Green-minded voters will hurt the New Democratic Party’s election chances in key suburban swing ridings, a BC Liberal candidate running in one said today.
“When we have people like David Suzuki and Mark Jaccard supporting us, it’s not an issue,” Burnaby-Lougheed incumbent Harry Bloy told The Tyee, in reference to the green vote. “I believe it will affect the NDP more than the BC Liberals.”
Premier Gordon Campbell brought his leadership campaign to Bloy's swing riding today, suggesting Liberals party strategists think they can not only hold their safe seats, but may also gain ground in the Burnaby ridings.
Campbell touted phrases such as "every vote counts" and "this is about 85 elections."
In 2005, the Burnaby ridings were home to some of the tightest races in the province. Though voters elected Liberals in three of the constituencies, no winning margin was greater than three per cent.
The 2008 redistribution changed the boundaries, but most analysts still expect a fierce battle when voters cast their ballots.
“I’m confident that I’m going to win,” Bloy said. “But it’s going to be a very close race.”
In Burnaby-Lougheed, most of the action will take place between Bloy and NDP challenger Jaynie Clark. The Green Party’s Helen Chang is a long shot to win – but in a riding this tight, support for her bid could tip the riding in either frontrunner’s favour.
Both Suzuki and prominent climate change academic Jaccard have come out in favour of the ruling party’s carbon tax. Hoy thinks the endorsement will boost BC Liberal popularity, while the Green Party siphons voters from the NDP.
“I believe lots of the green support will come to us,” he said.
Geoff Dembicki is a staff reporter for The Tyee.
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Frank
3 years ago
From other thread, but relevant here
I'm going to spend the next 4 years on here congratulating anti-NDP enviros for all the "good" work on the environment file done by Mr Campbell.
politico
3 years ago
Two words
Blow Back
Campbellwearsatutu
3 years ago
Wrong.......
Green voters are not going to vote Liberals,Greens are going to lose votes in this election....
The Platform(Green)--150$ a ton carbon tax--NO RCMP--Legal drugs--16.00$ per hour liveable wage--
The only ones bleeding votes is Gordon Campbell,no NDPers are switching to Liberals--but Liberals voters are pissed off with.......
Massive pay raises,Gas/Carbon/heating oil tax--Corruption--Indian recognition act-and believe it or not ROR(that issue crosses party lines)
Liberal will be staying home and voting conservatives,or reform,or green
Now the Green vote--The green vote will be going in droves back to the NDP-Mr, Foy-Alexandra Morton and others have sent letters out to all the Green groups,all the members telling about Campbell`s Horrid enviromental record,despite Tzeporah Berman and Suzuki non endorsement of the Liberals,,,,,
I have green freinds where I live and they are voting NDP and yes to STV......
As for the above story,the NDP will win all 4 Burnaby ridings,a pick up of 3 seats there for the NDP
seth
3 years ago
Greenies claim Gordo is a Greenie
On ChickenDub this afternoon Greenie star candidate Jody Emery stated that the Liberal's have a better environmental platform than the NDP.
christy clark: "Jody Emery, which of those two parties do you think has a better platform on the environment?"
jodie emery: "While I would hate to say it but I think the liberals might. The NDP has abandoned their base .."
Liberal environmental platform (approved by Greenies)
1) Continue and accelerate massive oil, coal, and gas field development so billions of tons of BC's greenhouse gases can be exported to the US, China and Japan
2) Build a great big bridge out in Surrey, tear up some peat bogs, and maybe put in more transit.
3) tear up as many as 200 rivers, use lakes on the rivers in place of dams, and tear up the forest to built transmission corridors, so BCHydro can buy power from Gordos buds to sell at a 40 billion dollar loss to California in the every summer for the next 40 years.
4) Drill for oil in the Hecate Strait to export more greenhouse gas and pollute the pristine waters.
