The two former Liberal MLAs who lost their jobs in the May 9 B.C. election say they’ll be back if another vote is called in a few months.
The nail-biter night resulted in the B.C. Liberals winning 43 seats, allowing the NDP and Greens to announce Monday that they have an agreement giving them a total 44 seats.
If that arrangement holds and there’s no election in the next few months, there’s less chance that Doug Bing and Marc Dalton will be around to represent the B.C. Liberals again.
“If it’s a number of years [before the next election], for sure, I don’t think I’ll be back,” Bing said.
He served four years as Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows MLA after being elected in 2013, having serving previously on Pitt Meadows council.
As a result, he won’t receive a pension, although he’ll get a transitional allowance for 15 months.
The allowance is basically a 15-month extension of Bing’s base salary as an MLA of $105,881.
So far, though, Bing has no definite plans, apart from some travel.
“It’s kind of a bit of a shock. You work 40 years straight and all of a sudden it comes to a stop. I’m sure I’ll do something, but I’m not really sure what it is at this stage.”
He said that his opposition in 2016 to the Quality Inn on Lougheed Highway as a location for a temporary homeless shelter was one of his toughest times as MLA.
Bing opposed that location after hearing from residents, which led to that location being scratched. But he said that decision left him feeling alone and not sure of the consequences.
He also felt sorry for the citizens’ committee that he and Dalton appointed this year to determine the location of the $15-million shelter and supportive housing complex that B.C. Housing has offered to build, but he hopes the incoming NDP MLAs will consider the location that has been recommended, although not announced.
“They don’t have to re-invent the wheel.”
He maintained that the new homeless tent camp that’s formed on St. Anne Avenue is a “political ploy brought out from Vancouver.”
While Bing, a retired dentist, won’t get a penny in pensions from B.C. taxpayers, he defended the need for them. “You don’t have any job security. You can be gone in an instant.”
Dalton, 56, who was first elected in 2009, will qualify for a pension of $32,600 a year when he turns 65.
Serving as MLA is an “intense” job that takes a lot of focus and energy, he said. He may resume his teaching career.
He said that he realizes that both ridings often alternated between parties and that the Liberals couldn’t match the promises being made by the NDP during the campaign.
“The thing I liked about Christy Clark is, she listened to me as an MLA.”
He cited the announcement of the new school in Albion, widening of Lougheed Highway in Mission, school bus funding and the new MRI machine for Ridge Meadows Hospital as highlights.