If all politics is local, the candidates in Oak Bay – Gordon Head are going the extra mile to stress their local roots.
This point came through loud and clear as the three major candidates for Oak Bay – Gordon Head debated each other Thursday morning on local radio station CFAX 1070.
Incumbent candidate and leader of B.C. Green Party Andrew Weaver used his opening statement to stress his local roots and commitment on behalf of local constituents in anticipation of criticisms from BC Liberal candidate Alex Dutton and New Democrat Bryce Casavant, who have questioned his commitment to the riding by accusing him of putting his provincial profile as party leader ahead of his local constituency work.
“I have worked very hard to put their interests first,” he said. “I have grown up in the area, my children went to the school in the area. I have lived on the Oak Bay side. I have graduated from Oak Bay High in 1979. I presently live on the Gordon Head side (of the riding). I have coached soccer in the community for years. This is my home.”
In fact, Weaver tried to build a bridge between his presence in the legislature and the larger ambitions of his party, when he said provincial politics needs to change. “It needs to change in a way that puts people’s interest first,” he said. “I think I have demonstrated this in Oak Bay – Gordon Head and candidates across the province are also demonstrating that.” Weaver, in short, suggested others will follow him under the Green Party banner into the legislature.
Casavant challenged this suggestion during his opening statement when he said the residents of the Oak Bay – Gordon Head had grown tired of “lone voices” in the legislature. If elected, Casavant promised that he would represent the interests of Oak Bay – Gordon Head residents as part of a New Democratic team centred around leader and future premier John Horgan. “As a new MLA within an NDP goverment, I am at the table to address the concerns of the Oak Bay – Gordon Head constituency.”
But if Weaver faced questions about the strength of his political voice, he also attacked the system of party discipline, when he later questioned Casavant for defering questions about NDP policy concerning housing to its party platform and its leader John Horgan. “It’s simply inapproprate to say, ‘Mr. Horgan will talk to it.’ You are the representative in Oak Bay – Gordon Head,” said Weaver. “This is actually symbolic of what I have seen in the legislature in the last four years. You elect an NDP MLA, fine. But they all vote together on every issue, so you might as well just vote one in.”
Dutton, meanwhile, introduced herself by saying: “My name is Alex Dutton and I was born and raised in Gordon Head,” she said. Dutton, who practises law in Victoria, continued to stress this part of her biography whenever the chance afforded itself.
When the debate format allowed candidates to question each other, Dutton challenged Casavant’s connection to the riding. “I was born and raised in this riding and over the last four years, Mr. Weaver has worked to make a name for himself and his party,” she said. “I would like to know why the people of Oak Bay – Gordon Head should trust you with issues like how to live in the community, how to work in the community, what the needs of the hospital are, when you haven’t spent any time there.”
Casavant said he is “intimiately familiar” with the issues facing Vancouver Island. “Both of my opponents know this,” he said. “Is it true that my military service took me out of the country? Yes. Is it true that working for the B.C. Public Service has seen me work all across, up and down the Island, including here in Victoria? Yes. Is it also true that I can provide effective, local representation for the people of Oak Bay Gordon Head … as part of a new government that has the capacity and the politcal will to implement progressive new policies? Yes.”
Dutton, however, did not let go. “But isn’t it true that you were actually seeking the nomiation in Courtenay Comox … and in fact it was John Horgan (who) plucked you from the mid-Island and dropped you into Oak Bay – Gordon Head without so much as a compass?” Casavant said it was the local riding association that asked him to run in Oak Bay – Gordon Head, “partly because of my background in environmental and wildlife issues. I took me over a month to make that decision.”
As for issues of substance, all three candidates promised measures to improve the supply of affordable housing in the riding and protect the public health care system. Yet the question of which candidate had the deepest local roots shimmered in the background and broke into the open during concluding remarks.
Weaver used his time among other things to distinguish the Greens and tout the quality of Green candidates running in nearby ridings.
“Look at the B.C. Green platform, look at our candidates. We have stellar candidates across Greater Victoria,” he said.
When it was Dutton’s turn to speak, she pounced on that comment. “In the summary you just heard, he again focused on his party, his party, his party, and not on the local community.”
Jin Dong Yang- Riley of the Vancouver Island Party also participated in the debate as a last minute addition.