News1130 Special Report: A week in BC NDP leadership race

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Grab a steak knife and some pepper! There was plenty to chew on during this week’s BC NDP leadership race.

There were nine debates slated throughout the province and so far, there were no major disagreements between the five candidates.

At Tuesday’s health care debate in Qualicum, Dana Larsen took a strong populist stance against the Liberals. “The goal ultimately is to convince the general public that public health care can’t work, because, ‘Look, it’s failing. We’re throwing all this money at it, and nothing is going right. Clearly, if we can’t do it, certainly those socialists could not run it properly,’ and we have to challenge them directly on that, and we have to show that socialized health care and socialized education can and do work when they are managed properly.”

At the youth leadership debate in Victoria Thursday, former social worker Nicholas Simons said it was time to re-empower his old colleagues. “What we need to make sure we do is invest in early child care and early learning, and that is ultimately a preventative program that will result in better outcomes for youth.”

Mike Farnworth has staked a claim around mental health, pledging a new and bigger role for Riverview Hospital. “We need to make it clear that it’s what the land at Riverview is going to be for. We’re going to protect the arboretum, and we’re going to ensure it’s not a site for market housing.”

Farnworth also picked up a big endorsement from MLA and Attorney General critic Leonard Krog.

Adrian Dix says his environmental plan includes intervening against the Enbridge pipeline and bringing in a Water Protection Act. He also nabbed endorsements from New Democratic stalwarts Gary Lauk and Ian Waddell, not to mention former Vancouver councillor Jim Green.

“I think the endorsements reflect the strong and broad support I have across BC, but every member gets to vote, so I am looking for endorsement of everybody in the NDP.”

John Horgan was also no slouch on endorsements in the past days. He gathered past party power with support from former cabinet ministers Elizabeth Cull, Anne Edwards, Dan Miller and Paul Ramsey.

Also on that list, longtime labour leader John Fryer and Paul Summerville, a former NDP candidate and RBC economist. “To have both Paul and John at my side, I think demonstrates my ability to get outside of the box, that historic NDP box, and speak to a broader audience about what we need to do to make life in British Columbia better.”

Expect more endorsements to fly as the April 17th vote draws near.

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