Dear Editor:
Re: Liberals at point of no return, The Record, Feb. 8.
The Keith Baldrey article of Feb. 8 echoes what I have been saying: that no matter what the B.C. Liberals do, it is over for them. In some ways, poor Christy Clark has become the Kim Campbell of B.C. politics; she is the leader of a lost cause.
In the next election, the B.C. Liberals will likely put on a good flashy campaign and show lots of energy and money spent, but it will not make any difference. Some deep barrier was crossed where many voters, especially more conservative-minded ones, will not give the B.C. Liberals another reluctant pass. There will be no more "hold-your-nose voting" across the province.
To be specific for New Westminster, it is a nobrainer to say that the local B.C. Liberal candidate has absolutely no chance of being elected next time, especially when the B.C. Liberals as a party will lose the next election.
From a local perspective within New Westminster, the contest will be between me as a B.C. Conservative, and the NDP, with any remainder Liberal vote just dividing the non-socialist vote.
My evaluation is based on electoral history. In the 1940s, New Westminster's MLA was Byron "Boss" Johnson, who became premier of a LiberalConservative Coalition government.
When the coalition ended, New Westminster went opposition socialist as the Social Credit government of W.A.C. Bennett won in 1952. In that election for New Westminster, CCF (meaning NDP) Rae Eddie became the MLA from 1952 to 1969. Then Dennis Cocke (NDP) 1969 to 1986, Anita Hagen (NDP) 1986 to 1996, Graeme Bowbrick (NDP) 1996
to 2001, Joyce Murray (Lib) 2001 to 2005, Chuck Puchmayr (NDP) 2005 to 2009, Dawn Black (NDP) 2009 to present. Black is not running again.
A Liberal was only elected here once when the NDP were embarrassed down to two seats provincially. It returned to the old pattern in the next election. This time around, since the unwritten voter coalition of Liberal-Conservative voting is over, it could be a predictable win for the NDP again. However, non-NDPers can take hope in a few things. There has been a gradual demographic change in New Westminster. The hundreds that have given up locally and who do not bother to vote anymore might become roused to vote this time, now that there is a true Conservative choice.
Additionally, some NDP vote might come my way, considering how the NDP leadership rudely cast aside Dawn Black as part of the ousted Carol James group.
In conclusion, analyst Keith Baldrey is correct when he says, "a stench of sorts begins to envelop a government, and it can be very hard to get rid of it."
Paul Forseth, B.C. Conservative candidate
