 Why B.C.’s political culture could move rightward on election night | | |  | | | The complicated and wonderful thing about municipal elections in B.C. is that they all happen at the same time.
With 160 municipalities, 60 school boards and 27 regional districts all having independent votes, with different candidates and different issues, there’s no one story that can adequately summarize all the choices voters will make on Saturday night.
That being said, here’s a big story you might hear about, depending on results: the political left has lost its grip on British Columbia.
The evidence? For the last 14 years, both Vancouver and Victoria have been led by centre-left mayors, generally with centre-left councils. Since 2009, the majority of Vancouver MPs have been Liberal, and the majority of Vancouver and Victoria MLAs have been NDP.
But this election, the left in both cities is considered to be in trouble. In every poll this week, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart has been behind Ken Sim — who is fond of saying he would run the city like a business. In Victoria, mayoral candidate Stephen Andrew — who often argues the city strays from dealing with core issues — could defeat Marianne Alto, a key ally of outgoing mayor Lisa Helps for the last eight years.
And in both cities, there’s criticism that after years of Trudeau, Horgan and either Helps or Stewart, the price of homes keeps rising, the number of people on the street keeps rising, and not enough is being done about crime and helping the most vulnerable.
Add it up, and you can see the viral tweets about “fed up voters” and “backlash to the left” forming already.
It’s a little bit more complicated than that, though. For starters, 14 years is a long time for one ideology to be in charge at any city hall — there’s a natural voter fatigue that can set in with any sort of political culture.
For another, it’s not as though Ken Sim or Stephen Andrew would be considered diehard conservatives by any reasonable measure: they’re the sort of smaller government, centre-right “Red Tory” types that once ran both cities not too long ago.
For another, B.C. is more than two cities: other municipalities could swing to the left when the votes are counted (including Saanich, Langford and Maple Ridge), while many mayors with NDP or federal Liberal connections are set to be elected on Saturday night.
Still, one shouldn’t discount the potential significance of this election. For more than a decade, voters in B.C.’s two most politically important cities have reliably voted for progressives locally, provincially and federally.
That could change in less than 48 hours. If it does, why it happened it will be a big question for much longer than that. | | |  | | | 1. Decision 2022 | | | Where is Kennedy Stewart’s campaign?
It’s been a question asked by a lot of people in the last few months, beginning with an August where the mayor was absent from most of the festivals and events where rival parties were eagerly meeting with the public, and continuing through an election season where he is definitely losing the advertising war.
“When they’re doing all that advertising, you’re not pushing back in the same way, what you’re doing is talking directly to folks,” said Stewart to the Vancouver Sun’s Dan Fumano on Thursday.
“And you don’t know how successful you are until election day.”
When Stewart says “talking directly to folks," what he chiefly means is having an expansive phone call and get-out-the vote operation. It’s where his campaign has prioritized its time, seeking to identify as many left-leaning voters in the city as possible, making sure they get to the polls on Saturday.
And, as Stewart points out, it’s one of those things that can only be critiqued after the results come in: get re-elected and it’s a smart move, focusing time on reaching voters directly in Vancouver instead of generally through TV and radio ads targeted towards a Metro region where just one in five people actually live in the city.
But if he loses?
Add it to a long list of regrets. | | |  | | | Plug alert! | | | Here is our look at the mayoral platforms of the main candidates in Vancouver and Surrey.
Here’s a reminder of how to vote, regardless of what city you’re in.
Here’s a look at how regional governments operate differently than cities, and some of the more interesting referendum questions on the ballot.
And here’s our look at key issues and races around the province that we’ll be following particularly closely on election night.
Beginning at 7 p.m. PST, we’ll have a special evening of election programming featuring guest interviews and in-depth expert analysis on all CBC Vancouver platforms.
CBC hosts Anita Bathe and Stephen Quinn will be joined by, um, me, for local results and reactions, while guest panellists Mo Amir, a columnist for On The Coast, urban planner Andy Yan and Ginger Gosnell-Myers deliver comprehensive election analysis. | | |  | | | One person, one vote | | | No matter what happens on election night, we’re fairly certain of this — less than half of eligible voters will cast a ballot.
This in spite of the fact that local government determines what your street looks like, how your property is zoned, what the neighbourhood park looks like and what sort of funding your emergency services have.
And with most municipalities much smaller than the size of a provincial federal riding, it’s a place where every vote matters just a little bit more.
Take Clinton (population 568), for example.
In 2018, commercial photographer Roland Stanke ran for mayor, and received 120 votes.
Susan Swan received 121.
Stanke and Swan are running again this year, two of the 3,209 people running for local office across British Columbia.
They already know that every vote counts.
Come Saturday night, so will plenty of others. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for this week! In the meantime, check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
