Going to a fair meant that politics was one of the last things on my mind. That was prior to talking to Tom Birch from the BC Conservatives, Steve Gunner from the BC NDP and people at the anti-smart meters bench. Seeing all this and… nothing from the BC Liberals. Nothing, no presence, absolutely nothing. To my mind this is a fairly strange bell-weather event but there it is.
Having a talk with all these people I was convinced that the Liberals are a dying breed. This has more or less been confirmed in Ontario as well with two byelection losses. The Liberal brand is in full retreat mode and the next election in B.C. promises more of the same. Replacing the better (retiring) MLAs with either unproven MLAs or ones that have zero credibility was a desperate act. I have heard such “luminaries” as Vaughn Palmer (No one listens to Vaughn Palmer do they?) or Sean “conflict of interest” Leslie (CKNW) and I’m left with the conclusion that none of these men knows truly what the average British Columbian is thinking. Some will call this beyond belief and will point to it being so informal. In my mind that is what makes it so valuable (and so telling). From my perspective, the Liberals are going to be lucky to outpace the Green Party or the Marijuana Party, never mind the NDP or the Conservatives.
K. Blake Newton