VANCOUVER — Premier Christy Clark, humbled by two byelection defeats in traditional Liberal strongholds, vowed Friday to unite B.C.’s free-enterprise voice in time for next May’s provincial election.
But while pundits agree Clark is likely the best leader to unite free enterprisers, some say she’s wounded by internal struggles from within her own government and the external pressures placed on her party by the upstart Conservatives.
The Opposition NDP made historic breakthroughs in Thursday’s byelections in the Fraser Valley riding of Chilliwack-Hope and suburban Vancouver’s Port Moody-Coquitlam. The results left Clark to blame the losses on vote splitting, with the B.C. Conservative party capturing support on the right that would have traditionally gone to the Liberals.
New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix said Clark and the Liberals are fooling themselves.
“I think it’s unbelievably disrespectful to the electorate to say that,” he said. “It’s the wrong lesson to draw from the election.”
Dix noted the Liberals only garnered about 30 per cent of the vote in both ridings. He suggested attributing those results to vote splitting was akin to telling 70 per cent of voters they made the wrong choice.
Clark vowed to pump up her government’s efforts to listen to British Columbians. She said she’s looking for ways to ensure her “free-enterprise coalition” doesn’t fracture as it did on Thursday.
“We’ve been working hard to listen, but we have to redouble our efforts . . . and make sure that our government reflects what British Columbians want for their province,” Clark said.
Speaking to reporters the morning after, Clark rejected questions about her leadership.
“I am the leader of the free-enterprise coalition in this province and I’m going to lead us into the next election,” said Clark.
Clark warned an NDP government could send people to other provinces looking for jobs.
“Me and my team and our party are going to be working very, very hard over the next 389 days to talk to British Columbians about those risks and reaching out and finding out what it is they want from their government and how they think that their government could better reflect them. And I’m going to be leading that effort.”