Ethics versus the economy. Which do voters care about the most in this province, and is either one the issue that rests heaviest on their minds when they go to cast a ballot next spring?
With the clock ticking down to the next provincial election — now less than a year away — it’s useful to look at two recent developments on both those issues that will undoubtedly be used by both major parties in various ways during the next campaign.
One is the recent controversy over political fundraising, which the NDP undoubtedly intends to make the focus of at least one campaign attack ad (there will be many from both sides) aimed at the B.C. Liberals and Premier Christy Clark.
For the New Democrats, it’s easy pickings. Polls show the vast majority of people don’t want corporations or unions to donate to political parties, and the NDP will also hone in on the extra salary the B.C. Liberal party pays Clark on an annual basis.
Clark was cleared last week of conflict allegations brought against her by NDP MLA David Eby, who tried to link the party’s lavish fundraising affairs featuring the premier — where tickets can go for $20,000 a pop — to her financial livelihood.
READ MORE: B.C. conflict watchdog to review political fundraising events
But being cleared by the conflict commissioner hardly ends the matter. One of the main themes of the eventual NDP election platform will likely touch on ethics and morality in politics and government, and political fundraising (even though the NDP takes money from corporations and unions too) will dovetail nicely into that.
The NDP will use the fundraising issue and the premier’s extra salary as proof that she and her party are “out of touch” with real people, and that a change in government is desperately needed to rid the political stage of “big money” and various perceived ethical lapses.
The Green Party, trying simply to be heard, will go after both the NDP and the B.C. Liberals on issues like these.
The question, as I touched on in last week’s column, is whether enough voters will care about that issue to the point of switching from voting for the B.C. Liberals to voting for another party, thereby influencing the election outcome.
Given the fact that the premier has simply shrugged off any accusations about fundraising with a “who cares” attitude suggests she and her party obviously do not think it’s a vote-turning issue.
Instead, they will likely embrace another recent development on turf far favorable to them. That would be the latest, impressive job growth numbers from Statistics Canada, that show B.C. is far and away dominating the entire country when it comes to job creation and low unemployment.
READ MORE: B.C. is Canada’s job vacancies hot spot
About 13,000 net new jobs were created in B.C. last month and over the course of the last year about 110,000 jobs were added. And for the first time since these statistics first started being collected in 1976, B.C. has the lowest unemployment rate amongst all the provinces.
As well, the province is expected to lead the country in economic growth in the coming year, and probably longer than that. This is all music to the ears of those in the B.C. Liberal government.
And so welcome to one of the B.C. Liberals’ political advertisements. As much as government ethics will be part of the NDP’s platform, so too will the economy be for the B.C. Liberals.
All the party talked about before the 2013 was jobs, jobs, jobs. Little has changed since then.
When the campaign begins less than a year from now, Clark will dust off her trademark hard hat and her tour of industrial work sites around the province. At each stop, she will ridicule the NDP as being hopeless on the jobs issue, even as that party throws darts at her over things like political fundraising.
Jobs versus ethics. The economy versus how politics is run. Get used to hearing a lot about the contrast between those issues in the next year.
On the night of May 9, 2017, we shall see which of them resonates with voters the most.
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