Underdog Liberals launch aggressive campaign
Trailing in the polls, party looks to build some momentum
VICTORIA — The B. C. Liberals launched the provincial election campaign Tuesday on an aggressive footing, hoping an early first strike could provide the momentum to begin closing the NDP’s commanding lead in the polls.
Minutes before Premier Christy Clark visited Lt.- Gov. Judith Guichon to officially start the campaign, the B. C. Liberal Party released to the media a series of comments written on an online forum in 2009 by the NDP’s candidate in Kelowna- Mission.
In them, Dayleen Van Ryswyk complained “we have been paying out of the nose ( to First Nations) for generations for something that isn’t our doing.”
“If their ancestors sold out too cheaply, it’s not my fault and I shouldn’t have to be paying for any mistake or whatever you want to call it from MY hard earned money,” she wrote .
In another post she wrote that she is “getting so sick of having french stuffed down my throat.”
“Seems the only group of people universally hated around the world other than the Americans are the french and FRENCH CANADIANS … the bigots are the french and not us.”
Clark was poised to respond.
“It’s really disgraceful that someone would offer those kinds of comments publicly and then think that they should run for public office,” Clark told reporters gathered in front of Government House.
In the same forum, Clark declared the 2013 vote the “most important election in modern history,” providing a choice between growing the economy under her government, or growing the government under the New Democrats.
Within two hours, New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix had accepted Van Ryswyk’s resignation, saying the comments were “unacceptable.” Dix said he only learned of the comments Tuesday morning and immediately asked for her resignation.
“It’s unfortunate. Of course candidates are vetted and this was missed, and it’s unfortunate. We expect people to do better,” Dix told reporters in a question- and- answer session dominated by the issue.
“I consider these remarks particularly serious and I disagree with them strongly and took immediate action,” Dix said.
Dix said a new NDP candidate for Kelowna- Mission will be announced soon.
“Things happen. There are 85 candidates,” Dix said matteroffactly. “I expect the vetting process to be tight. In this case we’re going to find an outstanding new candidate in Kelowna-Mission and we’re going to run hard there.”
Kelowna- Mission is held by Liberal cabinet minister Steve Thomson, who won in 2009 with 54 per cent of the vote.
The Day One misstep was an embarrassment to the NDP leader, who started his day — also before the campaign had officially begun — with a campaign stop in Clark’s riding of Vancouver- Point Grey.
Despite the rough start, however, two polls released Tuesday show that Dix and his party hold a commanding lead, with the majority of people in the province expecting they will form the next government.
A poll conducted by Ipsos Reid between last Thursday and this past Monday found that 48 per cent of decided voters support the New Democrats, compared with just 29 per cent who support the B. C. Liberals. The 19- point gap is the same margin that separated the two parties in an Ipsos Reid poll conducted in March.
“It’s a massive lead” said Kyle Braid, vice- president of Ipsos Reid Public Affairs, adding the New Democrats have been leading the Liberals for months.
“There’s no real positive signs in this poll for the Liberals at all.”
The poll also found that 37 per cent of those who consider themselves B. C. Liberal supporters say they think the NDP will win a majority.
“I guess they can read the polls and the papers as well as everyone else,” said Braid. “If nothing else, Liberal voters are realists.”
Also on Tuesday, rival polling firm Angus Reid found a similar gap, giving the NDP a 17- point lead over the B. C. Liberals.
That poll — which also carries a 3.5- percentage- point margin of error, 19 time out of 20 — put the NDP at 45 per cent support among decided voters and the Liberals at 28 per cent.
It found the Greens and B. C. Conservatives collectively hold a 25- per- cent share of support from the province’s voters, with the Greens at 13 per cent, and the Conservatives in fourth with 12 per cent.