Over the course of this year, 40 countries will go to the polls and vote. In total, they represent over half of the population of planet earth. When the history books are written, 2024 will be a very lengthy chapter. As such, for somebody utterly addicted to politics like myself, this year has brought nothing but joy and excitement — especially since I now get to share that gift/curse with you! On that note, our own British Columbia finds itself staring down the barrel of an election this October 19th, and it is shaping up to be a uniquely contentious one. This article, then, will be my attempt to write BC's last two years into the history books, including an explanation of how to actually vote.
To introduce you to the election in question, here is how the BC legislature works:
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is a parliamentary system which writes the laws and bills of BC, with considerable autonomy from the federal government. The leader, or “Premier,” for BC is not directly elected as its leader. Instead, whichever party in an election receives a majority of “MLAs” (Members of the Legislative Assembly) will appoint their party’s leader to be the Premier. Alternatively, if no party receives a majority, then the various parties will need to negotiate to create a coalition government, which is usually between ideologically like-minded parties, such as the Greens and NDP in 2017.
There are four political parties of note in BC:
- BC United (Formerly the Liberal Party of BC)
- The Conservative Party of BC
- The New Democratic Party of BC
- The Green Party of BC
For the last eight years Justin Trudeau, under the Liberal Party of Canada (with occasional support from the federal NDP) has been Canada’s Prime Minister, though popular opinion has recently swung heavily against him. Most polls indicate a Conservative landslide in next year’s federal election; the only question is not whether this sentiment translates to the provincial level for this upcoming election, so much as how it does.
BC has had an NDP-led government since 2017, currently led by Premier David Eby. There is a unique quirk in BC’s politics, however: the small-c conservative party in BC is actually the Liberal Party of British Columbia, now called “BC United.” BCU is presently led by Kevin Falcon. A long time (i.e., 30 years) ago, the Liberals and Conservatives realized that they were both reaching for the same group of voters; that is, people from rural and exurban communities and towns who disliked the NDP on principle and wanted some form of “moderate” or conservative governance. As such, an informal agreement was struck between the two camps; the conservative/centrist candidates would both run as part of a singular party in BC, under the tent of the Liberals, so as not to run against each other when they could perform much better if they didn't fight over the same seats.
This is a wonderful idea for a party in theory, if you can keep that alliance from eating itself alive. A center-to-right "pro-business" alliance made up of everything from neoliberals to populistic conservatives is a good blueprint for an opposition party, so long as you’re never asked about what your actual policies would look like once you win. The issue with leading a party like this is that it is the political equivalent to a dysfunctional group project where no two members like each other, but all still want to pass. It is only after passing the threshold of "winning" that this party must wrestle with the oxymorons of having the Liberal Party be the conservative one.
If the last two years have been any indication, Kevin Falcon has lost this balancing act. What should have been a slam-dunk of an election has turned itself into a nightmare scenario, ultimately culminating in Falcon’s party imploding thanks to a series of mistakes, blunders, and plain karmic justice leading to the Liberals/BC United pulling out of the race altogether.
To tell the tragicomedy at length, in 2022 Falcon kicked out MLA John Rustad from his party, due to Rustad’s claim that climate change was not caused by carbon emissions. Rustad, uninterested in an early departure from politics, took control of the empty Conservative Party of BC, and remade it in his own image, sending it gasping back to life. At this point, in a twist of terrible irony, Falcon renamed the Liberal Party of BC to “BC United” (BCU). Over the course of the next few months, BCU slowly hemorrhaged conservative-leaning members, ultimately losing eight MLAs to the renewed Conservative Party of BC. At this point, Rustad's Conservatives began preparing for the upcoming provincial election, threatening to split the vote and lead to both BCU and the Conservatives losing out to Eby’s NDP. Realizing this, Falcon proposed what is basically a non-compete deal to avoid vote-splitting: Conservatives would get to run candidates wherever they wanted, except for districts where BCU candidates were already in office or were likely to win. Rustad rejected this, as these were the districts where Conservatives were also most likely to win. Even still, Rustad had always operated under the presumption that his party was competitive enough to challenge the NDP on its own, though forcing BCU to withdraw and endorse the Conservatives would only consolidate his support and improve his odds.