5) Massively expand oil tanker traffic on the BC Coast to allow Alberta to export its greenhouse gases to the far east
6) Elimate park ranger support in provincial parks so tourism wastes can accumulate
7) Allow the provinces agricultural lands to be sold off to developers for a massive profit to the developers
8) Give the provinces tree farm licences to forest companies to sell to developers for a massive profit to the developers and the big forest companies.
9) Massively expand fish farms along the coast in an effort to eliminate all salmon runs
10) Implementate a 2.5 cents a liter carbon tax growing to 7.5 cents in three years with no plans to increase despite paid Liberal party hack Mark Jaccard's contention that 24 cents a liter would be required to make any difference. BC actually increased fuel usage by 4% in 2008 despite Neocon Gordo's Wall Steet cronies own 50 cent a liter hedge fund oil speculation tax .
11) Institute and undefined Cap and Trade system maybe sometime in the future if needs be
12) Ask oil and gas producers to please stop flaring gas sometime maybe would ya.
Stated NDP environmental policy is silent on item 1 is in agreement on item 2 but aims to cancel and if possible roll back items 3 to 10, actually do item 11, and tax number 12 at a rate of $500 million annually until flaring stops.
It takes a Greenie endorsement for us to see what Suzuki and Berman are telling us. The ineffective gas tax in item 10) outweighs all other environment issues. Sure makes me want to vote Green (or Liberal same thing ) and send money to Berman and Suzuki!!!!
When one of the BC's few peer reviewed published active working environmentalists Alexandre Morton states
"I personally don't think the salmon are going to survive another Liberal term" Alexandra Morton 21 April 2009
The Greenies give her the one fingered salute.
Frank
3 years ago
pllttt
"The NDP has abandoned their base"
Obviously Jody doesn't know what "base" means. A party's base is the people that will stick with you through thick and thin.
The NDP support in 2001 is their base.
fisher
3 years ago
green vote
With suziki and friends selling out to the CONLIBS 'the green party is well rid of them!.Hey suzuki did they cut you in for a share when the offshore drilling starts , come clean OOPS you dont know that word anymore.A very dissapointed EX supporter!!!! fisher
Rod Smelser
3 years ago
seth: Not surprised
seth
On ChickenDub this afternoon Greenie star candidate Jody Emery stated that the Liberal's have a better environmental platform than the NDP.
Remember how Mark Emery's people, Dana Larsen and Kirk Trousaw, totally upended the entire federal NDP campaign in BC last fall? It was cute how Emery claimed he had an understanding with Jack Layton. It's pretty obvious he had an understanding alright. With the Brad Zubyk Liberals.
This latest is just the next installment in a well planned strategy where gestures are exchanged, backs are scratched, and people get to pay their mortgages and car loans.
And for another clue, don't forget how much publicity Jodi has already received from Liberal friendly media outlets long before her Christy Clark show appearance. I recall one story in which one of our so-called alternative papers posed this thoughtful young Libertarian spread out on a couch in a Brazilian bikini. Lucky for her, no one was feeling her tits or the Liberals would demand she resign!
BTW, what is the point in asking a stoner candidate which of the other parties has the best enviroment platform? For her next trick, maybe Christy can find a car dealer candidate and ask them to evaluate the other parties arts and education platforms.
realisticman
3 years ago
Rod
"Lucky for her, no one was feeling her tits or the Liberals would demand she resign!"
Don't become desperate Rod. Remember that no Liberal called for the stepping down of the NDP candidate, he stepped down entirely of his own accord.
It does seem to be a pattern.
Vancouver-area Federal NDP candidates Dana Larsen and Kirk Tousaw resigned last year after online videos surfaced that showed them taking drugs.
B.C. New Democrat Julian West also quit the federal campaign after apologizing for taking off his clothes in front of minors at an environmental retreat more than a decade before.
Dan the socialist
3 years ago
"The NDP has abandoned their
"The NDP has abandoned their base"
They sure have under Ms.James, the party is split. She has set the party back. That is why I cancelled my membership, did not donate to the provincial NDP the last two years and instead donated it to the Federal NDP which has a great leader in Jack Layton.
