1 Year to the 41st BC General Election

1 year from today - the roughly 1.8 million voters who voted in the 2013 Provincial Election will head to the election boxes in 2017 to vote for 85 MLA's for the 41st Parliament of British Columbia

While the 40th General Election of British Columbia was generally a mild affair, due to the public commitment of then-BC NDP Leader (and current Vancouver-Kingsway MLA) Adrian Dix to keep that particular election free of mud-slinging, I am expecting the 41st General Election to having a different tone and we are certainly seeing elements of that in the Provincial Legislature today to which official campaigning does not start until mid-April of 2017 which then marks the official start of the 41st BC General Election period (mid April - May 9th, 2017)

I am expecting both local BC Liberal MLA's Coralee Oakes (Cariboo-North) and Donna Barnett (Cariboo-Chilcotin) to seek re-election in 2017.

As for their election opponents:

I am expecting the BC NDP to put up a candidate against MLA's Oakes/Barnett.  In 2013 -- the NDP candidates in Cariboo North/Cariboo-Chilcotin were Duncan Barnett (Cariboo-North) and Charlie Wyse (Cariboo-Chilcotin).  While Mr. Wyse indicated 2013 was his last campaign to fight, I would not be surprised if Mr. Barnett (Cariboo-North) tried to unseat MLA Oakes once again.  With the BC Conservative Party in tatters and without a leader at this time, I am not expecting candidates from this Party in both Cariboo-Chilcotin and Cariboo-North but it would not be "outside the realm of possibilities" to see a candidate in Cariboo-North/Cariboo-Chilcotin from the BC Green Party.  As for independents in Cariboo-North/Cariboo-Chilcotin -- with Bob Simpson's defeat in the 2013 Provincial Election as an Independent MLA, I am not expecting to see an Independent MLA candidate for Cariboo-North but I wouldn't be surprised to see an Independent MLA candidate in Cariboo-Chilcotin.  In 2013 - Gary Young ran as an Independent MLA candidate in Cariboo-Chilcotin and could easily do so again...

By the end of 2016 - both the BC NDP/BC Liberals should have most, if not, all of their 85 MLA candidates nominated for the 2017 Provincial General Election

As for campaign issues in Cariboo North/Cariboo Chilcotin for the 2017 Provincial Election, those could include:

* Mt Polley/Responsible Resource Development in Rural Areas
* Closure of Schools/Education Funding, particularly from a Rural Perspective
* Lack of Jobs

Meanwhile - a couple of online sites are reporting that a lack of awareness of the BC NDP Leader John Horgan might be one of many NDP's achilles heal for the 2017 Election.

Read here (NewsKamloops) and here (Harvey Oberfeld Blog)

~SF