VICTORIA — With five days left in her campaign, B.C. Liberal Leader Christy Clark spent Thursday touting the Liberals’ Vancouver Island-specific platform in NDP-dominated ridings she hopes to swing next Tuesday.
Clark met with candidates and supporters at a local tech company, farmer’s market and craft brewery and distillery in southern Vancouver Island, where she is fighting a hard battle for her party.
The B.C. Liberals took just two of Vancouver Island’s 14 ridings in the 2013 election, leaving one to B.C. Green party leader Andrew Weaver and the rest to the NDP.
“It’s been far too long that the NDP have taken Vancouver Island for granted and we are going to end that,” Clark told a throng of supporters at the Victoria Caledonian Brewery and Distillery, where she capped off her day.
Clark went on to tout the party’s stand-alone Vancouver Island platform, which it introduced alongside its regular platform, a first for B.C.
“The reason we (have the platform) is because Vancouver Island is so vital to the province and this place is absolutely unique in British Columbia,” she explained. “Let’s honour that, let’s celebrate it.”
B.C. Liberal leader Christy Clark waves to the crowd as she arrives for a rally at a brewery in Victoria, B.C., Thursday, May 4, 2017.
After a Vancouver event Thursday morning where Clark accused the NDP of not telling voters about “sneaky” taxes that would come as a result of its platform promises, she flew to Nanaimo to visit Seamor Marine, an underwater-robots manufacturer.
Clark toured the facility and piloted one of the robots before stumping on her platform promise of creating and supporting tech jobs in B.C.
The riding has been an NDP stronghold since 2001. The Liberals have put forth Paris Gaudet, executive director of tech firm Innovation Island. Gaudet hopes to block the NDP’s Leonard Krog from a fourth term. Horgan is holding a town hall in the riding Friday afternoon.
At a quick stop in the Cowichan Valley riding, Clark bought a jar of local honey at the Old Farm Market in Duncan and met with candidate Steve Housser.
B.C. Liberal leader Christy Clark greets young supports during a campaign stop at a brewery in Victoria, B.C., Thursday, May 4, 2017.
Late last month, B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan visited the riding and pledged to build a new hospital made with B.C. wood products.
Thursday, five NDP supporters carrying orange banners and wearing pins crashed Clark’s visit to the market just as she was whisked away in a SUV.
The riding, established in 2008, has been held by the NDP’s Bill Routley since 2009. Housser, who lost to Routley by 1,400 votes in 2013, will this time challenge the NDP’s Lori Lynn Iannidinardo.
The B.C. NDP took seven of Greater Victoria’s eight ridings last election. In Saanich North and the Islands, the Liberal candidate came within 160 votes of the NDP’s, while the NDP took six other ridings by 10- to 30-point spreads.
Voters go to the polls May 9. Advanced voting is being held at certain locations Friday and Saturday.
