Opinion | NDP victory a reminder Canada is no utopia for those fleeing Hong Kong
- The socialist-leaning party’s triumph means its policies of higher taxes, regulation and restrictions on real estate investment are likely to remain in place
- Hongkongers should not put much hope in an NDP-run British Columbia or a Liberal-run federal government to take a hard line against China
Although the official election results will not be announced until all of the 500,000 postal votes are in, the counted votes show that the New Democratic Party (NDP) will gain 55 seats in the provincial Legislative Assembly while the Liberal Party and Green Party won only 29 and three seats, respectively.
The landslide victory is an expected result of the effective response of the NDP minority government to the coronavirus pandemic. British Columbia has so far done one of the best jobs in keeping the virus under control. The province has recorded fewer confirmed cases and deaths than others such as Quebec, Ontario and Alberta.
But its handling of the economy is less reassuring. The NDP has raised taxes and imposed restrictions on economic activities, especially in the real estate sector. The party’s lack of economic vision is surely jeopardising the future of heavily Chinese Canadian-populated British Columbia, especially Vancouver.
The NDP’s political gains are from its success in fighting the pandemic, which will most likely inspire Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party, the ruling minority in the federal government, to call for an early election. Since Trudeau is more popular than the newly elected Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole, he can replicate the NDP’s success and regain majority control of the legislature.
