British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is silhouetted against B.C. flags as she greets delegates after presenting volunteer awards at the B.C. Liberal Party convention in Whistler.Darryl Dyck/The Globe and Mail
Elections make for good dramas – witness All the President's Men or Wag the Dog. They also make for good comedies, as Election – the 1999 satire about a high-schooler's run for class president – proved.
Canadian elections are rarely the stuff of Hollywood magic, though B.C. – with its bounty of colourful politicians – is usually a reliable source of both drama and comedy. Who can forget Socred cabinet minister Grace McCarthy and her claim during the 1983 campaign that, under his suit, NDP leader Dave Barrett still wore red underwear – and his response ("Grace McCarthy is one woman who will never see the colour of my underwear")?
Or the 1991 debate that almost rocketed unknown Gordon Wilson and his seatless Liberals into office (with the famous "here's a classic example of why nothing ever gets done in the province of British Columbia" rejoinder to his squabbling opponents)? Mr. Wilson would get a seat, along with 16 other Liberals, in that election – but lose the Liberal leadership two years later to Gordon Campbell, after an extramarital affair that took on a life of its own.
The Globe political team has seen it all – though perhaps not Dave Barrett's underwear. Altogether, our core election crew – Ian Bailey, Justine Hunter and Gary Mason – have 70-plus years' experience chronicling the B.C. landscape. They, along with reporters Daniel Bitonti and Andrea Woo, will be on the campaign trail over the next 28 days to give readers a breadth and depth of campaign coverage unrivalled in B.C.
Expect all that in the pages of Globe British Columbia each and every day – but that and much, much more online at our election hub, tgam.ca/elections:
- A running live blog (tgam.ca/bcvotesblog) to deliver up-to-the-minute campaign coverage
- Video on the candidates and issues shaping the campaign
- Our election prediction markets (tgam.ca/electionmarkets) to track the likely outcomes as forecasted by UBC’s Sauder School of Business
- Map and ridings info (tgam.ca/bcvotesmap) for all 85 ridings
- Regular Web chats with Globe reporters, our Undecided in B.C. readers panel, and our pundit panel of former MLAs George Abbott and Dawn Black
Stay in touch and let us know how we're doing. ---