Monday October 17, 2022 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
“Results in the municipal election have sent a pretty clear message,” said BC Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon in a media session this afternoon in Victoria, on this Monday after the October 15 local elections across BC.
Falcon said the turfing out of many long-time mayors (many of whom led larger communities on Vancouver Island such as Saanich, Langford and View Royal) shows that the “voices of the public” are calling for “a desire for change”.
He was “flabbergasted” at the endorsement of municipal candidates by high-ranking BC cabinet minsters — notably in the Vancouver municipal race — including Health Minister Adrian Dix, Environment and Climate Change Minister George Heyman, and former Attorney General (now leadership candidate) David Eby.
Falcon said he can’t recall himself ever endorsing a municipal candidate in any previous elections.
People’s main concerns:
From there, Falcon summarized three main points today, going after the NDP on health care, crime and affordability.
These are the things that he says are among the main things that are driving the desire for change:
- “Health care has never been as bad as (it is) today,” said Falcon. He said that health care is “in collapse”.
- He said that while travelling around BC meeting people in communities, that concerns about random and violent crime are high. People are “fed up” with catch and release.
- On the matter of affordability: “It has never been worse.” He noted housing as one of the key concerns in that regard.
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a news portal with a socioeconomic lens for attentive readers on south Vancouver Island and beyond.
Online since mid-2020, this publication is the emergence from 15 years of journalism on the west shore in a series of publications created and edited by now Island Social Trends editor Mary P Brooke: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Contact: news@islandsocialtrends.com