File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Two and Out

PETERS: Eby could learn something from Horgan, who bridged the ideological divide between urban and rural B.C.

Nov 22, 2024 | 12:30 PM

YOU’VE HEARD IT SAID dozens of times in the past week — the NDP could use another John Horgan.

It’s not that Horgan was the second coming or the perfect politician. He surely had his faults and his legacy is peppered with both successes and failures.

The tightrope he walked, though, is what helped the BC NDP to some of its greatest electoral and policy victories.

John from Langford bridged the gap between the urban champagne socialists and the unionized workers who live in smaller communities dependent on the land and its resources.

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PETERS: Eby could learn something from Horgan, who bridged the ideological divide between urban and rural B.C.

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The demographic gap between urban and rural is arguably the widest ideological gap there is in B.C. right now.

It’s wider than the gap between men and women or the gap between young and old.

The everyday realities of living in the big city and living in a town like Chase or Merritt are foreign to those on the outside looking in.

An emergency room closure in the Lower Mainland doesn’t mean much when there is another emergency room within a short drive or ambulance ride. Outside the city, it’s huge.

Likewise, the potential impact of a Skytrain expansion probably doesn’t register to someone who has a 10-minute daily commute.

We simply don’t relate to each other much anymore and that has led to a loss of respect between the two groups.

In last month’s provincial election, that translated into a starker vote split between the big cities and the rural ridings than we have ever seen before.

Only three ridings outside the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island voted for the NDP. Conversely, the most densely populated portions of Greater Vancouver and Victoria voted NDP.

When he was leading the NDP, Horgan’s trick was grabbing the cities with one hand and the small towns with the other and showing how they can be connected — and in B.C., how they need to be connected.

He wasn’t out of place in a suit for a business meeting or in a hard hat on a job site.

David Eby is no John Horgan — and if he can’t channel some of his former boss’ spirit, we can expect four more years of extreme frustration and alienation in rural B.C.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.