Long, but hopefully useful post #BCPoli

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

In a really weird and somewhat disturbing way, the upheaval and result of this #BCelxn2024 has corrected a fallacy that has existed in British Columbia (and Canada) for nearly a century.

BC has, since 1945, had a party that claimed to be "centrist” and "free enterprise”, but in reality, BC has *only* ever had elections that pit the CCF/NDP versus everyone else.

Before WWII, BC mirrored the Federal parliament, with Conservative and Liberal parties, with the CCF (NDP) appearing in the 1920s in the Legislature.

But then WWII happened, and“Social Credit" appeared to "unite" against the Left.

You can see the progression of elections on Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1941_British_Columbia_general_election) you'll see how the rightwing has morphed and rebranded itself multiple times since 1945.

Today is just the latest incarnation, but I would suggest it is the most honest.

The mask of the "BC Liberal" party or "Social Credit” has finally fallen away and we see in its place, the BC Conservative party, now lead by a clear racist and regressionist. Possibly the most racist and white supremacist person in that anti-left position since the height of BC's racist governments in the 1920s.

The BC NDP has had to lurch to the right in order to try, in its estimation, to attract some regretful “Liberal" supporters... but clearly that has not worked and has probably alienated actual progressive people as well. It's also clearly a dead end strategy.

The BC Greens now occupy a more leftist position than the NDP and are quite stable. There have been suggestions of BC/Green mergers in the past like happened on the right, but more likely are coalitions like we saw in 2017 and probably coming again next month.

What is clear, though, is the Right Wing continues its struggle against true progressiveness.

kfet

@chris What’s missing in this picture are the tremendous external forces at play. Both out-of-province and out-of-country, it’s something unseen before in Canada.

The cons vote in BC is a lie, sold by snake oil merchants.

Nick Pilon

@chris idk about the Liberal supporters claim - iirc polling seemed to show that the rump BCU support split itself between the NDP and the BCC? That would seem to have worked at least?

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@kfet I guess any regional governance is always at the whim of some sort of external larger force. There are also specific moments in time that push outcomes one way or another. But I think what has held firm in BC has been this notion that there is "Free Enterprise" and then there is “the Left". It's an echo of "anti-communist" mantra of the 20th century.

David Mitchell :CApride:

@kfet @chris

I would say the biggest missing part of the picture are the 40% of BC voters who simply didn’t.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@npilon It's really impossible to tell, but anecdotally from what I've heard I personally think a lot more people in BCU/BCL were leaning to Conservative anyway and a great many would rather not vote than vote NDP.

kfet

@chris There is genuine right/left/centrist votes, then there's blatant disinformation.

Check this out: https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/10/16/Right-Wing-Albertans-BC-Election-Ads/

Then look at the ongoing foreign interference inquiry.

None of this is politics as usual,.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@kfet Could be. In fact, I hope so. Because in a way, it is hopefully easier to unite people behind ridding our system of something like that kind of corruption/collusion, than it would be to convince people that their beliefs are wrong?

JNL

@chris can you help me understand why? like what's the mental or out-loud story on that?

(We have a congregation seeking ministry in Nanaimo, and others in Kelowna and Kamloops, and I'm trying to understand wtf is going on out there)

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@jnl call it conspiracy. Call it ideology. I don't really know. I think there are a lot of people who have been told (or have parents told) that the NDP/leftists are the root of all evil.