The risk of vote-splitting comes not from BC Conservative voters

BC Conservative nominee
candidate Rick Peterson

Former BC Liberal supporter Rick Peterson, and now BC Conservative nominee candidate for Vancouver-Quilchena, wrote a great piece which ran in the Vancouver Sun yesterday.

The following are some of the comments I received in an email from him this morning, along with a link to the story.  If you haven’t had the chance to read it yet, it’s well worth the time.

The obvious momentum and strong support that the BC Conservatives are enjoying under the leadership of John Cummins is provoking dire warnings of “vote-splitting” from some quarters. The argument is that our BC Conservative strength will cause a split in the “free-enterprise” vote that will allow the NDP to come to power next May.

The vote-splitting argument has some merit. But as you’ll see in this op-ed piece, the risk of vote-splitting comes not from BC Conservative voters. The threat instead comes from voters continuing to support the BC Liberals at a time when it’s clear that the free enterprise coalition is forming under new leadership – and that is the leadership of the BC Conservatives.

Recent election history in this province provides clear and compelling evidence of this, as you’ll see in this link to the op-ed piece.

As BC Conservative Party leader John Cummins has said, “We know that the people of British Columbia deserve better than two tax and spend parties. BC can lead Canada again; we can make BC the most attractive province to live, work, invest and raise a family.”

Vote splitting is an argument you’ll hear … but only from the party that has the most to fear from the continued growth and momentum of the BC Conservatives.  My suggestion to them is ... 'Take a look in your own backyard, you'll find out WHY you no longer have the support of British Columbians.'

I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops, and that’s it for this week … have a great weekend

NOTE:
Rick Peterson is the Deputy Chair of the BC Conservatives’ Finance Committee.  He has been a political activist in Vancouver for many years, and is active in the business community.