Federal leaders blitz B.C. before final vote

When B.C. voters mark their ballots today, fresh in mind will be the last-minute pitches leaders of Canada’s four main federal parties delivered to Canadians from cities and towns across B.C.

Recent polls suggest the race for power is tight, making B.C. ridings that were close in 2015, like Vancouver-Granville, Burnaby North-Seymour, Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge, Steveston-Richmond East and South Surrey-White Rock, particularly important this election.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May each made late campaign stops in B.C.’s South Coast on the weekend.

“We are taking nothing for granted,” Trudeau said Sunday during a visit to the campaign office of Patrick Weiler, the Liberal candidate for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country.

Trudeau used the stop to warn of cuts to services if the Conservatives took power, and called for Canadians to participate in the election.

“It’s always important for people to get out and vote. We’ve got a great democracy and we need to make sure we are participating in it,” he said.

The riding has previously been held by the Liberals, the Conservatives and, briefly, the Greens. Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, the former mayor of West Vancouver, who won the riding in 2015 for the Liberals, said all four of the major federal parties have support there.

Asked what it would mean if the Liberals lost the riding on election day, Goldsmith-Jones said: “It could symbolize what I think we are seeing in this election across the country, which is difficulty choosing one way.”

Scheer spent time in B.C. warning that a split vote may not result in a Conservative government. He said the choice on election day was “a choice between a government that I would lead focused on making life more affordable, focused on leaving more money in the pockets of Canadians, and an NDP-Liberal coalition that we cannot afford.”

The Conservative leader said there was still time for voters to look at party platforms and swing the election.

Among Scheer’s B.C. stops was Vancouver-Granville, where Jody Wilson-Raybould is seeking re-election as an independent candidate after winning as a Liberal last time around.

Several times during his campaign Scheer had spoken positively of Wilson-Raybould’s actions in the SNC-Lavalin affair, but the Conservative Party still fielded a candidate against her.

May made several announcements Sunday, including a promise to lower the voting age to 16 and turf Canada’s first-past-the-post electoral system in favour of proportional representation.

“It flies in the face of fairness that 16- and 17-year-olds are old enough to work and pay taxes but are not allowed to vote for the government that spends that tax revenue,” May said.

May also said the Greens would have Elections Canada fight dishonest campaign advertising.

The Green leader spent part of her time Sunday at a rally in Vancouver that called for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Singh, who spent part of Sunday campaigning in Vancouver-Centre, a riding long held by Liberal Hedy Fry, said any divisions in the country were a result of economic insecurity, worsened by the policies of Conservative and Liberal governments.

“I believe we can build a unified country if people see justice in their lives, if they see affordability in their lives, if they see child care and a health-care system and housing that is affordable that is there for them,” Singh said.