Climate change top of mind for B.C. residents this election

British Columbia’s issues animated a federal election campaign across Canada, with climate change and housing becoming central to pledges from the Liberals and the NDP.

In many past elections, the lament from those in the province has been that the sheer number of voters east of Manitoba has seen the winner decided before ballots are even counted on Canada’s West Coast, leaving Westerners wondering if their issues or their votes mattered much.

But in this contest, polling has shown a tight race, and that Canadians are now worrying about the same concerns that drove the results of the last two B.C. elections, including the contest just last year.

A national Angus Reid poll at the end of August found climate change remained the most important issue for one in five Canadians surveyed, with it ranking among the top two issues for voters under the age of 55.

Max Cameron, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia, said climate was undoubtedly top of mind for people living in a province that just experienced another “hellish” season of forest fires; a heat dome that killed hundreds of people; and the largest act of disobedience in Canadian history, with more than 1,040 people arrested during protests over old-growth logging at Fairy Creek.

B.C. has been the stronghold of the Green Party, electing the party’s first MP and first MLA on platforms focused on battling climate change. Climate issues have been at the centre of provincial campaigns as far back as 2008, when the BC Liberals successfully campaigned on their move to bring in North America’s first carbon tax.

But the Greens suffered several key setbacks. In June, New Brunswick Green MP Jenica Atwin crossed the floor to join the Liberals and, earlier this month, former BC Green Party leader Andrew Weaver endorsed the Liberal Party as well, calling it “the only credible science-aligned climate plan put forward by any political party at the federal level to date.”

“This was a real chance for the Greens to make gains, but they were disadvantaged in a variety of ways, including some self-inflicted harm,” Prof. Cameron said, referencing the party’s political infighting and leader Annamie Paul’s turbulent tenure.

The 2019 election delivered two Greens to the House of Commons, along with 17 Conservatives and 11 each for the Liberals and the NDP. Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould was elected as an independent. (She did not run in this campaign.)

Young Canadian voters, those between the ages of 18 and 34, told Angus Reid affordable housing was one of their top concerns. All three parties have acknowledged the country’s housing crisis with promises to address the increasing demand for affordable places to live, as well as measures to ensure new accommodations – whether rental or owned – get built. If the new government lives up to its promises, it will represent the most aggressive involvement of the federal government in housing in decades.

“I love the feds being back into housing. All three parties are interested in housing. It feels like the feds are running the campaign we had back in B.C. in 2017,” B.C. Housing Minister David Eby said.

All of the parties, though, were vague about how they would meet these goals given significant obstacles, especially a quagmire at the municipal level in getting zoning and permitting done swiftly.

Results from the Liberals’ efforts to execute on their housing promises from 2019 shows there should have been 64,000 new homes built after four years of that government’s housing strategy. Available statistics suggest only about half that were actually created.

Paul Kershaw, a professor at UBC who founded the Generation Squeeze group aimed at increasing the equity in society for younger people, likened the rising cost of residential real estate across the country to an escalator. He said the major parties have articulated ways in which they are trying to slow that escalator down, but none have said they want to stall it. That remains unpalatable to the party leaders because of the massive windfall many older voters

have enjoyed over the past decade as the value of their homes has skyrocketed.

“You need to be willing to have a hard conversation,” he said.

During Mr. Trudeau’s visits to B.C., which included stops in Vancouver, Saanich, Surrey and Steveston, the Liberal Leader promised investments in wildfire firefighter resources and longterm care homes.

Erin O’Toole held a rally in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island and visited the Vancouver area. His campaign encountered one of its biggest controversies while Mr. O’Toole was in the province, when he was forced to walk back a platform promise to rescind a ban on certain weapons.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is running for re-election in his BurnabySouth riding, made more campaign stops in B.C. than any other leader.