Federally in BC the NDP are #1 according to latest poll yet provincially they are down the drain and it is not hard to figure out why.....
You won't see NDP'ers going to the libs but many will stay home on May 12, I know quite a few personally actually. Hopefully the NDP can keep 15-20 seats. Then get a strong leader this summer and win it all in 2013.
Face it, this election for the NDP is over and has been for the last 2-3 years...there is no way the NDP should be so far behind with all the shenangins of the liberals but they are and there is only one reason why and that is their leader, end of story.
See you all again in 2013!
x4estworker
3 years ago
Suzuki a Corporate Lackey?
It is no surprise, given the following, that David Suzuki is slamming the NDP over the carbon tax, and therefore supporting the Liberals. A visit to the David Suzuki Foundation web site reveals that the corporate world, the traditional supporters of the BC Liberal Party, plays a huge role in funding and managing the Suzuki Foundation.
Look at the Suzuki Foundation 2007-2008 Annual Report, which lists Foundation donors. Power Corp. of Canada is listed as providing over $1 million in 2007 -- 2008. The Jim Pattison Foundation gave between $250,000 and $1 million. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce gave between $10,000 and $100,000. The total Foundation budget is about $7.5 million.
Five of the 13 directors on the Suzuki Foundation Board are from the corporate world.
Suzuki keeps these facts buried on the back spaces on his web site. These facts show that many of the supporters of his foundation are traditional B.C. Liberal supporters and give the Suzuki Foundation lots of money. Suzuki obviously knows which side his bread is buttered on.
And I thought charitable foundations were not allowed to be politically partisan if they wanted to maintain tneir tax exemptions.
Frank
3 years ago
Dan
You're not a member of the provincial NDP's base and the NDP is not the #1 party in BC federally.
Luke Skywalker Redux
3 years ago
Rod...
Your so-called "Brad Zubyk" federal Liberals represent the difference between the NDP receiving 26% in BC federally in 2008 and the NDP receiving 42% in BC provincially in 2005.
That's 16%... a good chunk of vote.
Throw them away and the provincial NDP becomes relegated to third party status.
sailorkris
3 years ago
Suzuki
Is he actually trying to suggest the David Suzuki would support the BC Liberals!?!?! LMAO. Further proof that BC Libs will say anything.
Wilfred Laurier
3 years ago
Well Done NDP
"'the green party is well rid of them!"
It is really smart of Carole & Co to charge at the carbon tax red cape. It is one of the most stupid political moves in BC history and a result of automatically opposing everything on general principles.
Campbell has pulled off one of the greatest coups in BC political history and the Faithful have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.
The latest Mustel Poll has the Liberals maintaining their 17% lead. The fact is, the NDP is getting whomped, smoked and whalloped. Carole James in the most inept politician I have ever seen in BC's history. Even The Zalm wasn't this stupid.
Liberals 65 NDP 23
Any of the Faithful want to make a prediction?
Frank
3 years ago
Red capes
yes, it would be so much better if we learned to say one thing and do another.
Maybe print up a little red book saying no to the GST and Nafta, or no to debt and yes to transparency.
The right-wing lies, the NDP loses.
I'd prefer to lose.
Wilfred Laurier
3 years ago
Frank.....Apples and Oranges
"Maybe print up a little red book saying no to the GST and Nafta"
Frank, we are in the midst of a provincial election, not a federal one. Unlike your party, the provincial Liberals have no affiliation with the federal Liberals.
Wilfred Laurier
3 years ago
Interesting Quote
"I'd prefer to lose."
This is a very indicative quote and a true bell weather of the Faithful because when you lose, you don't have to run on your record. It is much easier to be High and Mighty then.
Frank
3 years ago
Hypocrisy
I note that the same people (I'm looking at you realisticman) who called Dion and his Green Shift idiotic and who predicted catastrophe if it was implemented now support Campbell and his carbon tax.
