Landslide Change in Hungary

Magyar promises to undo Orban's changes in Hungary

Finally some good news -- there will be a change in government in Hungary following Viktor Orban's massive loss in elections today, ending 16 years of rule that led to extensive corruption, a stacked judiciary, and control over many media outlets.

What was a surprise was that Orban, 62, was quick to concede defeat, not waiting for the final results that later declared Peter Magyar, 45, the winner.

Orban quickly conceded defeat

"The responsibility and opportunity to govern were not given to us," Orban said, but he also made a vow: "We are not giving up. Never, never, never."

Over 79.5 percent of voters cast their ballots, and with 98 percent of the ballots counted, Magyar of the Tisza party won 138 seats, more than a two-thirds majority compared to Orban's Fidesz, that won 55.

Previously an Orban loyalist, Magyar promises to end corruption that lined the pockets of Orban allies, but he is also not very progressive when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. 

Will Magyar restore the checks and balances that Orban dismantled during his 16-year rule? That will be the big question. He has promised to reverse Orban's changes to education and healthcare, restore independence of the judiciary, and end the squandering of tax dollars.

"You performed a miracle today, Hungary made history today," Magyar told a jubilant crowd.

Magyar will move Hungary away from Russia

Besides Orban, the other big losers are his supporters, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The latter even sent Vice President JD Vance to Budapest to stump for Orban, but his appearance didn't move the needle at all.

The European Union is cautiously optimistic that things will change, along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose pleas for help were always stymied by Orban.

Nevertheless, we'll celebrate Magyar's win, who said that love triumphs, and that this is a sign of things to come.

Sombre Hong Kong Election Day

Do these ballot box mascots entice people to vote today?

Today over 4 million Hongkongers can vote in the Legislative Council elections. One would have to be living under a rock not to know this, as there have been posters all over the city featuring three cartoon ballot boxes, and if you happen to walk along the harbourfront in North Point, those ballot box mascots are in statue form, as if voting is a kids' exercise.

There are 161 candidates vying for 90 seats, and what's interesting about this year's election is 12 lawmakers have declined to run again because they are over the age of 70. They include big names like the convenor of the Executive Council, Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, council president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, and Michael Tien Puk-sun.  

Tommy Cheung Yu-yan isn't running again for the Catering functional constituency -- perhaps there will finally be someone who will be more passionate about advocating for the restaurant industry that is being depleted because of people going to Shenzhen regularly.

With so many retiring, is there enough new blood to get people's vote? One candidate people are watching is Vivian Kong Man-wai, former gold Olympic fencer who is looking for a seat in the Tourism functional constituency (one of the 12 functional constituencies that allow those with foreign passports to run), even though she is renouncing her Canadian passport.

However, the bigger question is, how many people will show up to exercise their right to vote?

In the previous election four years ago, there was a record low turnout of 30.2 percent of the over 4 million eligible voters who cast their ballots, despite the government spending HK$1.28 billion on advertising an increase of 50 percent.

That's because this is the second "patriot-only" election after the electoral system was completely revamped where only pro-Beijing candidates are allowed to run; the vast majority of pro-democracy politicians were banned from even running.

After the Wang Fuk Court fire that erupted on November 26 and has sadly claimed 159 lives, many Hong Kong residents are probably not in the mood to vote, despite the government claiming the election must take place today.

Five days ago Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said it was important to vote in new lawmakers to help launch reforms and to hold the government accountable with relief work following the devastating fire.

"The partners I need most importantly are lawmakers," Lee said on December 2. "To hold the election as scheduled is to respect the constitutional order and rule of law ... it is also to safeguard social stability as it serves as a strong support to the post-fire work."

Nevertheless, John P Burns, emeritus professor and Chinese politics expert at the University of Hong Kong expects voter turnout to be low, partly because of the Tai Po fire.

While those in the pro-establishment camp may be impressed by how quickly the authorities have re-housed victims and provided financial aid, Burns says others "may stay away from the polls" as they are "disappointed, even angry, by the governance problems the fire as exposed." 

In that vein it is possible the election results could be interpreted as a referendum on the government's handling of the Tai Po fire...

Poilievre to Return to House of Commons

Poilievre is projected to handily win the Alberta riding tonight

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre will be back in the House of Commons keeping Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in check.

In today's byelection held in the riding of Battle River-Crowfoot, in Alberta, Poilievre is leading with 80.1 percent of the vote, by far the most ballots compared to Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley (9.9 percent), and Liberal candidate Darcy Spady (4.4 percent).

Kurek gave up his seat for Poilievre to run

Poilievre was expected to win, as Battle River-Crowfoot is considered the most conservative riding in the country. MP Damien Kurek who had handily won the riding for the Conservatives during the general election in April, resigned so that Poilievre could run.

He had lost his seat of Carleton, in Ontario, that he had held for 20 years, which called into question Poilievre's leadership credibility.

