One Word: Vote
Americans aren't the only voters facing a high-stakes election. Cast your ballots now, British Columbians!
Hey, Playground Friend! Can you believe we’ve made it to October! The tail-end of back-to-school mania. The gateway to holiday madness. The portal to cold and flu season. And, this year, the culmination of a seemingly endless election season.
While many eyes are glued to the ever-exhausting U.S. presidential race, British Columbians face a high-stakes election, too. We’re due to the polls — on or before October 19 — to help decide who will represent our communities in parliament and lead the direction our province for the next four years.
Will we lower taxes for the majority or raise taxes for the richest? Will we double down on free public transit or extracting climate-warming fossil fuels? Will we invest in our fledgling universal public child care system or direct public funds to private child care centres? It’s time to add your 2 cents.
If you’re eligible to vote and haven’t made a plan yet, now’s the perfect time. Here are a few resources to help.
When & Where to Vote
Advance polling sites are open now. Mail-in ballots have been delivered. And the final day to cast your vote is Saturday, October 19. Everything you need to know about when and exactly where to vote is located right here on the Elections B.C. website.
Find Your Candidates
If you haven’t met the candidates for your riding yet, the Vancouver Sun offers this tool that makes your research a tad easier. Pop your address in the search bar, and it’ll spit out your candidates’ names and parties, with links to their official bios.
Peep Public Opinion
For those who haven’t been following provincial news like a hawk, this year’s election cycle has been a bit of roller coaster. We have three leading parties:
BC NDP
Conservative Party
BC Green Party
We also have many independents on the ballot, after a fourth party, BC United, bowed out this summer.
Public opinion polls show that we’re in for a very tight leadership race between the NDP and Conservatives — meaning every vote really does count! But don’t count the BC Greens out. Their candidates are projected to win at least 10 per cent of the vote.
Compare Party Platforms
If you’re not sure who to vote for in your riding, comparing their parties’ election platforms can be helpful. All throughout this tight race, our top three party leaders have been making hefty party promises to the people.
You can compare those promises more easily with help from the Canadian National Observer, Vancouver Sun and CBC.
Here’s what I keep in mind:
BC NDP leader David Eby recently shifted positions on a number of core issues. His shift on fossil fuel production has been a particular blow to climate action.
Conservative leader John Rustad has denied that the climate crisis is real, despite clear scientific consensus. If he gains power, he has vowed to “go all in” on extracting and exporting fossil fuels — the main driver of climate change. His comments on the Covid-19 vaccine and promise to repeal B.C.’s adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) are also pretty concerning.
BC Green leader Sonia is one of our province’s top climate champions. She has also pledged to raise early childhood educator wages to $30-$40/hour by 2026, an essential step in building our universal child care system that is long overdue. But her party has not been able to build mainstream momentum.
That’s just my 2 cents.
You can hear the leaders themselves by taking a peek at last week’s BC Leaders Debate. I didn’t expect to be riveted for 2.5-hours straight, but with politicians throwing elbows over how to solve our province’s most challenging issues, it flies right by.
Make It Social!
Caring about politics doesn’t have to be a stress-inducing, solitary endeavor. Not if Beyond A Ballot has its way. Based here in Vancouver, this social enterprise aims to educate and empower Canadian women across the political spectrum. So we can show up and participate in a system that obviously wasn’t built for or by us.
If you’d like to chat with some inspiring in-the-know women, mocktail in hand, before placing your vote, grab a ticket to their upcoming Rock the Vote event. I know you’ll leave invigorated 👥🍸🎉🔥🗳️✅
And that’s your Playground Talk for October! Thank you so very much for reading, subscribing, sharing and investing in my work. This space continues to evolve, and I’m so grateful for your continued support.