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Opinion: He was branded the candidate of the status quo and the old style of politics during the final scheduled debate of the campaign.

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VICTORIA Former provincial cabinet minister Kevin Falcon got a rough ride this week during a televised debate with rival candidates for the leadership of the B.C. Liberal party.

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Falcon was branded the candidate of the status quo and the old style of politics during the final scheduled debate of the campaign, broadcast Tuesday night on Global TVs BC1.

He was also accused of making backroom deals and turning a blind eye to abuses in signing up new members to the party.

He was even faulted for lacking a seat in the legislature if he wins the leadership on Feb. 5, it would stick the party with a delay of up to a year to line up a seat for him in a byelection.

Falcon turned around the charge of being yesterdays man, framing himself as the candidate of experience, who has held the major cabinet jobs (finance, health, transportation) and who knows his way around governing.

On the membership issue, Falcon gave as good as he got in the sharpest exchange of the night with MLA Michael Lee, who faulted him for not joining the others in flagging membership irregularities.

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Instead of standing with all the candidates here on this debate stage to ensure that members can have the confidence in the process to elect the next leader of our party, charged Lee, you accuse the party of racism and you use racialized members of our party as a shield, which is just another example of the old style of politics that you have.

Falcon fired back that Lee had failed to produce any evidence of fraud in membership signups.

There were some administrative errors and mistakes made, which, by the way, is not uncommon for new people getting involved in the party, he said. Just because people have trouble filling out some forms does not mean they should be dismissed as members of this party.

Falcon twice denied the insinuation of backroom dealings from Val Litwin, the former CEO of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce.

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Litwin cited no evidence.

But as with the alleged membership abuses, the mere making of the charge will raise suspicions in some quarters.

Whether B.C. Liberal supporters welcomed Tuesdays rough stuff, it surely was welcome grist for the mill with the New Democrats.

Take Falcons dated characterization of NDP MLAs as mere time servers: This is the best job theyll ever have, and theyll hang onto it like a drowning person with a life raft.

The NDP research department pounced on that one immediately.

What kind of jobs is Falcon mocking? the New Democrats fired back in a mid-day media release. B.C. NDP MLAs have worked as teachers, firefighters, bus operators, farmers, small business owners, police officers, engineers, millwrights, nurses, flight attendants, social workers, and more.

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The New Democrats then riffed on Falcons statement that the return to politics from his current executive position with Anthem Capital Corp. would mean a financial sacrifice for him.

The leader of the official opposition makes $166,536 a year, said the NDP release.Kevin Falcon might think only rich real estate developers have worthwhile jobs, but most British Columbians would disagree.

When he mocks B.C. NDP MLAs for having regular jobs, he mocks all working British Columbians. Hes showing hes in it for people at the top and would make everyone else pay the price.

The attacks on Falcon confirmed his status as the presumed front-runner for the B.C. Liberal leadership.

But the gang-up also indicates why Falcon may stall on the way to winning the balloting.

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Leadership candidate Gavin Dew highlighted the challenge when he asked party members to support him or make me your second choice.

The B.C. Liberals use a preferential ballot in their leadership contests.Members can mark first, second, third choices, and so on.If no candidate wins a majority on the first count of the ballots, the lowest vote-getter is dropped.

Members second choices are then added to the tallies of the remaining candidates.The process is repeated until one candidate assembles a majority.

The transfers mean that a candidate who is behind on the first ballot can put together a win in subsequent rounds.

Nor is that a hypothetical outcome, as Falcon well knows.

The co-chair of his leadership campaign, former Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, was in first place on the first count of the ballots in the 2018 Liberal leadership race.

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But not that far ahead. She had only 25 per cent support, with the remainder split among five other candidates.Watts remained in first place through three subsequent rounds, only to lose on the fifth count to MLA Andrew Wilkinson.On the first count, Wilkinson had been in third place, six percentage points behind Watts.

The determining dynamic of the 2018 leadership contest was the outsider Watts versus Wilkinson and three other current and one former B.C. Liberal MLAs.

When the MLAs dropped out, more of their alternative choices went to Wilkinson than to Watts.

If this weeks gang-up on Falcon is any indication, a similar dynamic could emerge in the current leadership.

The most likely beneficiaries would be incumbent MLA Ellis Ross, the former chief councillor of the Haisla nation, or Lee, who finished third in 2018.

On that basis, Falcon probably needs to win on the first count of the ballots in February, or be so far ahead that the others cant catch up on later counts.

vpalmer@postmedia.com

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Link:
Vaughn Palmer: Kevin Falcon the B.C. Liberal leader front-runner, but it's not in the bag - Vancouver Sun