B.C. Liberals allege Horgan’s planning a snap election

THE BC Liberals on Tuesday alleged that the NDP has plans for a fall 2020 election – right when a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to hit.

In a recording obtained by the BC Liberals from a June 9 NDP online campaign training event, Premier John Horgan tells participants: “The election could come at any time. This fall, next spring.” The training session was the first in an intensive two-week program focused on how to campaign during a pandemic, including tactics geared to a “socially-distant election”.

Recording of BC NDP June 9 training session (Fall election comment at 3:24 mark)

“The timing of the next election is entirely up to the NDP. If there’s a provincial election in fall 2020, it’s because John Horgan chooses to trigger one,” said Mary Polak, BC Liberal House Leader and MLA for Langley, pointing out that the next election is not scheduled to take place until October 16, 2021. “If John Horgan wants an election this fall, he needs to explain to British Columbians why the NDP’s political agenda is more important than their health, safety, and economic recovery.”

With the timing of the next election in the hands of the NDP, the BC Liberals said they have been focused on preparing for a campaign that could come anytime – nominating new candidates at an aggressive pace and steadily closing the fundraising gap with the NDP.

However, in a letter sent to all major political parties on April 22, Elections BC cited guidance from Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry that “elections represent a significant public health risk, and…should be deferred until such time in the future that they can safely be held.”

“The BC Liberals will be ready to fight an election anytime John Horgan decides to trigger it — but we believe the health and safety of British Columbians is way more important than political games.” said Emile Scheffel, BC Liberal Executive Director. “That’s why we’re calling on John Horgan to rule out an election this fall — or clearly tell British Columbians why he believes partisan politics should take priority over beating the virus and getting BC on track for economic recovery.”

The BC Liberals said they will add a fourth new candidate to their renewed team on Wednesday, as mail-in ballots are counted from a nomination race in Oak Bay-Gordon Head.

2 COMMENTS

  1. I do find it interesting sometimes when Liberal MLAs can’t find anything substantive to attack Horgan and the NDP with, and have to resort to twisting his words in an attempt to make them nean something he clearly did not intend them to mean. She quotes him as saying to NDP supporters that, “The election could come at any time. This fall, next spring”. That’s a statement of the obvious, but it doesn’t mean it “WILL” come at the earliest of those three options (anytime, fall, spring). Anytime could just as easily mean when it is scheduled to be held anyway, and that would be just as valid an assumption. Still, I suppose the purpose of Ms. Polak is to sow dissent and discord, rather than show any degree of fairness to what the leader of the NDP wrote in a fundraising and election preparation message. By the way, are the Liberals currently preparing for an election? Any political party which is not, doesn’t deserve to win.

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