Monday September 21, 2020 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated 10:30 pm September 21, 2020]
by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
It was sitting and listening to parents of children who died due to drug overdoses related to mental health issues (and not ahead of that getting medical intervention when needed) which was the tipping point for Premier John Horgan in his decision to call an election during the COVID-19 pandemic in this autumn season of 2020.
Autumn officially begins tomorrow morning (Tuesday September 22) at 6:30 am, making this a symbolic summer sunset for the NDP Horgan government of 2017-2020. New directions in a new season begin tomorrow in the first full day of Election 2020 campaigning.
The tipping point:
Horgan as NDP Party leader — in response to a question from Island Social Trends today in his livestreamed election-call announcement in Langford — outlined how he came to his decision to call an election at this time. It started with two failed pieces of legislation this summer, on the heels of a shift in BC Green leadership:
“Energy policy is not a particular concern of mine,” in the context that failure of a piece of legislation (not supported by Green MLAs in the legislature) in that area would not be a deal-breaker for him.
But it was the one on “mental health… whether or not a medical practitioner or doctor can keep a minor of child under observation for a week (after a drug overdose)” that alerted the seasoned politician as to the impact of cracks in the stability of governance that he had enjoyed for over three years in his minority government with assured Green support with Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver at that opposition helm.
Concerns over continued minority government stability:
Behind the final tipping point of disappointing results with the mental health legislation, are two broader political concerns for the Premier who has been an MLA in the south Vancouver Island region for now 15 years.
Horgan said he was concerned about what he saw as the growing instability of his minority government. He pinpointed how the BC Green MLAs in the legislature did not support two important pieces of legislation — one on environment policy and the other within the mental health and addictions file. The seats at dissolution of the legislature were held evening as 41 NDP, 41 Liberal, and 2 Green.
“Having people in legislature not supporting that… and having met with parents (who lost their children)… that was the deciding issue for me. If only they had been in medical system. That’s the pity and that’s my frustration,” said NDP Leader John Horgan who has taken questions on that area of government performance from this news outlet in at least one previous news session in the past few years. It’s an issue that stuck with him.
Time has passed since the 2017 glory of progressive alignment:
There would have been one more year left in the NDP/Green conjoined minority setup of 2017 that commenced with celebratory fanfare to swear-in the new NDP cabinet on July 18, 2017 at Government House.
But Weaver (MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head) resigned as Green party leader at the end of December 2019 without the intention to run in the next election.
Horgan said today that not having Weaver to work with — with whom the original Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA) was signed — felt less stable for his government.
Horgan also said that people who’ve been at his political side for many years — some since his first election to office in 2005 and many for long before that — had been expressing what could be called political-life fatigue.
Running with the evident direction:
As any smart politician would do in this circumstance, Horgan didn’t see running an election through what would have been a period of political rancour leading up to the previously scheduled October 2021 election as helpful to his election outcomes a year from now. He also feels that the components of the economic recovery plan announced alongside Finance Minister Carole James last week need the stability of a four-year mandate for greatest success on behalf of serving the people of British Columbia.
And as much as politicians can be coming truly from the heart, Horgan does, with regard to the well-being of British Columbians. Using a four-year mandate to assure more outcomes for people within a functioning economy through an infectious pandemic underlines his core values as a person and as a politician.
And it could be argued that this is the very sort of dire and historical circumstance that a leader like John Horgan was made for. This is his moment to shine his best for British Columbians, as the war against the many impacts of COVID-19 is waged.
Election set for October 24:
The BC provincial election will be held on Saturday October 24, 2020. There will be plenty of advance voting opportunities. The use of mail-in ballots is expected to be robust, to a greater degree than in elections past.
As is the tradition, the government will be run in the interim by a stay-behind minister. That will be Deputy Premier Carole James, in whom Horgan has full confidence.
“There is not a person in BC that I have more confidence in than her,” said John Horgan. He said Minister James will run BC for the next 32 days “in a way that will do us all proud”, handling things well “as issues arise”.
BC Green Leader volleys the challenge:
BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau told media today that she heard about the Premier’s intention to call an election along with everyone else this morning in BC (notifications around 9:45 am ahead of the livestreamed 11 am announcement by Horgan). Furstenau says this is an “unnecessary election”. It’s “irresponsible” to be calling an election for what she says is political expediency at the worst possible time, i.e. during a pandemic, the Green leader said today in a noon-hour media call.
Furstenau refuted that the Greens were not supportive of improved mental health and related health care challenges for youth in BC. While Horgan laid blame on the Greens for not supporting his government’s direction on youth being directed into medical care following an overdose, Furstenau said more discussion and work was needed on the scope of child welfare in BC and on that legislation in particular, but that the Greens are of course in favour of the best interests of youth and their health.
Politics in whose interest?:
Furnsteau said that politics in BC by the two largest parties — the BC Liberals and the NDP — has not served British Columbians well for a long time. She says that a progressive vote on the left for the Greens is distinguished by being science-based, evidence-based: “informed by experts and science, not through political lenses, which has been done far too long in this building, based on political interest”.
Presuming that the Horgan NDP government has in fact been serving the interests of British Columbians since taking office on July 18, 2017, it could be said that the stability and security of what Horgan obviously hopes will be a majority government on the other side of October 24 would be strengthened with a renewed mandate from voters at this time.
Horgan pointed out several times today that these unprecedented times of a global pandemic was on no one’s radar for 2020, let alone when he first collaborated with the Greens in 2017 with the CASA agreement. The CASA arrangement gave Horgan — and frankly, the Lieutenant Governor at the time, Judith Guichon — the assurances that the NDP-Green combo had the interests of the people as top of mind. It was on the strength of that belief that the progressive voters of BC had spoken, that Guichon booted out Christy Clark from leading the government after the 2017 election, even though the BC Liberals had won a slight majority of seats in the May 9, 2017 election.
Local flavour, provincial view:
NDP Leader John Horgan held the 2020 election announcement today outdoors in his own riding today, in Langford. He emphasized how Langford is home to he and his wife Ellie, and how their children went through local schools in the area.
Horgan’s base of voter support was methodically developed in Sooke over many years, leading up to his first election win in 2005 and his now 15 years in office (the last two terms with the riding called Juan de Fuca). For the 2017 election, the riding name was changed to include Langford, and hence the emphasis on Langford in today’s announcement, with not a single mention of Sooke.
BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said her party will be fighting the election province-wide. Her Cowichan Valley riding in the south Vancouver Island area is right next door to Horgan’s Langford-Juan de Fuca riding.
Both ridings fall within the federal riding of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford for which Alistair MacGregor (NDP) is the Member of Parliament.
Election timing with municipal momentum:
Sooke Mayor Maja Tait is president of the Union of BC Municipalities which will be holding its annual convention in Victoria this week. Horgan began currying Tait’s allegiance as far back as 2013.
Horgan is scheduled to speak at the virtual (online) UBCM convention on Thursday (September 24), as is Furstenau. BC Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson is scheduled to speak the day before (Wednesday September 23).
Some mayors have been approached to run for NDP seats, including Tofino Mayor Josie Osborne who will run on the west side of Vancouver Island.
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