Latest / Political Capital with Rob Shaw / Child Care Controversy | Political Capital Daily

Transcript

Child Care Controversy | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Airbnb.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Last year, Airbnb hosts and guests fueled close to $ 700
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: million in total tax revenue for British Columbia. Hosting on
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Airbnb creates an additional income stream for hosts, fuels visitor
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: spending in communities, supports jobs across multiple industries, and contributes
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: substantial tax revenue for local governments. Political Capital Daily also
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: brought to you by Vancouver International Airport, YVR. Connecting BC
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: proudly to the world and driving our economy here at home.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: YVR operations support 28,000 jobs on Sea Island, 130,000 jobs nationally,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and contribute $ 16 billion in GDP to Canada's economy every year.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Learn more at yvr.ca. Political Capital Daily, also supported by Helijet.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Your connection between Victoria, Vancouver, Nanaimo, and the world now
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: earn Aeroplan points with your scheduled or chartered flights. For more,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: visit helijet.com. It's Tuesday, October 13th, 2026, and this is
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily. Well, good morning and happy Tuesday to
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: you as we begin a truncated but very busy week
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: in BC politics. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Monday
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: was a Thanksgiving holiday, so we didn't have a show
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: on Monday, but we are here for you Tuesday morning.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Aileen Mitchell, former Deputy Chief of Staff to Premier David
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Eby is joining me.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Hello, Aileen.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Rob. How was that pumpkin pie?
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Delicious. So good. The one time of the year that
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: everyone embraces the pumpkin pie. Uh, but, uh, there's an
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: active debate out there about whether Costco produces the best
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: pumpkin pie, uh, on the land. And, uh, there was
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a fascinating video I saw on social media. I think
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: it was in Edmonton on the weekend where they just
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: had a camera fixed at the pumpkin pie table in Costco.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: And it was a time lapse and it just watched
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: like hundreds of pumpkin pies disappear in a matter of
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: hours over the weekend and then refilled as a, people
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: love the pumpkin pie. Good taste. Yeah.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: A question for the audience. From where comes the best
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: pumpkin pie?
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Well, yes, that is a good question. We'll sound off
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: on that. Feel free to chime in there. We're going
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: to talk about Thanksgiving a little bit later in the show,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: but I want to start with just bringing people up
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to speed on what they might have missed on Monday,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the Thanksgiving Monday. I was surprised to see some of
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: the campaigns were out there campaigning on the holiday, the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: NDP campaign. in full force with events. There was a
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: rally in Delta, a town hall style with the premier,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: his kids and his wife in attendance, kind of in
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: the middle of a circle of people taking questions from
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the audience. I haven't seen one of those in the
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: election so far. They used to be very common for
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the NDP.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And I wondered, Aileen, if you noticed that as
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: well and what you thought of the use of that,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: but more than halfway through, we hadn't seen any of
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: them so far. Hmm.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Well, the town hall format is great for David Eby.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: He really shines in that format of an event. He
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: comes across as authentic and genuine. You know, he's able
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: to respond to people directly with interesting and thoughtful answers.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: And that's why I used to organize a lot of
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: these in his early days as premier. We did town
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: halls sort of around the province on a variety of
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: different topics and they went really well. So glad to
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: see that they're pulling those out again this campaign.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember he's quite good in his feet with those.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: And there were several he did as premier on different things.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I've been struck in this election by the lack of rallies, really,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: by almost any party leader. I guess my just assumption
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: here is that there's so little enthusiasm for this early election.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: It's harder to get any of your candidates out there
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: to pack a cultural hall, which is usually like the
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Croatian Cultural Center or something like that, full of people.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: and cheering and screaming with the energy of an election.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: I haven't seen any of that in this election.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: No, no, we haven't. And I think, you know, that's
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: one of the topics that I heard about over the
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Thanksgiving weekend as well, some of the challenges with the campaign.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, we'll get to that after the break. I
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: do want to just bring up one other topic here.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I'm going to play a clip. This was during the
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Monday town hall with David Eby. The topic was health care.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: a public charter to protect the healthcare system that EB
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: said all the candidates are going to sign and he
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: signed it up on stage in front of a gigantic
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Canadian flag and a shield logo for the healthcare system.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: The promise includes eliminating private nursing agencies that have grown
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: in recent years for health authorities to fall back on
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: during shortages of staff to keep facilities open. I know
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the health ministers of the government have taken questions about
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: that the last few years and always the unspoken response
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: is they can't HR wise can't actually afford to get
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: rid of those because they keep some facilities open in
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: a pinch that costs a lot. Uh, but that's part
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: of that charter. Then there was a question, uh, to
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the leader about $ 10 a day childcare. I'm going to
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: play you the back and forth of that now.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: The question is, has your family ever benefited from a
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: $ 10 a day childcare program? And if so, can you
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: clarify when and how?
