Watts Top Contender for BC Liberal Leadership – Poll
Prince George, B.C. – Current Conservative MP and former Surrey Mayor Diane Watts would give the BC Liberals the best chance at defeating the Green backed NDP government.
That according to a new Insights West poll of 812 adult B.C. residents released this week.
The survey ranked prospective leadership contenders with the highest favourability ratings and Watts was tops at 39 per cent.
Following Watts was Sam Sullivan (30 per cent), Mike de Jong (28 per cent), Jas Johal (24 per cent) and Kevin Falcon (23 per cent).
The poll also found that many of the politicians who may consider a bid to replace Clark have a low level of name recognition.
At least two-in-five residents do not know enough to provide an assessment of Todd Stone (39 per cent), Mike Bernier (39 per cent), Andrew Wilkinson (46 per cent), James Moore (49 per cent) and Michael Lee (56 per cent).
When asked how they would vote if the BC Liberals were led by each one of these possible candidates, the BC NDP comes out ahead in match-ups against the opposition party led by Lee (25 per cent to 15 per cent), Wilkinson (26 per cent to 17 per cent), Bernier (26 per cent to 17 per cent), Moore (26 per cent to 18 per cent), Stone (26 per cent to 19 per cent), Johal (26 per cent to 19 per cent), Sullivan (26 per cent to 20 per cent) and Falcon (26 per cent to 22 per cent).
De Jong puts the party in a more competitive race at 27 per cent to 25 per cent in favour of the BC NDP )or 42 per cent to 38 per cent in favour of the BC Liberals when undecided voters are removed).
Watts is the only prospective leader to clearly outperform the government party at 30 per cent to 25 per cent for the BC Liberals (or 44 per cent to 37 per cent when undecided voters are removed).
Across B.C., the poll also found 52 per cent f British Columbians approve of the performance of NDP Premier John Horgan so far, while 31 per cent disapprove. Forty-eight per cent approve of BC Green Leader Andrew Weaver’s performance while just 28 per cent approve of interim BC Liberal Leader Rich Coleman.
The leadership race rose to the fore after former premier Christy Clark announced her resignation last month.
Comments
Across BC poll! Would be interesting to see what constitutes across BC considering only 812 polled.
Probably should read “Across Lower Mainland”, LOL!
Yes Watts is an NDP Green nightmare.
Watts is a BC nightmare. Just have to look at the state of kaos she left Surrey in to see how BC would turn out if she were to one day end up as premier.
Seems the only way the Liberals can get back in power is to rely on a good old fashioned Conservative.
We all know (or should know) that most of the so called Liberals in BC are Conservatives, or old Socreds. Liberals are few and far between. That’s why some people called the Liberal party the coalitionist party when they were in power.
I’d say she’s perfect . A perfect con , that is . She got to Ottawa by acclamation in a specieally gerrymandered riding but it didn’t do little Stevie blunder any good . When ever I saw her in question period I wondered if anything was going on inside her head .
Somebody really needs to contact Mario Canseco and the other fine folks at Insights West to let them know that in today’s world it is possible to get a phone plan with unlimited long distance calling across the province and the country. Heck, mine gives me unlimited long distance calling, North America wide.
Such a plan would allow them to poll beyond the GVRD! How about that!!
Let me see if I have this right.
If the NDP and Greens join forces and form the Government that’s BAD.
If the Liberals, Conservatives, and Socreds join together and run under the so called Liberal banner and form the Government that’s GOOD.
It’s an education thingy . Addition only takes place on the righty side of politics in the righty mind . Never mind that they are only pretending to be liberals . The only thing they are liberal with is the truth .
Palopu you missed something the Liberals Conservatives and Socreds run under one banner. The NDP and Greens run under a collusion, sorry coalition keeping their separate titles.
Now if the whole debacle was the other way around you would be fine with that?
Ataloss are those hybrid locomotives that CN operate?
Sorry Palopu, but you have missed the point!
The Libs, Conservatives and Socreds joined together and ran together under the Liberal banner. The people knew what they were voting for, BEFORE they voted!
The NDP and the Greens ran against each other and against the Liberals. NDP voters voted NDP, Green voters voted Green! This new coalition or whatever you want to call it occurred AFTER the election, after people had voted either NDP or Green, not both!
That’s an awful big difference!
Ataloss, how sad that you have absolutely nothing intelligent to add to the conversation. Just more mindless drivel from you! I swear that you are losing it!
The BC Liberals need to change their name; something that reflects who and what they are. The media very rarely refers to them as “BC Liberals” and more often just “Liberals” which associates us too closely with the Federal Liberals and becomes confusing to the rest of Canada. Also the BC Liberals, I don’t think, are dumb enough, to go by what some poll suggests in choosing a new leader.
They won’t do that, Cheetos. Not so long as it’s a party dominated by a big city elitist inner circle of financial manipulators. And it still is. They may be a coalition of old Socreds, Conservatives and Liberals, but the control is clearly in the hands of a rump group of traditional Vancouver Liberals. The PARTY OF THE DEBT DEALERS ~ both Federal and Provincial. Trudeau can get the public all agog by marching in every gay pride parade that comes along. But while he’s doing that his Finance Minister is busy plotting new ways to tax us, like what they’re planning to do to small businesses that hold onto retained earnings, in case they need them, and don’t mortgage themselves to the hilt with their friendly banker.
