Keys to success for BC leaders in tonight’s debate
Posted April 29, 2013 7:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Former Liberal leader Gordon Wilson says tonight’s debate between the leaders of BC’s four political parties presents a huge opportunity for Jane Sterk of the Green Party.
Wilson says Sterk’s situation is similar to what he was facing heading into the 1991 debate with Social Credit leader Rita Johntson and NDP leader Mike Harcourt.
Johnson and Harcourt were talking over one another in a heated exchange when Wilson famously said, “Here is a classic example of why nothing ever gets done in the province of British Columbia.”
The BC Liberals jumped from no seats in the Legislature to 17 that year, thanks in large part to Wilson’s debate performance.
“The pivotal issue, in my view, is liquefied natural gas because Liberal leader Christy Clark and NDP leader Adrian Dix are locking the province into a long-term reliance on a hydro-carbon economy and Sterk is the only one who is opposed to that,” Wilson tells News1130.
“The base of voters who are most likely to say, ‘You know what? I think Sterk has it right,’ are NDP voters. That’s why I think she has to ignore Clark and she has to go directly after Adrian Dix in order to pull that vote and push her over the top.”
Wilson says Conservative leader John Cummins also has a chance to gain support tonight.
“If Cummins comes across as someone who’s a senior statesman with experience and he’s able to put out a message that is calm, rational, and gives people comfort they can park their vote with him, I think he’ll do very well,” explains Wilson.
“If he does so, he’ll do it pretty much at the expense of the Liberals.”
Wilson figures Dix has the most to lose and Clark has to stay on-message if she is going to be successful.
“Clark has to come across as if she is still the premier and will still be the premier,” says Wilson. “She has run a campaign that is on a very single message about creating wealth in British Columbia and I think that’s starting to resonate because people are starting to understand that there isn’t a lot of room to move in the province because we have a substantial debt.”
You can listen to the debate live on News1130 starting at 6:30 tonight. You can also watch it on CityTV.
