Friday October 16, 2020 | VICTORIA & VANCOUVER [Last update 1:10 pm]
Election campaign coverage by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
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Friday October 16 is Day 25(*) on the Election BC campaign trail (*calling September 21 as Day 1, the day the election was called).
- The Provincial General Election Day is on Saturday October 24. Advance voting (for seven days) and voting-by-mail are available. Elections BC info. | See which ridings have the highest number of mail-in ballot requests.
- Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which requires physical distancing, most campaign activities are done remotely online, both for the media and the voter audiences.
- Town halls and All Candidates Meetings are posted on the Island Social Trends Events page.
BC NDP:
Today BC NDP candidate Mitzi Dean (Esquimalt-Metchosin) participated in an All Candidates forum hosted by the Victoria Chamber of Commerce over the noon-hour.
She says the NDP support the idea of a west shore ferry in Colwood but that the project needs to be assessed within the context of a regional strategy so that traffic and pedestrians can get to and from the proposed ferry terminal. She commits to “investments in education”. Livable, affordable communities and neighbourhoods are key points. “Where do they want to go and who do they want to lead them. Together we can keep BC moving forward for all of us,” said Mitzi Dean.
BC Liberal: The BC Liberals have called for a review of the “pandemic Back to School plan”.
“Since September there’s been an increasing number of COVID-10 exposure events in BC schools, which is why whomever forms government must do a review of the pandemic Back to School plan currently in place,” it was stated in a BC Liberal release today.
RJ Senko Liberal candidate in Esquimalt-Metchosin said in an online All Candidates forum today that being an MLA is about working for constituents and community, across party lines.
BC Green: BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau released the full BC Green platform earlier this week.
Today October 16 she laid out a number of key priorities for the next Green Caucus, during a press conference in Victoria.
Furstenau says her party has been pushing for changes to long-term care, to end old growth logging and to cancel Site C. “But the NDP is only just starting to show signs of moving on these issues now that we’re in an election.”
The top priorities for the next Green caucus were outlined as follows:
- Help small businesses and the tourism sector survive the winter with a rent subsidy program and grants to urgently support small tourism operators.
- Provide immediate action on affordability and inequality – including new grant for those paying more than 30% of their income in rent and making significant improvements to the social safety net.
- Protect our last remaining old-growth forests from logging and take back control of our forest industry to create good, local, sustainable jobs.
- Stand up for real solutions in health care, like affordable and accessible mental health services, and ending the practice of public money going to for-profit seniors care.
- Stop the subsidies for fossil fuel and fracking companies, and establish a clean jobs strategy which offers a transition plan for workers in the oil and gas setor, guaranteeing them a job in the clean economy.
Andrew MacKinnon BC Green candidate in Esquimalt-Metchosin said in an online All Candidates forum today that delivering an NDP majority government “would be rewarding bad behaviour”. MacKinnon reiterated that the BC Green Party has “an evidence-based approach to policy development”. He sees “building communities that relate to their natural environments in healthy and sustainable ways” as a long-term issue.
Inside notes and editorial about the election results after October 24 will be made available to paying subscribers. | How to subscribe: call 250-217-5821 to request an invoice and pay by credit card, or email your billing request to subscriptions@islandsocialtrends.com (and pay by e-transfer) | Subscription info: www.islandsocialtrends.com/subscribe-2