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Uh, yes. Uh, the YMCA, uh, that, uh, that, uh,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: I don't want to reveal where my kids go to daycare,
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: but yes, the YMCA is one of our partners in
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: $ 10 a day, and my family has, yes.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: So some Democrats are upset you won't commit to a
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: universal $ 10 a day strategy, as promised by your predecessor.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: How do you think, just the optics of.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: That and how people would feel, knowing that you benefit
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: from a program that very few people have access to
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: and one that you won't expand?
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's absolutely crucial that every British Columbian
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: get access to affordable child care. And we are committed
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: to expanding child care. And our next focus is at
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: before and after school care, particularly because we have the schools,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: we have the EA workers and we can deliver that
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: cost affordably.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: The context on this, a couple of contexts on it.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: There are I think we're in year. since the first
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: $ 10 a day childcare spaces opened in the province, a
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: promise from the NDP in the 2017 election. Only 10%
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: of spaces in the province are actually true $ 10 a
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: day spaces. They are kind of like winning a lottery.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: If you don't get one, the rest of your childcare
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: access depends on your income for qualifying for government subsidies
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: and different support programs. And the immediate counterattack From the
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Conservatives to David Eby saying that his family has a
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: $ 10 a day space, was that a space that could
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: be better used for someone who was low income? That
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: if he was having to access the programs like everyone
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: else does, his family household income as Premier and his
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: wife as a doctor is probably close to half a
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: million dollars a year and he would not qualify for
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: anything under the government assistance, which caps out at $ 110, 000
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: a year. And the Conservatives going at him saying they
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: don't begrudge the EB family for their success, but this
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: is a highlighted failure of the system to expand, and
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the Premier should not take one of the spaces that
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: folks who are more needy need for the child care system. Aileen,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: that played out Monday on the campaign trail. What were
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: your thoughts there?
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Well, child care is an incredibly important issue for a
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: lot of BC families. And I think if you're a
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: voter that is going to make your vote choice based
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: on the issue of child care, the choice is clear.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: The BCNEP has cut child care fees in half. They've
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: saved families about $ 7, 200 a year. Obviously, as you pointed out,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: there's much more to do here, but I know EB,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: for example, secured a deal with Prime Minister Carney to
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: negotiate a new child care funding agreement for BC with
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: a December 1st deadline. On the other side, I'd point
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: out the Conservatives don't believe in it. They'd cut it.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: Their own child care critic actually called 10-a-day child care
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: a boondoggle, and she agreed with replacing subsidized spaces with
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: a tax credit. So again, if voters are looking at
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: which party is going to defend their child care and
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: work to keep it affordable, the answer is clear. With
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: respect to the childcare space that came up in the
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: town hall, my understanding is that a couple of years ago,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: the childcare center that one of the EB children was
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: already attending became a 10-a-day site. The family felt they
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: didn't need the discount, so they made a donation to
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: the center to help it support other families in the community,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: and they're doing the same donation for their younger child
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: who attends the same center.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an interesting... issue i think uh but uh
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: it sort of it kind of hinges on i guess
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the frustration some voters might feel that this was such
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: a marquee promise in 2017 2020 and 2024 and we've
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: fallen so far behind some other provinces in access to
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: affordable child care that um they might become more more
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: of a referendum on on uh the government's progress on
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: that file really than um you know, going too far
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: into critiquing EB's kids, uh, on accessing it, which I
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: don't think anyone wants to make that part of the
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: discussion here, but it feels like it's kind of like
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: watching someone, you know, who has a lot of money
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: when the like lotto 649, when they don't need it,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: you know, if your household income is $ 500, 000 a month,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: then you win the lottery of a $ 10 a day space.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I think there'll be a lot of initial sort of resentment, uh,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: from folks if they hear that, uh, Potentially. We'll see
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: where this goes.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: But as has been pointed out, they did make a
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: donation to help support other families. benefit from the site.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: And I think the other thing I would say on
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: this is because it is such an important issue, it
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: is important for the advocates to keep pushing that progress
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: because there is more work to do. And so the
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: work that people do in BC to push progress on
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: important issues that affect families like childcare, it's really important
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: that they keep it up.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Well, let's just take a quick break. We got some
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: other topics coming up after this. Well, Political Capital Daily
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: is free each and every morning in your pod box.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Thanks to our premier sponsor this season, Airbnb. Over 55%
