Clark enters fray in Cowichan Valley

BATTLEGROUND RIDING IN FINAL STRETCH OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN

B.C. Liberal Leader Christy Clark made a campaign stop in Duncan Thursday, adding her name to a growing list of political heavyweights from all three parties trying to influence the tight race in the Cowichan Valley riding.

Clark’s visit came one day after a B.C. Green Party rally featuring broadcaster and environmentalist David Suzuki, and two days after former NDP cabinet minister Corky Evans arrived to boost his party’s profile.

Former attorney general Wally Oppal also popped by this week, going to the Paldi Sikh Temple with Liberal candidate Steve Housser to celebrate its recognition as an historic site.

The increased focus on Cowichan Valley highlights the intense battle for a riding that’s up for grabs following the retirement of NDP MLA Bill Routley.

Cowichan Valley Regional District director Lori Iannidinardo will carry the NDP colours this time and she faces a stiff challenge from Housser and Green candidate Sonia Furstenau, a fellow CVRD director.

Housser finished just 1,397 votes behind Routley in 2013, while Furstenau led a successful fight against the dumping of contaminated soil in a quarry uphill from Shawnigan Lake.

The Liberal government faced criticism for failing to intervene sooner to shut down the site and Clark acknowledged Thursday that the issue will be a factor in the race.

She noted, however, that Housser fought against the project with Furstenau.

“It certainly has attracted a lot of attention and a lot of emotion from people,” she told the Times Colonist editorial board. “And I think Steve has distinguished himself as a real fighter on that issue and I think people respect him for his work there.”

Furstenau and Adam Olsen in Saanich North and the Islands are considered among the Greens’ best hopes for adding more seats on Vancouver Island.

B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver has been a regular visitor to both ridings and is slated to return to Cowichan Valley for another rally today.

Nevertheless, Horgan told a Times Colonist editorial board meeting before the start of the campaign that he expected the NDP to hold the seat despite Furstenau’s popularity in Shawnigan Lake.

“Cowichan Valley is not just Shawnigan Lake,” he said. “It’s a diverse and sprawling constituency that’s been largely NDP for a long, long time and I have every expectation that Lori Iannidinardo . . . will do very, very well in that campaign.”

Horgan visited the riding last weekend to solidify the NDP’s chances by promising to build a new hospital in Duncan as part of a plan to spend $10 billion over five years for new infrastructure and job creation across the province.

The Liberals, who have committed instead to assess “a concept plan for the re-development of Cowichan District Hospital,” criticized Horgan for making an “un-costed, phantom promise” that appeared nowhere in the NDP platform.

“John Horgan has been travelling the province promising hospitals that he hasn’t budgeted for,” Clark said Thursday. ‘I’m not making promises that we haven’t budgeted, I’m just not.”

She said Housser, if elected, will fight to get the hospital included in the government’s financial plans because “that’s what MLAs are supposed to do.”

Clark also said that it is important to maintain the E&N rail line, which has not been used in six years, as a transportation corridor.