Horgan seeks ‘bold’ ideas for election

B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan says he’s searching for “bold” ideas from his membership as he seeks to sharply differentiate his party from the governing B.C. Liberals before voters head to the polls in six months.

An email Horgan sent party supporters on the weekend asks: “If the provincial government could implement one major policy initiative and you could decide what it was, what would it be?”

The question is part of a push by the B.C. NDP to draft an election platform that will feature solutions to hot-topic issues faced by voters, such as the party’s announcement last week it would raise taxes on the rich to fund a $10-a-day child-care program at a cost of $1.5 billion annually.

“What I’ve heard a lot, and it goes back to the Bernie Sanders [U.S. presidential] campaign, [is] this notion of being bold,” Horgan said in an interview Tuesday.

“People say we need to be bold. And I hear it and I often pull people aside and say: ‘What does that mean to be bold?’ And they say: ‘Fixing a big problem, whatever it might be.’ ”

Horgan has mused that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s victory in last year’s federal election was a sign voters are less concerned about balanced budgets and more willing to embrace a government that will take big steps required to improve the quality of life.

Such a move could set up a clear choice for voters in 2017, between a B.C. Liberal government that has championed cautious spending, and an NDP opposition with big promises in which funding constraints are less of a concern. Horgan, the MLA for Juan de Fuca, said he won’t make a final decision on whether to campaign on deficit spending until after he sees the numbers in February’s provincial budget.