Little success for the BC NDP outside the Lower Mainland

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – There is no doubt support for the BC NDP was up in this latest election from four years ago, but there is at least some speculation the party missed out on a chance to form a majority government by neglecting most of the ridings outside the Lower Mainland.

“They increased their vote share by a very small amount, but it did go up technically. They increased their seats and they came pretty close to snatching the government away,” explains Political Scientist Dr. David Moscrop.

Leader John Horgan’s campaign trail overwhelmingly included the Lower Mainland, which is where the party grabbed the majority of its seats.
However, Moscrop says in his first election as party leader, the 57-year-old Victoria native didn’t misplay his hand. “The [NDP] lost some of their seats outside the Lower Mainland so I’m sure that’s a question they have but look, you know look, you’ve got limited resources during an election.”

And Moscrop says the party deployed those resources as best as possible. “If I’m John Horgan and I’m looking at my results, I think I’d be pretty happy with them. I think they made the right call by focusing on the Lower Mainland.”

That said, Moscrop says the results speak to a larger issue. “This has sort of revealed that there is a split between urban and rural voters, which isn’t new. But it does mean that the province is therefore increasingly, in some cases, decisively polarized around them.”

The New Democrats only one a handful of seats out the Lower Mainland.

Can the Greens stay ideologically pure?

It was a record election for the BC Green Party which had three MLAs voted in to the Legislature, but whether or not they’ll be able to stick to their political guns now that they’re off the campaign trail and in office remains to be seen.

“It’s really easy to be ideologically pure and politically innocent when you have no chance of affecting outcome, at least not in any significant way,” says Moscrop. “When you’re at the table and when you’re the king maker, all of a sudden things change. Now you’re deep in to politics, you get to have an impact on the way that the province is governed.”

Which is exactly the situation Andrew Weaver’s party finds itself in for the first time. “But that means you’ve got to play the game, you’ve got to take part in making the sausage. And that’s nasty,” says Moscrop.

But it’s also a political necessity for Weaver if he wants to get anything done says Moscrop. “[Andrew] Weaver has talked about not whipping his votes. If he enters into a coalition, he’s going to have to whip his votes. So, already the Greens have to compromise a little bit on their values and on their priorities.”

And that could end up disappointing staunch Green supporters. “I’d imagine that the [Green Party MLAs) start to get very political very quickly,” says Moscrop. “But that’s the trade-off. At some point if you want to have an impact on the way things are run, you’ve got to do politics. Sometimes folks disagree, so you make bargains.”