According to the most recent Angus Reid poll, 41 per cent of people living in British Columbia’s Interior are supporting the provincial Liberals, with 37 per cent behind the NDP, 13 per cent behind the Green Party and five per cent supporting the Conservatives.
Hamish Marshall, a research director and public affairs officer for Angus Reid Strategies, said the poll was responded to by 138 people between April 24 and 26 in an area stretching from Hope to Prince George that includes the Boundary-Similkameen riding.
Marshall said that the most important issue for people who responded to the poll was the economy, with 40 per cent of people ranking it as their greatest concern.
Coming in second was the environment at 14 per cent and crime and public safety came in third at 11 per cent.
Marshall also said the provincial government’s carbon tax, which was introduced last year, is not very popular in the Interior region.
According to the same poll, 37 per cent of people said the tax has affected their finances and 65 per cent of respondents said the tax has made it less likely that they’ll vote for the Liberals.
Although no poll has been conducted in the Boundary-Similkameen electoral district, Marshall was able to say that Conservative Party candidate Joe Cardoso is turning out to be one of the party’s strongest contenders in the province.
That strength has raised speculation that Cardoso’s support could help NDP candidate Lakhvinder Jhaj.
In an interview on May 3, Jhaj was reluctant to comment on any vote splitting in the riding.
“It may happen but I don’t want to rely on the numbers,” she said. “I don’t want to sit back and think there’s going to be vote splitting. I don’t even want to go there.
“I’m not worried about vote splitting. If it happens, it happens.”
Jhaj added that her focus is on earning the support of the riding’s residents rather than hoping for help from other parties.
“When I ran for the nomination, we didn’t know that there would be a Conservative candidate so I already knew my challenges,” she said. “I knew that I had to work extremely hard to win this riding and that’s where my concentration is at. I don’t what kind of vote splitting there will be.”
Cardoso was nominated as a candidate for the Liberal Party in November but the party withdrew its endorsement of his candidacy because of a letter to the editor critical of Premier Gordon Campbell published in 2005.
Since being tapped by the Conservatives in March, Cardoso has said that roughly 100 Liberals have given up their party memberships to support him.
The Liberals chose former Osoyoos mayor John Slater to replace Cardoso in March.
Slater said having 100 people jump ship to back Cardoso isn’t a big concern.
“I think the bottom line is the BC Liberals membership is 1,400 in our riding,” he said. “That still leaves 1,300 card-carrying Liberals in our riding.”
Slater added that talk of vote splitting won’t mean a change in tactics for his campaign.
“It makes no difference to me.”
By Paul Everest
Osoyoos Times
