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British Columbia Calls Snap Poll in Risky Move During Pandemic

British Columbia Calls Snap Poll in Risky Move During Pandemic

British Columbia Premier John Horgan called a snap election, arguing the coronavirus pandemic has made it necessary for the public to choose who will guide an economic recovery in the Canadian province.

Horgan’s risky bet is that voters, who have been strongly supportive of his government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, will deliver a majority to his New Democratic Party.

British Columbia Calls Snap Poll in Risky Move During Pandemic

“The Covid-19 pandemic has changed everything,” Horgan told reporters Monday in his home district near Victoria. “The people of British Columbia deserve a say in the direction of our recovery and the future of our province.”

Horgan’s NDP took office in 2017 through a power-sharing agreement with the provincial Green Party. Jointly, they held enough seats to push through legislation in the 87-member assembly. With the move, Horgan is ditching that agreement, in which he’d pledged not to call an election before 2021.

The NDP currently holds 41 seats and needs to gain only three for a majority. The move could potentially backfire with Covid-19 infections hitting records in British Columbia just as children have returned to schools. More than 18 schools have already reported exposure cases, the Vancouver Sun reported.

Horgan was peppered with questions during his news conference about the wisdom of calling an election in the middle of a pandemic. He responded that electing a new government for the next four years would help reduce uncertainty.

“We have four years ahead of us where we all need to work together and to wait 12 months for the next election seems to me to be time wasted,” he said. “I’m not taking anything for granted but I do know that we need stability.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.