Monday January 27, 2025 | LANGFORD, BC [Posted at 8:30 am | Updated 9:10 am]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Informing our readers: FEATURE INTERVIEWS WITH ALL SOUTH VANCOUVER ISLAND FEDERAL ELECTION CANDIDATES IN ALL FOUR MAIN PARTIES [Contact: news@islandsocialtrends.com]
In Cowichan-Malahat-Langford there are four Conservative Party of Canada candidate applicants vying to become the party’s candidate for upcoming federal election.
This article looks at the Mike Harris campaign to become the Conservative candidate in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford. Also see articles about Martin Baker, Charles Borg, and Jeff Kibble.
Mike Harris is a Conservative Party of Canada candidate applicant for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford on Vancouver Island.
He was the last to join the race, throwing his hat into the ring on January 23, with a push to sell Conservative memberships. A decision will reportedly be made by the local Conservative CML electoral district association on March 8.
It’s a crowded race now, with four contenders: Martin Barker, Charles Borg, Jeff Kibble and Mike Harris.
This now makes Cowichan-Malahat-Langford a race to watch not only on the island but probably also nationally.
Shift from provincial:
Of all four contenders for the Conservative candidacy in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, Harris has the most campaign experience — though not to an exceedingly large degree.
Harris was the BC Conservative candidate in the June 2023 by-election in Langford-Juan de Fuca and then again the provincial BC Conservative candidate in the renamed/reboundaried Langford-Highlands riding in the October 2024 general provincial election. Both times he finished in a strong second place to the NDP incumbent largely by capturing the business community vote.
A long-time businessman, Harris edged further into the political realm with his second provincial campaign, including being directly supportive to the leader of the provincial party, John Rustad.
Harris has a personable conversational style with people which makes him a good one-on-one campaigner.
No media interview:
Harris is not yet available to speak with Island Social Trends ahead as he prepares his run to be the federal candidate in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford. We said this of Harris the last time — choosing to not speaking to media (very much a Conservative thing) is to short-change both the candidate and the public.
Perhaps it’s just a simplistic way of avoiding the possibility of saying the ‘wrong’ thing. But not proactively engaging with professional media gives readers and community the impression of hiding something, or lack of experience, and/or disregard for the public realm of political discourse. None of that may be true, but in politics perception is everything.
There is political skill in speaking with media and still saying nothing, to help assuage the impression of avoiding media contact.
Eyeing the south island region:
The large Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding area has been held by the NDP since 2004 — called Nanaimo-Cowichan in 2004 to 2015 with Jean Crowder as the MP — and since 2015 with Alistair MacGregor as the MP for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford. MacGregor is running for a fourth-term win in this year’s federal election.
Now that MacGregor has highlighted the riding on the federal political map over the last nine years (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford gets noticed in the House of Commons, especially with MacGregor’s strong work on committees and often chairing the NDP caucus meetings), the Conservative desire to claim some Vancouver Island political real estate is probably more intense than before.
The Conservatives are evidently thirsting to win the east side of south Vancouver Island (Duncan/Cowichan Valley) down to including Langford which is within the western communities area of Greater Victoria, where they feel they can make a dent in the six-of-seven NDP federal riding stronghold (with the Greens holding the seventh).
No doubt the Conservatives are hoping to break the NDP juggernaut which succeeds time after time with a strong NDP ground game that never stops, including between elections.
By comparison, the Conservatives appear to be relying on a relatively recent ‘common sense’ wave of political momentum that has been built by Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre over the last two years.
Large riding:
Cowichan-Malahat-Langford is a large federal riding that spans a good chunk of the mid section of south Vancouver Island.
The fast-growing City of Langford is prominent in the riding as well as the City of Duncan, as are the rural and coastal areas of the east side of the island including the Cowichan Valley.
Highway 1 including the Malahat stretch that connects Langford to the rest of Vancouver Island is prominent transportation aspect.
Langford side of the riding:
It is quite obvious that Harris has more of a support base in the Langford side of the riding, compared to Barker who is more weighted on the Cowichan Valley side. Kibble is known more on the Langford side and Borg is trying to bridge both.
Harris has a strong business background and has worked those connections intensely through his last two campaigns.
Policy issues:
Without a direct interview with Harris, we can’t give you any quotes or insights as to his current policy directions for a federal campaign.
But it’s fair to say he will focus on the business community and otherwise support the Poilievre directions of a ‘common sense’ campaign.
How much scope Harris has for broader south Vancouver Island issues is yet to be seen, including housing, cost of living, food security.
Then the broader issues come into play, such as the impact of US-tariffs on Canadian exports (expected to be in place starting February 1) and border security issues.
Federal election date:
At present, the scheduled federal election date is October 20, 2025. That may change once the currently prorogued parliament resumes on March 24.
All opposition parties have vowed to bring down the current Liberal government with a non-confidence vote as soon as possible after the 44th parliament reconvenes.
On January 6, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he will resign on March 9 once a Liberal leader is chosen.
===== RELATED:
- Martin Barker aims to be the Conservative candidate in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford (January 26, 2025)
- Poilievre pushes free-enterprise direction for Canada (January 16, 2025)
- Jeff Kibble aims to be the Conservative candidate in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford (January 13, 2025)
- Liberals to produce new prime minister by March 9 (January 10, 2025)
- Poilievre shifts Trudeau-taunts to all potential leadership Liberal candidates (January 9, 2025)
- Parliament on pause as Liberals choose new leader (January 6, 2025)
- This is a radically transformed Canada says Alistair MacGregor MP (December 18, 2024)
- GST consumer tax holiday to start Dec 14 (November 21, 2024)
- Day 20: Quick visit by John Rustad in Langford (October 10, 2024)
- Mike Harris campaign office opening in Langford (September 25, 2024)
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