The Hook

The media was wrong

They all took this by-election win for granted yet Eby was leading for part of the night.

Of course tomorrow all of those who thought Ms Clark would win by 20% will be talking about what a great victory this was :)

The Libs will be too scared to call an election now.

It was a good race

As the came out of the gate, neck and neck only Christie stretched hers just enough to win the seat, now let the games begin.
We all have to take a stand on something. I wonder what Clark stands for? Or does she stand alone as I am certain there where a few Liberals who could have dealt with a Christie loss.

The first step

Considering the low voter turn out and the dynamics of bye-elections, she won by about as much you could expect from a radio host. The NDP should be gearing up for tough provincial election.

Indeed

A word of advice for Premier Christy Clark. Don't call your election from September to April. You'll lose, and very badly.

And you won't get your mandate.

(or your "man-date")
http://geoffolson.com/page12/page21/files/page21-1009-full.html

eby and co. rock!

david eby made new democrats proud tonight. he came THAT close....without the benefit of endless photo opportunities courtesy of the 'liberal,' media that followed clark around like a bunch of puppies. lapping up her every word, telecasting faithfully the daily cash give-aways courtesy of the the tax-paying public.
he and his team fought a clean fight, invited debate which was roundly and continuously refused and did it all with grace and humour.
i would really like to thank all of those people that thought that THIS, of all times, was the time to vote green. i suggest to you that you elected christy clark. live with that. you voted green and you elect a liberal.

No surprise from that

No surprise from that riding. baa baa

At least

At least with Gordon Campbell and Stephen Harper we had a pretty good idea of what we were getting. With Christy Clark all I see is a smile and an annoying one at that.

Eby Was A Way Better Choice

He was and it shows. He ran a decent, down to earth campaign which was refreshing and decent I thought. Ms Clark only won by a very small margin and that I think that sends a very strong message to the BC Liberals. Most likely the BC Liberals will now wait and hold onto power until the next fixed election date. Next up for Ms Clark?, The HST referendum on June 24th. This I think will be the tipping point for this government regarding a fall election. But knowing this government they'll want to hold onto power for as long as possible regardless.

agreed

Well,

Eby was the better and more rational choice. It does show the blind loyalty around this neighbourhood; further what exactly will it take for people to open their eyes to how our province is being destroyed by special interest groups of all kinds…..

If the better choice was right in front of people and they did not take it, one has to wonder if any of them can actually read the referendum question correctly enough to vote no.

Time to move on and try to win the next battle because this one is lost; not by green votes but by the lack of voters altogether; another clear endorsement of the failure of our present voting system to allow someone to represents with less than 20% of the total constituency. 35% voted and she got roughly half.

Dan

Very interesting

The lying Campbell won the riding by 2300 votes. Christy, the premier, wins it by 400. There is a message in that.

Clash of ideas, if not cultures

"..what exactly will it take for people to open their eyes to how our province is being destroyed by special interest groups of all kinds.."

Oh, I think they see that. It just ain't the same 'interest groups' that people fear will take their savings. Some people fear the 'socialist nirvana' in cahoots with the Teachers' and other public service unions more than they fear the corporate ripoff artists. Some think, that under the corporate might, at least you can boycott their stuff and opt out of the crazy consumerism economy, while the others do everything by way of mean-spirited rules and regs that all sound like an echo of 'eat the rich'. And since everybody likes to think of themselves as at least somewhat rich, this is where the paradigms clash.

In order to win the last hurdles, the NDP needs to rid itself of the equation sign people put between them and what they understand as 'commies'. I think it's over the top to call the people in the riding 'sheep' when the vote stood sharply divided, almost equal. I would dearly like to see a poll-by-poll breakdown and have been looking for it, for I am pretty certain from my own old canvassing experience in the riding, that this is a strong geographical division, and it could be interesting to see where the other half lives in plain colorprint. Can anyone tell me a URL?

And to those already into destructive name-calling, I would remind of Winston Churchill's famous observation that 'democracy is the worst form of governement - except for all the alternatives'. Ye can't browbeat or shame people into doing your will. You must convince them. Think of the electorate as a jury - for the institution stems from the same tradition. They both started out as the king's council, twelve around one, a fact still recognized in the Danish version of 'knock on wood', 'seven, nine, thirteen', as in seven Sages, Nine worlds, and thirteen councilors, all considered sacred concepts and not, as many would claim, imported from Greece or some other such obscure place.

