B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson is promising that, if elected, his government would ensure civic and provincial election campaigns can’t overlap again.
The Conservatives are pledging to bar any provincial vote within 60 days of local elections.
Otherwise, in 2030 both the civic and provincial elections would fall on the same day in October.
Doerkson said one of a Conservative government’s first acts would be to introduce the Respect Local Democracy Act to permanently separate the provincial and municipal election calendars in law.
Last month, NDP Leader David Eby called a snap election for Oct. 24 — a week after the Oct. 17 municipal elections — despite holding a slim majority government with two years left before the fixed election date.
Eby argued that majority was tenuous, with a few of his members seriously ill and having to vote from their hospital beds, and that he needed a strong mandate to deal with the many issues arising from the U.S.-led tariff war affecting the province.
The fixed election date was set for the third Saturday in October 2028.
In 2001, an amendment was passed by the legislature to give the province fixed election dates on the third Saturday in October four years after the previous general election date.
That means that in four years, the provincial and municipal elections would both fall on the same date, Oct. 19, 2030.
“Our democracy needs room to breathe,” said Doerkson, encouraging everyone to vote on Oct. 17 and again on Oct. 24 despite the confusion.
Doerkson accused the NDP of purposely scheduling this month’s provincial election to overlap with the civic one. “That was not an accident,” he said in a statement. “It was a calculation, and an irresponsible and selfish one.”
Local council candidates, school trustees and first-time mayoral candidates who planned to talk with their neighbours about the issues that matter in their communities are instead being asked which election they are running in, said the Conservatives.
Civic and provincial candidates are all competing for voters’ attention with the same flood of flyers, lawn signs, phone calls and ads, the party said.
“When everyone is shouting, it gets harder to hear anyone,” said Doerkson. “And when people can’t hear, too many of them tune out.”
The B.C. NDP campaign said Wednesday that the B.C. Conservatives have attempted “over and over to bring down the government — regardless of timeline.”
Conservative incumbent Peter Milobar “even stated that the Conservatives should try to force an election this fall,” the campaign said in a statement to the Times Colonist.
It added that the Elections Act already ensures that local elections can be held separately from provincial elections, with language saying a scheduled provincial and municipal election will not be held at the same time and that in a case where the dates align, another suitable date will be found.
The act does not have language to prevent overlap during an unscheduled election.
source: Richmond News photo: Times Colonist