But with this predicted decisive win, it signals there is no doubt the voters in Battle River-Crowfoot want him to be the official Leader of the Opposition.

The byelection was not without its controversies, the biggest being the ballot had a whopping 214 candidates on it. Elections Canada made the unprecedented move of getting voters to write down the name of the candidate they wanted to vote for instead of printing such long ballots.

Some critics were concerned that Poilievre was parachuting himself into the riding without even living there, while others were pleased to have the Conservative leader, as he could give the area more attention in the House of Commons.

The ballot with 214 candidates' names on it

"They're the kind of what you see is what you get, give you the shirt off their back, tell it like it is, common sense people," Poilievre said of the voters in Battle River-Crowfoot on Monday night.

"And they reinforced a lot of lessons that all of us in politics have to learn and relearn and relearn again. Humility and hard work. Loyalty and love."

The riding of Carleton bid Poilievre good riddance, while Battle River-Crowfoot has welcomed him with open arms.

Poilievre Frustrated by Long Ballot in By-Election

Poilievre is running in a by-election next month to win a seat

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is gearing up for the upcoming by-election in Battle River-Crowfoot Alberta on August 18, hoping to win the seat to get back into the House of Commons after losing his seat in Carleton, Ontario in the April federal election.

Even though the riding is expected to be a solidly Conservative one, Poilievre may not have it so easy.

An electoral reform advocacy group called the Longest Ballot Committee, has plans to run a whopping 200 candidates in Battle River-Crowfoot -- more than double the 91 who ran in Carleton. It's known as a long ballot protest that causes delays in voting and confounds voters.

There might be some 200 names on the ballot

Poilievre doesn't want these long ballots in the upcoming by-election.

"We have to take action because this is a scam. It is unfair, it is unjust and it must stop," he said recently at a town hall in the riding where he is running.

He suggested that nominees require 1,000 signatures to run to prevent such protests. 

"That would make it impossible for 200 people to go out and have their names piled onto the [candidate] list," Poilievre told the town hall.

"There are a number of other things that you could do that would make it so that only real candidates who are truly running to put their name forward in our democracy that are on that list."

Currently candidates only need 100 signatures to secure a nomination and electors are not prevented from signing multiple forms.

Race for Battle River-Crowfoot got interesting!

The Longest Ballot Committee rejected Poilievre's suggestions, saying needing such a large number of signatures would have a "negative impact on Canadian democracy."

"This ill-conceived and self-serving electoral reform proposal by [Poilievre] is downright dangerous, and reinforces our conviction that politicians are not well-suited to decide the rules of their own elections," the group said in a statement.

It added it would continue to use the long ballot as a form of protest as "long as we are legally permitted to do so."

So the by-election on August 18 has become much more interesting! We can't wait to see the names of the candidates on the ballot!

Can Former Vancouver Mayor Tackle Housing Nationwide?

Carney revealed his new cabinet today at Rideau Hall, Ottawa

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled his cabinet this morning and there was surprise when it was reported Gregor Robertson, the former mayor of Vancouver would become the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure. 

While he's a federal rookie, Robertson has served in municipal and provincial politics -- one time as an NDP MLA. In the recent federal election, he handily won in the riding of Vancouver Fraserview - South Burnaby. 

But can he tackle the portfolio of housing? That's what critics are wondering.

Robertson reading out his oath of office

Carney's election platform was that the Canadian government would focus on building homes, promising to double the rate of residential construction in the next decade to 500,000 homes per year across the country.

"We're going to have to change how we build. And a lot of that expertise, not exclusively, but a lot of it has been developed in British Columbia," Carney said.

"Minister Robertson is very familiar with it. We're going to incorporate that, but in a pan-Canadian strategy to really drive this."

It's a big challenge, with the cost of building materials and labour constantly rising, but people do need roofs over their heads. 

But is Robertson the best person for the job?

Looking at his track record as mayor from 2008-2018, data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows the average price of a single-family and semi-detached homes rose 179 percent across the broader Metro Vancouver area.

The number of homeless people also went up from 1,576 in 2008 to 2,181 in 2018.

Robertson says now at the federal level, things are different, because as mayor he was dependent on federal and provincial funding, and claimed the then Stephen Harper government was not interested in tackling housing affordability, and he also had to deal with the 2008 financial crisis.

"What's different now is that we've got a prime minister and a new government here in Ottawa who are saying we need to double the rate of construction, we need to work across all levels of government, we need to engage the private sector to do this," Robertson said on the CBC's Power & Politics. "We didn't have any of that going back to 2008."

We'll have to see what plans Carney and Robertson have to build this country and as fast as possible. 

Conservatives a No-Show at All Candidates Debate

Candidates Digby, Fakirini, Grant, and Ede at the debate

With five more days to go until the federal election, the Dunbar Residents Association organised an all candidates' debate, featuring the people -- all men -- who are running to represent Vancouver Quadra.

It was held at Immaculate Conception Parish Gymnasium, a much newer facility compared to the one that is usually used across the street at St Philips Anglican Church.

