Bob Mackin
Was it the FIFA factor?
British Columbians went to the polls twice in October (Electober, anyone?) for scheduled local government elections on Oct. 17 and the snap provincial election on Oct. 24. Voters gave many incumbents the red card, most notably Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and Premier David Eby.
They were both sworn-in during November 2022, but their parties voted out on successive Saturday nights. Cost of living was a major ballot box issue.
Sim lost the mayoralty to the Greens’ Pete Fry and only one ABCer, Mike Klassen, remains in office on a mostly left-wing council. NDPer Eby narrowly kept his Vancouver-Point Grey seat as the Lorne Doerkson Conservatives roared to a majority.
Sim and Eby were B.C.’s two highest-profile boosters of the FIFA World Cup in Vancouver in June and July. Sim was fond of telling anyone who would listen that it would be like 30 to 40 Super Bowls coming to the city. Eby downplayed the estimated $729 million cost of hosting seven matches by claiming there would be $1 billion in tourism benefits by 2031 without ever showing how the NDP came up with that number.
Vancouver hotel vacancies increased, on a year-over-year basis, during the World Cup.
On July 8, the day after the last B.C. Place match, Sim went to play on the temporary grass pitch. Someone on his campaign team thought it was a good idea to post a video on social media of him missing a penalty kick.
Rewind to the 1974 federal election and Canadian Press photographer Doug Ball’s award-winning photo of Conservative leader Robert Stanfield dropping a football during a refuelling stop at the airport in North Bay, Ont.
The Globe and Mail front page headline called it a political fumble. Pierre Trudeau remained as Prime Minister.
Around the Rim
Local government elections are approaching in Taiwan on Nov. 28 and President Lai Ching-te warned voters of Chinese interference. The Democratic Progressive Party leader told his central standing committee that “the public should remain vigilant against China’s cognitive warfare and attempts to influence the vote through organized criminal groups or local collaborators,” according to Focus Taiwan.
Beijing is now employing artificial intelligence, cross-border repression and coordinated online campaigns to spread disinformation, sow division and erode trust in Taiwan’s democracy.
The elections will fill seats for mayors, magistrates and councillors.
After 48 years, Hong Kong independent bookstore Luck Win is closing its Mong Kok branch by year-end.
Hong Kong Free Press reports that similar shops have faced pressure from authorities in recent years. “The crackdown escalated earlier this year with the arrests of staff by national security police at four bookstores.”
Japan’s Prime Minister and Germany’s Chancellor agreed to bolster critical minerals supplies and high-level talks about artificial intelligence, reports Kyodo News.
Sanae Takaichi and Friedrich Merz met in Tokyo. Germany and Japan are the world’s third and fourth economies, respectively, and seeking to counter the rise of China. Takaichi said they are “like-minded partners” in free, open and fair international economic order and the rule of law.
Cascadia Calling
A man in Oregon is suing the commissioner of Coos County after he called police when he yelled “Trump’s a loser” on a public sidewalk in 2024 outside county headquarters in Coquille.
The Oregonian reports that retired police officer Neil Daniels claims Coos County Commissioner Rod Taylor infringed on his right to free speech. Taylor was hosting a guest who claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
“What he was doing was protected speech,” said lawyer Athul Acharya with Public Accountability, who is representing Daniels in the lawsuit.
Blaine, Wash., just across the border from Surrey, has temporarily banned data centres and battery farms, reports Cascadia Daily News.
NDP incumbent Stephanie Higginson is keeping her Ladysmith-Oceanside seat for now, by a whisker.
CHEK News reported that, after the Oct. 24 provincial election, Higginson is 13 votes ahead of a Conservative challenger Kris McNichol, who had led by 89 votes late Saturday.
Elections BC begins the final count on Nov. 6. The Conservatives won a big 63-seat majority after Eby’s snap election gamble backfired.
Any riding with a margin of 100 or fewer votes will be subject to an automatic recount.
