With a full year of a new government now having passed by and the fall session on the horizon, a number of those living outside of the province's major population areas seemingly have come to the decision that whichever party takes the levers of power in Victoria, there is little change to be found and that neither Liberal, nor NDP are paying enough attention to the issues of rural British Columbia.
Thursday, the province saw the spawning of a new political party, to be known as the Rural BC Party, with hopes of fielding candidates in 23 of the provinces existing 87 ridings, included on that list are both the North Coast and Skeena ridings.
The new political current is looking to tap into some of the growing disenchantment with the treatment by Victoria that has been found across the province outside of the Lower Mainland, something that is quite familiar across Northern British Columbia and has spawned such political collectives as the Resource Benefits Alliance over the course of the last year.
The introduction to the party, posted to their website on Thursday, lays out the background that led to its creation and the path it hopes to follow to make the issues of rural British Columbia relevant at the Legislature.
The Rural BC Party was founded in response to the growing concern that the existing major political parties are solely interested in supporting the voter-rich areas of the Lower Mainland and Southern Vancouver Island and have increasingly neglected rural BC. Too often the revenues generated from resources in rural BC are used to subsidize major projects in the Lower Mainland, while smaller communities throughout the province struggle to thrive.
The Rural BC Party will be a relentless voice for rural BC. The party will advocate for the needs of rural British Columbians and ensure that the region is no longer being ignored by Victoria. By focusing on policies rather than politics, we will provide a voice in the centre to bridge the polarizing politics of the major parties. The Rural BC Party will be the champion for disenfranchised British Columbians and will build support and run provincial candidates in BC’s 23 rural ridings in the next election.
Among those that have founded the new political project is Houston councillor Jonathan Van Barneveld, who is serving as the party's interim party leader, who along with Telkwa Mayor Darcy Repen, hope to see the party grow across the province as its message begins to spread.
Some more background on yesterday's announcement can be found here.
You can learn more about the newly formed party from the Rural BC Party website, which features background on the nomination process and how participants can join in with the party from the ground up.
You can also follow their progress as they begin the planning to claim seats in the Legislature through their Facebook and twitter feeds.
While holding a majority will be out of the question considering their limited geographic range, the BC Rural Party could find that they hold the balance of power following future elections whether with our current First past the post system or the proposed new electoral process of proportional representation.
Some of the early press attention to yesterday's announcement has noted that the group will be striking a chord of discontent that has been building in the rural areas for a significant amount of time.
New BC Rural Party Could Threaten Liberals say analysts
Political party wants to represent rural residents, including those in Kamloops
New political party promises to be 'relentless voice' for rural BC
Another party will be on the ballot in the next provincial election
Proportional representation means more B.C. parties, coalitions
For more items of note from the Legislature see our archive page here.
More background on the BC political scene can be found from our political blog D'Arcy McGee.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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