Constant campaign continues for B.C. premier, 1 year away from election

With B.C. Premier Christy Clark, it's hard to tell when one campaign ends and the other begins.

She's spent the past three years testing talking points, posing for pictures and rolling out policies — always with an eye on re-election. 

Now with voting day a year away, getting an answer from Clark that doesn't include campaign ready slogans is impossible.

"There is always a reason why someone, some special interest group can say no to every single project, every single job in British Columbia, that's easy. But nobody elects me or elects a premier to try to take the easy way out," said Clark, when she was asked what she had to do to get re-elected.

Crafting a message

Political campaigns are about crafting a message and selling that story to voters. What Clark is selling to British Columbians is clear — the B.C. Liberals are the party of resource development.

"People who want to work know what party to vote for. It was true in the last election when we promised we would create more opportunities for people who wanted to work. Now we are really delivering on that," said Clark.

Clark takes every opportunity to remind the public B.C. has the country's fastest growing economy and lowest unemployment rate. 

Popularity struggles

But it's unclear whether the public buys Clark's rhetoric. Polls in this province were proven unreliable in the last provincial election and are now easily cast aside because of that. But an Insights West poll released this week shows Clark's message is not as popular as she may have thought.

Of those polled, 39 per cent said they believe Clark is doing a good job on the economy and jobs, compared to 46 per cent who said she is doing a bad job. When it comes to energy,pipelines and LNG 28 per cent said the government is doing a good job, compared to 56 per cent who aren't in support of the government's actions.

Then, there are the premier's personal approval numbers. There is no doubt Clark is one of the most polarizing people in the province. Nearly 60 per cent of respondents to an Insights West poll said they disapproved of Clark, whereas only a third approved. Seven per cent were not sure. 

Compare that to NDP Leader John Horgan, where 31 per cent of people said they were unsure about the job he was doing.

"We know that the NDP tend to surge and win in elections primarily when the governing party is in trouble. The main thing she has to do is just hold everything together, which I don't think is particularly hard," said Max Cameron, a UBC political scientist. "The danger there is she may be lured into a false confidence."

Growing controversies

Then there are all the controversies Clark has been deflecting over the past few years. Questions still linger about the role her office may have played in facilitating the triple deletion of emails to skirt freedom of information laws.

The B.C. Liberals have also re-hired Laura Miller as its executive director, while she is defending herself in Ontario on charges of deleting documents in that province.  

The most recent string of questions for Clark has been about political campaigning, high priced fundraisers and her $50,000-a-year allowance from the B.C. Liberal Party.

"I think that is a potentially nasty issue for the Liberals. They have not been willing to accept the calls for ending campaign financing through private dinners with big donors, much less put in any comprehensive campaign finance reform. It could raise questions, because it brings up ethics," said Cameron.

Plan for the future

As for new policies, don't expect the Liberals to put forward anything over the next year, compared to 2013. There will be something on Vancouver's real-estate market, but the government has been reluctant to do anything that could drive real estate prices down. There also has been an indication that changes to MSP payments will come, pegging the tax in some fashion to how much people make.

Small potatoes compared to the grandiose LNG promises which have yet come to fruition, although Clark is not giving up on that one yet.

"We are getting closer and closer to the date where people are going to have to decide if these projects will go ahead. And having British Columbians united behind these projects will make a difference in whether they are successful," said Clark.

The last time British Columbians went to the polls, Clark — despite a long career in the public limelight — had the advantage of being able to present herself as a fresh voice after a decade of rule by her predecessor, then-deeply unpopular Gordon Campbell.

She doesn't have that luxury this time around. Like any leader seeking a second term, the spring of 2017 is bound to become a referendum on her record.