The bigger venue however made it look like residents in the area didn't bother to show up, as attendance was on the low side; perhaps it was because they had already voted and didn't see the point in going to the debate.

Others didn't come because the Conservative candidate, Ken Charko -- who owns Dunbar Theatre -- did not reply to the invitation. This is not surprising since it has been reported across the country that Conservative candidates have not attended debates in their ridings throughout the campaign. Some residents were keen to challenge Charko tonight, but he was a no-show.

Even though we had cast our ballots, we wanted to check out the candidates anyway.

Tom Digby is running for the Green Party, and reminded people that he is currently on the Vancouver Park Board where he is keen on preserving Stanley Park. He has a masters degree in molecular biology and is an intellectual property lawyer. So he embodies the spirit of the Green Party and brought up climate change a few times.

Alim Fakirani represents the NDP. He is a teacher and looking to pivot into politics and was an eloquent speaker. He reminded the crowd of how the NDP is working hard to bring benefits to ordinary Canadians like dental care and healthcare. However, he may have soured some people in the audience when he reiterated the rich need to be taxed more...

Wade Grant is with the Liberals, and got the most applause from the audience espousing his party's views and throwing in Mark Carney's name a few times. The 46-year-old introduced himself as someone who has grown up in Vancouver Quadra and is concerned about the salmon population, and also concerned about young families struggling to survive.

John Odan Ede is the People's Party of Canada's candidate. The chemical engineer immigrated here in 2017 with his family and a masters in public policy and global affairs at the University of British Columbia. He is very passionate about democracy. The People's Party of Canada was formed in 2018 by Maxime Bernier, a former Conservative MP and cabinet minister in Stephen Harper's government.

We only stayed for the first half, with some interesting questions like would you porogue parliament, what do you agree about your opponents' platforms, and their opinion of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Most of the questions were not what most people would be concerned about, but we didn't stay long enough to hear the others asked by the moderator. Nevertheless it was good to see how passionate the candidates are and how disappointed they were that the Conservatives' Charko did not show up!

We were too.

 

Fact of the Day: 7.3M Canadians Already Voted

After 4 days of advance voting, a 25 percent increase in voters

A lot of Canadians turned out in advance polls.

Following four days of advance voting, an estimated 7.3 million people exercised their right to choose the next federal government.

That's a record number and a 25 percent increase from the 2021 election, where 5.8 million people cast their ballots ahead of the actual voting day.

Political science experts say it's too early to determine if the number of people who turned out for advance voting will result in more people casting their vote on Monday, election day.

They think more people are taking advantage of advance polls because it's more convenient for them. It may have also been helpful advance polls opened during the Easter long weekend when more students are back home from university, or people had more time to go to vote.

In the last election four years ago, 17 million people voted, representing 62.6 percent of registered voters. 

People Turn Out to Vote in Droves

Almost 2 million people voted on the first day of advance polls

Yesterday was the first day of advance polls and Elections Canada reports nearly 2 million people cast their ballots across the country for the federal election on April 28.

Advance polls are available for four days, until Easter Monday.

In Metro Vancouver, long lines were reported in the city's West End, Langley, Surrey and the riding of Vancouver-Granville.

Unlike the city's by-elections, there are no special provisions for the elderly, and so everyone had to wait in line.

Concerned about this prospect, we made the strategic move today to vote at dinnertime, when we thought most people would be preoccupied with eating.

So we had an early dinner and rushed to the advance voting location (different from the location for the actual voting day).

We easily got a parking spot at the elementary school and lo and behold -- four people ahead of us!

The man who greeted us at the door checked our voting cards to make sure we were in the right place and then we waited in line.

Two people checked one person's ID to make sure it matched with their voter card, and then manually found their name in a printed list and crossed their name off before giving them a small voter ballot that was folded.

Actually it was just one person doing that work, and then him reading out some code numbers for the second person to take down.

When a voter completed the ballot, he or she went back to that first person, who ripped off a grey strip from the ballot before the voter could stuff it into the cardboard box.

Is it any wonder why people waited so long yesterday? It seems there is only one master list and to avoid duplication and manipulation of it, only one person can have access to it, hence the bottleneck.

With two more days to go, hopefully there will be more people voting by Monday.

In the 2021 election, almost 5.8 million people voted in advance polls. A total of 17,209,811 voters cast their ballots, representing a voter turnout of 62.6 percent.

As many people are calling this the most contentious election in decades, hopefully the turnout will be even higher. Every vote counts!

Poilievre Wants to Stop Scams on Seniors... But Can He?

Poilievre wants to protect Canadian seniors from scammers

Less than two weeks to go before the federal election on April 28 and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has pitched the idea of preventing seniors from being scammed by passing the "Stop scamming seniors act", forcing banks and telecom companies to use state of the art technology to detect scams.

