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Think carefully, choose wisely

Editor: On Monday, Sept. 21, Premier John Horgan announced that our next provincial election will be held on Saturday, Oct. 24. By doing so, he immediately reverted back to his role as the leader of the BC NDP party.

Editor:

On Monday, Sept. 21, Premier John Horgan announced that our next provincial election will be held on Saturday, Oct. 24.

By doing so, he immediately reverted back to his role as the leader of the BC NDP party. Apparently, he also caused a media frenzy, over his reasons for calling a provincial election, during a global pandemic. (Note that the New Brunswick government held its provincial election, just the week before, on Sept. 14.)

I have lived in South Delta long enough now, so I wasn’t surprised when I opened the Delta Optimist newspaper, to see an article about the upcoming election on Page A1, which featured a picture of South Delta Liberal MLA Ian Paton, alongside BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson.

Nor was I surprised to see a paid political advertisement from Ian Paton on Page A2, in which he urged his local constituents to re-elect him as their MLA for South Delta.

Further, I wasn’t even surprised to see a political cartoon, on Page A7 next to the Editor’s Note, which suggested that John Horgan is “an opportunistic liar”, because the cartoon man lamented “I don’t want to go to the polls in the middle of a pandemic.”

Over the past few years, I have been disappointed to see that my local newspaper is so obviously politically partisan, and not more neutral, as journalism is historically supposed to be. Unfortunately, up until this point, because the provincial election was called so quickly, there appears to be only one candidate in South Delta to vote for: Ian Paton.

This is to his advantage, because Paton is already an established local politician, and has the financial resources already in place to “electioneer” (something that he disapproves of other politicians for doing).

However, before anyone makes up their minds to vote for this lone candidate, please keep in mind that there still is some time, for other candidates to appear on the ballot in South Delta. Also, it would be prudent for voters to critically consider the entire record of all of the politicians, and political parties that they are aligned with, before making an important decision that will have a significant impact on all of our lives.

Let’s get back to the political cartoon for a moment, the one that suggested that John Horgan is an “opportunistic liar”, because he called an election. This is a character judgment on the part of the cartoonist, which may not be universally shared by everyone in B.C., but which the editor of the local paper agreed to print. This comment can be juxtaposed by the comments in the article about Ian Paton on page A1, and the political advertisement paid for by Ian Paton on page A2, in which he states that he is ready to “bring the common sense of a farmer back to Victoria”. This comment appears at least three times on both pages, and is how this local politician characterizes himself.

Let’s not forget that only a few years ago, Ian Paton was “double dipping”, by being paid as a Delta city councillor, and as the MLA for South Delta. He held both elected positions at the same time. This was something that many South Delta residents thought was unethical, and a potential conflict of interest, at the time.

In fact, many local people expressed their disapproval, in the local paper, of this politician’s lack of common sense regarding this issue.

Like many other people in B.C., I was also initially concerned about the calling of a provincial election, during a global pandemic. (Ian Paton refers to it as “a reckless and irresponsible snap election”, in his paid political ad.) However, my anxiety was completely eliminated, when I recently applied for my mail-in ballot on-line, on the Elections BC website. It’s so easy to do. You can even apply for one on the phone, like my mother just did.

Like many other South Deltans, I agree that the replacement for the Massey tunnel needs to happen sooner rather than later.

According to the article on page A3, “the government later this year will release its business case on a preferred tunnel replacement option”.

While I would have preferred to have heard about this issue, from the BC NDP government before the election was called, this decision is going to be announced soon. But according to Ian Paton and the BC Liberals, if the NDP made such an announcement before the provincial election, then it would probably have been considered “electioneering” to them. In a democracy, you always have a choice. Please think about it carefully, and choose wisely. In the end, if I don’t like my political options in South Delta, then I guess I can move quickly to North Delta. Or I can always spoil my ballot.

A Cameron