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The Peter Party Picks A Pack of Peeved Politicians | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

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  Speaker 1: the show. It's Tuesday, September 8th, 2026, and this is
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  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily.
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  Speaker 2: Well, good morning.
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  Speaker 3: Short week.
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  Speaker 1: This week, unless you had to work Labor Day, and
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  Speaker 1: then you're cursing me right now. But short week in
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  Speaker 1: BC politics, starting on a Tuesday with a holiday to
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  Speaker 1: begin the week. How much stuff can we jam into
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  Speaker 1: four simple business days? Well, we're going to find out
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  Speaker 1: as we hurdle towards another week in BC politics. Aileen Machel,
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  Speaker 1: former Deputy Chief of Staff to Premier David Eby, joining
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  Speaker 1: me this morning.
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  Speaker 4: Hello, Aileen. Hello, Aileen.
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  Speaker 3: Hi, Rob.
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  Speaker 2: Good to be back.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I imagine it's going to be a busy, busy
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  Speaker 1: week full of all sorts of busy activities. We got
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  Speaker 1: a lot on the show this morning to cover, but
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  Speaker 1: there's also... Uh-oh. That's a new sound. That's a new sound.
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  Speaker 1: That is a sound of a BC political party, dare
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  Speaker 1: I say, growing. Not subtracting, growing. Peter Milibar's new party
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  Speaker 1: picking up New MLAs. We're going to get to that
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  Speaker 1: later in the show, though. We have an order to
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  Speaker 1: this show. Damn it. We're going to keep that order.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to play the mushroom sound up high
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  Speaker 1: because I enjoy the sound. It sounds like this. Ah, God,
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  Speaker 1: such a good sound. And we got other stuff, but
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  Speaker 1: we are going to get to Peter Milibar's new party,
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  Speaker 1: picking up MLAs and play some clips with him.
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  Speaker 2: Peter party.
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  Speaker 1: The Peter party, as you're going to learn a little
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  Speaker 1: bit about in the show, has started. Mike Bernier, the
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  Speaker 1: Centre BC leader, calls it the Peter Party. And we'll
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  Speaker 1: come up with that after the break. But we should
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  Speaker 1: start with what's happening today, bright and early on a
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  Speaker 1: Tuesday morning in BC politics. Of course, today is the
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  Speaker 1: day that Canada's counter-tariffs are set to take effect against
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  Speaker 1: the United States. A response to President Donald Trump's 50%
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  Speaker 1: tariffs against Canada. There are going to be hundreds and
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of goods now on both sides with tariffs and
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  Speaker 1: counter-tariffs as Canada tries to match the totality. of the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: basket of tariffs, so look for rising prices in different
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  Speaker 1: areas after that trade deal fell apart at the last
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  Speaker 1: minute last month, which leads us, I think, Aileen, into
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  Speaker 1: Premier David Ebe's event today, where he is advertised to
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  Speaker 1: be joined by British Columbians for an event about showing
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  Speaker 1: support for Canada in the face of U.S.
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  Speaker 3: Tariffs.
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  Speaker 1: It's going to be downtown in the Inner Harbor at
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  Speaker 1: around noon today, In Victoria, presumably politicians usually do that
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  Speaker 1: because it gives you a nice big backdrop of the
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  Speaker 1: legislature behind you versus being in the legislature. So a
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  Speaker 1: noon tariff support event by the premier. What jumps out
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  Speaker 1: at you about that?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I hear it's going to be sort of like
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  Speaker 3: a rally event.
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  Speaker 2: And I think the fact that it's being held.
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  Speaker 3: On the day that the counter-tariffs come into effect is
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  Speaker 3: really meaningful. Back when I was in the Premier's office,
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  Speaker 3: we did quite a few events around the Trump threat
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  Speaker 3: and the tariff threat and the way that Canadians were
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  Speaker 3: coming together to stand up for ourselves and push back
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  Speaker 3: against it. And so I think we'll see more of
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  Speaker 3: that today. I think there is sort of an observation
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  Speaker 3: around the fact that a lot of Canadians are haven't
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  Speaker 3: actually felt the impact personally yet of the trade war.
