Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: And now News Takeaway Connect FM 91.5 News Takeaway segment NewsPons Neat immigration J2C visitor visa, permanent residency, work permit, spouse families and any sponsorship Neat immigration cases which Mahara Ikadavar Sari the York Center Chaduja Abbotsford they Cedar Park Place which Nate Immigration Jasanam Vesakam bilkul sab sutra 604-547-7100 neat immigration sonu haircut we program this locations here Stylist at a barbering fresh up Vargay short term courses grand opening the Mok course fees discount for a limited time only absentee ballots they mail in ballots over the weekend BCNDP they call Santali Sitani Ajvi judicial recount Honah Kelowna Center Valley seat Kelowna center the witch J BC Conservative candidate name Christina Lewson Christina Lewin sorry election night so Jadawaha mail in ballots the absentee ballots margin of victory Kartegya Conservatives Jali seat judicial recount the Jeda formula 0.2% to cut the far Khove the fair Judicial recount Judicial recount judicial recount threshold OC38 votes J K Gary Bhagdi Jit Da Farka automatic judicial recount Naisi Hona Kyoke OS riding the which total Jinya Vota is election the which is margin of victory 0.2% so 0.2% threshold Banda that is 38 votes margin of victory so the judicial recount David E.B. sarkar Bana Dhawa Legislative Assembly Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin Majority Speaker J Rajohan Bandhani BC NDP the fair speaker the Kamte Honda neutral Rekha partisanship that's okay by chance for whatever various reasons over the course of the four years JK by election Hojanda There was by election then what Green Party things could flip if there is more than one by election if they exchange hands by election maybe Jake they on the charge by election on the JNDPO seat comfort margin the next thing to see Speaker Kinubana Jedi judicial recount Honor Guilford take along center the writing the Vijay margin of victory riding the which is total vote on the point though percent to cut margin threshold judicial recount Supreme Court of BC Judicial recount the timeline judicial recount that is the earliest when it can start so Kal final recount automatic judicial recount so the earliest judicial recount start Ho Sakda Panj November recount the date final Jed account so West Vancouver Sea to sky judicial recount margin of victory judicial recount Basso shrink hogasi Parajidi Seat CEO Flip Nasi Jado West Vancouver Seat Sky Judicial recount Margin of victory Satokat Keik Tali Votanda that was the only thing so Judicial recount appeal current the deadline two days after the recount results are declared Conservative Party election Subai Politics I think that is one of the biggest stories.
Visa V Deviche Party official opposition press conference Overall Conservative Party of Canada nomination pending the results of the judicial recounts on two seats almost finalized Mr. De Jong, a very good morning to you.
[00:13:09] Speaker B: Vijay Good morning. Satri Kal and Happy Diwali Diwali Connect.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: FM listeners Sat Sri Kalan Happy Diwali to you as well in advance. Mr. De Jong, is this what you had been anticipating? I remember the last time we spoke, I said, could you share your prediction of who is going to win how many seats? And you said that you wanted to keep it close to your chest. Is this what you had envisioned could have potentially happened?
[00:13:35] Speaker B: I didn't anticipate it being quite this close. Quite frankly, I thought that the NDP based on the campaigns might do a little better, even though I heard a lot of discontent out there. This really does confirm just how dissatisfied British Colombians are with the state of the province and the job Mr. E.B. and the NDP have done. And Vijay, the divide between urban British Columbia, meaning metro Vancouver, southern Vancouver island, and the rest of British Columbia, rural British Columbia, is more pronounced than ever.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: What do you think the potential headaches could be for an NDP government with just a razor thin margin of 47 seats? I mean, they've been, they've been in a much more precarious situation in the past in 2017 when they did not have enough seats on their own to form a majority. But now they've got this razor thin margin. This could still potentially bring some headaches for them. What are some of those?
[00:14:37] Speaker B: Vijay it starts with the logistics of operating the House. The first thing you need to know is that during the course of a legislative session, it's not uncommon for a minister to want to, or the premier for that matter, to attend a conference. It might be a first minister's conference.
The government loves to make. This government in particular, loves to make announcements. No one's going anywhere when the House is in session.
