Business legend
Oak Bay Marine Group founder Bob Wright dies Page A3
NEWS: Transit eyes bus-only lanes along Douglas /A5 OPINION: Value added marketing an old ploy /A9 COMMUNITY: Teen debaters ready to argue /A26
1995
$
Last bulb b yo y you’ll ou’ll u’’ll u ll
VICTORIANEWS Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Proudly serving Esquimalt & Victoria
EVER BUY! BUY!
LIFETIME WARRANTY REPLACES STANDARD 60 WATT 8.5 WATT • WARM WHITE LED
MCLARENLIGHTING.COM
www.vicnews.com
B.C. ELECTION
Candidates navigate stereotypes Parties face challenge of overcoming generalization from voters and critics Daniel Palmer News staff
Sharon Tiffin/News staff
Pond reflection Victoria Model Shipbuilding Society member Bernard Kenny walks alongside his radio controlled sailboat at Harrison’s Pond on Dallas Road as he’s reflected in the calm waters. Society members meet every Sunday at the pond to show off their floating creations.
Stereotyping is the brain’s way of generalizing human behaviour, and whether we like it or not, we all do it. Nowhere is our ability to label, categorize and cast judgment as readily apparent as in politics, where cheerleaders and critics from all political stripes rely on misconceptions and simplifications to frame their opponents. As the B.C. election ramps up, each party fights against inevitable pigeonholing from the public, media and their opponents, said James Lawson, political scientist at the University of Victoria. “It’s an understated factor in recent Canadian history, the way parties in government have their agenda set by the opposition parties they face as much as by their own pressures,” he said. The B.C. Liberals face the challenges of any three-time incumbent government, but they have made some policy decisions to buck the Liberal stereotype of unabashed resource development and expansion, Lawson said. “(Liberal leader) Christy Clark
announced five conditions for the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline you could dismiss as theatre, but they were aggressively and publicly pursued,” he said. Announced in January 2012, the conditions include a complete environmental review of the pipeline project and greater First Nations engagement. “It would be hard to imagine her backing down from those.” As the B.C. NDP look to oust the Liberals from power for the first time in 13 years, leader Adrian Dix has been mediating concerns about his party’s ability to manage economic growth and keep spending contained, Lawson said. “We’ve seen Dix spending a lot of time attending business meetings, emphasizing transparency about what the NDP wanted to do and playing down radical change,” he said. The NDP’s ideological tightrope walk so far seems to be holding the support of new voters while not alienating its traditional support base. The most recent Angus Reid opinion poll gives the NDP a 20-point lead over the Liberals provincewide. Some critics also suggest an NDP government would cause a mass exodus of corporations from the province, an idea today rooted more in myth than reality, Lawson said. PlEASE SEE: Parties suffer, Page A26
CHANGE for the BETTER ROB
MAURINE
CAROLE
VICTORIA SWAN LAKE
ESQUIMALT ROYAL ROADS
VICTORIA BEACON HILL
FLEMING KARAGIANIS JAMES
Authorized by Heather Harrison, Financial Agent, 604-430-8600 | CUPE 3787