Lake decries possible vote-splitting results

As the provincial government brings down its budget today (Feb. 21), political parties in B.C. are jockeying for position with an election a little more than a year away.

Speaking at a Liberal Party fundraiser in town last week, Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry Lake said the biggest challenge for the party in coming months is to make the argument to voters there is a choice between a free-enterprise government and one that believes in socialism, the latter referring to the NDP.

As recent polls suggest a growing surge of support for the B.C. Conservative Party, the environment minister raised the spectre of vote-splitting between the Conservatives and Liberals.

Lake said voters need to understand what it means if they cast a ballot for the B.C. Conservatives.

“What it means, in reality, is you are giving the NDP a chance to form government,” he told KTW.

Polls have also indicated the NDP is the top choice among voters in the province — and the front-runner in the next election.

Support for the Conservatives has also increased to about the 20 per cent level.

The same polls also show diminishing popularity for Premier Christy Clark.

Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell, who was also in Kamloops for the fundraiser, said the party needs to consolidate the “free-enterprise vote,” suggesting some Liberals are nervous about the possibility of vote-splitting.

He said the party needs to make sure its tent is big enough to capture all the free-enterprise vote.

And, like Lake, he said it’s important the Liberals ensure voters “understand the implications of voting for the second free-enterprise party.”

Despite Clark’s plummeting popularity, Bell said the party and caucus is very much behind their leader.

But, neither local NDP or Conservatives are concerned with the Liberal strategy in the months leading to the next election.

Kamloops-South Thompson NDP candidate Tom Friedman said the polls indicate people are not satisfied with the current government and want change.

He said it will be up to the NDP to ensure the desire for change among the electorate translates to votes for the party.

“We need to make sure we provide a viable alternative to what we’ve seen based on sound fiscal policies and practical solutions,” Friedman said.

He also criticized the government’s economic track record, arguing the greatest growth in the province’s deficit has come under the Liberals’ watch.

“Of all the parties to claim this love of business, they have not done a good job in running our economy at all,” Friedman said.

Alan Forseth, regional director of the B.C. Conservative Party, said he doesn’t believe the Liberal argument will work on voters.

“People are looking at things and saying ‘I can’t hold my nose anymore’,” he said.

“This government claims to be a free-enterprise government and they’re slightly less pink than the NDP.”

Forseth said voters will need to decide what kind of government they want, maintaining the Conservative Party will be fiscally responsible and accountable to the people.

Meantime, he said the party will continue to build its membership base in the coming months, but doesn’t expect candidates to be chosen for the two Kamloops ridings until late spring or possibly as late as fall.