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: of Airbnb hosts say hosting on Airbnb has helped them
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: stay in their home. For many British Columbians, the income
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: they earn by sharing their home enables them to keep
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: up with the rising costs of living across this province.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Thanks to Airbnb for its ongoing support. Back to the show.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: All right, we are at the more than halfway point
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: of the campaign, Aileen. Just stopping to gauge your thoughts
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: on where you think we are at. It's a consequential
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: week coming up with a number of different things heading
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: into even advanced voting beginning by the end of the
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: week and a leaders debate on Wednesday. What are you
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: thinking when it comes to this week?
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: I feel like it's close as heck. And I think
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: that that is the vibe out there, that people understand
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: that this election is going to be very close, maybe
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: closer than the polls suggest, although a lot of them
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: have the two major parties within the margin of error,
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: so tied. I think there is a feeling that something
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: is starting to shift and that the NDP could still
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: pull ahead. This is the point of the campaign where
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: we start to see that perennial NDP-Green vote split debate
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: really come out. And a lot of people talk about that.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: And we saw some of that play out over the weekend.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: For example, David Eby had an announcement in Courtney Comox,
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: which is a really close riding that was environmental focused.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: There was also something very interesting that happened in Kelowna Centre.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: So the NDP candidate there, Loyal Woldridge, He actually received
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: endorsements from two former BC Green candidates, including Bryce Tippie,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: who actually ran against him last time. And so in
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: this endorsement video, Bryce Tippie said that he had received
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: more than a thousand votes last time. And this time
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: he is throwing his support behind Loyal because he wants
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: to send him to the legislature. And then Amanda Poon
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: is the other former Green candidate in that area who's
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: now endorsed Loyal. And keep in mind, this is a
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: riding where Loyal lost by around 40 votes. So having
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: more of the past green voters throw their support behind
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: Loyal could actually make a significant difference. And then the
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: riding where Eby was in, Courtney Comox, we know that
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: that has been very, very close in the past. And
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: so the point that I heard from the NDP campaign
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: on the ground there is that there's an opportunity here
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: to take the seat back from the Conservatives and And,
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: you know, in 2017, for example, Ronna Ray Leonard, she
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: won it with just a handful of votes.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Consequential win.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a very consequential win. And then she
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: won by more in 2020, the pandemic election. But then
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: last time, Brennan Day took it for the Conservatives with
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: 92 extra votes. That is still a tiny number of votes.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: It's less than 100. And so I think that adds weight.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: to the strategic voting argument that is used by New
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: Democrats that are trying to convince these green cross-pressure voters. Because,
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: you know, a vote for the green, let's say 92
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: of those votes, actually could send a conservative MLA to
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: the legislature, which is not something that I think most
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: green voters want to do.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: The challenge always becomes in that argument is that the
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: greens do such a meaningful job at the legislature with
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: two MLAs that they're kind of, it's not like they
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: make our system better and it becomes a hard argument.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: It is always a perpetual election argument. You're right, though,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: at the end where it's kind of like split votes
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure the counter argument on the other side
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: of the ideological spectrum between 1BC, Centre BC, and the
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Conservatives will be existing in some ridings. Don't split the vote.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: These could come down to a few dozen ridings, a
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: few dozen votes. So we do enter that part of
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: the campaign for sure where the campaign starts. pushing people
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: a bit to think of the value of their vote.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: I find it fascinating, some of the environmental arguments the Premier,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: David Eby, is making, that the Greens have already made,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: AI data center, water usage, and that type of thing.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: He really is, there is more from him on the
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: environment in this campaign than I expected, given recent emphasis
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: from him on natural resource development and the fact we're
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: not going to meet our clean BC targets. I was
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: surprised at how much he's even talking about it, which
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: I guess gets to your point about the Greens and
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: how they're doing.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: In a tight election, especially. But it is important to
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: note that the Greens and the NDP share a lot
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: of values as well. And the Greens do put forward
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: a lot of good ideas that are at times supported
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: by the NDP.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: So that takes us to the leaders debate on Wednesday.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: The only televised leaders debate in the campaign. Emily Lowen,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Green leader. Lauren Dirksen, Conservative leader. David Eby, the NDP leader,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: the only three parties in the debate, Centre BC and 1BC,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: not invited by the debate consortium due to the criteria
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: that was set. What are you looking for in the
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: leaders' debate on Wednesday, and what are your thoughts?