The chain of failed negotiations culminated in Falcon withdrawing his party from the race with just a few months left until election day, endorsing the Conservatives, and declaring that none of his party members would run in the upcoming election. In essence, he threw in with the Conservatives in the hopes of stopping an NDP government, with the intent of staging a political comeback for his party after this whole affair blew over, somehow. He failed in this final act as well, however, as half of his party mutinied, with 17 sitting MLAs and many more BCU-appointed candidates having announced that they would not abandon their races, rebuking Falcon in what is best described as a messily organized case of Mutually Assured Destruction. This bizarre set of circumstances has triggered the largest wave of registered independents running in an election in British Columbian history, with 30 unaffiliated candidates on this year's ballot. In some constituencies, like in all four Kelowna districts, this will mean a minimum four-way showdown between BCU-turned-independents, the NDP, Conservatives, and Greens.
“Rustad had always operated under the presumption that his party was competitive enough to challenge the NDP on its own, though forcing BCU to withdraw and endorse the Conservatives would only consolidate his support and improve his odds.”
This leaves us where we stand today. In terms of polls and popularity, the Conservatives are surging, the governing NDP is holding steady and undergoing a slight bump, and the future of BC United is entirely up in the air as it has withdrawn and suffers chronic mutiny. With polls chronically stuck at 44%/44% between the NDP and Conservatives provincially, the presence of former BCU candidates could throw the most competitive races into total disarray. Accordingly, this is shaping up to be one of the closest elections in decades.
How to Vote:
With all that said, what does it mean for our humble campus?
Well, to answer the question you’re probably reading to uncover, yes, you are probably eligible to vote. The most surefire way to know if you are eligible is to try to register online at elections.bc.ca.
Below is a checklist of what you need to qualify for in order to vote:
- Canadian Citizenship,
- Age of 18 years or older,
- You have lived as a BC Resident for the past 6 months.
While registering online or via phone is typically the fastest way to be eligible before the polls open, you can also register to vote in-person on Election Day or any of the Advanced Voting Days.
You will also need to bring a piece of government identification with a photo, such as a BC Driver’s License or a BC Services Card. If you don’t have anything from the BC government with a photo ID, that’s okay — you can also bring two pieces of ID, so long as both have your name and one has your address, such as a passport, report card/UBC document, a credit card statement, etc.
In terms of your “address”, the ID you present will reflect where your vote will be counted — keep this in mind when presenting ID. If you want your vote to count for where you're living in Kelowna, be sure to present an ID showing your current address, be that on- or off-campus. If you are registered to vote elsewhere in BC and want to have your vote counted there, then you will need to request a mail-in ballot; these can be picked up at any district electoral office, and for Kelowna that is 610-1632 Dickson Ave and 3211 Berry Rd. Once these packages are filled out, you can mail them yourself, drop them off from where you got it, or hand it in at a local in-person voting location. If you don’t have a fixed address, you can use the address of a social services agency where you receive services. If you want to vote in-person, then you’re in luck; you can walk into any voting location starting October 10th, cast your ballot, then walk out. Advanced Voting is open to everyone registered, and if you’re busy on Election Day then you can always go early. You will be able to cast your vote between October 10-13 and 15-16, with the final day to vote (Election Day) being on October 19th. You can find a comprehensive list of where to vote at wheretovote.elections.bc.ca.
The four Kelowna districts are particularly competitive this year, considering the four-way nature of all Kelowna races (and one five-way for UBCO’s district), and this year will leave your vote worth more than ever before. For UBCO’s riding, "Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream", there are two independents – (one attempted to get the Conservative nomination and failed, the other received BCU's nomination before the party withdrew and is running anyways) – one Conservative, one NDP’er, and a Green. Regardless of your views, you are likely to find someone from this grouping that you’ll at least mostly agree with.
British Columbia will hold an election this year, and it will be in good company in doing so — alongside half the world. In Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream, our votes will count for plenty, but an election is worth more than a ballot: it can be a moment where anyone can bring forth the real issues affecting the people. If you want anyone to listen to your worries, your hopes, or your fears, then volunteer for a campaign. Pick the team you think is truly independent of private interests, or has their head on right, or speaks to you better than any other.
It will be hard to feel like you’re making a change, and it is a long, hard fight. But it is worth it.
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