Monday May 20, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated May 21, 2024]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
In addition to the rides, food, games and displays at the Luxton Spring Fair on May 18 and 19 in Langford there were information booths for political parties across the mainstream for the upcoming BC provincial election.
Island Social Trends covers politics and provides campaign and election analysis. Readers are provided with information to help inform their vote. We chatted with some candidates on Sunday May 19:
- There for the BC provincial Langford-Highlands race were the candidates for BC NDP (Ravi Parmar), Sean Flynn (BC United), and Mike Harris (Conservative Party of BC).
- There for the BC provincial Juan de Fuca-Malahat race were candidates for the BC Greens (David Evans). We hear that the Conservative Party of BC candidate (Marina Sapozhnikov) was also there.
Local NDP MLA Ravi Parmar had a booth for his NDP constituency office.
Parmar said that transportation was one of the top issues that he hears about at the constituency office. At his booth this past weekend he was letting people know about a BC Transit town hall coming up on the evening of Tuesday June 4 in Langford.
Mike Harris for the Conservative Party of BC in the newly boundaried Langford-Highlands riding (formerly Langford-Juan de Fuca) met with fair-goers. A business man, he ran against Parmar in the June 2023 by-election in the riding that was held for a long time (2005-2023) by former premier John Horgan.
Sean Flynn — BC United candidate for Langford-Highlands — was there. He told Island Social Trends that he’s hearing a lot of support for BC United in the Bear Mountain area of Langford where apparently most of the people he meets are aware that the party is formerly the BC Liberals.
So far there is no BC Green candidate for Langford-Highlands.
For the October 2024 election, the provincial riding of Langford-Highlands will no longer include Sooke (as did the current/outgoing Langford-Juan de Fuca riding) which was built brick by brick by the former MLA John Horgan (who served as premier 2017-2023).
Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding:
The new Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding includes Sooke and Metchosin as well as the Cobble Hill and Shawnigan Lake areas, and the Juan de Fuca areas of East Sooke and west of Sooke.
David Evans is the newly confirmed BC Green Party candidate for Juan de Fuca-Malahat. He was on hand at the Luxton Spring Fair to chat with folks.
The BC Greens had a display board where folks could indicate their top four concerns about things that could be improved in BC economy and communities. As of mid-day on Sunday, the top issues of concern for folks who visited the booth were health-care crisis, housing affordability, the impacts of climate change, the cost of living, and the toxic drug crisis.
The BC Conservative Juan de Fuca – Malahat candidate is Marina Sapozhnikov who has had her campaign rolling for a while now. So far neither the BC NDP nor BC United have candidates for Juan de Fuca – Malahat.
Upcoming provincial election:
The BC provincial election is coming up on October 19, 2024. Full campaign mode begins mid-September but candidates are already out in communities. [See BC Election Resource Section in the Island Social Trends Community Calendar]
The BC NDP will have candidates in all 93 ridings. Presently the BC Conservatives have 63 candidates, BC United has 53 candidates, and BC Greens have 17.
Local federal campaign:
The Conservatives had a local federal presence. The Conservative candidate nominee for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford — Charles Borg — had display materials pitching Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives (highlighted as responsible) vs the current Liberal government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (calling the Liberal government a ‘coalition’ with the NDP — and the sign called that “reckless”).
Borg is formerly military. He said he thinks the NDP has had too much influence on the Liberals, and also that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) should be defunded.
The current MP for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford is Alistair MacGregor who is a three-term NDP MP (elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 and 2021).
The federal election comes up about 18 months from now in October 2025, but the provincial Conservatives are presently riding the wave of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s popularity.
===== RELATED:
- BC Election candidate tally, no United-Conservative merger (May 16, 2024)
- Premier Eby heats up anti-Conservative election theme (May 14, 2024)
- Sooke businessman David Evans now BC Green candidate for Juan de Fuca – Malahat (May 11, 2024)
- NDP’s big housing shift could be ballot box challenge (May 11, 2024)
- NEWS SECTIONS: POLITICS | BC ELECTION 2024 | ELECTION SEASON RESOURCE (scroll to Oct 19, 2024 in IST CALENDAR)
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke has been covering news of the west shore and south Vancouver Island through a socioeconomic and political lens since 2008.
Her series of publications has spanned now over 15 years: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), West Shore Voice News (2014-2020) and Island Social Trends (2020 to present).
Since covering COVID news daily during 2020-2022, Ms Brooke reports alongside the BC Legislative Press Gallery. In 2023 she was nominated for a Jack Webster Foundation journalism award for contributing to her community through professional journalism.
Island Social Trends is independent journalism that provides political analysis because individuals and families, households, communities and regions are impacted by politics. It matters.
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