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  Speaker 3: A lot have, of course. You know, I think about
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  Speaker 3: the forestry workers who are hurting because of Trump's attacks.
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  Speaker 3: But not everyone is feeling it yet or has felt
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  Speaker 3: it yet. I think they are going to start feeling
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  Speaker 3: the effects more in the coming weeks and months. And
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  Speaker 3: so the big question is, you know, is this a
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  Speaker 3: temporary blip or is it long term? You know, will
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  Speaker 3: we see more events like this? But probably an acknowledgement
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  Speaker 3: today from the premier that, that things could get tough.
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  Speaker 3: And so Canadians really need to pull together. And the
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  Speaker 3: other thing to keep in mind is that with, you know,
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  Speaker 3: two years left in Trump's term, even if the Republicans
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  Speaker 3: lose the midterms, he's still powerful. He's still the president.
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  Speaker 3: So it's not something that's going away. You know, he's
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  Speaker 3: got a sight set on Canada. We saw that over
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  Speaker 3: the long weekend with his many flailing posts about Canada,
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  Speaker 3: like these grotesque AI photos of him sort of attacking
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  Speaker 3: Mark Carney in hockey uniforms, among many other posts. But yeah,
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  Speaker 3: he's got a sight set on Canada. And so we've
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  Speaker 3: got to be prepared for this and be prepared for
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  Speaker 3: it to be sort of a long haul. We need
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  Speaker 3: to focus on the long-term strategy and gain. And, you know,
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  Speaker 3: for politicians in Canada, including Premier Eby and Prime Minister
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  Speaker 3: Mark Carney, the most important question, I think, is how
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  Speaker 3: do you build a strong Canada? And then also for
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  Speaker 3: the American politicians, it's really about, you know, is this
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  Speaker 3: a relationship that will be easily repaired even after Trump?
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  Speaker 3: I'm not sure that it will be. And it's going
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  Speaker 3: to take courage among politicians in the United States to
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  Speaker 3: say this relationship is worth keeping and protecting. So we're
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  Speaker 3: going to need Republicans and Democrats to do that and
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  Speaker 3: actually step up, show some courage and stand up for
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  Speaker 3: the relationship with Canada. If you claim that we are
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  Speaker 3: good allies, uh, and, uh, and make sure that you're
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  Speaker 3: telling that story about how the terrorists hurt Americans as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I'm anticipating, you know, just the premier to go Duncan
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  Speaker 1: on Trump's head, uh, today. I'm sure he's got a
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  Speaker 1: few one-liners in the old hopper ready to go, uh,
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  Speaker 1: generate a few clips, look like he's the strongest kind
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  Speaker 1: of speaking premier outside of Doug Ford, which is the
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  Speaker 1: position he seems to want to put himself in and the,
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  Speaker 1: in the tariff, um, and maybe something to do with
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  Speaker 1: the legislature since the legislature is behind him.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know. Well, I predict we'll see the return
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  Speaker 3: of that famous giant maple leaf flag that was unfurled
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  Speaker 3: on the front of the building last year.
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  Speaker 1: The Costco flag. The giant Costco flag.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe it's not going to be on the building,
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  Speaker 3: but I bet it will be incorporated some way.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, maybe we just put everyone... has to have a
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  Speaker 1: Canada flag on or something. Yeah, just Canada flags everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: Who knows? Okay, well, that's coming up at noon today.
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  Speaker 1: We don't know much else about the government's agenda for
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  Speaker 1: the week. I have a feeling it's kind of a
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  Speaker 1: little bit lower key because everyone seems to be watching
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  Speaker 1: the by-election in Abbotsford Mission. And there is a question
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  Speaker 1: out there about are we going to see more defections?
