In the wake of the provincial election, we ask what sa国际传媒 New Democrats are undoubtedly asking themselves as they nurse their wounds 鈥� what can be learned from one of the most surprising elections in our history?
The first and most obvious lesson is that you can鈥檛 coast to victory riding public-opinion polls. Polls are imperfect snapshots of how things are, not clear pictures of how things will be. They guess the future, not guarantee it.
Perhaps lulled by favourable poll results, the New Democrats failed to define themselves. For the third election in a row, they tried to play it safe. There are risks to presenting a bold vision, but it appears there is greater risk in presenting no vision at all.
The New Democrats believed British Columbians wanted change so badly they would accept any kind of change. They thought the voters had already decided, but obviously they hadn鈥檛, and were open to persuasion.
They relied on fear of the sa国际传媒 Liberals instead of generating excitement for the NDP. They were so convinced the Liberals were dead in the water over the harmonized sales tax backlash and Christy Clark鈥檚 perceived flaws that they failed to convince voters of their party鈥檚 strengths.
Perhaps overconfidence settled in 鈥� their own supporters might have been persuaded by all that talk of an NDP landslide and stayed home. We will never know 鈥� it would take a poll to determine how much that affected the election, but, strangely, polls seem to have suddenly fallen out of favour.
NDP leader Adrian Dix strove to take the high road by eschewing the use of attack ads. It鈥檚 a pity, but we will never likely see anyone take the high road again. Attack ads seem to work.
The New Democrats could have spotlighted their opponents鈥� shortcomings without ceding high ground. There was so much material they could have used without resorting to the nasty, insulting and personal ads generated by the Liberals. They could have simply stated the facts: the HST debacle, the clumsy handling of the auditor-general issue, the shameful attempt to exploit ethnic issues, the use of government resources for political purposes.
It鈥檚 not over. The opposition still has a vital role to play. The Liberals鈥� resounding win is something that could tend to generate arrogance and heavy-handedness. The New Democrats need to ensure that doesn鈥檛 happen.
In opposition, they need to muster the energy they failed to show in the election campaign.
