More than 30 B.C. Liberal party faithful showed at the Revelstoke Golf Course Wednesday night to hear from party leadership hopeful George Abbott.
“I’m really honoured that so many folk from Revelstoke would come out here to meet us tonight,” said Abbott in his introduction.
Abbott was in Revelstoke as part of a whirlwind tour of BC Interior communities as part of the lead up to Saturday’s vote to replace the outgoing Premier, Gordon Campbell.
His day took him from Vancouver to Quesnel to Williams Lake to 100 Mile House to Kamloops and, finally, to Revelstoke, he said. He arrived 30 minutes late but shook hands with pretty much everyone before being introduced by mayor David Raven.
“This is for me, part of my traditional territory,” said Abbott. “As I grew up in Sicamous, Revelstoke was the big city and party town for me.”
Abbott, the MLA for the riding of Shuswap, first introduced two supporters that were travelling with him – MLA’s Dr. Moira Stilwell and Ed Mayne, who were both leadership candidates before dropping out to support Abbott.
“He creates a willingness in people to work together and that’s what we need to renew the party, to inspire the caucus to work together and create a better British Columbia and to beat the NDP in 2013,” said Dr. Stillwell. “He has proven experience that he can bring to the job.”
Abbott spoke about the need to renew the Liberal Party by spending more time talking to regular British Columbians and getting out to communities on a regular basis.
“I do think we lost our way for a time,’ he said. “A lot of that was the defensiveness, the isolation, the insularity that followed from the extraordinarily awkward way in which we attempted to introduce the HST.”
He said that while they may have enacted the right policies but not handled the politics properly.
“No matter how good a policy is, if you don’t share the reasons why you’re bringing it in with people, if you don’t share the options with people, if you don’t have the public be a part of the building of that public policy, people aren’t going to embrace.”
He said the government had 2.5 years to rebuild the trust of British Columbians and seemed to rule out an election before the fixed date of 2013.
“In particular I think the BC Liberal Party needs leadership that is prepared to get out to the different communities and different regions of the province on a regular basis.
He concluded his remarks by stating the need to beat back the NDP and win a fourth mandate for the B.C. Liberals.
“I will work tirelessly to win that 2013 election. I have worked too long in politics – 15 or 16 years in the provincial government and 15-16 years before that in local government – I have worked too hard to see all that we have built in this province sacrificed with the election of an NDP government.”
After his speech, Abbott took questions from the crowd on topics such as the state of the highways to healthcare budget to education.
On highways, he said he would come back here with the Ministry of Transportation to work towards a solution to reduce closures along the Trans-Canada Highway.
He was also questioned several times about the removal of the tolls along the Coquihalla Highway. Peter Bernacki, who organized Abbott’s presence here, called it one of the worst decisions the government had made.
Other topics brought up included hydro rates, the home renovation tax credit (that he would bring back), the cost of post-secondary education and raising the minimum wage (he said it would be increased).
One attendee asked how he would tackle the growing costs of education and health care, which eat up a majority of the provincial budget.
“I think the biggest thing we can do in terms of health care is in the area or primary care, which is having physicians working in partnership with nurse educations, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physiotherapists, dieticians, nutritionists – folks who can give good advice on the range of things that can make our personal health better,” he responded.
On education he said that barriers to learning, such as dyslexia, needed to be identified at an early age in order to improve the system. He also said schools should offer more “pathways to learning.
“Kids get bored in school and often we’re forcing kids down academic pathways they don’t want to be on,” he said. “I think we should be much more receptive as an education system to giving kids the opportunity to go out and have some different work experience.”
Lastly he endorsed Dr. Stillwell’s promises for a heli-pad at Queen Victoria Hospital and a $10 million mountain search and rescue institution that would be based in Revelstoke. Stillwell made those campaign promises in January while she was still a leadership candidate.
“If Moira thought it was a good idea I think it’s a good idea,” he said. “I’m glad to be the inheritor of Moira’s commitments on these. I think they`re great ideas and I know both these so I`m supportive of both of them.”
Her and Abbott are the only two candidates to visit Revelstoke.
Raven said he supported Abbott’s leadership bid.
“He’s a local boy, he understands the issues, he’s a nice guy, he knows what we’re talking about,” said Raven before Abbott’s arrival.
His comments seemed to go over well with the local party faithful, who viewed the fact he was from the area as a plus.
“No doubt about it,” said Bernacki when asked if Abbott was still his man. “He carries himself well, he’s a smart man, and he’s a businessman as well.”
The B.C. Liberal Party is holding its leadership vote on Feb. 26. Former deputy premier and current radio show host Christy Clark leads the polls while former Attorney General Mike de Jong and former Minister of Health Kevin Falcon are also running for party leadership.