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's worth calling, you know, if you're
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  Speaker 1: expecting some today, and who knows? I mean, God only
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  Speaker 1: knows at this point. But there were a couple interesting
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  Speaker 1: comments I'll call attention to here from Gavin Du, the
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  Speaker 1: Kelowna Mission MLA, who saying that Carolyn Finley is the
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  Speaker 1: duly elected conservative leader, and he believes that everyone has
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  Speaker 1: a moral and political duty to try and make this
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  Speaker 1: all work. And he said in an interview with his
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  Speaker 1: local media, that we owe Carolyn Finley these next four
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  Speaker 1: weeks to make her case and prove herself to the
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  Speaker 1: broader electorate, and that I know she understands this is
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  Speaker 1: for all the marbles, and she'll leave everything on the ice.
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  Speaker 1: So I think some folks that we might be looking
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  Speaker 1: to for their opinion on whether they're going to defect
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  Speaker 1: or not are giving the leader this by-election time until
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  Speaker 1: September 26th, Aileen, before they end up making decisions. Although
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  Speaker 1: they're just going to put them in a weird position
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  Speaker 1: if Carolyn Finley wins this The by-election, because then their
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  Speaker 1: excuse to leave is gone. And some of them, I think,
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  Speaker 1: do want to leave.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a bit of a gamble, I think, for
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  Speaker 3: these guys and others who are remaining in the caucus, like.
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  Speaker 2: Claire and others.
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  Speaker 3: And I think that there likely will be some more
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  Speaker 3: defectors before we see the by-election. You know, one of
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  Speaker 3: the challenges for Carolyn Finlay in MLAs that are sticking
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  Speaker 3: with her presently is that Trump-style politics is kryptonite for
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  Speaker 3: Canadian politicians. British Columbians want nothing to do with that nonsense.
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  Speaker 3: Canadians don't want anything to do with that nonsense. We've
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  Speaker 3: seen it happen to other politicians like Per Polyev, who
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  Speaker 3: was sort of compared to Trump in the federal election,
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  Speaker 3: and obviously it didn't turn out well for him. And
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  Speaker 3: I think as the trade war heats up, that sentiment
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  Speaker 3: will only grow.
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  Speaker 2: It's not going to go away.
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  Speaker 3: And so I do think that the MLAs who have
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  Speaker 3: left so far need to start being clear about which
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  Speaker 3: values or policies they actually disagree with Carrie Lynn Findlay on,
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  Speaker 3: because It would be smart for them to say that
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  Speaker 3: they now see how dangerous Trump is because, as I said,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the Trump-style politics is kryptonite, but let's get real.
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  Speaker 3: Even these folks who have now left the caucus happily
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  Speaker 3: stayed part of the team with a bunch of people
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  Speaker 3: who refused to denounce Trump just last year.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think there are... It's been interesting to
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  Speaker 1: watch some of the online discourse about this because I
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  Speaker 1: did notice a few of the influencers that Carolyn Finley
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  Speaker 1: did her first interviews with, which were kind of Tossed
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  Speaker 1: like pies in the face of the so-called MSM stooges
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  Speaker 1: are now producing AI video. showing Donald Trump throwing Mark
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  Speaker 1: Carney into a lake at a golf course. For example,
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  Speaker 1: one of the influencers that KLF did a big, big
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  Speaker 1: exclusive interview with off the top to show that this
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  Speaker 1: media strategy of just going to people who support you
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  Speaker 1: online is going to grow your base. And if, I
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  Speaker 1: think if those things kind of accumulate, these anti-Canadian, pro-Trump
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  Speaker 1: people that KLF has surrounded herself with and put herself
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  Speaker 1: in connection with and validated to some extent, that's going
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  Speaker 1: to be a problem for her too. But it's interesting
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  Speaker 1: to see that percolate a little online.
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  Speaker 3: And I think maybe it's a question for some of
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  Speaker 3: the people who are in her caucus right now. Does
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  Speaker 3: Gavin Du think that that's cool, that one of her
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  Speaker 3: first interviews with this guy... who is now proudly sharing
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  Speaker 3: AI slop videos showing Trump throwing our prime minister into
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  Speaker 3: a lake. Like, I got to think that there are
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  Speaker 3: people in that caucus who really don't like this stuff
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  Speaker 3: and think that it's appalling.
