Election 2019: Candidates duking it out in three bellwether ridings north of the Fraser
Credit to Author: Lori Culbert| Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2019 23:15:31 +0000
MAPLE RIDGE — While door-knocking Sunday in the Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge riding, the personable Liberal incumbent Dan Ruimy tells voters to consider what he has done for this area over the last four years, even if they express disenchantment with his leader, Justin Trudeau.
The message resonates with some residents, such as Sylvia Dorey. “I’m a former Tory and you’ve got my vote because I think you’ve done a really good job,” she tells Ruimy, adding her top election issue is affordable housing.
He was less successful convincing voter John Twyman, a senior who, along with his wife, says crime is a key issue for him this campaign. “Get rid of Trudeau. He’s done nothing for this community,” Twyman told Ruimy as he campaigned in a co-op housing building.
This seat, along with the neighbouring ridings of Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon and Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, are expected to be key battlegrounds. All three incumbents are Liberal, swept to power in the 2015 red wave, but Conservatives are working hard to win back the traditionally blue seats.
“I think they are sort of a litmus test of Trudeau’s continuing popularity or lack of it,” said Hamish Telford, associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley. “If the Liberals can hold what are normally Conservative ridings, then they are obviously in good shape. But I anticipate they’ll lose those three and the question is: How broad will that trend be?”
All three races were very close in 2015, with the Liberals’ margins of victory between two and three per cent. The NDP placed a competitive third, with the Greens a distant fourth.
Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge Liberal incumbent Dan Ruimy speaks to voter John Reid Sunday. He is campaigning in a wheelchair after breaking his foot this summer. Photo: Lori Culbert
Ruimy rolls door to door in a wheelchair since breaking his foot in four places this summer, determined to hold onto his seat. He says he encounters many undecided voters.
Kelli Clarke, a school support worker, said her top issue is being able to afford her daily expenses. “If I wasn’t in a co-op, I couldn’t afford it. I don’t know what I would do,” she said.
In response, Ruimy streams off a list of Liberal campaign promises that he says should help, including the Canada Housing Benefit and improvements to maternity benefits. “This is how I think you start to change things, change the cycle of poverty,” Ruimy, a local business owner, tells her.
According to Statistics Canada, the average income in this riding in 2015 was $47,281.
Ruimy has had two campaign signs defaced, presumably by people upset at the recent revelations of Trudeau dressing up as a black or brown person at least three times in his youth. He noted Trudeau has apologized, and argued the Liberals were responsible for bringing in a large number of refugees and supported other multi-cultural policies. “I think this government has done the most in a long time to fight racism.”
Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge Conservative candidate Marc Dalton walks with wife Marlene while campaigning on Dewdney Trunk Road on Sunday. Photo: Lori Culbert
Ruimy’s main political rival is the Conservatives’ Marc Dalton, a quick-witted, former two-term B.C. Liberal MLA, who is feeling “encouraged” about turning the riding blue again.
“This is still a competitive riding. I am working hard,” said Dalton, a high school teacher. He tells voters concerned about affordability that tax cuts are the best way to help them, such as the Conservatives’ promises for a universal tax cut and the children’s fitness tax credit.
At a local coffee shop, a woman tells Dalton she likes the Conservatives fiscally, but is worried the party is not putting enough emphasis on climate change. Dalton tells her the Conservatives do not like the Liberals’ “expensive” carbon tax, and are proposing alternatives such as supporting green technology companies and introducing a transportation tax credit designed to get more people into transit such as the West Coast Express — although the voter rightly pointed out that the B.C. carbon tax is provincial legislation, not federal.
At the next table over, Jill Dowsett and Helen Heemskerk, who are torn between supporting the Conservatives or Liberals, say that health care is their greatest concern. Dalton tells them the improvements he made in the riding while a provincial politician, and promises to advocate for the area if elected to Ottawa.
Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge Conservative candidate Marc Dalton and wife Marlene speak to voters Jill Dowsett (left) and Helen Heemskerk (right) while campaigning Sunday. Photo: Lori Culbert
NDP candidate John Mogk, a mental illness and addictions health care worker entering politics for the first time, agreed the key issue locally is affordability. “It’s hard to get by even with a good job, with the cost of transit, the cost of taxes, the cost of medical problems, the cost of childcare,” he said.
He tells voters the NDP platform promises improvements to pharmacare, other health care services, transit costs, childcare fees, and post-secondary tuition. He is the underdog, but uses that to his advantage.
“I’ve been hearing a lot of people don’t like politicians and are sick of politicians, and I am able to tell them I’ve only been a politician for two or three weeks. It’s refreshing,” he laughs.
NDP candidate John Mogk.
Among the other candidates in the riding are Ariane Jaschke for the Green’s, Bryton Cherrier for the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), and independent Steve Ranta.
Green candidate Ariane Jaschke.
Telford, the political scientist, sees these three ridings north of the Fraser River as a two-way races, but said the NDP and the PPC could play spoiler roles if they siphon off votes from the Liberals or Conservatives.
“The political culture here is pretty conservative. There’s a strong Christian, evangelical population,” said Telford. “They are more solidly middle class and the Conservative policies are pitched right to that demographic.”
The Liberals can run on leader Justin Trudeau’s economic record and the success of his Canada Child Benefit lifting many families out of poverty, but those issues may not necessarily be appreciated by voters, Telford said.
“The rest of the Trudeau pitch around environmental issues, diversity issues, equity issues, might not resonate as strongly in those ridings as it would in downtown Vancouver,” he added.
Twitter: @loriculbert