Two B.C. byelections see parties field testing tactics ahead of 2017 election
VICTORIA — Two British Columbia byelections to fill vacant Metro Vancouver seats are being fought against a much larger political backdrop than who wins or loses.
Premier Christy Clark’s Liberals, the New Democrats and the Greens are knocking on doors and waving signs to court votes and field testing tactics and attitudes in advance of the provincial election 16 months away.
The byelections Tuesday in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant and Coquitlam-Burke Mountain won’t change the balance of power in the legislature, currently at 48 Liberals, 33 New Democrats, two independents and two vacancies, but they start a countdown to the May 2017 election.
A political analyst said Clark’s Liberals have jumped on the idea of the sharing economy in an effort to deflect unfulfilled election promises of a liquefied natural gas bonanza.