But this Northern tradition of democracy, when taken out to the entire people, has its dangers. Hitler didn't mess with the institution, as he originally won by majority in a free election, but his political sojourn certainly testifies to the sometimes poor results one can end up with even so.

dorothy

Actually I think most Dippers are proud of the campaign Eby ran. The Liberals first ignored him thinking it would be a landslide until their polling showed otherwise. They they attacked him with smears, even putting a flyer in everyone's mail saying he was pro-polygamy, pro-pornography etc.

In the face of all that Eby remained light-hearted and rose above it all while continuing to run a positive campaign and attacking Christy only on her policies while in government, not her personally.

Couldn't ask for a better campaign or candidate. Very proud of the way he handled himself.

couldn't agree with Frank more...

Eby is a star in the making.
he has not made a decision as to where he will run next time, but i think new democrats all agree, there WILL be a next time.
third time lucky. he very nearly made it onto the vision slate when he ran for that nomination some four years ago.
how about fairview?

Dysfunctional Democracy

"Twenty percent of the citizens voted and CClark got about half"

So she does not represent 50% +1 of the citizens in that constituency, and likewise, if Eby was elected neither would he based on the turnout. The truth is that all of the candidates for election are members of political parties, their nomination forms signed by the Leaders of their party, none of the candidates were selected by citizens in the constituency in any kind of candidate selection process. In my mind, no election without (candidate) selection.

It seems to me, some new rules are required, here are some suggestions.

1. Each constituency has a right to have an MLA represent the citizens resident within the constituency provided the MLA is elected by 50% plus one of the total number of citizens eligible to vote. If the 50% +1 number is not achieved, the MLA's seat remains vacant until such time as it is achieved.

Based on this single idea, the right to have an MLA is only perfected when citizens assume sufficient responsibility & participation to bring out the 50% +1 result, if not, they will not have, due to a failure to bear their responsibilities as citizen, an MLA in the Legislature.

This democratic burden shifted from political parties to citizens, where it rightly belongs, must be accompanied with other measures to rebuild democracy, including, imo:

Public funding to built the democratic infrastructure in the Province's constituency to bring about much more citizen participation, including better rights of recall, initiative, policy formation, accountability, candidate selection by constituents and not parties, election of permanent constituency councils (not run by MLAs and political parties) with rights and responsibilities to get the citizen vote out.

Changing the voting system from FPTP to a form of pro-rep that does not enhance the rights of political parties, their leaders & party cadres to construct a list of names from amongst the party membership for the voters to select from. Rather a form of pro-rep that includes a primary, a primary for candidate selection by constituents, and then election to choose one MLA based on pro-rep voting rules that does not include party lists. I believe, please correct me if wrong, that the BC & federal NDP favours Mixed Member Proportional Representation where citizens get to vote on candidate lists proposed by parties. That entrenches party power not citizen democratic rights to select and elect.

The NDP failed and failed hard

As the Globe and Mail so astutely put it: "The defeat is a blow to Mr. Dix because Mr. Eby's campaign, in many respects, was a trial run for themes the NDP Leader will likely try in the next provincial election."

Excellent Effort, Mr. Eby! Sans Global News

This morning's Global News declared that Christy Clark won against the "well-known David Eby". I'm sorry, but though I'm fairly up-to-date with respect to news and who's making it, I can't recall (no my name isn't Martyn Brown) ever having heard of David Eby before the election. This doesn't mean that I hadn't heard of him a few times; it simply means he had not yet become part of my working memory. On the other hand, Christy Clark has been part of my working (and constantly recharged) memory since 2001. I've used her name a great deal in the last 10 years - usually preceded by a swear word.

So, rather than giving Mr. Eby the credit he was due for running a great campaign, Global minimalized his almost winning against the exceptionally well-known $#@! Ms. Christy. The propaganda machine runs in high gear even when it has the opportunity to say something complimentary to a candidate who lost to their chosen leader. They didn't play fair in the run up; and, after the fact, they have preferred taking their hobnailed jackboots to him. Classy work, %$#@# Global News!

avg_canadian

If that was a trial run for the NDP, it worked. Their vote increased by 6% and the Lib's vote fell. And that's with a low turnout that favours incumbents.

Repeat that across the province in a general election and the NDP would win a majority government.

But if you want to quote columnists, here's some from Michael Smythe :

"But it was a victory that threw a huge scare into the premier and her party."

"In a riding Gordon Campbell won by more than 2,000 votes just two years ago — a seat he held solidly for 15 years — Clark could only manage a thin margin of victory Wednesday night."

"But it was still a terrifying night for the Libs, as poll after early poll showed NDP challenger David Eby in the lead, threatening to pull off the biggest upset B.C. politics has seen in many years."

"The Liberals were shocked. They expected a cakewalk."

