Richard McGuire
As voters across Boundary-Similkameen head to the polls to choose the next provincial government, it’s a safe bet that many voters will be casting their ballots based on long-time party loyalties.
As one who has lived most of my life in other provinces and one territory, I’m struck by how polarized B.C. party politics is.
The two main parties may call themselves B.C. Liberals and NDP, but underneath we really still have Social Credit versus Socialists.
In this province of right and left ideologues, there is no moderate middle.
Ideology, party platforms and the question of whether or not it’s time for a change will weigh on some voters’ minds.
But when you cast your ballot you are actually voting for the person who will represent you in Boundary-Similkameen. The leaders’ names aren’t on the ballot and you aren’t actually electing a party.
Although some dream of an upset win by independent candidate Dr. Peter Entwistle and a small core of Green loyalists will cast their ballots for Vonnie Lavers, I’m convinced that it’s a two-way race between incumbent MLA Linda Larson, the Liberal, and NDP candidate Colleen Ross.
Lavers and Entwistle were too late getting into the race and they lack the resources to mount an effective campaign.
Entwistle strikes a popular chord on healthcare and many people know him personally, some as patients. But I don’t see him doing any better than a respectable third.
For many, this election will be a referendum on Larson. That’s always the case with an incumbent candidate, but Larson, like B.C. politics in general, is especially polarizing.
She has a strong backing of people who identify with her support of free markets, small business and traditional local values.
Despite her shortcomings, Larson has taken her job seriously. Voters often underestimate how much of an MLA’s time is taken up handling casework for individual constituents, even though Larson has dedicated staff to manage this part of the job.
Attending ribbon cuttings, fairs and other events across this large constituency is also a far more important and time-consuming part of the job than people realize.
Larson tries hard to be there. She spends time schmoozing with mayors and councillors. Some genuinely like her and consider her a friend. Others privately dislike her, but don’t want to bite the hand that feeds.
Creating policy is a smaller part of the job than people think, but even here Larson has played a role – as chair of the Select Standing Committee on Health and as parliamentary secretary for rural education.
But Larson has also angered many people.
She doesn’t handle disagreements well. She can be insulting to adversaries – supporters of the national park, for example. And she can be defensive and testy with media or even groups of constituents who put her in the hot seat.
Many in Osoyoos feel she let them down when she took a hands-off approach to saving Osoyoos Secondary School – until the very last minute when the Rural Education Enhancement Fund was announced with the knowledge we’d be heading into an election this year.
Some of her statements reveal a troubling side of her – a tendency, whether she admits it or not, to see two classes of constituents – those from here and those from “away.”
She said she would rather have one rancher than five tourists three years ago when discussing the national park.
She took a dig at her opponent Ross for the fact that her children and grandchildren weren’t born in B.C., while Larson’s were.
And, she recently suggested that resource industries are more important than service industries.
“It’s so hard to get through to the people that live in the Lower Mainland that absolutely everything they touch every day came from where you guys live,” she told a gathering of rural municipal politicians. “None of it came from where they live.”
For those who may be looking to unseat Larson, as opposed to just registering a protest vote, the question becomes whether they are prepared to vote for Ross.
Some swear they will never vote NDP after having lived under Glen Clark, Bob Rae, Rachel Notley, Tommy Douglas, Darrell Dexter or whatever other socialist boogeyman you want to mention.
When you talk to Ross, she appears at one moment to be a champion of the downtrodden, and at the next to be on the verge of waging class war.
Me, I’ll only make my final decision at the polling station. And it will be a difficult one.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Richard McGuire is a reporter for the Osoyoos Times. He no longer has any partisan affiliation, but in the past he has worked for Liberals in the federal House of Commons and briefly at the Alberta Legislature.
