“THE rich people have had their premier. It’s time for a premier to look after regular people,” said BC NDP candidate Bruce Bidgood speaking at the opening of his Terrace campaign office.
“I’ll be your voice, your face, your champion. The real asset is yourself,” said BC Liberal Ellis Ross speaking at the opening of his Terrace campaign office.
And with those core sentences, the two main party candidates in the Skeena riding staked their ground for the provincial election campaign now underway.
Mr. Bidgood is focusing on the theme of Premier Christy Clark being elitist, always fertile ground for any opposition party seeking to unseat its opponent, while Mr. Ross is reaching deep into the BC Liberal philosophy that people themselves know what’s best for their own lives and for their own livelihood.
It gives voters plenty to think about leading to the May 9 vote as they ask the two essential questions:
“Am I better off now than I was before?”
And “what can any government do to improve my lot in life?”
Governments themselves cannot magically make things happen as demonstrated, for example, by the so-far illusive prospect of a liquefied natural gas industry in the northwest.
But they can create broad-based foundations to benefit citizens.
And who voters can trust to do that is the ultimate question to be asked.
