Thursday October 10, 2024 | SAANICH, BC
BC ELECTION CAMPAIGN DAY 20 of 28
BC Election 2024 feature by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Your 28-day voter’s guide for BC Election 2024
This is the fifth time that Lana Popham is in front of voters seeking their support to be their representative in the BC Legislative Assembly.
Popham has represented Saanich South as their MLA since 2009 (re-elected 2013, 2017 and 2020) and hopes to have the support of local voters again on October 19.
She first entered politics to improve the quality of life in Saanich, promote sustainable agriculture and strengthen the provincial response to climate change. Now she would continue past 2024 likely as a senior influence within a re-elected BC NDP government.
Nastier campaign:
The overall tone of the 2024 election seems “strange”, says Popham. The polls seem “different” and the province-wide election-night outcome seems less predictable than in previous years, she muses. Usually by this this point in the campaign “you get a feel for it”, said Popham, noting the 2013 surprise win by the BC Liberals as an exception.
“But this one is much different. It’s much nastier, which is not my home space. So that’s been the hardest part for me,” said Popham.
“But we have a really cohesive group, right across the province. We’ve had a bigger caucus and we’ve been government. So we’re obviously more of a target,” Popham told Island Social Trends in an exclusive interview this week, as to what people think they may have been doing right, or not.
Popham has had a high profile in the BC NDP. She has run under four leaders. “Each has a different style,” she says, referring to Carole James (party leader in 2009), Adrian Dix (party leader in 2013), John Horgan (party leader in 2017 and 2020), and now David Eby (leading the party since November 2022).
The BC NDP has been a “cohesive group across the province because we’ve had a bigger cause”. But now having been government they are “more of a target”.
Across most electoral areas in the province, BC NDP candidates know their issues well having been in government for a few if not many years. By comparison many of the BC Conservative candidates are coming into the issues fresh and without political experience. Lana has had high level cabinet experience since 2017, and before that was focused on building the agricultural file in opposition.
Big door-knocking team:
“We have a really big door-knocking team,” says Popham.
“People are always happy to see candidates at the doorstep, coming right to them,” as a testament to the tried-and-true impact of campaigning in the community.
All the official all-candidates meetings that she has been slotted for have been cancelled, or not all the candidates show up. That’s seems to be a trend across several ridings on south Vancouver Island. “I think that’s a trend, with the BC Conservatives saying that they don’t make time for that,” said Popham this week.
Some official debates got cancelled in Saanich South. An all candidates event at Willis Point ended up being a social event.
From agriculture to arts:
Popham is in her happy place when it comes to food and agriculture. She is excited that as Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries during 2017 to 2022 that she was able to broaden the scope of the agricultural economy in BC, including Buy BC. Programs she established have endured but she is concerned about BC losing ground on the agriculture file if another party forms government.
She believes her work in agriculture raised the profile of the importance and scope of food production in BC “within the consumer base for sure”. Primary products have been given a boost as well as the importance of Feed BC where small scale and even medium scale processors are getting different opportunities than they used to have.
Shifting gears into being the Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport was a visibly challenging shift for Popham. She had been rooted in provincial politics by her agricultural roots, at a time when there was “a general renaissance in local food growing and food culture” Under her watch, she raised the profile of agriculture in BC including Buy BC and providing small and medium scale processors getting a different opportunity.
“There has been a renaissance for local food and food culture,” says Popham. “We drove some pretty hard policy changes that made that happen,” she said this week.”But it’s one of those things if you don’t continue doing it, it goes away.”
In November 2022 when she was appointed as Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport it was a strong statement of confidence from Premier Eby that she could lead a ministry with a much larger scope.
Importance of arts and culture:
Popham has worked hard as the Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport to ensure that BC has a provincial arts and culture strategy. She says BC was one of the last provinces not to have one before she took over the ministry.
Under her watch in the past two years a lot of organizations have been promised annual funding, something that could disappear under a different government.
From a philosophical point of view she used to “feed bellies and now she feeds souls”, as she leaned heavily into the arts and culture side of the news portfolio. She is very proud of how her work in community grants for arts and culture (particularly fairs, festivals and events) was confirmed with forward-motion in the BC NDP campaign platform that Premier Eby released last week.
She worries about arts and culture being “an easy thing for a government to cut if they don’t believe in it”, referring to what could happen if the BC Conservatives were to form government after October 19. Arts and cultural activities “bring happiness to the heart of communities, they make our lives better.”
Based on support seen for Popham at various official announcements and events, there are likely fans in the arts and culture world that will have Popham’s back in this campaign. She also had a huge network while in her agriculture portfolio across the province; those folks are also sending her encouragement in this campaign.
Women in politics:
Popham is a successful woman in politics. She was the first female agriculture minister in BC, and the minister who followed her (Pam Alexis) carries that notable aspect forward. Many other food and agriculture ministers across Canada have been women since 2017, including federally, Popham points out.
