Vancouver – April 28, 2017 – With less than two weeks left in the British Columbia provincial election campaign, John Horgan and the B.C. NDP appear to have the wind in their sails. The introduction of a bold and optimistic platform has shaped the terms of the campaign. As well, Horgan and the NDP have succeeded in defining Christy Clarks Liberal’s as the party of the wealthy corporate elite, while making clear that the New Democrats will help working and middle class voters who are struggling to get by. 

The B.C. NDP platform offers solutions to the years of neglect inflicted by Christy Clark’s Liberal government. The platform’s three main commitments are to make life more affordable; to fix the services that British Columbians count on; and to create good jobs in a sustainable economy. Accordingly, the party is proposing a $15 minimum wage, $10-a-day child care, and the construction of 114,000 rental, social, and co-op homes, while also calling for significant infrastructure investments to build new schools, hospitals, roads, and rapid transit.  

In addition, the New Democrats are promising major investments in education with a platform that pledges to introduce interest-free student loans, expand apprenticeship and training programs, and restore free adult basic education and English as a Second Language (ESL) courses. The party also wants to strengthen the province’s health care system by establishing community health centres that would focus on increasing access to doctors and nurses, and by introducing a mental health plan that would ensure better access to mental health services.  

As well, the B.C. NDP have promised to eliminate political donations from corporations and unions, while pledging to increase corporate tax and income taxes on the wealthy.

Evidently, the New Democrats are offering a bold program for the change that is needed in British Columbia. And at this point, it seems like voters are listening.

Meanwhile, Christy Clark’s Liberal government is campaigning on a platform that looks awfully similar to the one employed by Stephen Harper and the Conservatives in the last federal election, offering more austerity and miniscule investments that are contingent on voters re-electing the Liberals for a fifth term. 

But, with days to go in the election campaign, John Horgan and the B.C. NDP have managed to frame the ballot box question, and that may prove to be the deciding factor on May 9.