Are Liberals ready?
Wilkinson slams early date by Horgan while laying out campaign platform
B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson delayed rolling out his party's “bold plan” for British Columbia Monday, opting instead to dismiss the election call as a cynical self-serving power grab by Premier John Horgan.
Wilkinson promised a plan to rebuild the economy, solve the housing crisis and tackle the “nightmare” of drug addiction and crime “that is rolling over British Columbia.” But those details will come later this week.
In a battle that will be fought mainly online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Liberals were flat-footed last week as the New Democrats waged a stealth campaign. The party has spent just $1,149 on Facebook ads in the past seven days, compared with $24,409 spent by the NDP.
Overall, the Liberals are heavier users of Facebook ads. They've spent more than $128,000 directly on political ads since June 10, 2019, compared with just $54,000 by the NDP.
The New Democrats spent nearly $2.5 million on “media advertising” during the 2017 campaign, compared to the Liberals' expenditure of about $3 million, according to documents filed with Elections B.C.
Whether those trends continue may be partly determined by the health of the party's finances.
The B.C. Liberals had about $2.3 million in cash deposits to fight this election, while carrying about $800,000 in debt, according to the party's last financial disclosure. The party raised $2.9 million in political contributions last year and received almost $1.8 million in per-vote government subsidies.
“I think we all know there aren't going to be big rallies, there aren't going to be big meetings, it's going to be a very different campaign,” said Wilkinson. “There'll be a lot of social media, a lot of reliance on the mainstream media.”
The campaign will try to connect directly with voters by phone and through Zoom calls, he said.
“We're in difficult times,” he said. “This has never been the scenario that any of us expected.”
Wilkinson repeatedly heaped scorn on Horgan for calling an election more than a year early, during a pandemic, but how the Liberals frame their pitch will be crucial if they are to succeed.
“By calling an election right now, I fear Horgan is risking the injection of partisanship into the pandemic response,” said UBC political scientist Max Cameron. “Can Wilkinson resist the temptation to do this?”
“How can he find the best strategy of opposition without weakening the robust consensus that I feel has emerged in recent months around the need to let (provincial health officer) Dr. Bonnie Henry and the experts take the lead on COVID-19,” he wondered.
The Liberals enter this race minus some high-profile candidates, including former cabinet ministers Linda Reid, Steve Thomson, John Yap, Rich Coleman and Ralph Sultan.
Two-term Boundary-Similkameen MLA Linda Larson announced her retirement along with three-term MLA Donna Barnett, who serves Cariboo-Chilcotin.
After a flurry of nominations, the Liberals have 11 fresh faces running for office.
On Monday, Richmond Chamber of Commerce CEO Matt Pitcairn was announced as the candidate for Richmond-Steveston, replacing the popular John Yap, who has held the riding since 2005.
Richmond city Coun. Alexa Loo was also announced as the party's candidate for Richmond South.
Magazine publisher Mark Bowen was nominated last week to run against Attorney General David Eby in Vancouver Point Grey, a riding that was home to former Liberal premier Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell.
Energy entrepreneur David Grewal will run in the onetime Liberal stronghold of Vancouver-Fraserview, which George Chow won for the NDP by a thin margin in 2017.
Port Alberni city Coun. Helen Poon will run for the Liberals in the Mid-Island-Pacific Rim riding. Bruce Banman will run in Abbotsford-South, Roxanne Helm in Oak Bay-Gordon Head, James Robertson in Port Moody-Coquitlam, Karin Kirkpatrick in West Vancouver-Capilano, Cheryl Ashlie will run in Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows and Brennan Day in Courtenay-Comox.