Evan Saugstad: Election BC 2024 – Good result, bad result or too early to say?

Three days later after most elections, one can say it is all over and depending on whom you are or who you voted for, all over but the cheering, or crying.  Like BC’s 2017 election, this one is yet to be decided, but somethings can still be said on what happened and why John Rustad and his BC Conservatives did not come away with a clear majority.

As of today, neither did the NDP, but all indicators are is that if nothing changes with recounts and challenges, the NDP will form government with some help from the BC Greens.

Although what tomorrow may bring is still uncertain, all indications are for whatever happens and for whomever ends up forming government, our next government will not last long.

But, that statement could be wrong as sometimes one’s enemies makes one’s best bedfellows.

For this election I helped with Dan Davies campaign as he ran as an Independent.  He lost, BC Conservative Party candidate Jordan Kealy won and that is how elections go, someone always wins, someone always loses, and we move on and respect the wishes of the majority.  Each one of us is entitled to vote the way we see fit and once the results are finalized, respect that the candidate who won now represents the constituents of their respective ridings.

But some don’t, and in this case many of the hard-core BC Conservatives are knashing their teeth and blaming the imbeciles for voting for anyone but a BC Conservative and that is the reason John Rustad is not sitting with a clear majority and soon to be crowned Premier.

Sorry to the “Doubting Thomas’s”, that is not how it works.

Blaming others as the cause Rustad is not Premier because some voters choose another candidate as who they wished to represent them in Victoria does not make them less a citizen or any dumber than you are.

Like 2017 when a few BC Conservative candidates won enough votes to allow the NDP to slide up the middle and win over the BC Liberals and, with the help of the BC Greens and one defecting BC Liberal member to Speaker of the House, form government and give the NDP the boost they needed to govern BC, a position they still hold seven years later.

Same thing may have happened this year, just different names and in most cases, from candidates that called themselves Independent instead of BC Conservative. I say may as the outcome could still change if a couple close ridings change from NDP to BC Conservative.

Interestingly, the BC NDP are saying the same things.  If those @#*& Greens had not fielded candidates in so many ridings they had no chance of winning, the NDP would have twelve more seats today, the BC Conservatives twelve less and Daivd Eby would, for the first time be crowned Premier as the result of an election.

Both BC Conservative and the BC NDP’s narrow view on how elections are won and lost are only a wee bit correct.  We could be like China and Vietnam where multiple candidates can run in their elections, but all belong to the same party and the voters select who will repent them in a system the voters have no say on fixing, changing or what ever.  They each call that democratic and those of us in Canada say it is not.  Saying that we should only have two choices, NDP or Conservative is also wrong. Our system works, with all its flaws because anyone that meets the prescribed conditions can offer up themselves as the people’s choice to represent them as their MLA in Victoria.

So, what really went wrong with this election?

Why is Daivd Eby and his NDP even in the running after their performance in devasting BC and our economy?

Why didn’t a clear majority of citizens come out and vote for John Rustad to lead this province?

Why did so many Independents offer up their names as an alterative to the Conservatives, NDP or Greens?

The answers to these questions may be skewed for those of us who reside in the NE portion of our Province.  We are Conservative, have always been, always will be and nothing else matters, and that is not likely to change anytime soon. The unfortunate part is that once in, like our Federal Conservative MP, almost impossible to be replaced with someone that may better represent us as they never loose an election and either die on the job, retire at old age or the party folds beneath them and we start over.

Remember Dave Barrett, BC’s first NDP Premier in 1972? He once said that BC’s Social Credit party could run a fence post and still beat the NDP. True statement.  Win the nomination for whatever conservative minded party is the flavour of the day in these two ridings and you win the election.  (Social Credit went defunct when the BC Liberals took over the right side of political spectrum, then changed their name to BC United and now, the BC Conservative have taken over from the BC United.)

Last spring when it became apparent the BC Conservatives were riding a popularity wave, helped by aligning their name with the Conservative Party of Canada and the popularity of Pierre Poilievre, Kevin Falcon, Leader of the Opposition and BC United, reached out to John Rustad and the BC Conservatives about coming to some agreement so that BC United and BC Conservatives did not once again split the vote and allow David Eby to come up the middle and continue his devastating reign on BC.