Not only that, there will also be automatic blocking of seniors' accounts when there are suspicious transactions, and a 24-hour hold on high-risk transactions for seniors. There would also be active reporting to the public of how many scams have been stopped, while those who are convicted of these scams would be sentenced to at least one year, and up to five years in jail.

While these proposals are well-meaning, how would it all work?

Poilievre doesn't seem to understand that many scams don't originate from Canada but abroad and the nefarious ways they can "mistakenly" text someone and strike up a conversation and soon becomes a trusted friend. 

It's after months of daily contact that the scammer eventually begins the extraction of money for "investment", and by that point the victim is so driven by the dreams of becoming wealthy that they will do whatever it takes to transfer the funds to the scammer.

Some of these conversations aren't even in English or French. How to stop these scams in other languages?

And what if a senior is legitimately trying to purchase a big ticket item? They need to wait 24 hours before they can make the transaction? It makes them feel like children.

In addition, it would be so hard for banks and telecom companies to detect scams -- while there are some bank tellers who are alert and flag customers who come in asking to transfer large amounts of money with strange requests, a lot of funds are transferred through setting up crypto accounts or online transfers. 

We could do with fewer spam calls and texts, but it's harder to crack down on scammers than Poilievre thinks and to educate seniors to be on alert...

Freeland the Target of Online Attacks Allegedly from China

Freeland was target of online attacks apparently from China

It appears China does not like Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland, following the monitoring of several posts on WeChat seen by over 3 million people.

The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force (SITE) said an information operation directed at Freeland was traced to WeChat's "most popular news account", apparently an anonymous blog that experts have linked to the People's Republic of China.

SITE, which is made up of senior Canadian intelligence and security officials, said in a statement Friday that over 30 WeChat news accounts took part in the campaign from January 29 to February 3.

She is in the running to replace Trudeau

"The campaign received very high levels of engagement and views, with WeChat news articles disparaging Ms. Freeland netting over 140,000 interactions," it said.

The task force estimates between 2 million to 3 million users globally saw the posts, without elaborating on what the "derogatory" content was.

In reaction to the news, Freeland, who was formerly the finance and deputy minister in the Trudeau administration until December, was undeterred.

"I will not be intimidated by Chinese foreign interference," she wrote in a social media post. "Having spent years confronting authoritarian regimes, I know firsthand the importance of defending our freedoms."

Interestingly this development comes on the heels of the public inquiry into foreign election interference that recently wrapped up, calling misinformation and disinformation an "existential threat."

Hogue warned of "existential threat" in report

"Misinformation and disinformation have the ability to distort our discourse, change our views and shape our society," Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue wrote in her final report.

"In my view it is no exaggeration to say that at this juncture, information manipulation (whether foreign or not) poses the single biggest risk to our democracy."

How will Beijing react? Either defiant denial or gaslighting?

Book Review: How to Lose a Country

There are dictators all over the world

Last month I watched Democracy Noir, a documentary about how Viktor Orban rose to power in Hungary which has become an authoritarian state, wiping out press freedom, hobbling the healthcare system, while ingratiating his family's coffers through corruption.

During the Q&A with the director, one audience member suggested people read How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran, who talks about what happened in Turkey, led by another dictator, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

So I found a copy from the public library and just finished reading it.

Temelkuran warns readers of dictatorship signs

The book was published in 2019 and Temelkuran, who is a journalist, recounts many anecdotes that show how Turkey slid into authoritarianism and the public either didn't realise it or they did and were helpless in fighting back. She also talks about Donald Trump and his first term in office.

When I read the book as the US election results were coming in, I couldn't help but think what Temelkuran would have thought of a second Trump presidency.

This is what she wrote in the Guardian newspaper:

Dear American friend,

By the time my letter reaches you, you'll have heard all the clever ways of saying, "We are fucked!" Thousands of soundbites will have told you, "Get up and fight." Others will have shared tips on mourning and healing. The strange thing is that even though you'll be in the same dark circus of emotions, everything you hear from your political side will add to your anger. That is what defeat the second time around does: the shame of losing morphs into self-hatred. You begin to be enraged by your ilk more than the opponent. That is why I am writing directly to you. Because in the coming months, your emotional state will impact domestic and global politics.

In her book, How to Lose a Country, she talks about the various ways in which authoritarianism creeps into a country. There is the weaponisation of words, or claiming them as their own, revisionism of history, creating imaginary enemies, and controlling the media.

Early on in the book she talks about Trump, and how he knew that "the ordinary man still needs a shepherd to lead him to greatness. He knew how diminishing and disappointing it can feel to realise that you are only mediocre, in a world where you have constantly been told that you can be anything you want to be."

He also knew that the call to break the imaginary chains of slavery preventing the real people from reaching greatness would resonate with his supporters, regardless of the fact that it sounded absurd to those who had had the chance to become what they wanted to be. 'It's not you,' he told them. 'It's them who prevent us from being great.' He gave them something solid to hate, and they gave him their votes. And once he started speaking in the name of we -- as has happened many times over the course of history -- they were ready to sacrifice themselves.

