A Conservative victory should be quite alarming to the Liberals

Christy Clark -- leader of beleaguered BC Liberal Party?

After posting three stories yesterday, this comment today is going to be a real short piece, and right to the point.

In a news story (Parties gear up for by-election battle in Chilliwack-Hope) in the Straight.com today, they hit the nail right on the head with the following observation:

Political scientist Maxwell Cameron says that Chilliwack-Hope is the strategic battleground for the B.C. Liberal Party in this year’s two by-elections.

It’s in this Fraser Valley electoral district where the dominant conservative vote will be up for grabs for both the beleaguered ruling party and the resurgent B.C. Conservative party.

A BC Liberal defeat in Chilliwack-Hope could mean an unraveling of the political coalition of federal Liberals and Conservatives working together to keep the leftist NDP out of the gates. It would also boost the claim of the B.C. Conservatives to being the new party of the right.

And his story concluded with a wise observation:

 

Cameron cautioned against reading too much into the results of these exercises. However, he noted that a B.C. Conservative win could be interpreted as an expression of “mood for change” by voters on the right.

“A Conservative victory should be quite alarming to the Liberals because they really don’t need to be pinched between the NDP on the left and the Conservatives on the right,” Cameron said.

I believe the BC Liberals will be the third place party, when the ballots are counted, in this by-election for Chilliwack Hope.  When that happens, the BC Conservatives will indeed be able to claim to be the new party of the right.

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops, with the thoughts of one conservative.