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Well, it's really important. This one is very important in
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: this campaign. We have in the debate two leaders who
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: are relatively unknown, especially Dirksen, who sort of came out
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: of nowhere yesterday, to become leader after the nonstop chaos
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: on the right over the last couple of years. You know,
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: it's been pointed out he's been there in the caucus
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: the whole time, even through the turmoil and the kind
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: of bananas views of Carolyn Findlay and Rustad. This debate,
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: it has very high stakes. For Dirksen, for example, it's
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: actually going to be the first time most British Columbians
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: even see him. And then for David, he's the only
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: one with experience doing one of these. He's an experienced politician,
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: a lawyer. it's very difficult for an incumbent premier to
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: actually win a debate when both people on the stage
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: are targeting you. And I don't expect that the Greens
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: and Conservatives will spend much time challenging each other. Both
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: are going to be focused on EB, just like they've
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: done throughout the entire campaign so far. So I think
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: for EB, his approach is going to need to be
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: confident and assuring, but also careful not to overswing. It's
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: important not to be overconfident in these important moments, right?
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: Like he's a serious leader for serious challenges facing the province.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: And so I think you'll see that come through. Another
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: reason why this leaders debate is so important is because
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: people are paying attention right now after seeing all of
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: these big policy announcements come out in the week leading
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: up to Thanksgiving. And most elections come down to a
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: matchup of the leaders. It's the face and the name
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: people usually remember from a political campaign. And premiers have
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: a lot of power. They lead the government. They pick
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: the cabinet that makes important decisions. They provide strategic direction
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: for the province overall. So you want to make sure
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: that you have a good premier. And a lot of
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: voters sort of look at elections as selecting the premier,
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: even though you're voting for candidates in individual ridings. In
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: terms of what I think you'll actually see from each
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: of the campaigns on the strategy page, I think EB
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: will focus on health care and jobs, but also pointing
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: out the various candidates on Dirksen's team who hold extreme
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: views offside with the vast majority of British Columbians. I
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: think Dirksen is going to spend most of the time
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: sort of trying to prosecute EB's record. Some of the
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: things they've talked about recently, like emergency room closures, the deficit, crime,
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: that sort of thing. And their attempt is going to
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: be to prove there's a lack of results there. And
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: then for the Greens with Emily Lowen, we've heard her
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: talk about how the Greens have held the balance of
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: power before. So she may point to some of those
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: successes with hopes of encouraging Green voters to keep their
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: votes Green instead of succumbing to that pressure to strategically vote.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: And then I think she'll have clever lines like she's
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: very adept with social media. It'll be interesting to see
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: how that style translates into the debate. She's also the
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: only woman and the youngest person on the stage, so
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: she's going to bring a different perspective. I'll be watching
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: to see how she divides her attention between Eby and
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: Dirksen because she's spent a lot of time criticizing the NDP,
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: but the debate also gives her a chance to explain
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: where she disagrees with the Conservatives, too. Or if, like Dirksen,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: she ends up spending most of the time attacking Eby.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll be fascinating because it's a high-pressure event. We've
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: seen how difficult it can be. John Horgan made mistakes
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: during the debates in 2017 on some of his comments,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: and he was a professional sort of, you know, MLA
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: by that point. John Rustad in the last election kind
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: of seized up and did not look kind or nice
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: or alive in some cases. And it was a real
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: pressure cooker that is kind of like performing in.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: The Super Bowl. Huge pressure. Yeah.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: Imagine.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Imagine being one of the leaders and having to be
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: up on stage. It's such an important moment because depending
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: on how you land it, it has an impact on
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: the election, which has a huge impact on every British
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: Columbian because it's such an important choice that's ahead for
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: voters on October 24th. Um, and that's, that's also something
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: that I heard at, you know, various Thanksgiving get togethers
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: on the weekend as well. Just about that.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Tell me about that. Uh, in the time we have left,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: what did you, what did you hear around the Thanksgiving table?
