Let The Games Begin

By Ben Meisner

There will be few issues that the voters will face in this election which officially gets underway today.

The Liberals under Gordon Campbell seeking a third term, will be pushing (what they believe will be their salvation) that they can better manage the economy than the NDP.

By contrast, the NDP will be hitting hard on the sale of BC Rail trying to push the item to the fore front in an effort to discredit the Liberals to a point that some Liberal  voters may opt to stay at home on election day, or  encourage the NDP supporters to make a point of voting. The NDP will try to destroy the Liberals credibility and they have an issue in the BC rail matter.

There has been a splash of announcements leading up to the election writ being dropped, but those announcements were expected. A large percentage of the money is coming by way of joint programs with the federal government who face their own set of problems and have recently had to empty the piggy bank to try and stir the economy or face defeat in the House of Commons.

The province meantime has had its own flurry of announcements trying to stave off certain down turn in the economy in 2009. So the money has been flowing freely, and that has been a good thing. The economy needs to be propped up in these trying times.

Don’t look for much to be said about the Aboriginal Recognition Act, the Act which just about made the order paper in the legislature before the house prorogued, both the Liberals and the NDP support the idea in which (if the discussion paper is to be believed) the Aboriginal community in BC would be able to exercise veto over Crown land development .

Both Campbell and James support the basic principles of the proposal, it doesn’t sit well with the voters in rural BC and so you will hear little about it. Campbell runs the risk of being hurt the most from his proposal, Liberal supporters are saying that while they would never support the NDP, they never the less  will not support Campbell’s stand on the Recognition matter and they will simply not go out to vote.

Given that the Liberals need three to four points more than the NDP to win the election that could be the single car to hurt the Liberals the most. It may not be talked about openly, but behind the scenes it is a major issue for the Liberal supporters.

I’m Meisner and that’s one Man’s opinion.

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