After weeks of advance work by the contenders, B.C.’s election began for real Tuesday as candidates blasted out of the starting blocks to win the May 14 vote.
“Napoleon once said that an army marches on its stomach but an election campaign runs on its donations,” Liberal candidate for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Doug Bing said Monday. The type of campaign he runs will depend on what dollars flow in, although there is an Elections B.C. spending limit of $73,218 for each candidate.
The Pitt Meadows councillor is continuing to knock on doors, attend meetings and talk to groups to convince them to re-elect the B.C. Liberals while his supporters got signs all ready on the weekend. “I think we’re ready to roll.”
“The main message is the economy. We know we’ve got a world with fiscal uncertainty and we think the Liberals are the party to keep the economy growing.
“We want to create jobs and make sure we have a secure future and we don’t think the NDP know how to do that.”
He said the NDP government ran consecutive deficits in the 1990s and B.C.’s credit rating was downgraded six times, while three credit agencies are saying that under the Liberals, the recent budget is balanced.
“Who are you going to believe, the NDP or these independent bond-rating agencies?”
The concerns are similar for the people he encounters door knocking and on the campaign trail.
“The main issue I find is taxes.” Bing say he tries to emphasize that the government is controlling its spending by balancing its budget and says the NDP would fall back to its tax-and-spend habits.
“That seems to resonate with a lot of people when I bring that topic up.”
He called the NDP proposal to expand the carbon tax on the natural gas industry as a “job-killing tax,” and said raising taxes does affect business decisions.
In the riding next door though, on the east side of 224th Street, NDP candidate Mike Bocking has a ready response.
“Complete fiction” he says of the Liberal charges of NDP money mismanagement.
Under the NDP in the 1990s and the Liberals in the first decade of the 2000s, B.C.’s economic growth were similar.
“When you average it all out the 1990s and the first 10 years of the 21st Century have been almost identical in terms of growth.”
And net population migration into B.C. in the 1990s was double what it was in 2000, he added.
Since becoming premier, Christy Clark has run three straight deficits, including a $790-million deficit this year, said an NDP release. It pointed out B.C.’s total debt will hit $69 billion.
Bocking narrowly lost to Liberal MLA Marc Dalton by 68 votes in the 2009 election, his fourth election loss after being defeated three times by federal Conservative MP Randy Kamp.
Last election, the nominating process was delayed because of the federal election. This time around, “we’re much more prepared.
“We really get a sense that time has run out on the Liberals,” adding the Liberals’ attack advertising is turning people off politics.
“I think we need more positive politics and that’s what the NDP is trying to do.”
The Liberals announced their policy platform Monday, one that included a referendum in 2014 to decide whether TransLink gets any more taxes or can implement any more tolls.
Bocking though said it’s difficult to reduce complicated issues to a yes or no referendum question.
And New Democrat candidate in Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Elizabeth Rosenau said the government has to decide if it wants transit to be a public service that’s needed for all those who cannot drive.
“Referendums don’t tend to go well when you’re talking about raising taxes.”
She added that if it’s decided that transit is a public service, it will take leadership to decide how to pay for it, while the government subsidizes motor vehicle traffic “a great deal.”