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  Speaker 2: So those are.
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  Speaker 3: The sorts of questions that I think should maybe be
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  Speaker 3: posed to some of these MLAs.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, we'll take a quick break here for a sponsor.
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  Speaker 1: When we come up, we'll talk about the B.C. centrist,
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  Speaker 1: Peter United Party BC thingamajigger that's shaping up. Be back
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: in just a sec. Well, Political Capital Daily Free. Each
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• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Back to the show. As our little mushroom friend foreshadowed
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: off the top, five former BC Conservative MLAs have now
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  Speaker 1: banded together to form a new party. Peter Milibar, Ian Payton,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Bruce Bandman, Rosalind Byrd, and Alia Warbus. Not members, yet anyways,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: are four former Conservatives, Teresa Watt, Brennan Day, Donovan Wilson,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: and Scott McInnes, the last two of which just quit
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: very recently, so... We'll see if any of those folks
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  Speaker 1: join to get up to a nine MLA slate for
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: this new party, which does not have a name. Milobar
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: telling me he has picked one. He submitted it to
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  Speaker 1: Elections BC, but because of the by-election that's going on
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: in Abbotsford Mission, Elections BC's got to wait till after
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  Speaker 1: September 26th before deciding if that is too close to
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: other party names or can be approved or validated. So
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  Speaker 1: he's busy working on other stuff like the Constitution and
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: different things like that. Some MLAs wanting to see those
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: level of details. One of the questions that I have
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: been asked and also asking is, wait a second, isn't
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  Speaker 1: there Centre BC with new leader Mike Bernier? And wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: it make sense for Milibar's team to partner with Centre
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  Speaker 1: BC or vice versa or fold into each other or
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  Speaker 1: join so you don't split whatever centrist vote is happening here?
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  Speaker 1: I asked Milibar and Bernier about this for a column
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  Speaker 1: this morning in Business in Vancouver that you can read.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things Milibar cited was the name Centre BC.
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  Speaker 1: being a bit of an issue. Here's both of them
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  Speaker 1: on that. Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, again, they've been around for 15, 16 months.
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  Speaker 4: So you were hearing people's opinions, not just MLAs, but
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: others around the name for that whole time. And, um, um,
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  Speaker 4: perhaps it was just a little too on the nose. Um,
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: you know, I, I think a lot of people that
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: I heard from were kind of, I think voters like to, um,
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  Speaker 4: you know, figure out their own ideology and how it
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: fits into a name or not and thought process. And,
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  Speaker 4: you know, I don't know many people when you ask them, well,
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  Speaker 4: what's your position on this? They would say center, right?
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  Speaker 4: And it's not that they use right or left labels
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  Speaker 4: either when they're describing it, but, you know, they rarely
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  Speaker 4: would say, well, I'm right in the middle of this
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  Speaker 4: issue and that issue and that issue, right? Because what
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  Speaker 4: does that even mean then?
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  Speaker 5: You know, I talked to Peter and them and said, hey,
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  Speaker 5: you know, why don't we work together? We've got an
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  Speaker 5: established party. I think, well, Peter would have his own reasons,
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  Speaker 5: but he did say to me that he did not
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: want to be part of a party again where he
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: was told what to do. He's been there, done that,
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  Speaker 5: and I kind of found that a little ironic because
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: when you're going to have your own party, eventually there's
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: going to be people working together trying to tell everybody
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: what to do, so.
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  Speaker 1: Centre BC, I guess, you know, Aileen, what do you
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: think of that? The point for Millibar being people don't
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: see themselves on this spectrum and therefore Centre BC, although
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: I guess well-intentioned in whatever they're trying to say with it,
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  Speaker 1: doesn't resonate with voters.