Encouraging women to get involved on the front lines of politics remains a challenge in BC and in Canada.
Popham says she still feels barriers in politics because of her gender, despite advances for women in politics overall.
When women see a nasty campaign going on in the news “and the more go into the ditch… it deters young people in general to come in”, Popham told Island Social Trends this week.
In her riding she is surprised that she still seems to get pushback in social media and at the doorstep. One person even told her ‘there are too many women in politics, though she feels this attitude is not as prominent as it used to be.
This is tough territory not only for one established elected official but for women to experience more broadly in politics.
Health-care and housing are top concerns in 2024:
If a BC Conservative government were to be the outcome of the 2024 election the priorities and directions of the province “would be reversed” said Popham this week. “And it worries me a lot”, she told Island Social Trends.
Popham is pleased at the BC NDP government’s progress in dealing with the long-standing doctor shortage which began under the previous government, i.e the BC Liberals, who never dealt with the coming onslaught of so many doctors soon retiring. The BC Liberals tried and failed with a short-lived “A GP for Me” program in 2016.
Popham points out that over this past summer people have been contacted by the health authorities to make sure that people’s contact information and other file details int he BC Health Connect Registry are up to date. Though this comes after some people waiting up to seven years or more for a family doctor. A family doctor serves as the front door to the health-care system, so the lag-time will result in delayed diagnosis and delayed treatment for many people (about 20% of BC’s population has not had a family doctor for years).
More people are “finally attached to a doctor”. Popham is looking forward to more success on the health-care front with a re-elected BC NDP government including the results of actions already underway like changing the family doctor payment model (which has brought many doctors to BC), training more nurses, and getting a new medical school at SFU underway.
As for housing under the BC NDP, Popham says that “the pandemic stalled us out” but that projects are now starting to happen.
There are still some major investments needed in coming out of the pandemic. The BC NDP approach is to help people now as they transition through the various levels of economic and social recovery that have been a challenge following 2020 — a year where society and economy were put on hold and could have very nearly collapsed. There is a residual collective trauma that people in BC and all across Canada are still grappling with at various levels.
Horgan legacy:
One of the many distinctive legacies of former Premier John Horgan was the Vancouver Island stamp that he brought to politics in BC. Many of his top cabinet ministers — who stayed on under David Eby — were from strongholds in Greater Victoria and south Vancouver Island.
Many of those MLA grew in politics, moving up the ranks in official opposition from 2005 and 2009, and are now reaching a natural stepping-back in their own lives (some into retirement) and careers (in new directions).
Not so for Popham. She is ready to roll up her sleeves for another four-year term and hopes that Saanich South is behind her for another term.
She hopes that if again appointed as Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport that she can continue to build the strength of arts and culture in BC. She would be in the lead and government spotlight at BC’s high-profile sporting events in Vancouver including the Invictus Games in 2025 and the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
Three-way race:
Lana Popham for the BC NDP in Saanich South and with her experience and stature can still be expected to have a lead on Adam Kubel (BC Conservative) and Ned Taylor (BC Green).
Kubel is a provincial government employee and like many of the BC Conservative candidates is entirely new to politics. Taylor is well-known in the riding having been the youngest-ever municipal councilor with the District of Saanich and has strong support from the BC Green party leader.
The riding:
The Saanich South electoral area has a geographical footprint of 105 sq km within Greater Victoria, with a population of about 59,000. The riding includes a core area of the Greater Victoria region with established housing and long-standing neighbourhoods, and businesses large and small.
Saanich South is home to the Interurban Campus of Camosun College and to the popular Mount Douglas Park. There is prime agricultural land in the area.
Well-traveled highways in South South include Highway 1 on the southern boundary line, West Saanich Road, and Highway 17 (aka the Pat Bay Highway) that runs right up the middle of the riding. The Keating X Rd interchange on Highway 17 has been upgraded this year.
The riding includes Prospect Lake, Beaver Lake and Elk Lake, the Saanich Inlet and the oceanside at Cordova Bay.
The boundaries of Saanich South have not changed for Election 2024 (as did others in the west shore area and the Nanaimo region where population growth is surging).
===== RELATED:
- Eby’s sunny Friday pit-stop in Oak Bay (September 27, 2024)
- 850th Little Free Library unveiled in Saanich (August 28, 2024)
- BC rolls out cost profile for seven FIFA World Cup 2026 games in Vancouver (May 2, 2024)
- BC Greens launch Ned Taylor as MLA candidate in Saanich South (September 12, 2023)
- Creative sector gets $42 million boost over three years (April 19, 2023)
- Food hub gains traction with suppliers, provides training, supports local farmers (August 8, 2022)
- Food supply stable as flood-impacted agriculture recovers (November 30, 2021)
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