With one week to go, the excitement and anticipation are building!
Well, probably not. Or at least not for most people. But in a week's time, the politicians and wannabe politicians of all stripes will be off to the races, trying to win your vote.
Much will be said during the campaign. And much will be said that, at best, can be characterized as misleading. Fact-checking during all candidates' forums and on the doorstep is not going to happen. Even in interviews by the media, our political leaders will play fast and easy with the truth in the hopes that no one will check up.
This was the case last Friday, on CBC, when Premier Clark was being interviewed. Her claim was that since the introduction of the Jobs Plan in September, 2011, B.C. has led the country in job growth.
Unfortunately for her, the next person on the show was legislative reporter Jonathan Fowlie who proceeded to qualify the Premier's statements. If you include the data from August 2011 - that is, if you back date the start of the Jobs Plan, then the Premier might be right.
But if you start from September 2011, as Ms. Clark suggested, then we have only seen a job growth of 22,000 and we lag way behind the rest of the country. Not exactly promising economic news.
Perhaps more to the point is that job growth is not keeping up with the population increase with more people left looking for work as a consequence.
And furthermore, the month-to-month fluctuations in the job growth numbers are about the same size. Last month, B.C.'s economy lost 24,000 jobs - more than the total created since September 2011. As the Premier pointed out, from month-to-month it is up and down, which makes any number suspect.
So, without the opportunity to fact-check each politician's arguments or have your own legislative reporter handy, how is the average person to know what is the truth?
The unfortunate answer is "you can't". But something that anyone can do is research a series of questions and ask them of each candidate.
In this case, it is more about what they say - how they answer - that matters.
For example, I asked one of my colleagues what is one question that he would ask of all the candidates. His answer was: "What is your position on the Northern Gateway pipeline?"
In this region of the province, it is a fair question and reflects the concern that many people have about the environmental safety of a major pipeline running through our backyard.
In his case, in particular, he is an angler and worries a great deal about the degradation to fish habitat that will happen if the pipeline goes through, regardless of whether or not there are subsequent spills.
For Northern Gateway, we all have our own level of comfort with the prospect of a pipeline in the north and the parties have well staked out positions.
For the Liberals, it is "meet the five demands". Unfortunately, that is not going to happen. The government of Alberta views their natural resource - the oil in the ground - as theirs and theirs alone. However, they view our natural resources - our coast - as something that belongs to all Canadians and they have a right to any benefits that might accrue from a coastal port.
Since a share of the revenue is a big part of the Liberal strategy and it is not going to happen, they would have to say "no" to the pipeline. However, Premier Clark said that we can't stand in the way of progress. Conflicting messages.
The NDP have said that they are not willing to cede jurisdiction over British Columbia land to any other level of government. This will mean that even if the Conservatives in Ottawa approve the proposal, under the NDP it would still need to meet B.C. standards.
The question is - where do you sit? Which answer resonates with your beliefs?
Other questions include: "Where do you sit on the issue of education? Should we be doing a better job for our students?" Smaller class sizes, better wages - many would argue both for and against these issues.
Or: "What is your view on budgeting?" It is all well and good to turn in a "balanced budget" each year but let's face it the BC Liberals have been anything but fiscally responsible. Our provincial debt has blossomed from $34 billion to $66 billion in just 12 short years. They have presented balanced budgets but failed in the final analysis when the audits have come out leaving us further in debt.
In the end, we have four short weeks to find out where our candidates stand. Knowing what questions you want to ask and what the answers should look like if they are going to get your vote is our part in the political process.