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: Well, so I was at a couple of different Thanksgiving
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: get togethers over the weekend, one on Gabriola, uh, with
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: my folks and also one, uh, in Gibson's on the
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: sunshine coast. Uh, heard a lot of folks talking about,
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: you know, not liking the early election, uh, and seeing
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: it as different than the early election that was called
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: during the pandemic with John Horgan, for example. But a
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: lot of people are coming to terms with the important
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: choice that's ahead of them. This is not a time
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: to throw away their vote because choosing the next government
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: is very important. I think, you know, there's sort of
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: a consensus out there that it's going to be really tight.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: It's a tight race and there is a risk of
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: an NDP loss, for example. And so that means that
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: the conversation is moving from, you know, some people being
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: mad about an early election to, OK, what are we
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: doing here? We've got to look at how this is
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: going to impact services and other key provincial responsibilities, because
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: it is a really important choice. You know, if you
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: choose one party, it means cuts and chaos, for example.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: One story that I heard. So I was really moved
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: by a point that was made by a nine-year-old girl
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: at a Thanksgiving dinner I was at. And this is
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: the one in Gibson's. And it started in a chat
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: with her mom who told me that her daughter is
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: interested in politics, which I thought was really cool for
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: a nine-year-old. So the nine-year-old chimes in and she brings
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: up proportional representation saying she wishes our system wasn't first
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: past the post so that everyone could vote for who
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: they want. and not have to strategically vote. And then
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: her other point was about how if everyone in an
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: election says don't vote for this person because they don't
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: have a chance to win, how will that person ever
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: have a chance to win? And I bring all of
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: this up because I was just impressed by her passion
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: and the clarity and the detail of her argument. And always,
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: always great to see kids start to take an interest
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: in democracy. So those are some of the things I
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: heard at the different Thanksgiving tables.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: There's always an argument out there, you know, if we
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: lowered the voting age... We probably have a much different
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: looking legislature makeup and probably more emphasis on electoral reform.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: But we don't. And we've gone through electoral reform several times.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: But it is always funny how kids learn about the system.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: And the very first thing they kind of come away
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: with is, this can't be the best way to do it.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: There's got to be a better way to do it.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, probably. But, you know, we're stuck. We
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: seem stuck with this one from 150 years ago.
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: And it is.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: Important to get youth engaged in democracy and in understanding
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: the systems and understanding that their voices matter. And so
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: that's why I always love hearing when young people are
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: really interested in politics and maybe a young political star
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: coming from the Sunshine Coast one day.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: You never know. You never know. That's the beauty of politics.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: All right. Aileen, thanks so much for being here this morning.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Rob.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: And thank you to everyone who's listening, tuning in. Make
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: sure you subscribe. We've got Political Capital every morning right
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: up through Saturday. We'll have hopefully maybe some special commentary
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Wednesday evening. Well, actually, I don't know. I shouldn't say that.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that's going to happen. Wednesday evening
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: is the TV leaders debate. We'll figure something out. Something
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: will occur. There'll be all sorts of stuff happening this
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: week on the feed. So make sure you subscribe and
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: we'll be back with Political Capital Prime on Friday as well.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Take care.