‘The gloves are off’ as parties take fight to the campaign trail
With another rocky run-up for Clark, expect this election to get down and dirty
Back then, a series of pre-election scandals and screw-ups drove the Liberals down in the polls. But Clark staged an amazing comeback, leading the Liberals to a fourth consecutive majority government.
“When the campaign begins, that’s when voters really start to pay attention,” McDonald said. “They set the issues, not the political parties or the pollsters. And the premier loves to campaign.”
In the other two election war rooms, though, there’s a sense that maybe this time voters will decide they’ve had enough of Clark and the Liberals.
“The gloves are off,” said Glen Sanford, deputy director of the NDP campaign. “We’re going to hold Christy Clark to account for her record.”
The NDP’s first wave of TV attack ads focus on the Liberals’ big-bucks fundraising, highlighted by Clark’s private $10,000-a-plate dinners with wealthy supporters.
The tag line in the NDP ads: “Christy Clark: Not working for you.”
“We’re not going to be shy about holding Christy Clark to account for what she has done to British Columbians while benefiting her rich donors,” Sanford said.
It’s a stark departure from the 2013 strategy, when the New Democrats ran a more positive campaign while toning down the rough stuff.
“They held themselves back last time,” McDonald said.
“This time, they’ll be throwing the kitchen sink at us.” But the Liberals are ready to return fire. “We will run ads on the missing pieces of their platform,” he said. “They’re making a lot of big, expensive promises. But there’s no way they can pay for them without massive tax increases, and not just on high-income earners.”
While the Liberals and New Democrats duke it out, meanwhile, the B.C. Green party plans to stay positive and rise above the mudslinging.
“Christy Clark and John Horgan have been playing the same games for 20 years — they’re career politicians,” said Taylor Hartrick, the Green campaign director.
“Andrew Weaver didn’t set out to make a career in politics. He got into this to inspire people and make a difference.”
The Greens see a chance to make a breakthrough in this election, especially if Weaver can upstage his opponents during the mid-campaign televised leaders debate.
The Liberals and New Democrats both seem worried about a possible Green surge. The Liberals are attacking Weaver as “another tax-and-spend politician” while the New Democrats suggest a Green vote could be a wasted one.
“We’re the ones who can deliver change,” Sanford said. “If people want a change from Christy Clark and the B.C. Liberals, they should vote NDP.”
After being ignored for so long, the Greens like all the attention they’re suddenly getting.
“They’re seeing what we’re seeing: that we’re becoming a threat,” said Hartrick. “They’re getting scared.”
While the Greens seek their long-awaited breakthrough, the major battle will be the traditional one: the Liberals versus the NDP.
Both party war rooms believe the election will be won or lost in a handful of key, closely contested seats, especially in Surrey, Maple Ridge and Burnaby, where the two parties are in pitched local battles.
“We’re counting on the contrast in leadership styles,” said McDonald. “Christy Clark is strong, tough and determined. She’s saying Yes to economic development. John Horgan is leading a party that’s divided and saying No to big projects.”
He said the Liberals will showcase the province’s strong economy, while warning voters against the dangers of NDP taxes and restrictive, red-tape policies that will strangle private enterprise.
But the New Democrats will offer a jobs agenda of their own, Sanford said.
“We’ll create good-paying jobs right across the province,” he said, noting Horgan has already promised to four-lane the Trans-Canada Highway between Kamloops and the Alberta border and to pour millions of dollars into transit expansion. “Those are all huge job generators,” he said. It’s clear, though, that a major part of the NDP campaign will be to attack Christy Clark. And it’s just as clear that Clark will fight back in an election that could quickly turn tough, nasty and personal.