‘Be the opposition,’ expert says as new BC Liberal leader jabs the NDP

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – He only won by a small margin, but the BC Liberal Party’s new leader took little time to make remarks aimed at his opposition.

“Our job is to make sure that the other side — with their divided team between the Greens and the NDP — are feeling uncomfortable all the time,” Andrew Wilkinson said after his victory speech in Vancouver on Saturday night. “My task is to make sure we hold the NDP to account with smart, incisive questions that will make their skin crawl.”

However, Political Scientist David Moscrop warns, it’s this kind of behaviour that could land him in a difficult situation. “If anybody is going to get riled up in Question Period, if anybody is going to get under anybody’s skin it’s going to be the NDP doing that to Andrew Wilkinson, John Horgan doing it to Wilkinson — not the other way around.”

Moscrop adds the one-time Attorney General’s victory speech is indicative of what kind of leader he’s going to be. “When someone uses their victory speech to talk about crushing the other side, then they’ve set a tone. They made it very clear what their priority is going to be, which is to get nasty and to focus on not serving British Columbians and beating the other team. That’s how he’s going to do it, and that’s how he’s going to do it.”

The SFU post-doctoral fellow adds he’s not entirely surprised Wilkinson won in the end, admitting he was always “just there,” and may have used the right strategy.

“In a ranked-ballot contest, the last thing you want to be is scary unless you’re going to win on the first ballot. You’ve got to be able to build a down-ballot consensus which means that people need to mark you second, third, maybe even fourth.”

Wilkinson got the victory over former Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts on the fifth ballot with just more than 53 per cent of the votes.

The close race also suggests, according to Moscrop, that there may be a slight division within the membership. “There was some struggle, obviously, with the idea of do they want to renew… or do they want to stick with the Christy Clark legacy? And they decided to stick with the Christy Clark legacy.”

Looking ahead, Moscrop says Wilkinson and the Liberals need to focus on the issues that matter, like the upcoming referendum on electoral reform. “He should be focusing on ‘okay, I’m going to hold the government to account in the short run, and then get ready for the next election.

“And if he’s smart, he’ll correct the mistakes of Christy Clark.”

On the topic of electoral reform, Moscrop calls it a “wild card.” Proportional representation would change the whole party-system, and he says the BC Liberal Party could fall apart if it passes.

He admits Wilkinson will likely make for a good leader with a lot of caucus support, which could help in the short-term.

“This is a party that wins elections, right? They were in power for 16 years. They were a few percentage points away in 2017 from being in power again, they won the most seats and the most votes. So there’s going to be a lot of rallying around him to be able to deliver on a Clark-style win at the next election.”

While thinking back to what happened last year, he adds the party will need to look at whether they want to change things or look at 2017 as a one-off and change nothing.

He warns antagonizing the NDP and Greens could backfire, and reminds Wilkinson his job should be clear.

“His job is to be the opposition leader. His job is to hold the government to account, which is good. That’s the way the system works, without that the system doesn’t work.”

If nothing changes in the upcoming three years, the next provincial election is slated for 2021.