CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. -- If the polls hold true and the Liberals and Conservatives remain neck-and-neck until the very end, British Columbia could be the province that catapults a leader into power.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh acknowledges the province is 鈥渋mportant鈥 and his party has made it a strategic focus this time. Instead of crisscrossing the country, Singh and his team are spending several continuous days on the West Coast.
It鈥檚 a strategy party insiders admit will keep costs down, but one they also hope will give Singh a bigger profile in the region and create what one campaign insider called a 鈥渃ritical mass of awareness.鈥
鈥淭here鈥檚 that sense that the West Coast is not given the attention it deserves,鈥 Singh said after a meeting with Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart on Wednesday. 鈥滻 know the people of B.C. want to be seen, want to be heard, and that鈥檚 why I鈥檓 making it a very important part of my campaign to be here.鈥
In 2015, the NDP under Tom Mulcair鈥檚 leadership won 14 seats in B.C., including five on the Lower Mainland where Singh focused the first two days of his West Coast campaign. But this time around, polls suggest there is a greater appetite for the environment and climate change and that has spiked interest in the Green Party. In fact, questions from prospective voters seeking clarity on the differences between the two parties have popped up on a number of occasions this week.
The NDP holds all but one seat on Vancouver Island, and campaign insiders know the Greens are eager to take them away. That鈥檚 why the New Democrats have put extra resources into the ground games there and has the leader hosting one town hall in Nanaimo on Thursday and another in Victoria on Friday.
The NDP leader says he鈥檚 not concerned about the Green party鈥檚 rise in popularity and is confident his candidates will maintain the seats they have and pick up more. Party insiders believe ridings in the Surrey area, Vancouver Centre and former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould鈥檚 riding of Vancouver Granville are all within reach.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to double the force out here,鈥 Singh told supporters at a whistle-stop in Port-Moody Coquitlam.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a lot of exciting candidates across the Lower Mainland, across B.C. -- we鈥檙e going to win seats that we haven鈥檛 held and we are going to win again the seats that we already have.鈥
The party says the blackface controversy and Singh鈥檚 response to it has also given Singh a boost. Ridings that the party says were largely seen as unwinnable, are now looking up with candidates reporting an uptick in interest in Singh and the local campaigns.