Every one of those NDP MLAs, every one of those ministers, including the premier, is going to have to be there and they are going to have to rely on the speaker in many instances to break tie votes. That's how precarious their majority is.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Just for the benefit of the Listeners, could you please elaborate a bit on the speaker having to being the tiebreaker and if that happens far too often, the potential problems that that could bring.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Well, people tend to focus on the big votes, the throne speech, the budget, and that's appropriate because those clearly are important indicators of the direction the government wants to move in. But on a day to day basis, legislation is introduced in the House and the opposition debates those bills section by section. And it's not unusual, Vijay, for a bill to enjoy general support but for individual sections to cause concern. In this situation where the ndp, where there's a speaker in the chair, the opposition, the Conservative official opposition and the two Green members may well vote against individual sections. They may vote against the bill itself, but the government is going to have to rely upon the speaker because in a tie vote the speaker is called upon to break the tie. Now, we don't know who the speaker will be. I'm sure Mr. Shohan, who was the speaker, probably would like to have the job back. We don't know if that will happen, but it is an indication of just how precarious the government's position will be and we may see evidence of that on a daily basis.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: You mentioned that nobody could go anywhere because of the logistics and given how the seat allocation is after the election results.
The B.C. legislative assembly does not have the provision of a virtual vote, does it?
[00:17:13] Speaker B: Well it, there is a virtual, a virtual session and my, and has been in the past. The issue there, however, is the government can't abuse that. There's a very strict set of rules for why a member, why a member can't be absent or can be absent and rely upon that.
And that does not include making life easier for the government because they didn't secure a healthier majority. So it's a very interesting point you make because the government may try to make use of that technology but under the present rules they would be making misuse of it because it's not there to make the government's job easier.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Is there also some chatter to revive BC United or BC Liberal Party or another fourth party in the province? Do you see that given how the kind of voting that we've seen, the kind of results that we've seen, is there now space for a fourth party to maybe come back up and maybe it could be the B.C. liberals?
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Well, I'm not hearing it. I think that quite frankly Mr. Rustad and the Conservative Party of British Columbia surprised a lot of people by how quickly they were able to coalesce and very nearly very nearly form a government. Were it not for some BC United candidates and a few select writings, we would be talking about Premier Elect John Rustad. So I think in the next number of months, the free enterprise movement in British Columbia is going to be watching to see the degree to which John Rustad and his group of newly elected MLAs, many of them, most of them in fact, with very little experience, whether they, whether they can form, come together and form a professional, cohesive opposition that demonstrates they have the capacity and are ready to govern.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: And that's very important, isn't that Mr. De Jong has given this, this is perhaps one of the strongest oppositions that the B.C. electorate has sent to the legislature and the strongest opposition, the members of that opposition are, like you pointed out, do not have a lot of them, do not have much of any political experience. So that could be a challenge for the BC Conservatives.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: AJ there's no question it's the biggest official opposition. What Mr. Rustad and his team now have to demonstrate is the second part of that equation, that they are the strongest opposition. And that will require them coming together, working together.
I think they're capable of it, but they have to demonstrate that they can do it. There are, as in any large group, there are different opinions and different ideas. But what Mr. Rustad needs to do, in addition to holding this very weak NDP government to account, is demonstrate to British Columbians that there is a coherent vision for how to rebuild a sagging economy and provide some hope to British Columbians who are beginning to lose hope.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: I do want to ask you another prediction, if you want to share. Do you think this setup is going to last four years or is it.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Too soon to say no, this government will not last.
This will not last for four years, even with the razor thin, even with the razor thin majority that they enjoy. And by the way, one thing I know, as people are getting up, they're getting ready or they're on their way to work and they're listening to Connect fm.
If as we talk about some of these very, very close races, Surrey, Mr. Big and a few other constituencies, there are some people listening to you and I right now who did not take 20 minutes to go vote.
