Dosanjh concedes NDP on the way out

With a week to go before voting day, Premier Ujjal Dosanjh has finally admitted the NDP is going to lose the election. His concession of defeat follows the release of the latest poll, which shows the NDP is now running in third place, one point behind the Green Party.

INDEPTH: B.C. Votes

The survey of 500 B.C. voters, conducted last week by Marktrend Research, shows the Liberals still far ahead with 65%, the Greens now second with 15% and the NDP trailing with 14%.

It's considered accurate plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Dosanjh says he understands this election is about changing government, and that he will not be forming another NDP government.

"This is the fight of our lives, and we want to make sure we win some seats, and we can do that in our traditional areas of support and strength," he says. "I'm going to go out there and give it a fight, because it's important for the people of British Columbia to have our values represented."

He urges voters to support the NDP in ridings where the party still has a chance; to elect enough New Democrats at least to form the official Opposition.

LINK: B.C. NDP

Appearing on the CBC's youth forum on Tuesday night, deputy premier Joy MacPhail offered her own blunt assessment. "Well, actually we know we won't be forming the next government," she said.

The premier's former special advisor, David Schreck, has been saying that since last winter. "It's a brutal recognition of reality. One can only engage in denial so long," he says.

Schreck says if the vote were held today, the NDP would probably be wiped out. He says if the premier had admitted the obvious months ago, the outcome might have been different.

Green Party Leader Adriane Carr says she's elated by her party's second place showing. She says the NDP lost the election a number of years ago, in a series of decisions it made.

Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell says the premier still doesn't get it, because he doesn't accept responsibility for the NDP government's record.

LINK: B.C. Liberals