Tuesday May 21, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 12:25 pm]
Political analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
What’s in a political party name? Well, quite a lot.
The party name is a first identifier, the first salute to would-be voters and supporters to say what the party is about.
It’s a stake in the sand within the political spectrum.
A party name is an outward signal. At home within the party they can believe or feel whatever they want. The name is for connecting to the world beyond party walls.
In that respect, Falcon got it wrong. At a media availability last week he defended the name change, saying with a table-thumping tone that 90% of the then-BC Liberal membership voted for the change. So that must make it right.
That’s the red flag right there. The insiders like it because it indicated to them that they were a ‘big tent’ party to include everyone.
There was also the weakness of the rebranding focussing on colours that people normally don’t refer to: magenta and cyan. Those are words for graphic designers, printers and publishers. To regular folks it’s strong pink and bright blue.
All of it an exercise in navel-gazing, and having felt a bit contrived. Indeed, another big reason for the name change was to distance the provincial party from the federal Liberal party.
Appealing to voters:
News flash… the average voter doesn’t follow politics much at all, let alone spend their coffee breaks parsing political alignment.
In trying to go for simplistic marketing goals and thinking inwardly instead of outwardly, they have badly muddied the waters in which they hoped to swim strong… results in party popularity which would ideally translate into votes.
If everyday folks who don’t pay attention to politics on a regular basis find themselves confused about what BC United is (no recognition in the privacy of the voting booth) the BC Liberals having changed their party name to BC United could be a huge gift to the NDP. ‘Better the devil that you know’, as the saying goes.
Reader feedback:
“I totally agree with this. I don’t think most people realize that the BC United are the former Liberals. The Conservatives are rising solely on name recognition.” ~ Tom Myrick, Sooke
Send your comments to: news@islandsocialtrends.com
If you believe the polls:
If one feels that polls are a reliable way to assess what’s really going on… at last blush, a poll by Research Co shows the BC United at 12% (neck in neck with BC Greens also at 12%), which is a 3% drop. Leading strong is the BC NDP at 42% of decided voters, though down 3% since April. The BC Conservatives are up 5% to 32%.
Timeline to election day:
Yes, it’s still just under five months to the October 19, 2024 election day (four-and-a-half months to the start of advance voting) abut only four months to the official start of campaigning on September 21 and the public relations message window about the party name is fast closing. [See BC Election Resource Section in the Island Social Trends Community Calendar]
No change in tone:
Meanwhile we see the BC United colours morphing slightly on their website, back closer to red and blue, which brings to mind another metaphor… that a leopard doesn’t change its spots.
BC United will stand for the same things that they did when they called themselves the BC Liberals.
They won’t have changed their core values about free enterprise (a point Falcon repeated a lot last Thursday in his media availability). They will put business first, be friendly to cuts in services and lowering taxes for financially secure sectors of the economy.
It’s very likely under a would-be BC United government that everyday folks (especially low- and low-to-middle income) would be back to struggling with all the little things that add up. Would they have to pay Medical Services (MSP) fees again? Would it be the end of rebates through BC Hydro and ICBC?
Pleasing the party elite:
If there was a further clue needed about intentions and directions, BC United is bringing up the names of former leaders like Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark who were business to the core and unfriendly to workers, educators and other sectors that lacked big-bucks behind them.
Falcon must be getting heat from the party elite: “Can you please, don’t allow an NDP government to get re-elected on the basis of vote split,” is what Falcon said last week about what he’s hearing from his party.
Falcon said he will “do whatever is the right thing to do to find common ground” but ruled out a merger of his party with the Conservatives, saying there are “practical reasons” but emphasizing that BC United carefully vets their candidates.
Falcon feels the “collective interest of most British Columbians is that they don’t want the NDP in power for another day longer than necessary”. It’s interesting that he feels his party appeals to “most British Columbians”.
Falcon said last week on the last day of the 42nd parliamentary session that the BC United has had “an exceptional session” but that it “hasn’t been a good session for government” highlighting how the NDP government has had to backtrack on decriminalization of drugs.
Spectrum by candidate count:
As of today May 21, the BC NDP is expected to have candidates in all 93 ridings for the October 19, 2024 BC provincial election. The BC Conservatives have 62 (according to their website, though last week leader John Rustad mentioned 63), BC United has 53, and BC Greens have 17.
BC United will be running incumbents in just 15 of the 28 ridings that they won in the 2020 election. This includes 11 MLAs not running and two now running for the BC Conservatives (John Rustad and Bruce Banman).
BC United Leader Kevin Falcon said last Thursday that his party is extremely careful about vetting potential candidates and he would not merge his party with the Conservatives about whom he said “many of their candidates are frankly too extreme” (such as “equating vaccination with Nazism and apartheid” or saying that “getting a COVID shot is going to turn you into a magnet”).
“We have to make sure we are putting forward credible serious candidates,” said Falcon.
See CURRENT LIST OF CANDIDATES by PARTY: BC NDP | BC UNITED | BC GREENS | BC CONSERVATIVES
===== RELATED:
- Langford provincial politics at the spring fair (May 20, 2024)
- BC Election candidate tally, no United-Conservative merger (May 16, 2024)
- Premier Eby heats up anti-Conservative election theme (May 14, 2024)
- Green theme toward BC election 2024: Greens need recovery, Conservatives gunning for the right, NDP on repeat (December 9, 2023)
- NEWS SECTIONS: POLITICS | BC ELECTION 2024
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke has been following BC politics through a progressive socioeconomic lens since 2008, through her series of publications: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), West Shore Voice News (2014-2020), and now Island Social Trends (2020 to present at IslandSocialTrends.ca).
Mary Brooke’s editorial political insights are intended to be informative in a way that helps voters make their own wise choices.
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