And I want those people to contemplate just for a minute, how much of a difference their vote could have made not just within their constituency, but to which party was forming government, it does.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Make me wonder, you know, it's an Excellent point, Mr. De Jong, but given the kind of weather that we have had on election day, do you think that now Governments and our Elections act should probably need to look at a provision that if such a rare weather event occurs on the final voting day, there should be some different kind of provisions, maybe extend the election by a day. I know it's easier said than done, but do you think that given the kind of climate change and the kind of climatic effects we are undergoing, there needs to be that sort of a provision?
[00:22:11] Speaker B: Well, I suppose you can look at it. But look, there were no shortage of opportunities to vote in advance polls and of course almost a million British Columbians took advantage of those opportunities. So I don't think the question really is about opportunity. I think it's more about a will and a commitment. And you know, I know there's always something going on. And I say this in a completely nonpartisan way. If you are someone who liked the government, you very nearly saw that government fail. And if you were someone that was opposed to the NDP government and didn't vote, you may well have given up on your opportunity to influence the outcome. So just a reminder, when we see these, when we see these results that come down to 5, 10 or 20 votes, it's a reminder of how important it is that we exercise our democratic rights. And what worries me is our participation rates continue to fall in not just British Columbia, but in Canada. So a good reminder to us that each one of us possesses the ability to bring influence in our democracy.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Time to bring in mandatory voting and maybe a fine if somebody doesn't go to vote.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: I'm a greater believer in incentives than in punishments. I know in some countries they create a tax incentive for those people who take time to vote. I think it's unfortunate that we have to have the conversation. For me, it just seems logical. You know, we're coming up in a week and a half to Remembrance Day. People died so we can go vote. And I think it's a duty we owe to the people who fought to preserve those and secure those rights for us. But who knows, maybe a tax incentive would promote the idea or encourage more people than presently vote to do so.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: Mr. DeJong, always a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you so much for your time this morning.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Vijay, thank you. And again, happy Diwali to you and all your Connect FM listeners.
[00:24:34] Speaker A: Thank you so much. Thanks a lot and same to you. Bye bye.
Thank you.
Everybody has to be present in the Legislative Assembly.
Liberals, John Rustad, Conservatives Day.
That does not mean.
[00:29:21] Speaker C: The.
[00:29:24] Speaker A: Mike De Jong, I think background, background or low count target.
That's not what I think at all.
So what's up the message I think justified Vote Park Overall BCD electorate message so that JK election reconsolidate 604-561-0915 Chase.
[00:31:36] Speaker D: On Sunday.
[00:31:58] Speaker E: Meeting.
[00:32:01] Speaker D: Feedback land.
[00:33:23] Speaker C: Actually frequently I have no words millions and millions of dollars right take a hospital hagasif you know like I have no words menu I think then no political person should be allowed in the Surrey period I'm gonna be like you know so much surprised about that thank you.
[00:34:43] Speaker A: How is she doing now?
[00:34:45] Speaker C: She's getting better like you know old 82 years I'm not concerned about my mother only I'm concerned about all the you know like it's like I don't know that is not a hospital I would say that is a nursing home.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: Thank you aging population health system unaccounted.
[00:35:46] Speaker F: Immigration.
[00:38:18] Speaker A: Social media thank you social media during the campaign accountability hello Madhanji Good morning I think.
[00:41:12] Speaker E: Basic things not only in British Columbia pure Canada so all those things hospital launch September so all those things it is more about fear already treatment it itself is a racial treatment this in itself is a ratio treatment.
[00:43:38] Speaker C: The actions should show very well.
[00:43:41] Speaker A: Put very well put infrastructure but you've explained things really well thank you Maganji for adding to the conversation the tax minimum basic exemption amount specifically thank you election platform legal document platform Legal document election platform.
[00:48:35] Speaker F: They don't know how to manage hospital they don't know how to how to use the resources any problem could not solve problem.
[00:49:42] Speaker A: Unfortunately Focus Next generation Focus Next election popularity name recognition but that would be an ideal scenario not to say ideal scenario achieved.
[00:50:42] Speaker D: Margin but at the same time uniform was the coffee there Tucker representative even if I was working for NDP like as a representative at local level.
[00:51:39] Speaker A: Please yeah.
[00:51:40] Speaker D: Okay okay you go ahead I know.
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