The balanced budget the premier delivered this spring was her fifth in a row. Lulled, perhaps, by the strong mandate she won four years, Clark seemed to gradually lose the pulse of the province. How B. A narrow, unimaginative focus on limited government and job creation left no room for innovative policy, like the carbon tax her predecessor, Gordon Campbell introduced, a North American first.
In pushing the party to the right, Clark managed to quash B. But she moved her Liberals far to the right; hers is now arguably the most conservative Liberal government in the country. She grew deaf on key issues—affordability, sustainability, the influence of Big Money on politics.
Stagnant or falling earnings have put the squeeze of middle and working class households, particularly in the Lower Mainland. The gap between rich and poor has risen sharply under the Liberals, with the top 10 per cent now controlling 60 per cent of wealth in the province. Clark went into the campaign with a steady-as-she-goes platform, promising more of the same. But in his first three years in office, Wall increased public spending by 30 per cent. The Liberal upset was the second recent Western Canadian election to stump the pollsters.
In both cases, it appears the electorate chose an unpopular but safe and middle-of-the-road choice over a more radical opposition — the right wing Wildrose Party in Alberta and the left-wing New Democrats in B. The debate in B.
Dix addressed party members in Vancouver, conceding defeat but offering no explanation for why his party fell so far below expectations. Nor did he make any mention of his own future as leader. We brought change because we fight for a better society — and we are going to continue to do just that. The Liberals jumped into the lead in early returns and never fell behind the New Democrats.
Their victories included both Kamloops-area ridings that have been considered bellwethers in provincial elections for a century. Even Liberals seemed stunned by the magnitude of the turnaround. Early in the evening, a small crowd at Liberal headquarters erupted in sporadic shouts as results came in their favour.
Longtime Liberals were privately as shocked as pundits — and likely, so too were pollsters. But publicly, those close to the campaign said they knew it all along. Even at the lowest ebb for the B. That was a signal that the public was not falling in love with the NDP. It was the second race against Clark for newly elected NDP candidate David Eby, a prominent civil liberties lawyer who also challenged her in a byelection in Dix ran a populist campaign that urged voters it was time for a change after 12 years of Liberal governments.
The vote came after a month-long campaign that saw the Liberals play the part of underdog under Clark, who took over the party from Gordon Campbell more than two years ago. The Liberals were derided by much of the province over their introduction of the harmonized sales tax and other scandals, including the criminal probe into the sale of BC Rail. Bourassa in his riding. The PQ chose as a candidate in Bertrand a popular local mayor, Jean-Guy Parent, and appointed him to the provincial cabinet as an unelected minister of external trade.
On Dec. Bourassa lost in Bertrand. Bourassa aide Ronald Poupart said afterward that the PQ's tactics constituted one of the dirtiest "low blows" seen in Quebec politics. They turned it into something personal. If we had done the same thing in Mr. Johnson's riding, it wouldn't have been very hard to defeat him," Mr. Poupart said, noting that in his electoral district Mr. Johnson only edged the Liberal candidate Denis Ricard by votes.
Bourassa could run again and the PQ didn't name a candidate. Competing against fringe-party candidates, Mr. Bourassa won his seat by a 14,ballot margin. After his first term as prime minister, King saw his Liberals returned to power in the October federal election but only as a minority government. In the June general election, the Liberals won a third consecutive mandate, though King was defeated in his Saskatchewan riding by votes.
He returned to an Ontario constituency and was elected in a by-election in August in Glengarry.
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