The Liberals and NDP sharply attacked each other Tuesday on the opening day of a B.C. election campaign that already shows signs of getting heated.
Liberal Leader Christy Clark was smiling as she emerged from a meeting with Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon at Government House in Victoria to announce the official start of the 28-day campaign.
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In what has already emerged as a favourite theme, Clark portrayed the Liberals as the only party with a plan to balance the budget, cut taxes and create jobs.
But she quickly zeroed in on her opponents, warning that the NDP’s free-spending ways would drive the province into deficit.
“B.C. is just getting started,” she said. “We don’t want to throw this all away. The Opposition would replace our tax cuts with tax hikes. They would scrap projects that create thousands of jobs for working people and they would push B.C. families to the brink.”
The NDP counters that families are already there thanks to higher fees and utility bills imposed over 16 years of Liberal government.
NDP Leader John Horgan repeated his commitment to “build a better B.C.” by making life more affordable for people, fixing health care and education and creating sustainable jobs with better wages.
“Change starts today,” he said from Vancouver, countering Clark’s rosy economic outlook.
“It’s not working for everybody. It’s not working if it’s all part-time jobs and temporary jobs.”
Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver, who won his party’s first seat in the last election in Oak Bay-Gordon Head, continued to roll out planks in his platform. In Vancouver on Tuesday, he unveiled an affordable homes strategy that promises, among other things, to invest up to $750 million a year to build 4,000 new units.
Weaver said the Green Party offers voters an alternative.
“Why do you need more than two NDP MLAs? They all vote the same,” Weaver said, adding that the Liberal platform is “so void of ideas, it’s staggering.”
The first campaign stop by Clark was a noon hour rally at the Victoria City Rowing Club on Elk Lake. Former Olympic rower and silver medallist Dave Calder, who is running for the Liberals in Saanich South, played host to the event that drew Liberal candidates from across southern Vancouver Island.
The Liberals, who were reduced to just two seats (out of 14) on the Island in 2013, are hoping to rebound with the help of an Island-specific platform.
Clark told the crowd that it’s “the best chance we’ve had in a long time to make sure that we can send B.C. Liberals to the legislature to fight for the communities all over Vancouver Island.”
Lana Popham, the incumbent NDP candidate in Saanich South, said the Liberals’ Island platform and their claim to be Island “champions” makes it seem like they have been in Opposition for the past four years instead of running government.
“The idea that this is an Island team and they’re Island champions — to me looks like their own party believes that Vancouver Island didn’t have a place at the table,” she said. “The feedback that I’m getting from people is that it’s a bit of a slap in the face and it seems like an unfair way for government to act.”
In response to Clark’s attack on NDP spending, Popham said her party will release a “fully costed” platform on Thursday.
“I’m very confident that the ideas that we’re putting forward will have a very positive effect on the economy,” she said.
“I know it really bothers the Liberals when we talk about our $10-a-day child care plan, but I think it’s because it’s such a great idea and they probably wish they would have championed it.”
— With a file from The Canadian Press
