B.C. Liberal leadership candidates hold first debate

Six of the candidates running to lead BritishColumbia's Liberals laid out their ideas to rebuild the party Sundayin a debate that dwelled at times on what went wrong in lastspring's election.

The field of candidates includes three members of Christy Clark'spre-election cabinet and two of them did some soul-searching on whythe party lost seats and was eventually dumped from power in aconfidence vote after 16 years in office.

Andrew Wilkinson said the party spent too much time talking aboutits wider economic success and didn't listen to voters who werefeeling the pinch.

'Preaching from 30,000 feet'

"We were preaching at people from 30,000 feet. Telling themabout credit ratings, telling them about our debt-to-GDP ratio,"said the one-time attorney general.

"It meant nothing in theirliving rooms. The NDP were in their living rooms offering them acheaper way of life."

The province's minority NDP government will struggle to keeps itselection promises to make life more affordable but there is anopportunity for the Liberals to capitalize on issues like the highcost of housing, he added.

"People are living with two income families from pay cheque topay cheque. We've got to understand that and provide a bettersolution right here in the Lower Mainland."

Dianne Watts wasn't in Clark's cabinet, but she reiteratedWilkinson's argument, telling the party it needs to change.

"We lost that election because we stopped listening," saidWatts, a former Surrey mayor who quit the House of Commons seat sheheld for the Conservative party to seek the leadership.

Former transportation minister Todd Stone said he launched hiscampaign in rapidly growing Surrey to acknowledge the quality oflife issues of many voters in the Lower Mainland around Vancouver,and that means adding more child-care spaces, increasing spending onaffordable housing and creating better transportation links that getpeople home quicker after work.

"In this last election we didn't get it all right. We didn'tspeak the language that resonated with enough folks in the LowerMainland and their issues of affordability and housing, child careand transportation."

de Jong a target

Former finance minister Mike de Jong has bore the brunt of muchof the criticism since the election, facing arguments that histight-fisted control of the province's purse strings meant programsaimed at easing financial pressures for people never made it off thedrawing board, hurting the party in Metro Vancouver.

But de Jong was unapologetic.

"I have heard the criticism, that tightwad de Jong," he said."I may be the only finance minister in living history, now formerfinance minister, whose criticism is rooted in the proposition thatI was too careful with the taxpayers' dollars."

The NDP was left with a $2.7 billion surplus by the Liberals.

The Liberal Party of British Columbia is not affiliated with theLiberal Party of Canada and describes itself as "a made-in-B.C.free enterprise coalition." That coalition includes members of thefederal Conservative and Liberal parties.

The nearly two-hour debate also featured legislature members SamSullivan and Michael Lee.

Terrace businesswoman Lucy Sager didn'tparticipate and former education minister Mike Bernier bowed out ofthe race on Saturday, throwing his support behind de Jong.

Bold moves needed

Lee said his children are in their early 20s but they don't havethe same chances of economic success as his parents when theyarrived in Vancouver from Hong Kong.

"We need to be smart with your money and we need to plan for thefuture," he said.

Sullivan said he has hope for the Liberals' future as he made hispitch to lead the party.

"You need someone to take bold moves to take decisive actionsand to get the job done," he said.

A number of candidates panned the NDP's proposal to change thesystem used to elect members of the legislature by holding a referendum on proportional representation.

The Greens and NDP have supported a system of proportionalrepresentation that accounts for the number of seats each party getsin the legislature based on their percentage of their popular vote.

But Watts described the system as "destablizing" whileWilkinson said the NDP is threatening the "basis of our democracy"with proportional representation and changes to politicalfundraising laws.

Sunday's debate was the first of six the party will hold acrossthe province before it elects a new leader in February.