Cool.
Frank
3 years ago
Wilf
"we are in the midst of a provincial election, not a federal one."
That's funny, because I noted on here that you never tell Luke the same thing. Or is it just left-wing guys that you don't like raising federal politics? Seems hypocritical to me.
Frank
3 years ago
Wilf
I'd rather be "high and mighty" than lie constantly.
Seems to come easy to some of us around here though.
Wilfred Laurier
3 years ago
Frank
Frank, before I let you have the last word (I know you cannot resist) would you care to chime in with some thoughtful commentary in regards to your party's immanent wholloping or would you prefer to continue with straw man attacks?
Really, I'd like to hear your opinion of the debacle your party is having. It's the worst campaign I've ever seen them run, except for maybe Bob Skelly.
Frank
3 years ago
Wilf
Actually, straw-man arguments have been your bead and butter for years.
As for the campaign outcome, I have no prediction on seats etc.
But I will predict that you will support everything Campbell does in his third term.
realisticman
3 years ago
NDP could pay price at polls..
..for battling climate-change policy
"Just 10 days into the campaign, veteran political pundit Norman Ruff says the New Democrats could be heading toward defeat, The Canadian Press reports.
University of Victoria political scientist James Lawson says that opposing the carbon tax has not been the vote-getter the NDP had hoped.
The NDP was last in power in the 1990s when it managed to forge a coalition among three powerful groups in the province: aboriginals, environmentalists and forestry sector workers. With its opposition to the carbon tax, the NDP has lost some of the environmental voters."
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/624356
Wilfred Laurier
3 years ago
Not could
It is not could, it is WILL. Only the size of the disaster is at issue now. Pity, really, I would have liked a more effective opposition.
realisticman
3 years ago
They call him Al
Al Gore's Speech On Renewable Energy
... I have long supported a sharp reduction in payroll taxes with the difference made up in CO2 taxes. We should tax what we burn, not what we earn. This is the single most important policy change we can make."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92638501
Frank
3 years ago
realisticman
Yep, Al likes lower income taxes with more of the burden shifted to low income workers through consumption taxes, I wonder why eh?
Wilfred Laurier
3 years ago
Tax Credit?
Well, Frank, taxes generated by pollution taxes can be redirected to lower income Canadians with direct income transfers, similar to programmes such as the Canada Child Tax Benefit, GST Credit, Daycare Subsidy and the Rental Subsidy. All these programmes really help lower income families and I see know reason that a Climate Action Tax Credit would not be workable.
Frank
3 years ago
Wilf
There's already lots of programs that are supposed to be helping people yet they're clearly failing as our child poverty stats show.
I fail to see how shifting even more of the tax burden on to the shoulders of the disadvantaged is going to make things better.
Although I do admit things would be better for Al Gore.
realisticman
3 years ago
Frank
So you were in favour of the Conservatives lowering the Canadian consumption tax (GST)? Please remind us.
Don't forget;
"Protection for lower-income households: To help offset the cost of the carbon tax, lower-income British Columbians will receive an annual Climate Action Credit of $100 per adult and $30 per child."
For a two child family that $260 is equivalent to over 1,000 litres of gas.
Frank
3 years ago
"So you were in favour of
"So you were in favour of the Conservatives lowering the Canadian consumption tax (GST)? Please remind us."
Yes. Although as I said at the time, I wanted the revenue replaced with a rise in income taxes so that social programs wouldn't be hurt.
"For a two child family that $260 is equivalent to over 1,000 litres of gas."
Be honest for just once and admit the carbon tax affects a lot more than just the price at the pump.
realisticman
3 years ago
Frank
Sure it's also on diesel, natural gas, coal, propane, and home heating fuel.
Most social programs are delivered by the provinces and they can raise taxes, income or sales, if their federal transfers are insufficient.
