These are desperate days for the BC Liberals

BC Liberals about to be swept away?

Three interesting stories came out yesterday on politics in BC.  I don’t know if you have seen all three, but they were in the Huffington Post … the Now Newspaper … and the National Post.

All three contained very bad news for the governing BC Liberal Party.  While the NDP continued to maintain little more than there normal hold on their voter block, the three stories acknowledged why there has been a swing to the John Cummins led BC Conservative Party.

Here’s some of the details from the story found in the Huffington Post (Christy Clark: B.C. Premier Poised To Be Swept From Office By Adrian Dix's NDP, According To New Polls)

… Liberals did not have to worry about the Conservatives when voters last went to the polls in 2009 … Clark’s party is a coalition of British Columbia’s centre and right-wing, but its identity is becoming murkier. Clark herself comes from the federal Liberal camp, though she has been trying to prove her true-blue tendencies of late. Nevertheless, 20 per cent of B.C. Liberal voters think the party is closer to the federal Liberals, while 39 per cent think it is closer to Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, according to Forum.

Placing the B.C. Liberals on the political spectrum is in the eye of the beholder: more supporters of the B.C. Conservatives think the governing party is closer to the federal Liberals than the federal Tories, while a large majority of B.C. NDP voters identify the Christy Clark's party with the Harper Conservatives.

This is just further proof that no one, not on the right or the left, can really identify with what the BC Liberal Party is … and what it stands for.  Simply saying, 'we are not the NDP so vote for us' just does NOT cut it anymore.

Now here is a bit from the article Keith Baldrey wrote for Surrey Now.  It’s entitled, “BC Liberals need more than just Harper aides”

… does a truly "conservative" budget collect more than $1 billion in additional taxes, or raise the provincial debt by almost $7 billion in one year? Clark's support of such things as the new transit levy in Metro Vancouver, the carbon tax and a spiraling provincial debt load does little to appease the hardcore conservative voter out there … until she finds a way to bring those voters back into her party's camp, her re-election chances are doomed.

… evidence of whether she's done enough to win those voters back will be seen relatively soon. The upcoming by-elections in Port Moody-Coquitlam and Chilliwack-Hope will test the strength of the BC Conservatives, and provide a real measure of that party's impact on the B.C. Liberal party.

This time, the party is running two credible candidates and both will likely make a strong impression. Christine Clark is running in Port Moody, while John Martin is the party's candidate in Chilliwack.

The byelection in Chilliwack-Hope could be particularly telling. This has all the earmarks of a genuine three-way race and it is conceivable the BC Liberals could finish third.

For the first time I can recall, someone in the media is saying what I have been thinking for some time now --- the BC Liberals could very well finish third.  I don’t care what they say about governments typically losing by-elections – there will be NOTHING typical about these two, and I believe they will be a vote on what the future holds for the BC Liberal Party.

Christy Clark and the BC Liberals have done everything they can to paint Adrian Dix and the NDP as a scourge that will destroy the province – while at the same time insisting the BC Conservative Party has nothing to offer, and that it has no credibility. 

Call the by-elections Christy – let’s see what the voters think of your government – and the options they have available to them.

Okay, now here is the last story – the one that had the latest poll results from Forum Research.  For some time now Christy Clark has insisted that recent polls do not reflect the reality of the BC political landscape – and that polls always show party's going up and down.

I’ve got news for you Christy; polls do go up and down, but consistently it’s been the BC Liberals that have been going down, and the BC Conservatives that have been going up --- in poll after poll after poll.

National Post (Brian Hutchinson) “BC Liberals display their nerves in new attack on old NDP sins”

… these are desperate days for the Liberals; of course they are reaching for the ammo. Expect to hear more scary history lessons from the government and its friends, at least until the two by-elections are concluded … the NDP is poised to deliver a death blow to the Liberals.

A telephone survey of 1,063 B.C. residents, conducted Monday and released Tuesday … indicates that were a province-wide election held now, the NDP would capture 47% of the popular vote, and a stunning 75 of 85 seats in the legislature. The survey has the Liberal and BC Conservative parties tied with 21% support.

This is a sad and tired government … one that has little more to offer than, “Vote for us, we’re not the NDP”

That may have been good enough to hold the liberal – conservative coalition together in the past, but not anymore.  This BC Liberal government has been, and continues to be, arrogant.  It continues to spend us further and further into debt … and it continues to ignore the people of BC.

This is nothing new; they have been doing it for some time, now thinking their way of governing could go on forever because there was no alternative.

As they can now see, that is NOT the case anymore, and I predict the next polls will show them running in third place.  No wonder Christy Clark is afraid to call those two by-elections.

In Kamloops, I’m Alan Forseth, with the thoughts of one conservative.