Editor:
Re: ‘Orange’ crushed as BC Liberals win, May 16.
Only in B.C. you say? I couldn’t help but laugh at the pundits and pollsters who were completely wrong.
Of course, the apathy of those who didn’t vote was apathetic. The silent majority won again.
It was a matter of choices. The BC Liberals chose a leader, then deserted her when she needed support. The New Democrats chose a failed politician with little charisma, instead of a proven leader, Mike Farnsworth.
Christy never backed down and fought her own amazing positive campaign. Dix thought it was a shoo-in by not committing himself and then panicked.
I have lived 76 years in this beautiful province of ours but have never seen so much egg on so many faces after an election. Thanks for the memories.
p.s. Christy, be sure to behead the traitors!
Jim Enos, Surrey
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I, among thousands, am totally shocked by the recent election results, but at the same time am pleased to see the pollsters were so wrong. Maybe this useless squandering of money will finally stop, since all it accomplishes is making the pollsters rich and arrogant.
I also wish to comment on politicians who are already eating from one public trough, while attempting to gorge from another – case in point, BC Liberal Marvin Hunt.
Hunt has been eating into the budget, funded by Surrey taxpayers, for many years. Sitting as an active member of council, his accomplishments have been, in my opinion, less than memorable. He has now managed to gain an MLA’s position in the new Liberal government, running against unknown opponents.
He did not resign his councillor position to run provincially, which is appalling. He once made a comment that he may not resign his municipal position, even if elected provincially. What?
The laws must be changed to reflect that any elected person must be resigned before they can run as a candidate for another political office.
Enough of this free ride funded by the taxpayer.
J. Conley, Surrey
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How can a party that is going to win an election collapse in the last days of an all-out sprint the way the NDP did? They can’t, no matter how much you blame the negative ads or anything Adrian Dix might have said in the weeks of campaigning leading up to the election.
Fact is, in the last several elections – be they our own elections here in Canada, or elections across the border – polls have given us inaccurate information.
U.S. President Barack Obama was in a close race with Mitt Romney, or so the polls said. In the end, Obama wiped the dance floor with Romney’s blue suede shoes…
The Liberal Party of Canada was going to give a good fight to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. That’s what the polls were saying. Then the massive shockwave. Harper had a majority and, out of nowhere, the NDP became official Opposition. No poll had that in their sights.
In Alberta, in 2012, provincial polls were all showing the Wildrose party was going to give the mighty Progressive Conservatives a run for their money. There were seven – that’s right, seven – polling organizations, all saying the same thing: Wildrose was ahead. Then election night comes and who comes out on top? PCs 61, Wildrose 17.
So the question is, what relevance do election polls have anymore? New technology has caused a massive disruption in how pollsters collect information. The old ways of calling homes and asking how residents will vote is not working anymore. With home phones going the way of Nortel in the next decade, how will they get their information? Might it already be too late? Yep, too late.
Until pollsters adopt a new way of communicating with the votership, they will tell us it was one thing or another that gave them wrong numbers. This time, we will hear how successful the BC Liberal negative-ad campaign was at destroying confidence in the NDP. Nonsense, everyone I know PVRs and has never seen the negative TV ads. These same people rarely answer their phones if they don’t recognize the number, as well. Of those who do answer their phones, their numbers get sold so many times, they are the only numbers the pollsters call.
No wonder they get the polls so wrong.
Remember, my opinion is worth something 19 times out of 20…
Jean Emond, White Rock