British Columbia Premier John Horgan has called an early election for October 24th 2020. This is a full year before his four year term officially expires and, despite his protestations, it is a cynical exercise in playing politics.
Horgan's minority NDP government has been held together for the last three years by an agreement with the BC Green Party, with which it has much in common. And a pretty successful partnership it has been too. Back in 2017, when thisnagreement was struck, Horgan specifically promised that he would not look to dissolve the legislature until the next scheduled election
But now, as he basks in a 19-point poll lead over the second-place Liberals, largely due to a generally favourable view of his and his government's COVID-19 management (although that could change as a second wave begins to hit BC), Horgan wants a majority. He says he "struggled mightily" with the decision, but that 19-point lead suggests otherwise. He says it is to allow the NDP a freer hand in dealing with the pandemic and the economic fallout therefrom, but his reliance on the two Green Party MPs does not seem to have hampered his policies much.
This is just a cynical power grab, pure and simple.
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