B.C. Liberals accuse NDP of suppressing vote

The British Columbia Liberals are accusing the NDP of taking advantage of the pandemic to suppress votes in the final days of the election, while the Green leader is urging residents not to vote out of fear.

Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson defended a news release put out by his par ty that says it has serious concerns about the motive behind NDP Leader John Horgan’s election call “that is suppressing voter turnout and putting those that do vote at risk.”

Wilkinson said Tuesday that Horgan’s selfishness to call the election during the pandemic shouldn’t override the democratic right to get out to vote.

When asked if he would question the final results, Wilkinson said “absolutely not,” adding that Elections B.C. has acted with the highest degree of professionalism to protect voters’ rights.

“I think the problem is John Horgan’s selfish ambition in calling this election while we’re going in the second wave of the pandemic. That’s just irresponsible. It didn’t need to happen and it should not have happened,” Wilkinson said.

Horgan said he doesn’t know what Wilkinson is talking about when it comes to voter suppression.

“I don’t know what planet Mr. Wilkinson’s living on,” Horgan said while campaigning in North Vancouver. “Almost 500,000 people have already participated in advance voting,” he said, adding more than 700,000 mail-in ballots have been requested.

“There’s a lot of interest in this election campaign. There’s no effort whatsoever to suppress. Quite the contrary. We want to ensure that as many people participate as possible.”

Horgan met with local nurses while in North Vancouver after campaigning in Coquitlam, where he pushed his health- care plans for spending $2.3 billion for construction of hospitals and the hiring of 7,000 workers.

The NDP leader said that when his party took office in 2017, nine of 10 care homes did not have enough staff to meet the minimum hours for care, which would change under his leadership.

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s statement Monday that B.C. was in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was scary to hear, especially as schools and businesses are open and fall weather means it’s harder to stay outside.

When asked about the call by some to unite the progressive vote behind the NDP and away from the Greens, Furstenau said the best thing progressives could do now is ensure there are Green members in the legislature.

She said she’s weary of political parties telling the electorate to vote for them out of fear when they should vote out of inspiration.