The West is dead. Larry Campbell and Stephen Harper killed it.

Historically federal politics in BC has been defined by regional animosity towards Ottawa particularly the Liberal Party. Especially contentious has been Ottawa’s willingness to grant concessions to Quebec. BC’s favorite protest party of choice during the 1990s was the Reform/Alliance party. However, the trend predates the Charlettown Accord. BC went NDP in 1988. While the NDP had shown a strong level of support in 1979, 1980 and 1984, the fact that the party went from 19 seats and 38% of the popular vote in 1988 to 2 seats and 15% of the popular support in 1993 suggests that much of the party’s support came from those wishing to cast a protest vote. When the Alliance united with the Tories in 2003, the party lost its status as a Western protest party and some of those who voted for the NDP in 1988 went back to voting for the party again. The NDP went from an average of around 15% in the 1990s to 26% during the last election.

In 2002 Larry Campbell was elected. Trumpeting safe injection sites as part of the answer to Vancouver’s heroin problem, Campbell was given the largest mandate in Vancouver municipal history. Every COPE candidate that could be elected from councilor to school board was. In all, all 8 COPE candidates were elected to city council. In terms of votes, they were 1 through 8. Two NPA candidates were also elected.

It was not just the originality of Campbell’s approach that people liked, but the whole aura that surrounded the man. The lead character in the popular TV show Da Vinci's Inquest is loosely based on Mayor Campbell. Campbell had previously been a Vancouver coroner. This promoted one of the other candidates for mayor to say that she did not stand a chance. She was running against the TV character and not the man.  She may have had a point; the character had championed safe injection sites for years. 

By the way, with that out of the way he now champions the creation of a red light district. 

Campbell and Harper do not see eye to eye. When the Conservatives enjoyed a brief lead during the middle of last year’s election campaign, Campbell warned that the “barbarians were at the gate”. For his part, this past weekend Harper accused certain mayors of being biased towards him. As it was Campbell that grabbed all the headlines, one can be rest assured that it was Campbell and to a lesser extent Toronto’s David Miller that Harper was referring to.

What Campbell and Harper seemingly agree on, though, is that social issues define politics today. The keystone in Harper’s “agenda”  http://www.ccicinc.org/politicalaffairs/0601 03.html" title="http://www.ccicinc.org/politicalaffairs/0601 03.html" target="_blank"http://www.ccicinc.org/politi... is, of course, his party’s “defense” of traditional marriage. For Campbell, it is the liberalization of Canada’s drug laws. Despite a well publicized spat with the US drug Czar, Campbell successfully pushed for safe injection sites. Vancouver is now in the process of providing free heroin to addicts and is looking towards setting up safe snorting rooms for coke users. Campbell does not seem content to stop there. On the front page of the Vancouver Sun today was the following headline: Vancouver to press Ottawa to legalize and tax marijuana. http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversu n/news/story.html?id=6dd7394a-bc0b-4a8 c-ac43-021defc22a55" title="http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversu n/news/story.html?id=6dd7394a-bc0b-4a8 c-ac43-021defc22a55" target="_blank"http://www.canada.com/vancouv...

Following last year's election Harper said that the Liberal strategy has always been "take the rest, screw the West."  BC, Vancouver at any rate, no longer seems to agree with this assessment. In the context of BC, it is Campbell and not Harper who has taken the pulse of Vancouver voters and the numbers show it. The combined PC Alliance vote in 2000 was 57%. In 2004 it is down to 36%. Most polls now put the Conservatives in the mid to high 20s range. The numbers in the Lowermainland are even worse for the Conservatives. It is not inconceivable that if an election was called today the Conservative would be left with only the Bible Belt seats, that lie just south of Vancouver. That would leave them with 6 less seats.  Much to the horror of pundits such as the Vancouver Sun’s Yaffe and Michael Campbell, who has no relation to the mayor, it is the Liberals that gaining momentum. Most polls put the Liberals in the lead with support in the mid 30s, but one poll put support for the Liberals at 47%.

Ironically, when it comes to social issues, BC and Quebec find themselves to be on same side of ideological fence. BC and Quebec ran one two in terms of their opposition to the Iraq war, opposition to missile defense and run 1 2 in terms of favorable attitudes towards marijuana legalization and gay marriage.