Sound familiar?

Temelkuran gives a lot of examples about Erdogan and Turkish politics, but doesn't give much context for readers to better understand what she is trying to convey; she seems to assume the reader is on her side, but without an explanation to an audience outside of Turkey, it's hard to have a deeper understanding of her book.

Nevertheless, some of the examples remind me of Hong Kong, like this passage towards the end of the book.

Ambassadors, parliamentarians, journalists: there are more than 50 of us in total, and we are running from floor to floor in the gigantic Palace of Justice in Istanbul. It is 2010, and this is the new technique of ridiculing the opposition in courtrooms. Whenever there is a political case that is monitored by dissidents, like this one today, we are first told to wait outside a particular courtroom, and then, at the last minute, they change it so that all those attending, many of them middle-aged, have to run to a different floor. And then they do it again, and we run again. Most of the crowd end up gasping for breath, and when we finally find the mystery courtroom it turns out to be the smallest one in the whole building, so even if we squeeze in like sardines, many still end up stranded outside.

She goes on to say:

More often than not, the hearing will be the first time we have seen our imprisoned friend in over a year, for he or she will have been held in a prison cell without a court hearing through all that time. Meanwhile, the prosecutor laughs at the panting observers, and sometimes the judge throws out anyone who takes exception to being the butt of this particular joke in the so-called 'Palace of Justice'.

It's eerie how it's so familiar.

Another refrain is "This is not my country!"

So while I would like to recommend the How to Lose a Country, it's a string of anecdotes that jump around in time and place without much context unless you are familiar with the country or authoritarian leader Temelkuran is talking about.

But in general she warns readers to look out for the signs of their country to see if it is falling into dictatorship and encourages them to fight back, though she admits it can be tiring and demoralising. 

Trump Projected to Win... Again

Badiucao imagining what Kim, Xi and Putin are wishing for

It's 2.49am Eastern time and Donald Trump is on stage rambling about how he is going to make America great again, and how democracy is so beautiful, as he is poised to become the next president of the United States with 266 electoral votes, with four more to win.

For the Democrats it's 2016 all over again where Hilary Clinton suffered a shock loss, and now Kamala Harris. 

Analysts on CBC Radio are saying that President Joe Biden should be blamed for the result because he should have not run and given others a chance, that him holding on until after the first presidential debate showed he was egotistical and selfish.

Others said Harris didn't have enough time to tell voters who she is, and that she didn't clearly distinguish herself from Biden. For some voters it was the conflict in Gaza that hurt the Democrats versus Trump claiming he would make peace in a day.

For many it seems, the economy was top of mind, and high interest rates and tight budgets didn't help the Democrats, and voters remember Trump's presidency was in relatively good times and want to return to that. And so even women's rights on abortion wasn't enough of an issue to resonate with voters.

Some critics say the Republicans were more organised in getting voters registered compared to the Democrats even though Harris's team spent US$3 billion on her campaign, much more than Trump.

Canada is horrified by this impending result, and so is Europe. Ukraine won't be happy either, or Taiwan.

Political cartoonist Badiucao has drawn a cartoon of Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin praying for Trump to win, and they pretty much have their wish come true.

Will terrified Americans really move to Canada? Will women have to come up north to get an abortion? Will gay and trans people also come here too?

And will Trump go ahead with his Project 2025? Will he ban abortion nationwide? Will he kick out all illegal immigrants? Will he prosecute his enemies?

Some voters think the prosecutions and convictions against Trump were politically motivated...

Michelle Obama recently said in frustration: "We've got one candidate that's allowed to be lawless while the other one has to be flawless."

Harris unfortunately could not turn things around and could not even face her supporters tonight, who are grumbling that she didn't come out to thank them for voting for her.

She is probably overwhelmed that she actually lost... Democrats will be doing more soul-searching -- again...

Down to the Wire for Trump and Harris

Who will it be? Trump or Harris? American votes soon!

It has come down to this. The American people will finally begin voting for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the coming hours.

The differences between the two candidates are so stark that it's hard to believe there are still voters out there who are undecided.

And apparently the race is so close that it may take days or weeks to count every single ballot. 

While Harris made her last-minute pitches to voters, including an appearance on Saturday Night Live, Trump has already hinted that the Democrats are stealing the vote, which is completely unsubstantiated without evidence. But there are fans out there who totally believe him.

Some are voting Republican because they believe Harris condones what Israel is doing in Gaza, while some are voting Democrat because they are terrified that Trump may ban abortions nationwide.

Harris proxies are stumping for her in any way they can, even with a runny nose, in the case of Michelle Obama, while Pete Buttigieg has debated "undecided" voters one-on-one with facts and figures, leaving them angry that they can't stump him. No one from the Republican side has dared to do what Buttigieg has done. 

Meanwhile the rest of the world is on edge wondering what the outcome will be. A Trump presidency would not be good for Canada because he wants to impose tariffs on anything imported into the US. 

