BC Conservative candidates Tara Armstrong, left, and Kristina Loewen, right.

OPINION

What an awful election this has been. Have I said that already?

NDP leader David Eby is so busy attacking the Conservatives, he hasn’t time to answer for his extreme left-wing policies. He has been leader for two years, the NDP for seven. They spent at least four of those years blaming every problem on their predecessors in government, the B.C. Liberal Party.

The time for excuses is over. It’s their record now.

Marshall Jones, managing editor

I had high hopes for Eby. When he was responsible for ICBC, the public insurer was deep in debt and the system was broken. Getting in a minor car accident was like winning the lottery and was a haven for scam artists. ICBC still needs a lot of work, but he acted decisively in bringing in no fault insurance. Budget solved, drivers save money (just don’t look under the hood to see what ‘coverage’ you get if you are involved in an accident).

Same with the overdose and housing files. I can appreciate that the NDP have stuck their necks out looking for solutions, trying harm reduction, cleaner supply, even decriminalization. It was controversial, but they pressed ahead on solving the problem. They imposed speculation taxes, vacancy taxes, cleared out short-term rentals, cleared the way for new builds.

When Eby was responsible for BC Housing, same thing. The NDP didn’t create the problems that put all those people on the streets. It started under the Liberals, which did precisely nothing. I had barely heard of BC Housing under the Liberals. The NDP had to move fast to clean it up and BC Housing started buying up old run-down hotels and scooping up other buildings throughout the province.

They actually did something.

The real problem, though, it seems to me, is that the NDP government thinks it — and it alone — will solve everything. They did so much doing, they never stopped to tell us what they’re doing or, heck, even ask if they should be doing it.

When people complained about lawlessness on the streets, they were chastised for punching down. There was no room for BC Housing to consult with or work with residents around their housing projects. Local governments were also forbidden from getting in the way — of BC Housing projects or nearly any housing project. I certainly don’t think a return to a harsh war-on-drugs policy that never once proved effective is a good idea, so I remain hopeful some of the BC experiments might be fruitful.

But this is complicated stuff and it’s scary to people not intimate with this file, so maybe before you wave your hand and make it legal to smoke meth in a city park — address their fears. Listen to them, then you won’t have to pull that back when it inevitably blows up in your face. It’s the through-line on every NDP initiative.

You’d have thought Eby the Campaigner would moderate his platform to be more attractive to moderate and disaffected BC United voters after it folded its tent. Fat chance with ballooning budgets, bigger government and more NDP in our lives.

But I think Eby the Ruler could be worse. Yes, he gets it done, but what informs that work is his own ideology, not necessarily the needs of voters. If he’s handed another majority, what will he do with it?

Then again, this could be an entirely different conclusion he had something to show for it. Tent cities continue to grow, everyone is weary and confused, housing and rent prices only climb and we haven’t made a dent in the overdose crisis.

All we got was the unpaid bills — billions of dollars in deficit. 

In our regions alone, the amount of money BC Housing wasted was astonishing, spending millions of dollars on buildings, some of which should have been condemned — and others that later were. 

It’s a lot. If John Horgan were still leading this party, this election wouldn’t be close.

And yet, they’re the only party even qualified to govern.

Maybe by the next election, the BC Conservatives will have matured, kicked the kooks out and found a real leader. Selfish anti-vaxx, anti-democracy and anti-human candidates get no quarter from me, especially not in government.

Even then, I think I get it. This is a referendum on the NDP and that’s a tough ask. Good luck with this one, folks.

Luckily in my riding, I have another option and it’s an easy vote. The Conservative has been hiding like the rest of them and the NDP is basically a no-show. My riding has a high profile Independent who has been working hard and though I may quibble, seems about my speed (Though I think he will slink on over to the Conservatives at the first opportunity).

It’s going to be a wild one, get out and vote.

•

Earlier this week, I got fed up with Kristina Loewen’s insistence on hiding from voters.

The Conservative candidate in Kelowna Centre, and very likely the next MLA, doesn’t want to explain some of her past and current comments so she’s refused interviews and all candidate forums. She's just waiting it out with her head down. We, like every other media outlet in town, have been stymied in attempts to reach her for questions.

She doesn’t have a campaign office so I went to the only place I knew to find her — her home.

I’ve gotten lots of emails on the subject, which is kinda confusing. Why is it strange to knock on doors these days?

Anyway, before you write me, please follow this exercise.

If the situation were reversed, if it were an NDP candidate likely to get elected and they refused to be accountable, would you still be angry at me?

No? Well, I have no use for partisan politics so tell someone else. If yes, I’d be happy to discuss. Send me an email at mjones@infonews.ca.

— Marshall Jones is the Managing Editor of iNFOnews.ca

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