A Capilano University political studies instructor says, so far, the provincial election campaign has echoed Social Credit-NDP contests of decades past.
In an interview with Coast Reporter this week, Tim Schouls said the NDP under John Horgan and Christy Clark’s Liberals have been staking out traditional positions on the left and right.
“We have seen the NDP come out fairly strongly in support of what I would call a social agenda, focusing very heavily on the need to support middle and lower class and vulnerable citizens of the province,” he said.
“And what we’ve seen on the other side is a fairly typical representation from the Liberals of their platform cast in the form of free enterprise liberalism. So that classic divide … has played itself out perfectly in this campaign.”
Schouls said the Green Party under Andrew Weaver “is trying to find some sort of angle for itself, and I think having a little difficulty gaining some traction.”
He said the advantages the Greens have had in this campaign include a more comprehensive platform dealing with a broad range of issues, and regional strength on Vancouver Island that could translate into more seats.
“I think that the mark of success for them this time will be to capture somewhere in the order of three, four, five or six seats.”
Schouls also said he thinks a minority government, with Greens holding the balance of power, is a very real possibility.
“I think that would be a very exciting prospect for B.C., but you never know. We saw what happened [with the election result] at the federal level. That was a surprise. We saw what happened in Alberta. That was quite the surprise. So maybe we’re in for a surprise next week as well.”
Schouls doesn’t expect any dramatic moves from the party leaders in the final days of the campaign, but he said they might take the time to turn their attention to younger voters.
“My sense is that the leaders have not paid as much attention as they ought to in order to compel young voters to get out and want to vote for them,” he said. “Maybe we’ll see a bit more of a focus to try to appeal to the younger voter.”
He also credits the NDP for including electoral reform in its platform, with the promise of a referendum on proportional representation, an idea Horgan has been talking about since becoming party leader.