Everyone is feeling election fatigue, and anxiety leading up to tomorrow. An acquaintance recently asked if it would be safe to go to the US right after the election.

Who knows?!

BC Elections Too Close to Call Tonight

The start of live TV broadcasts waiting for election results

British Columbia still doesn't know which party will govern it -- it's literally neck-and-neck between the NDP and the Conservatives because Elections BC is recounting 21 ridings as the votes are just too close.

So far, the NDP have 46 seats, the Conservatives 45, the Greens 2. Interestingly so far none of the independents, particularly the incumbents who were formerly BC United, have not made a dent at all.

Rustad giving a victorious speech tonight

The biggest winner tonight was Conservative leader John Rustad who was kicked out of the then BC Liberals and resurrected the blue party from the dead to have the best showing in 100 years. He is obviously chuffed at literally rebuilding the party from scratch. 

Despite his poor performance in the television debate, Rustad and his party has managed to turn the interior of the province deep blue with far less resources than the NDP, which won Metro Vancouver (except Vancouver-Quilchena) and the coastal areas. The results show voters are dissatisfied with the NDP and want change.

The biggest loser was David Eby of the NDP. The close vote is a repudiation of him wasting his two years as leader and not continuing on his predecessor John Horgan's positive streak and making things better for British Columbians. Instead Eby rested on his laurels and also dragged the province into C$9 billion in debt.

Tonight Eby ate his humble pie and has promised to work with the Green party to follow through on his promises.

Eby vowing to keep fighting Conservatives

Meanwhile even though Sonia Furstenau was considered the only adult in the room during the televised debate, she lost her seat tonight at the leader of the Green party. Part of the reason is she chose not to defend her seat in Cowichan Valley, but instead take on NDP incumbent Grace Lore in Victoria-Beacon Hill, a riding held by the NDP since 2005.

Nevertheless, the Greens managed to clinch two seats to maintain its political party status in the legislature, and will be the kingmaker to whoever wins the mandate to form the next government.

There are still some 100,000 mail-in ballots that also need to be counted! Perhaps tomorrow we'll know who won?!

Early BC Voters Came Out in Droves

Over 600,000 people have already cast their ballots

The BC provincial election is this Saturday, but a lot of people have taken advantage of advance voting from October 10-13, and then October 15-16. Apparently over 600,000 people have already voted today, which is considered a very good turnout.

Today was the last day of advance voting and so we went to cast our ballots at the Dunbar Community Centre after lunch.

A long line ahead of us this afternoon

We were shocked to see a long line that had formed in the long corridor, but the line was moving, ever so slowly.

A few minutes later we got to the point in the line where the poster read that we were 20 minutes away from voting, and then another one saying 10 minutes to go. Luckily for the elderly there were folded chairs available to sit on if they couldn't stand too long. We even bumped into some friends in the line ahead of us.

Finally we made it to the front, where we could see the hold up -- only three volunteers were registering voters, while a few others were milling around. 

Our photo identification was matched with the voter card and then we were formally told a ballot was being prepared for us. We were instructed to take a Sharpie pen and either fill the circle or draw an "X" and not to vote for more than one candidate. Then we were told to put the ballot in a black folder and take it to the person who would insert it into the ballot counting machine.

Personally I was surprised to see two pairs of voting booths were next to each other and not separated! In any event I brought my ballot to the guy who slipped my piece of paper into the machine that looked like a printer and a few seconds later my vote was counted, #5842. So up until the point when I voted there were 5,842 of us who had voted in the advance polls in this polling station since October 10.

Cute signs hinting the length of time

Coming out of the voting area there was still a very long line of people waiting to vote, and the queue snaked all the way down the corridor to the entrance of the community centre!

I heard yesterday there was no line at all! Perhaps voters woke up today, worried about long lines on Saturday and wanted to cast their ballots earlier; it's going to be a nail-biter of an election which is heartening to see so many people coming out already!

Controversial Conservative Remarks Before Election

Brodie is third from the left, flanked by Greens and NDP

There are only days left until the British Columbia provincial election and already advance voting has seen the highest number of people coming in to cast their vote before October 19.

It's a highly contentious election with the New Democratic Party and in the latest polls the Conservatives are neck-and-neck. Earlier this week there was a televised debate between the three parties, NDP, Conservatives and the Greens.

That 90-minute debate revealed Conservative leader John Rustad not looking confident, hardly looking at the camera and having to go on the defensive as incumbent Premier David Eby launched numerous attacks, sometimes in concert with Green leader Sonia Furstenau.

But Eby was unsettled too, having to defend his record and not having much to show for his two years in power. Rustad said that Eby inherited a province that had a healthy bottom line of C$6 billion, but now is C$9 billion in the red, and what did he have to show for it?

The sniping between Rustad and Eby made Furstenau look like the only adult in the room, using the opportunity to explain the Greens' platform.