Rustad and his advisers would have none of this. No proposal was good enough, and Rustad refused to offer anything in return or any counter proposal.  As the old saying goes, “Damn the torpedoes, it is full speed ahead” and that was Rustad’s response as he thumbed his nose at Falcon, as he let his own emotions of being fired from the BC Liberal caucus by Falcon to be a more important consideration than looking out for the good of a BC election outcome.

On Aug 28^th, three weeks before the writ was dropped, Falcon capitulated and folded the BC United campaign causing the chaos we soon saw.  BC United abandoned their MLA’s and nominees, handed Rustad the United platform, voter information and research on the past histories of some Conservative candidates and the right to solely determine who would be BC Conservative candidates.  BC Conservatives hand picked a couple United MLA’s, rejected a couple of their own nominees in favour of United candidates, and rejected the rest because of pressures from the far right of the BC Conservative Party that did not want or wish to see anything that resembled a BC United/Liberal as part of their campaign or future.  The results were predictable. Some MLA’s and nominees choose to run as Independent as they were already heavily vested in this election.

Soon the United dossier on the Conservative candidate’s background was released publicly and a furor ensued, which in the end, became the materials Eby and the NDP used in much of their campaign ads; smear the opposition, much the same as the Conservatives were doing to the Independents.  Although this strategy did not have much effect on the rural parts of BC it did have an effect in the urban ridings where the Conservative were trying to make inroads.  Many would be Conservative voters refused to vote for a party that had candidates with dubious backgrounds, even if they were not candidates in their own ridings.

As an aside, agree it is about time we stop focusing on what someone said years ago as a reflection on who they are today and their character – just think when todays crop of “everything is on social media” kids look to join the ranks of the elected?  Anyone left to represent us other than someone who did not go out and experience life?

Closer to home and some sad takeaways.

As part of the Davies campaign I watched as he and staff struggled with social media.   The vitriolic posts, some bordering on hatred, and many with outright lies, some posted by fictitious people using phony ID’s, were a constant battle as to what to delete and what to leave as honest questions from concerned or prospective voters.  I read them, went through most and then went to the Kealy page and looked for the same.  Found virtually nothing.  Few, if any non-BC Conservative Party members stooped so low in return.

Yes, Kealy had questions and comments that he may not have agreed with, but nothing like what was coming out from some of his supporters which I hope, that going forward, are not those who he relies upon for advice and guidance. Same story was reported in other ridings where there were hard fought races between Conservatives and Independents or NDP.  Out west Nathan Cullen (NDP) had over half his signs vandalized or stolen (same here, just to a bit lessor degree) and experienced some of the same hatreds. Not a good representation for the future of the BC Conservatives if this is part of how they wish to run campaigns and how they wish to be viewed, as we are better than those few who think demeaning and bully others is the way to a future.

Going forward, what happens?

I say history will repeat itself.

BC United stays dormient and until it is determined whether the BC Conservatives realize they need some middle ground support and or wish to stay on the outer fringes with candidates or platforms and policies (Falcon had this part figured out, just wrong place and wrong time).  Yes, we can all identify and believe in “Common Sense Change”, but who determines just what is common sense?  Do other ethnicities, genders, religions, sexes or political beliefs really have no part in determining what is common sense?

It remains to be seen if Rustad is a leader, or absent that, a good manager of others that and can keep some sense of control and direction with the BC Conservatives.  Or, if it will become someone else, like a Gordon Campbell in 1993 appearing with enough support to take over leadership of the BC Liberal Party and vote themselves to the top, then move the party to something that could appeal to a wider spectrum and capture enough rural and Mero voters to form government and get our province back working and making it the Beautiful BC we all love and cherish.

Others may have different views, but one thing is for certain: Lose in politics and someone else will soon replace you.

In this one, we just cannot afford to keep losing and handing misfits like Eby the keys to our treasury and province.

Evan, still care, still staying interested in politics, just cannot help myself and leave it all to others.

See you at the next ballot box.