Dan Fumano: While some candidates see overlapping elections bringing confusion and distraction, others try to make political hay with a potential opportunity.
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While some Vancouver political candidates are railing against the B.C. NDP for calling a provincial election that risks drowning out municipal campaigns already underway, others are leaning into what they see as an opportunity.
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NDP leader David Eby’s Tuesday announcement of a snap provincial election on Oct. 24 — just one week after B.C.’s municipal election day — was instantly met with civic organizations throughout B.C. blasting the decision, including two of Vancouver’s main parties.
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ABC Vancouver’s Tuesday press release criticized the NDP, quoting Mayor Ken Sim saying: “There is no version of this where calling (a provincial election) now, instead of after Oct. 17, serves anyone but the governing party’s own interest.”
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Sunrise
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TEAM for a Livable Vancouver also issued a statement criticizing Eby’s decision, with mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick saying the provincial election shouldn’t overshadow important choices facing Vancouverites.
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By Wednesday, another Vancouver party was taking a different approach.
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“A provincial election wasn’t on our scorecard, but now we have a unique and historic opportunity to align two levels of government against international, domestic, and local headwinds,” Vancouver Liberals mayoral candidate Kareem Allam wrote on social media Wednesday morning, seemingly welcoming the overlapping campaigns.
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At a press conference later that day, Allam appeared alongside other Liberal candidates to outline what they called “the Vancouver economic agenda.”
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The Liberals said they’ll send their plan to every provincial party leader and ask for their commitment to a five-point vision, which would require collaboration between the city and province. The five commitments are amalgamating the University of B.C. and Endowment Lands into the City of Vancouver, extending the SkyTrain to UBC, taking down the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts, funding infrastructure necessary for housing growth and aligning Vancouver’s building code with the B.C. building code.
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“The premier was quite clear in his press conference yesterday that this election is about the economy,” Allam said. “I want to throw my weight behind an economic vision for this province to get beyond the fiscal hurdles this province is facing. But we cannot succeed as a province if the City of Vancouver isn’t successful, and we have some low-hanging fruit, some good wins here, by building a SkyTrain line out to UBC and taking down the viaducts to generate and stimulate economic growth in these … challenging economic times.”
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“Voters now get to make two choices, one week apart, and create an unprecedented opportunity for political alignment in the province of British Columbia,” Allam said. “Some — my opponents — would rather talk about the calendar. I’d rather talk about what Vancouver needs, and make sure every party seeking to govern this province has to answer for it.”
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Vote Vancouver mayoral candidate Rebecca Bligh also said there could be a silver lining to the provincial election call. Bligh argues the overlapping elections could help promote more public awareness, and hopefully push people to learn more about the different levels of government and get out and vote both times.