Then on Thursday evening, the neighbourhood I reside in held a Q&A with the candidates running in our ridings. Eby is in Vancouver-Point Grey, while Vancouver-Quilchena was the left-leaning stronghold of the BC Liberals, which morphed into BC United led by Kevin Falcon.

But in late August Falcon suddenly announced BC United was suspending its election campaign which resulted in total disarray; BC United candidates were not told of the news ahead of time and didn't know what to do, and neither did left-leaning voters.

In the end some candidates were taken up by the Conservatives, but some chose to run as independents.

So it will be interesting to see who will take Vancouver-Quilchena now that BC United is gone from the slate. 

I was surprised to see a number of Conservative signs up in my neighbourhood and even more so now that the candidate Dallas Brodie has been slammed by an indigenous leader for her racist remarks made at the event I attended.

An NDP candidate fired the salvo, bringing up Brodie's comments about First Nations people who want autonomy and equal footing, those rights come with responsibility.

"When a large percentage of your people are on the Downtown Eastside, it's important that you come and take responsibility for that piece as well. It's not okay to leave your people," she said.

Wade Grant of the Musqueam Indian Band attended the meeting and recorded the video of Brodie's remarks. 

"You could tell there were people in the audience who were uncomfortable with the answer," he said, adding that, "My reaction was one of disbelief for somebody who wants to be a leader in this province."

Many people were taken aback by what she said, as indigenous people in the Downtown Eastside is a complicated issue, and the reason why people end up there are for many different reasons. 

Brodie felt the moderator had cut her off, but he said she could use time in the next question to finish her remarks but she did not.

Nevertheless, it seems most people in the room were more supportive of the NDP and the Greens, and some political pundits are anticipating an NDP minority government propped up by the Greens.

We will find out soon enough...

First Chinese-born MP in the UK

Yang on election night after she won her seat

The results of the UK election are devastating -- the Conservatives were literally booted out of office and Labour is in, led by Keir Starmer.

But while Labour won by a landslide, a closer look at the numbers reveal the party won 63 percent of the seats with 34 percent of the vote.

It's not a confident position for Starmer, which is why he knows he needs to get to work right away to fix the UK.

Yang's book profiles four women born in 1990s

One of those helping him do that is Yuan Yang, the first Chinese-elected MP. She was born in China and at the age of four moved with her family to the UK. She is in her mid-30s and is a former journalist, having worked at the Financial Times in the UK and in Beijing as deputy bureau chief. 

Not only that but she has just published a book called Private Revolutions: Four Women Face China's New Social Order, profiling four women who were born in the 1990s and how they faced overwhelming odds to find success, or they clinched success and now find the current economic atmosphere very challenging. 

She had a planned book tour to promote Private Revolutions because she had to go campaigning for the election that was on July 4.

On NPR she talked about her book, but also her time in Beijing, and how she felt going back and forth between the UK and China. She said people in the west don't appreciate what they have until they lose it. 

Yang said she was answering questions from residents and one remarked how she had an optimistic disposition when she talks about the future.

"I thought about this and I think I'm optimistic by personality but I also think that my optimism, my hope, a renewal of British democracy comes from seeing the exact opposite, which is the rise of authoritarianism in China, the crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong in 2019 and onwards, and the tightening of restrictions around speech, around what journalists can do, and the closing down on China from the outside world. 

"And coming back to the UK has been a breath of fresh air in terms of our ability to write, to knock on somebody's door and ask them who they might vote for and what they think of the prime minister. These are the kinds of things that are unimaginable for activists and journalists in China," she said.

We're excited to see how Yang does as MP for the new constituency of Earley and Woodley in Reading. She won the seat with 18,209 votes, just beating Conservative candidate Pauline Jorgensen with 17,361 votes. 

Record Low Turnout for "Patriots-Only" District Council Election

Voter turnout at 27.5 percent, with a computer glitch near end

The day after the District Council elections, the government and the liaison office insisted the "patriots-only" election was "a success in improving governance structure", and that it was a "real, functioning democracy", even though there was a record low turnout.

Of the 4.33 million registered voters, only 1,193,193 or 27.5 percent came out. However, of those who voted, 22,045 residents cast blank votes which were invalid, representing 1.85 percent of the overall figure. This compares to 0.56 percent invalid votes four years ago, when 71. 2 percent of voters came out during the height of the 2019 protests.

Most of the voters this year were the elderly who were bussed in, as well as public servants who had to cast ballots.

Ip says "extending hours was completely useless"

Despite the low participating figures, Beijing claimed the election implemented the principle of "patriots governing Hong Kong".

"The district councils have restored their proper nature and functions, freeing the election from politicisation, populism, and pragmatically focusing on solving real problems in the community," the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said in a statement.

"Residents can deeply feel that the elections are related to their interests and that this is real, functioning democracy."

How about a "functioning democracy" with Chinese characteristics? Pro-democracy candidates were barred from running, even centrist pro-establishment parties could not get enough nominations.

