Crucial B.C. byelection Wednesday
It's byelection day in Vancouver-Point Grey in a contest that could put another B.C. premier from the riding back into the legislature.
Liberal Christy Clark — elected party leader ten weeks ago and sworn in as premier in March — is seeking the seat vacated by her predecessor, Gordon Campbell.
Her main rival among the six other candidates is the NDP's David Eby, former head of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, a role in which he gained considerable media exposure as a perennial critic of the province's legal and political establishment.
The B.C. Liberals have spent much of the month-long campaign portraying Eby as an extremist who's out of touch. Their advertisements note Eby's opposition to polygamy laws and his support for legalization of illicit drugs.
Liberal campaign chair Colin Hansen also says the BCCLA became radicalized while Eby was executive director.
"I don't support [Eby's] views and I think the majority of voters in Point Grey don't support those views, but I think they have a right to know he is a candidate who espouses them."
The pointed campaign against Eby shows the Liberals are running scared, Eby says.
"The attack ads are really good indicator to me and to our team and to a lot of people on the doorstep that we're really close," he said Tuesday.
Eby, meanwhile, has gone after Clark as one who ducks debates while spending public dollars on media events designed to give her more profile in the riding.
The B.C. NDP has sent a letter of complaint to Elections B.C., citing Clark's May 5 news conference to announce funding for 30 new units of housing in the riding and an April 28 announcement of funding for an expansion of Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver. Ronald McDonald House is located just outside the riding boundary.
The Liberals rejected the complaints, saying Clark was doing premier's work that happened to occur during the campaign.
Clark, was first elected to the legislature 1996 as an Opposition MLA. When the Liberals took power in 2001, Clark held several cabinet posts, including education and children and families. She quit the Campbell administration in 2004.
