{"id":97100,"date":"2020-10-25T07:58:41","date_gmt":"2020-10-25T04:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/john-horgans-bet-pays-off-and-other-takeaways\/"},"modified":"2020-10-25T07:58:41","modified_gmt":"2020-10-25T04:58:41","slug":"john-horgans-bet-pays-off-and-other-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/john-horgans-bet-pays-off-and-other-takeaways\/","title":{"rendered":"#John Horgan&#8217;s bet pays off and other takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a415005a00bd\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a415005a00bd\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/john-horgans-bet-pays-off-and-other-takeaways\/#In_times_of_crisis_Canadians_prefer_stability\" >In times of crisis, Canadians prefer stability<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/john-horgans-bet-pays-off-and-other-takeaways\/#With_great_power_comes_great_responsibility\" >With great power comes great responsibility\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/john-horgans-bet-pays-off-and-other-takeaways\/#It_was_a_rough_night_for_Andrew_Wilkinson\" >It was a rough night for Andrew Wilkinson<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/john-horgans-bet-pays-off-and-other-takeaways\/#The_Green_Party_hangs_on\" >The Green Party hangs on\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/john-horgans-bet-pays-off-and-other-takeaways\/#Mail-in_ballots_and_loooooong_waits_for_results_are_the_way_of_the_immediate_future\" >Mail-in ballots and loooooong waits for results are the way of the (immediate) future\u00a0<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#John Horgan&#8217;s bet pays off and other takeaways<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n                                                                        <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">British Columbia voters <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ear to have rewarded John Horgan\u2019s pandemic gamble by giving his NDP a majority mandate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even as a second wave of COVID-19 cases takes firm hold in the province, the incumbent premier seems to have been spot-on with his calculus that going to the polls a year early would pay off\u2014although no final confirmation will be available for a while because of a glut of mail-in ballots.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After three years of relatively-stable minority government supported by a three-member Green Party caucus, the numbers suggest Horgan will not need to lean on political rivals anymore.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>B.C. election live results map\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does the NDP victory mean for B.C. and for the rest of the country? While we wait for the full final results to come in\u2014and that will take weeks\u2014we can guess at some of the tea leaves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"In_times_of_crisis_Canadians_prefer_stability\"><\/span><b>In times of crisis, Canadians prefer stability<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The B.C. outcome offers more proof to the notion that voters would rather not shake the boat <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">too<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> much during a pandemic, thank you. Perhaps now is not the time for a sea change. Thanks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember that in September, another premier of another minority government, that one only two years old, ended up with a majority after dropping the writ. That was Progressive Conservative Blaine Higgs, the premier of New Brunswick.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And in Saskatchewan, where the Saskatchewan Party\u2019s Scott Moe inherited a majority government from predecessor Brad Wall two years ago and an election is underway more-or-less on schedule\u2026 would you believe that the NDP has any shot at an upset? To put it mildly, polls <a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/338canada.com\/saskatchewan\/\">suggest they don\u2019t<\/a>. Moe\u2019s first campaign as leader of his party and as incumbent premier is likely to give him another majority mandate when the province votes Oct. 26.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if voters are annoyed\u2014or infuriated\u2014by the prospect of voting during a national and international crisis, they don\u2019t seem to be punishing their leaders for it. So, although we grant that federal politics is a different ball <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>, don\u2019t doubt that Liberals in Ottawa have noticed the trend. It does go some way to explaining why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was willing to stick his neck out and risk an election last week over the parameters of a committee he didn\u2019t like.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"With_great_power_comes_great_responsibility\"><\/span><b>With great power comes great responsibility\u00a0<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Horgan\u2019s second kick at the can should put to bed any instinct to blame the previous Liberal government for problems he inherited.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whatever happens next, the premier will have to wear it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>te future, other than the obvious challenges around the pandemic, that will mean taking responsibility for the fate of the controversial Site C hydroelectric dam project in northeast B.C., initiated under Christy Clark\u2019s Liberals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The NDP government has said the $12-billion project\u2014an amount that keeps rising and could again\u2014is not one it would have pursued. Cancelling it, though, was deemed a bad idea because that would mean writing off $4 billion in sunk costs and letting go of thousands of workers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the project\u2019s integrity is very much in doubt. A <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/vancouversun.com\/opinion\/columnists\/vaughn-palmer-horgan-drops-hints-about-site-c-but-coverup-continues\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">growing list of problems<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> kept under wraps and downplayed by BC Hydro led the province to announce a detailed review that will wrap up just after the election, in November or December.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its findings could yet result in a cancellation at the cost of Hydro ratepayers. On the other hand, a cancellation would ease ire from Indigenous right advocates who\u2019ve long decried the dam\u2019s expected ill effects on land use around the Peace River valley.