UNBC political science lecturer Jason Morris says the Conservative Party of BC is still not a lock to win this fall’s provincial election – this despite BC United leader Kevin Falcon suspending his campaign, eliminating a vote split between the two parties.
Morris adds with BC United nominations now withdrawn and the Tories able to cherry-pick off their list of candidates and MLA’s. It might leave some politicians in a tough spot.
“I think we can even feel bad for longtime politicians that now may see themselves being forced into retirement – we could certainly look to stalwarts like a Shirley Bond here who has been one of the most successful politicians ever.”
He mentioned one thing that is not clear is what Falcon’s role might be behind the scenes.
“Maybe we will see if he has a larger role behind the scenes to play – he is not quite done yet but politicians also tend to have expiry dates and his came up.”
“He is a guy going back to the late 1990s’ was instrumental in uniting the right when the BC Liberals needed BC Reform to go away, not to mention the NDP.”
Morris is anxious to see if Conservative Leader and Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad proves to be Premier material in the weeks ahead.
He noted with the election likely to be a two-horse race between the Tories and incumbent NDP led by Premier David Eby – forcing Falcon to suspend BC United’s campaign is a full circle moment for Rustad after being ousted from the former Liberals just two years earlier.
“It is easy to make the case that the man was preoccupied with some vengeance and even bitterness but he has also been known as a hard worker in the north and a fellow that cares about his constituents and is doing his best to do what he feels is articulating the interests of many people.”
“It’s possible we see an increased regionalism in BC politics with him being northern-based but on the other hand, it tends to be a rare situation in which we potentially have strong representation for a large but smaller population of the province.”
BC’s provincial election is set for October 19th.
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