No election until 2013 due to instability: Christy Clark

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The HST result isn’t the reason, and neither are polls indicating her party could lose a provincial election if it were held this fall.

The new election date will be the fixed one – May 14, 2013 – and Premier Christy Clark says that is why we’re not going to the polls.

“In the last month, in particular, people have watched what’s unfolded in, around the world, and they’ve seen the instability that’s happening,” she says. “And so I think in light of that instability, the threat to jobs, the threats to families who may lose their jobs, we have a responsibility to make sure that the province is stable.”

But she’s adamant that if there were an election, she’d come out ahead. “Our polls that we’ve done have shown that if I called an election now, my party would win.”  

Clark told OMNI Television yesterday afternoon she’s heard from hundreds of people over the last several months who do not want an election this fall.

“Well, this was a real test. Facing an election, possible election call, that I – that we – would likely win,” she says. “But also hearing from people, ‘We don’t want you to call an election, Christy.  Don’t call an election. We don’t need the instability.’ That was a real test for me.”

Response from the Opposition

NDP Leader Adrian Dix says since taking office Clark has done nothing to address the major issues facing the province right now, the party is in disarray, and that Clark has simply been on an extended photo op for the last six months.

Political blogger Sean Holman with Public Eye Online says he’s frankly surprised by the announcement.

He felt there were a lot of compelling reasons to go with an early election. “For example, going later gives the BC Conservatives more time to pick up steam, going later means she might be going into an election with an even worse economic environment than we have right now.”

And that’s not to mention the fallout of the HST referendum, he says.