De Jong enters Liberal leadership race
Former finance minister Mike de Jong has joined his party’s crowded leadership race, saying he brings the best mix of prudent fiscal management and targeted spending to defeat the provincial New Democrat government.
De Jong will announce his candidacy today, with endorsements from MLAs Teresa Wat, Simon Gibson, John Martin and former MLA Pat Bell. He’ll join a race likely to include at least eight candidates, including already-declared contenders Sam Sullivan, Andrew Wilkinson, Lucy Sager, Dianne Watts and Mike Bernier. Also expected to enter are MLAs Todd Stone and Michael Lee.
“I’ve tried to serve loyally under two leaders for almost 24 years now and along the way have developed some specific ideas and approaches that I would like to have a chance to pursue in the capacity as leader,” de Jong said in an interview.
“I think the free-enterprise team needs to be re-energized. Candidly, I think I’ve got the energy, the experience, the talent, the communications skills to do that.”
De Jong ran in the 2011 Liberal leadership race and placed fourth behind George Abbott, Kevin Falcon and victor Christy Clark.
De Jong said the former Liberal government suffered from arrogance after 16 years in power, and he wants to spearhead a provincewide tour to reconnect with voters. The Liberals won 43 seats in the May election — one seat short of a majority — but were punished by Metro Vancouver voters over affordability issues, which allowed the NDP and Green parties to team up to topple the government.
“We’re also obliged to listen to and acknowledge where we fell short, particularly in how we deployed the benefits of the strong economy that we helped create,” de Jong said.
However, it could be an uphill battle for the Abbotsford West farmer to make that case, given it was he as finance minister who presided over years of austerity budgets, constrained spending and rejected expansion of programs and services.
It’s a criticism de Jong acknowledged, though adding he’s comfortable with his “old-fashioned” concepts of paying off debt, spending within his means and saving for the future.
“If our party believes that the road to renewal is to demonstrate that we can spend more than the NDP, I think that is a mistake,” he said. “We should be demonstrating that our objective is to spend smarter and continue to build a strong economy and deploy the benefits of that in a way that resonates with people.”
De Jong said he’s more experienced than when he ran and lost in the party’s 2011 leadership race. And the party knows this time it needs to elect an Opposition leader first, who can fight to restore the party to power.
“Quite frankly, members of the party understand this is a two-step process, and before you can start to assume — which you can’t — retaking government, we have a role to fulfil and that is as the Opposition,” he said. “And the first step in that exercise is, who is going to be the captain of the team when we try to hold the new government to account?”
De Jong also said he’s not in favour of a public per-vote subsidy for political parties, proposed by new NDP legislation, and he wouldn’t be comfortable with a Liberal party under his leadership taking the money. That echoed a promise Stone made last weekend.
On Monday, Bernier and Wilkinson officially launched their leadership campaigns, following days of speculation. Bernier said he would do a better job helping the vulnerable in need, using the strength of balanced budgets and a growing economy. Wilkinson has promised an early focus on the opioid overdose crisis and postsecondary education.
Bernier, the former mayor of Dawson Creek, said his proudest moment as education minister was including sexual orientation in anti-bullying rules.
He said his daughter is gay and he wished he could have helped her more to prevent her getting bullied in school.
Bernier said voters have told him the Liberals stopped listening. “The message I’ve heard has actually been kind of harsh,” he said.
Wilkinson, a lawyer, doctor and former party president, said the Liberals need a leader who knows the ropes of B.C. politics without requiring a learning curve.
“We have to select a leader who is ready on Day 1,” Wilkinson said. “We’ve got to have someone who can take on (Premier) John Horgan and the NDP in that very first question period and someone who can take on the role of running an election at any time.”