I agree. While Trudeau is dancing in the streets and taking selfies, his cohorts are making arrangements to sell off our Ports and Airports. They will set up an infrastructure bank so that their buddies can borrow the money to get infrastructure projects, and at the end of the day we will pay for it all.
The whole Trudeau Government stinks to high heaven, and we Canadians all sit back and let it happen.
Starting to make a lot of sense socredible and Palopu, while much of the country is focused on Trump (who isn’t even our leader), Trudeau gets a free ride while our pockets get picked!
The exact same thing will happen here in BC, too, Cheetos. The BC Liberals will put some showboat in as their leader. Maybe it’ll be Dianne Watts, or some of the other names mentioned. And they’ll make a big play about how the ‘right’ has to be united to get rid of the NDP. Which, if history is any guide, will have a very short honeymoon with the electorate ~ though Horgan is no fool, and he may be able to extend it for long enough to get a majority if the Greens part company with him and he loses a confidence vote in the Legislature and we go to election before his 4years are up. But the BC Liberal controllers ~ that elitist group of big city financial manipulators ~ are playing their more rural, up country-bumpkin Liberal Party supporters for fools. Just like Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark did. They’ll do precious little for US, and what they do do will cost us dearly.
And there is a great BIG difference between the budget surpluses the old Socred WAC Bennett government used to regularly post and the recent surplus. The credit for which is being attributed to the BC Liberals under Christy Clark.
When WAC Bennett built dams, the emphasis was using a natural advantage we possess to provide LOWER cost electric power for BRITISH COLUMBIANS.
The idea was with our industries getting lower cost power they could pay good wages and still be competitive internationally. With our residents getting lower cost power, they had more money in their pockets to spend on other things. Even the return of the “downstream benefits” power from the Columbia dams in 30 years in the 1990’s was timed to keep our power costs down when we needed more electricity.
Contrast that with the rationale behind Site C. There is no comparison. That’s not going to give us lower power costs, or even keep steady what we’re paying now. It’s built to make a government look good, make it look like they’re doing something. Which they are (were) ~ they’re prepping us to get taken to the cleaners financially. We’ll pay dearly for the bit of economic activity it’ll create while it’s being built. And afterwards, too. Over and over. The BC Liberals are (were) peddling inflation under the guise of prosperity. And the beneficiaries of that…? It won’t be US, that’s for damn sure!
You’re correct Cheetos!
I’m amazed at how much of a free ride Justin gets from the media. Free pass after free pass after free pass! I sure wish that the media actually had the balls to actually report the news, the whole news and nothing but the news. The editorial censoring of any and all news that paints Justin and his Liberals in a bad light is so blatantly obvious to anybody that even gives half a look or listen to what is actually going on in our country!
Sunny ways? Hell no! Scary times? Hell yes!
The Liberal Party of Canada, (and Liberal Parties everywhere, including, and very much so, right here in BC) ~the party of the DEBT DEALERS. And the control of the media and the control of finance are concentric. What those who have the power to actually create money AND CLAIM THE ‘OWNERSHIP’ of it want to be news, will be news.
Justin’s open and honest government is far from it!
Remember how some on this site condemned Harper and the Conservatives over their actions to prevent our scientists from discussing their work? Justin and Co. are doing far more damage and they get a pass!
From the CBC in June:
“Liberals grow the ranks of permanently gagged public servants”
ht tp://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/privy-council-prime-minister-s-office-secrecy-gag-security-information-wark-1.4139309
Now Justin and his merry band of thieves, oops MP’s are proposing massive changes to our tax system. Where is the debate? Small businesses are huddling in a corner, fearful that their ability to make and keep a profit will go the way of the dinosaur. Scary times for many, many, many hard working business owners, farmer and entrepreneurs! These hard working Canadians are turning to their accountants for answers in trying to determine how the proposed changes will affect them. Where are the Liberals? Why are they not giving answers, where is the information that Canadians need and deserve? Are the Liberals truly determined to destroy the middle class or what?
We won’t get those ‘answers’ from the Liberals. Their objective is to ensure that we are all mortgaged to the hilt, and especially anyone who is an ‘independent’ producer of anything. Ergo the coming hits on retained earnings. When the next recession comes, the businessman doesn’t get to draw on those to keep him going. He has to get the dough he needs from his friendly banker. Who, at that point, he might just find is not so ‘friendly’ after all. CENTRALISATION is the name of the game. And the Liberals are going to deliver that in droves.
At the end of the day they will choose a new leader with a ranked ballot.
If a ranked ballot is good enough to choose the new liberal leader, if it’s good enough to pick the new federal conservative leader, and if the ndp used it to choose their leader as well… then why can’t the public use it for selecting our MLA’S and MP’S when voting?
Is it because they all agree this is the best way to get a consensus leader for the ‘party’, but used in a general election puts the partisans at a disadvantage to moderate independents and therefore is not good for party control so should not be used in a general election for fear indipendent moderates might have a chance at getting elected?
And yet we still call it democracy….
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