“The polls right now favor the NDP but, as they say, the only poll that counts is on election day. I know that Dr. Terry Lake is going to work incredibly hard between now and then, and so I have to work incredibly hard too.”
That was how Kathy Kendall summarized her chances in the provincial election coming up next May.
The BC New Democrat candidate for the Kamloops-North Thompson riding was in Clearwater on Saturday, July 28, to talk to people about their concerns and to do a little door-knocking.
“I think our prospects are good,” Kendall said, “but it’s like a sports team ... you don’t want to peak too soon.”
The proposed Ajax Mine near Kamloops is a big issue in the city but there doesn’t seem to be any single issue bringing people together in the North Thompson valley.
“It’s all over the map. Possibly the most important issue outside Kamloops is the disconnection, the lack of financial accountability in government,” she said, referring to the recent auditor general’s report that the government had understated the deficit by more than $500 million.
“There’s the sense that, at this time, it’s all about hanging onto power,” she said. “Look at Christy Clark’s yes, no, maybe on Enbridge.”
The provincial government has been giving bonuses to senior political aides and executives in its Crown corporations, but insisting on no pay increases for other civil servants and cutting services to the general public.
“There’s a disconnection between the way most people are trying to get by and what’s going on with government,” Kendall said.
“On issue after issue, the people who are most affected by that issue are not consulted.”
Kendall describes herself as a social justice activist. Before winning the NDP nomination she was a lawyer for 25 years with a major focus on Legal Aid.