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Horgan accused of covering up the extent of Site C\u2019s problems, communicating its fate will be his first big test in round two of his premiership. It will no longer matter that he (arguably) didn\u2019t get himself into this mess. It will matter what he does about it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"It_was_a_rough_night_for_Andrew_Wilkinson\"><\/span><b>It was a rough night for Andrew Wilkinson<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The current B.C. Liberal leader, who was a cabinet minister under Clark and deeply involved in Liberal governments past, has been criticized for being wishy-washy on his own party\u2019s record. He has also come under fire for inadequately handing <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/bc.ctvnews.ca\/bc-liberal-leader-facing-internal-backlash-amid-growing-list-of-candidate-controversies-1.5149166\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">candidate snafus<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014one, who resigned, compared free contraceptives to eugenics; another voted municipally against a rainbow crosswalk; a third tweeted support of a much-criticized J.K. Rowling blog on gender identity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Liberals were in power for a full 16 years before Horgan narrowly took power in 2017. Sixteen years in government are bound to haunt any party for some time. But it will be hard for Wilkinson to hang on after defeat\u2014when his compatriots\u2019 instincts will be to look for fresh blood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s admittedly early for speculation on the leader\u2019s replacement, should he resign or be forced out. But hey, why not? Keep an eye on Michael Lee, <\/span>who is likely to retain his suburban Vancouver seat. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He ran against Wilkinson in 2018 and came in third; on CBC Saturday night, he coyly avoided letting on whether he might be interested in running again. And maybe watch for a couple of guys from Kamloops, <\/span>who also appear en route to re-election<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Todd Stone, MLA since 2013, came in fourth in 2018. He has charisma in spades but will be hamstrung by his record on the beleaguered Insurance Corporation of B.C. MLA Peter Milobar, elected in 2017, is a former mayor of Kamloops and the party\u2019s labour critic at a time when the party badly needs to re-establish itself with blue-collar workers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Green_Party_hangs_on\"><\/span><b>The Green Party hangs on\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This election was always going to be tough going for the B.C. Greens. For one thing, they recently elected a new leader. Super recently. A week before Horgan called the election. Sonia Furstenau, one of the party\u2019s three MLAs going into the election, not only had to run a campaign a few days into her new job, but had to introduce herself to voters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then, in a strange turn of events a couple of days before the election, ex-Green leader Andrew Weaver seemed to lend his support to John Horgan by appearing in a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of videos the premier has been posting featuring phone calls with supporters. Yikes!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As of late Saturday night, it appeared that the Greens were going to hang on to three seats; they were competitive in several more ridings. The party will be happy\u2014and will get a hat tip from the Greens\u2019 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new federal leader<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who is fighting in her own federal by-election\u2014if it picks up a seat or two on top of that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But no matter how the numbers shake out, this election represents a loss of power. If the NDP no longer needs to rely on Greens for control of the legislature, Furstenau will be hard-pressed to ensure her party\u2019s influence doesn\u2019t wane.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Mail-in_ballots_and_loooooong_waits_for_results_are_the_way_of_the_immediate_future\"><\/span><b>Mail-in ballots and loooooong waits for results are the way of the (immediate) future\u00a0<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Election officials were warning on Friday that it could take days or even weeks for a final election result to become available.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s not surprising that B.C. voters turned in earnest to mail-in ballots at a time when they\u2019re being encouraged to stay home and stall the spread of COVID-19. Still, it\u2019s stunning to see officials reporting that nearly half a million ballots were received by mail, another 681,000 casted at advance polls. Together, those numbers represent well over half of total voter turnout in the 2017 election. Far fewer people than usual were expected to vote in person Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While we can reasonably predict that election day results will be shored up by those ballots as they\u2019re counted, and that the major broadcasters were calling an NDP majority just over an hour after results began to pour in, consider this blurb our caveat that we just can\u2019t be 100 per cent sure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depending on how long Canadians will have to deal with pandemic restrictions, this seems another dress rehearsal for how elections could play out for the foreseeable future.<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"ctx-article-root\"><!-- --><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/politics\/john-horgans-big-bet-pays-off-takeaways-from-the-b-c-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#John Horgan&#8217;s bet pays off and other takeaways&#8221; British Columbia voters appear to have rewarded John Horgan\u2019s pandemic gamble by giving his NDP a majority mandate.\u00a0 Even as a second wave of COVID-19 cases takes firm hold in the province, the incumbent premier seems to have been spot-on with his calculus that going to the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/HORGAN-SMITH-OCT24-766x431.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[73376,73377,67806,72537,77114],"class_list":["post-97100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-andrew-wilkinson","tag-b-c-election-2020","tag-editors-picks","tag-john-horgan","tag-sonia-furstenau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}