Nevertheless, some pro-Beijng lawmakers were not pleased with the turnout, like Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, founder and chairperson of the New People's Party.

There was a computer system glitch two hours before voting was supposed to finish, so in a bid to get more voters in, the time was extended by another 90 minutes past midnight.

Ip said afterwards "extending hours was completely useless", the extra one and a half did not yield a significant uptick in voters.

But Tam Yiu-chung, vice president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau said the election turnout was in line with expectations.

He claimed residents cared more about the Legislative Council elections than District Council ones, and that people were out of town so they couldn't cast ballots.

However, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu hailed it as a "high-quality" election, but surely there are questions as to why so much money was spent on getting people to vote but the end result was so few.

Was the turnout really in line with expectations? The spinning will continue for days to come...

HK Reveals Homophobic Colours Ahead of Gay Games

The Gay Games have finally opened in Hong Kong

After being postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic and difficulty in securing venues because of Hong Kong government bureaucracy, the Gay Games have finally kicked off, but still not without controversy.

In the days leading up to the Games opening on November 5, some pro-Beijing legislators who were anti-LGBTQ, called for the event to be cancelled on national security grounds, and that politician Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee should resign because she would officiate the opening.

Seven lawmakers against the Games

One of them, the bombastic Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, even sent a letter to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, saying the Gay Games promotes same-sex marriage in Hong Kong, and this must be stopped.

There was no response.

"We object to any Western ideology that sugar-coated its agenda in the name of diversity and inclusivity for a sports event, attempting to subvert national security," he said in a press conference with six other homophobic lawmakers.

Ho said the event was a "criminal activity" that spread the ideology of gay rights, subverting traditional Chinese family values.

Others like Equal Opportunities Commission Josiah Chok Kin-ming called for the authorities to investigate whether the Games' source of funding came from foreign organisations and amounted to collusion with external forces prohibited under the national security law.

Ip hit back, calling their claims "ridiculous" and confirmed she would officiate the opening.

Ip officiated the opening of the Games

"If there is firm evidence that the Gay Games are in breach of national security laws, the police would have taken action," said Ip, who was a former security chief. 

"I suspect the timing of the attacks are politically motivated, to smear my district council [election] candidates, one of whom has been harassed on-street because of my support for the Gay Games."

Not just one has been harassed, Paul Lui Yau-tak, but all 29 of the New People's Party candidates running in the upcoming District Council election on December 10.

Interestingly, while Ip supports the Gay Games, she does not support same-sex marriage in Hong Kong as a 2013 Final Appeal ruling says the definition of marriage under the Basic Law did not include same-sex unions. 

Meanwhile Games co-chair Lisa Lam said the event had never deviated from the principle of promoting diversity and unity, and demonstrated to the world that Hong Kong was an inclusive city open for business.

"Everyone is entitled to have their own opinions," she said. "They can say what they want."

Just a polite way of saying, can we just have our Games and be done with it already?

It's so complicated, but basically, what a mess. 

Patriotic Candidates Need Only Apply

The District Council Election is Dec 10

The Hong Kong District Council elections will be held on December 10 and the candidates have been decided.

Since the rules for these elections have been overhauled, only "patriots" are eligible. 

In order to qualify, hopefuls had to get nine nominations from area committees by Monday Hong Kong time. 

Lee says only patriots qualify to run in electon

That resulted in 171 candidates vying for 88 directly-elected seats in 44 constituencies. Some 4.3 million people are eligible to vote.

"The purpose is to select the best people... You have to convince the public and ensure they agree you are qualified and competent to serve the district," Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said.

"Those securing the nominations should be capable people who truly love their country and Hong Kong."

Perhaps that explains why none of the six hopefuls from the Democratic Party got any nominations?

Even pro-establishment lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun's Roundtable Party had only one of five get enough nominations to become a candidate.

Nevertheless, Lee claimed the system was fair regardless of their background.

"I think that is the most important, the system has to be fair and applies to everybody in the same way," he said. 

All six of Lo's party hopefuls were shut out

"That is the most important principle for all elections to be considered -- fair and equal application. A candidate will have to respect the decision of the person he seeks the nomination from... it is up to you to ensure that you can convince the person you want to convince."

Keep in mind the main role of district councillors is to talk to residents in the area about making roads safer in the neighbourhood by proposing more stop lights or crosswalks be added, help residents with any bureaucratic problems they face, or suggest more green spaces for residents to enjoy.

Back in 2019 Hongkongers used the District Council elections as a referendum on the government's handling of the protests because they had no other way to voice their concerns.

And now four years later the government is using these elections to ensure only select voices are heard.

A friend wrote on social media about being surprised no representatives from the Democratic Party or "centrist" party could become candidates, because if they lost, they would lose more face in an election than being disqualified.

However, it seems Lee or rather Beijing wants to ensure nothing goes wrong December 10 and only have sure winners.

But perhaps more telling will be the voter turnout...