Campbellwearsatutu
3 years ago
The latest poll
http://www.robbinssceresearch.com/polls/poll_582.html
Wilfred--The NDP are going to win the election,despite the greens sandbagging,despite the media spin,despite the phoney Ipsos and Mustel polls.
Ipsos reid and Mustel have sold out their credibilty to try and convince voters that Gordon Campbell is popular......
I have it on good authority that CKNW are having a tough time finding real people to call in and support the Liberals.
The Green party has made a critical error in supporting Gordon Campbell.......
The Green platform is for continued Gas flaring,destroying the remaining salmon,Greens are against raising minimum wages,..........
The Greens are for legalizing all drugs and getting rid of the RCMP.....
The Greens are for closing prisons,against immigration,against people making profits......
The Green platform was designed to make the BC Liberals platform look like a winner!
Frank.......
Tune in tommorrow to CKNW`s Sean Leslie show(3.00 pm to 5.00 pm) he is having as guests.......
Alexandra Morton (MY hero) to talk about the BC Liberals destroying the last of the wild salmon,and.......
He is also having John Horgan(BC NDP MLA from Malahat) and Blair Leckstrom to debate Run of River.
Frank......The NDP are going to pick-up 3 ridings in Burnaby--3 ridings on Vancouver island--1 in Maple ridge mission--1 in coquitlam--2 in Surrey--south Delta is going to Vicki Huntington--2 prince george ridings-1 riding in Kamloops.
There are also 6 brand new ridings,the NDP should win 2 to 4 of the new ridings.
That is 15 ridings right there,thats puts their total at 49 ridings......
So even if 6 incumbent NDP MLAs lost their riding`s the NDP will still be in power.
There are also several interior riding that are in play........
Campbell and the BC Liberals are running a media ponzi scheme,but all this spin is bogus......
and finally,the reason Gordon Campbell is relaxed on his bus tour........
He knows the election is over!
Cheers-Eyes Wide Open
Wilfred Laurier
3 years ago
Time Will Tell, Quarry
"Wilfred--The NDP are going to win the election,despite the greens sandbagging,despite the media spin,despite the phoney Ipsos and Mustel polls"
The Liberals are ahead according to this poll, Quarry. And this poll must also be phony, since I don't like the outcome, right?
Liberal landslide coming.
Campbellwearsatutu
3 years ago
Wilfred......
Its an honest poll....The BC Liberals need to be leading by 4 points for a technical draw......
If that results holds out(a 2 point spread)the NDP will have 6 to 8 more seats.
Wilfred,I know many people,many that voted for Campbell in 2005---They are furious over run of river.....
I have other freinds that supported the Greens,they aren`t supporting them this time.....
I haven`t met one real person who believes the bullshit of the Campbell/gas tax.....
Wilfred,even you know the Carbon/gas/propane/heating oil tax doesn`t work,the tax is a big joke everywhere east and north of hope!
Wilfred,do me a favour,listen to Christie Clark......
on friday april 24th at 2.00 pm --She had Marc Jaccard as her guest trying to explain the carbon tax--Maybe Marc Jaccard was hungover,he was really off his spin,Jaccard said......
The Carbon tax won`t deter anyone to stop driving,it isn`t high enough to do anything.
Anyone who heard the Jaccard interview must have laughed their head off.....
Have a listen Wilfred and get back to me
http://www.cknw.com/stationshared/audiovault.aspx
Cue up april 24th 2.00 pm---He was on between 2.06 and 2.30 pm
I have heard Jaccard many times,he really fell flat on his face today,he made Stephan Dion sound good.
Cheers
Wilfred Laurier
3 years ago
I am happy for you, Quarry
Quarry, I am happy that you have found a poll that supports your party. The sample is not exactly large nor the polling agency exactly unbiased. This poll is very much out of line with other major polling agencies. It will be interesting to see which agency is most accurate.
I still predict a healthy Liberal victory.
Besides, only one poll really counts.