"One NDP insider I consulted Wednesday hoped Eby would get within 1,000 votes, to send a message that the NDP could be competitive, even in safe Liberal ridings."

"Why was it so close? As the night wore on, I started getting emails, tweets and text messages from frightened Liberals — all full of excuses for what, at that point, was looking like a byelection disaster."

SharingIsGood

One of Global's people did get caught trying to get Kash Heed elected so that's not surprising.

The Globe and Mail

When I first moved to BC from the states, eleven years ago, the Globe and Mail was a pretty decent middle of the road paper, even though it had almost no regular women or progressive columnists. It has really lost its way. It actively participated in Stephen Harper's win by playing up the NDP and acting as if the federal Liberals didn't exist, in an attempt to split the progressive vote. It endorsed Harper despite his many dirty tricks, personal attacks on his opponents, and malfeasance of his government.

The Globe and Mail no longer qualifies as a source of information. Those of you with subscriptions should, in my humble opinion, cancel them.

the future

Good and well reasoned comment Dorothy; I would have to agree with the following comments by frank, editing fool, and Peter.

The NDP have nothing to be ashamed of in my view; Eby played this like a professional; spoke to and dealt with issues, instead of personalities, or lack thereof. This is the mark of a true statesman (statesperson?? The gender neutral thing doesn’t really work there…..)

When average people in this constituency and the MSM fawn over someone who operates in a negative and destructive manner (such as the flyer I received on my porch mentioned earlier) it is really quite revealing as to how shallow and devoid of any compassion, not only for others, but the environment and world in which we all reside.

What is important to these folks who vote for someone like that? Our electoral system has been lowered to its lowest common denominator. Each time we all line up to vote the failure of this system is confirmed once again.

It is the only conversation left to have; the one that Canadians collectively and steadfastly refuse to address. When do we change the electoral system and the way we vote?

But take heart; while they continue to destroy this province for you and I and our children, they are also destroying what remains for their offspring too.

“We do not inherit the universe from our ancestors we borrow it from our children”
Chief Seattle

So now expect an oil spill that will destroy the coastal waters or English Bay; Hydro rates spiked to double what they are today, no wild fish, and never, will we ever find out the real truth about the rail company, although I believe most of us know already.
Cheerio,
Dan

Narrow victory

Well, Princess Chrissy just squeaked into another narrow victory after another huge, behind-the-scene effort.
This looks very promising for the NDP as the BC Lieberals will be led into the next provincial election by a really weak leader. If the NDP don't win the next Big One they will have no excuses.

And Vancouver Point Grey...

...is not typical of the rest of the province.

Bad News for BC Libs

The MSM is dutifully repeating the Liberal line that Clark's byelection victory broke the 30-year "curse" of governing parties losing byelections in BC.

A more relevant test is the fate of major party leaders in provincial byelections. By that standard, Clark should have won by a wide margin. E.g., Bill Bennett's victory in Okanagan South in 1973; Dave Barrett's victory in Vancouver East in 1976; and Gordon Campbell's election in Vancouver Quilchena in 1994. (Grace McCarthy's loss in Matsqui in 1994 doesn't count because the Socreds had already been eclipsed by the BC Liberals as the official opposition to the NDP.)

So the fact that Christy Clark--a sitting premier no less--scraped in by the skin of her teeth is a bad omen indeed for the BC Liberals. Adrian Dix and the NDP have much to be pleased about.

Absolutely Gustav

But don't expect to hear your careful analysis in the BC media...

Totally agree

"Couldn't ask for a better campaign or candidate. Very proud of the way he handled himself."

Absolutely! He was a capital fellow through and through. I am glad he will consider running again and hope at that time to be ble to put in more upport than I was this time around...

Christy Fishes Flattery; CanPostMutts Deliver

Postmedia was properly accused of being an LPBC party-mouthpiece, when it was Canwest. That has hardly changed. Notice how published pics of NDP members are always captures of those moments of the day - and we all have them - when the face gets surly? Yet Christy Clark - and Postmedia's other balloon (Diane Watts) - are always pictured either beaming or reflecting a diligent take-charge demeanour. I have seen Clark without the Photoshop touchups, and she is indistinguishable from any other Plain Jane. Let me say it: Postmedia content is little more than a collective resume for Public Affairs Bureau employment. In fact, most Province columnists are only one retirement away from one of those cushy feet up double-dips. Don't refer to Postmedia PABlum as journalism; they would take it as a offence.

Mr Beers:
Put up a $10 Timmy Hos' card for the most unflattering pic of Christy Clark. Postmedia baloon-blowers need not apply. I am taking my camera to the next photo(shoot)op, and I will wait until our "queen" scratches her nose, or worse.