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  Speaker 3: I do kind of agree with the Peter party there
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  Speaker 3: that I don't think people think like they sit somewhere
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  Speaker 3: on the political spectrum. most folks aren't political science nerds
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  Speaker 3: like me and my former classmates and colleagues. You know,
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: instead they care about kitchen table issues and see themselves
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: as middle of the road. I do think that everyone
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: right now is trying to play themselves off as being
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: center in order to appeal to moderate voters. And because,
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: you know, a lot of people are really just caring
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: about those kitchen table issues and seeing themselves as.
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  Speaker 2: Middle of the road. So, this play for the center
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: that everyone's trying to do.
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  Speaker 3: But the reality is that the new party, the Peter party,
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: it's all conservatives. You know, they've got Bruce Bandman, Rosalind Byrd,
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: Bruce left BC United to join John Rustad and at
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: the BC conservatives. So he was kind of the, one
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: of the OG BC conservatives. And, you know, these folks
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  Speaker 3: who are all in this BC conservative caucus together are
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: trying to pretend now like they're moderates when they're not,
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: you know, they stayed in, happily in the caucus alongside
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: the folks who voted against a motion to denounce Trump
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: as he threatened to make Canada the 51st.
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  Speaker 2: State and attack BC jobs.
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  Speaker 3: And I think it's only now that the party is
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: seemingly in shambles that they've jumped ship.
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  Speaker 2: So I think that should really stand out.
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  Speaker 3: To people and make them question some of the values
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: and the reasons why they've left the party. When it
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: comes to the centre, the BC NDP is traditionally a
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: centre-left party. What we've seen with Premier Dave Eby is
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: a pretty key focus on jobs and the economy. He's
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: also taken quite a few steps on public safety. There's
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: a focus on those everyday basics like school, childcare, jobs, housing, healthcare,
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  Speaker 3: which I think could be seen as center issues, certainly
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  Speaker 3: center left. And then on the right, we're seeing this
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  Speaker 3: deep fracturing happen and an attempt by many of them
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  Speaker 3: to portray themselves as moderate when they're anything but.
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  Speaker 2: I do like Bernier, though. Like, I think he's more moderate.
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  Speaker 1: It's very rarely as simple as just calling yourself center.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, even for the NDP, right? It balances out
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: with decriminalization, which was like a flyer of a radical
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  Speaker 1: policy or the, you know, like, not everyone is center,
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  Speaker 1: even though they say they're center, but everyone wants to
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  Speaker 1: call themselves center. And I noticed that the BC conservatives
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  Speaker 1: are trying to call themselves centrist as well. I would
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  Speaker 1: not describe them as centrist, although what does it even
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  Speaker 1: mean anymore? And I guess that's Milibar's point is that
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  Speaker 1: just because you say it, it doesn't resonate. You have
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: to somehow show it with what you're saying with some
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: of the issues. People vote on issues, not on spectrum,
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  Speaker 1: I think.
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  Speaker 3: Well, they vote on the things that actually make an
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: impact in their life, like something that they experience day
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: to day, making sure that their families can access healthcare
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: and have a family doctor, making sure that They can
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: afford their rent or their mortgage, making sure that their
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: kid has, you know, a good school, childcare when they
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: need it, that sort of thing.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: I did also ask both of them if they're just
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: going to keep doing their own thing, if they have
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: any plans to sort of stand down. Here's what they
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: said about that.
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: I think now we're up to about 25 ridings where
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: we have candidates that we can announce that want to
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: run for us. So, I mean, we're in a state
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: where we can actually get ready and keep going. It's,
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: I will be honest, it makes it harder when you've
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: got those sitting MLAs in that house with the Peter party, because,
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: you know, we were holding back on not looking for
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: candidates thinking we might work together. But, you know, I
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: guess this tells me that that's not going to happen,
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: at least right now. But I think it's going to
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: have to happen eventually if we want to be successful
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: as a group.
