parties having candidates in every riding.
22:27
Speaker 3: As you said, it's one riding and it's one that
22:29
Speaker 3: leans strongly conservative. So it's not one that the NDP
22:32
Speaker 3: would have expected to pick up. But I do think
22:35
Speaker 3: it's important for voters with progressive values to have the option,
22:39
Speaker 3: just like my own personal experience, I grew up in
22:41
Speaker 3: a tiny place in Alberta that is super duper conservative. Federally,
22:46
Speaker 3: I think it's the riding where Pierre Polyev is. But
22:49
Speaker 3: my family always voted NDP, even though there were usually
22:53
Speaker 3: only a handful of NDP votes in the village. And
22:56
Speaker 3: I think that, you know, even if you know your
22:58
Speaker 3: party doesn't likely have a shot to pick up the seat,
23:00
Speaker 3: it is important, at least for some people, to be
23:02
Speaker 3: able to exercise their democratic voice and be able to
23:05
Speaker 3: mark their ballot for a party that they actually align with, right?
23:08
Speaker 3: Like you don't want to be forced to vote conservative.
23:11
Speaker 3: And so I think, you know, David and his team,
23:13
Speaker 3: they tried their best. There was a paperwork issue, which
23:16
Speaker 3: is unfortunate. Does it have an impact in the larger
23:19
Speaker 3: sense of the outcome? No, I don't think so. Would
23:22
Speaker 3: they prefer to have 93 candidates? I'm sure the answer
23:24
Speaker 3: to that is yes. And we even heard David say
23:26
Speaker 3: they had a great candidate ready to go if it
23:28
Speaker 3: weren't for the paperwork issue. What I did find interesting
23:32
Speaker 3: about this, how it rolled out, was that the NDP
23:35
Speaker 3: got questions about it. And they were actually able to
23:39
Speaker 3: sort of used the moment to go after a key
23:41
Speaker 3: weakness on the conservative side, which is the regressive culture
23:44
Speaker 3: war type views of some of the conservative candidates. So,
23:47
Speaker 3: you know, they pointed out there are candidates who are
23:50
Speaker 3: against a woman's right to choose. There are candidates who
23:52
Speaker 3: are homophobic, candidates who are anti-vax. So this sort of
23:55
Speaker 3: thing is deeply concerning to a lot of voters. And
23:59
Speaker 3: the NDP used the moment to remind voters of these examples.
24:02
Speaker 3: So it's sort of using a moment of weakness to
24:05
Speaker 3: make a strong play.
24:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. You know, the fact that they could
24:10
Speaker 1: we're not going to win Peace River North is true.
24:12
Speaker 1: But there are moments in time that people don't see
24:15
Speaker 1: coming where you get a wave of support. You know,
24:18
Speaker 1: Trudeau mania, Horgan mania in 2020 saw the ADP win
24:22
Speaker 1: Fraser Valley ridings they had never won before. And if
24:25
Speaker 1: you go into an election as a party thinking, well,
24:27
Speaker 1: I'm not going to win riding X, so it's not
24:30
Speaker 1: really important if I field a candidate, then the one
24:31
Speaker 1: time you quest a wave, you don't have anyone there.
24:36
Speaker 1: for people to rally behind. And I'm not saying that
24:38
Speaker 1: was going to happen in Peace River North, but it,
24:40
Speaker 1: you know, it's, it's one of those things that you
24:43
Speaker 1: can't tell.
24:44
Speaker 3: For sure. And, and again, like people who are in
24:47
Speaker 3: the riding who want to vote NDP, um, you know,
24:50
Speaker 3: now they don't have a candidate. So, uh, so there
24:52
Speaker 3: definitely are some downsides here.
24:54
Speaker 5: Yeah.
24:54
Speaker 1: But still, uh, an impressive showing for the Greens, uh,
24:58
Speaker 1: who did, I mean, continue to impress me in this campaign, uh,
25:02
Speaker 1: Centre BC and 1BC at Sophie, Canada, and it's a
25:04
Speaker 1: really just playing kind of spoiler, uh, split votes in
25:07
Speaker 1: some key ridings right now uh and the conservatives and
25:11
Speaker 1: the ndp with their almost full slates uh battling it
25:13
Speaker 1: out everywhere else okay ran long but i appreciate it
25:17
Speaker 1: aileen thanks for walking us through uh some interesting topics
25:20
Speaker 1: this morning and thanks to uh to everyone for listening
25:25
Speaker 1: we appreciate you tuning in each and every morning on
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25:29
Speaker 1: back tomorrow with all the latest in the bc election
25:32
Speaker 1: campaign