Thought of the Day - September 23 - Election Fever Hitting BC

A BC provincial election has been called, so here we go. Horgan and the NDP are banking on their track record in handling the pandemic to boost them to a majority mandate. Public support for their measures is still high in BC, and Horgan has avoided conflicts with labour groups, that have plagued the other large provinces (Alberta (doctors), Ontario (teachers) and Quebec (care workers)). This early timing could prove to be better than awaiting the economic reckoning of 2021.

This opportunistic move comes on the heels of the successful run by Blaine Higgs in New Brunswick last week, where the PC party moved from minority to a majority government. Saskatchewan already has an election scheduled. Newfoundland & Labrador, along with PEI, also have minority governments, but they just had elections last year. And of course, the other minority government is in Ottawa. However, unlike NB and BC, where ministers successfully stepped into the limelight beside the chief medical officers (Thought of the Day - June 8 - Doctor Bonnie Henry), the Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu in Ottawa seems to stumble from issue to issue, Justin Trudeau has been preoccupied of late with the WE scandal, and I recently found out Bill Blair is our Emergency Preparedness Minister (who knew). Thus Trudeau calling a snap election is less likely.

I don't envy Elections BC. While we were quick to condemn the Americans in their plans for the November vote, we will have similar challenges here at home. The bottom line is the election process is staffed by seniors. First, our seniors are more supportive of legacy processes such as elections. Second, they have the experience, either through career exposure or "volunteering" before (Gail and I have both served in past elections). Finally, retirees have the available time. This time around I am not sure how many experienced seniors will be lured back. Elections BC's next challenge is the timeline. The election is only a month away. In my experience Elections BC did a great job last time (way ahead of Elections Canada), but pulling off an election with a month's notice is a tall order in itself let alone having to build in COVID practices (this time they may have to introduce a Sanitation Official at each voting place).

I predict the use of advanced polls and voting by mail will be more popular than ever. That said mail-in voting, like absentee voting, has some drawbacks. These ballots are not actually counted until well after the preliminary election results are announced; like when BC votes in a Federal election, in most cases the outcome has been decided before your tally is added. On the other hand, more mail-in votes mean close ridings that will be pending for weeks.

Elections BC is now starting to publish election worker positions, including a newly-minted "Youth at the Booth". If you might have a few free days over the next month you might consider "volunteering" - it actually pays fairly well.

Cheers

Cliff