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: It became clear over the 16 months they've been in
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: existence that other MLAs, even current independents that were there
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: before we became independents, were not eager to join. And
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: so for whatever reason, you know, some expressed concerns around
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: the name, some expressed concerns around, you know, how much
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: infrastructure would you really be walking into anyways versus a
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: brand new upstart party. You know, so every MLA has
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: a slightly different reason why. Some feel they're a little
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: too left to center. And so, you know, it was
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: just felt that this is the cleaner way to go.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: The Peter party. There it is. I don't think that's
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: going to catch on today. to be honest.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Peter party picked a peck of politicians.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That's like your entrance is you got to say
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: it super fast five times to get to get the oath.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: So look, like, I mean. On paper, maybe it made
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: sense for this existing party, Centre BC, to pick up
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: these MLAs and run with them. But it's very clear
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: from at least, you know, the first five that they're
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: not interested in that for whatever reason. So now the
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: ball's back in Centre BC's court. Does it continue? Does
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: it pause? It does have a candidate in the by-election
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: in Abbotsford Mission, which will be fascinating to see the
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: numbers and if they pick up any support and if
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: they do, how that does or doesn't come at the
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: expense of other parties or where it is on the
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: spectrum and where that comes from. But for now, you know,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: folks wondering, why isn't everyone just getting on the anti-BC
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: conservative centre-right party? There's some rationale from both guys involved
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: of why that's not happening.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Well, I think, you know, for centre-BC, it's going to
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: be pretty challenging without any MLAs to punch through the noise,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: the political noise in BC. But What stands out to
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: me about both of the clips there that you played
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: and sort of just how politics on the right has
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: transpired in BC over the last few years is that
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: most of the time they end up just talking about themselves.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: They're talking about, you know, are they right?
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Are they center?
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: Or what's happening with the party infrastructure? Like it's very
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: internal dynamics focused. And it's not focused on the things
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: that people really care about. And so that's going to
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: be another challenge for all these parties where they're constantly focused.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: On, you know, which party they're in.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: To actually punch through and make an impact with people
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: and talk about the things that people actually care about.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: And the left has already gone through the split in
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: a way. I mean, the BC Greens split off from
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the NDP kind of in and around 2013 and into 2017.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: There's lots of talk about splitting the vote at the
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: time and, oh my God, this is just going to
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: undercut the NDP. And maybe in some writings it did
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: do that. But the reason I think, you know, that
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: we don't see the same conversation happening on the left
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: is because it's already happened. The environmental folks left the
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: NDP by and large, and they formed their own party.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: The folks who tried to take over the NDP in
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: the race with David Eby when he ran to replace
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: John Horgan, they've left. And so you don't you have
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: a kind of cleaner split there and they pick up
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: two to three MLAs and a certain percentage of the
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: popular vote. And maybe that's where the right ends up
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: with a main party and then a two to three
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: MLA far right party that is worried about ostriches and
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: trans washrooms and whatever else the far right is worried about. Aileen,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I guess, I mean, that's just my kind of read
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: of why we don't see a split on the left.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: It's already happened and Labour and progressive parties New Democrats
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: stayed with the party, and that's the party that exists now.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: And if you want to be a hardcore environmentalist who
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: doesn't believe in building things the same way, natural resources, forestry, gas,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: and that, you've left the party. You have another option,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: and it's the Greens.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure I agree with that. I think that...
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: We'll just cut this part out then.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Go ahead.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: I think the BCNDP has built a fairly successful tent
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: and one that allows for these sorts of debates to
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: happen within the party, but also continues to just stay
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: focused on the real issues that people care about. I think,
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: you know, pre-2017 is a bit before my time with
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: the BCNDP, but if there were some learnings that came
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: out of that, it probably is that, like, you've got
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: to stay focused on people, you've got to stay focused
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: on those things that people care about, like housing, like healthcare,
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: like making sure that people have jobs so they can
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: support themselves and their families. And those are really important
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: lessons if that's what happened there.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, everything is shifting in BC politics. We'll
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: talk about it on this show, on Political Capital Prime,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: which is back Friday this week. The first Political Capital
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Prime returning for the fall session, which is set to
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: actually happen until October. But we've got by-election, UBCM. Fall
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: session is going to be a busy fall. Aileen, thanks
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: so much for joining me this morning.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: See you tomorrow on Political Capital Daily. Until then, take care.