Two very different campaign events

If today’s NDP and Liberal campaign events — held only a few blocks away from each other on the North Shore — are an indication, Terry Lake will walk away with the election in Kamloops-North Thompson. Whether they really are indicative, of course, is arguable, but there’s no question the Liberals generated several more times excitement than the New Democrats.

I didn’t get to James’ rally earlier in the day, so my view is limited to the two events later on. James attracted about 40 people to a “town hall” type meeting at the North Shore Community Centre, while Premier Gordon Campbell packed a hundred into Lake’s campaign headquarters in a former auto dealership on Fortune Drive.

And what a difference in the makeup of the crowds. James spent a half hour fielding softball questions from a partisan group of labourites and working folk. She was asked about housing, student debt, run-of-river hydro, raw-log exports, B.C. Rail, seniors and special needs kids, all issues in which opponents of the Liberals see the government as coming up short.

Kamloops North candidate Doug Brown was there, along with Tom Friedman, going up against Kevin Krueger in Kamloops South. So was Coun. Nancy Bepple, who acted as moderator for the questions. Local media were in attendance; the lone out-of-towner I saw was photographer Jason Payne from the Vancouver Province.

It was a rather sedate affair — no music, no chanting, no hoopla.

Contrast that with Campbell’s appearance, where the crowd was dominated by movers and shakers from the business community, developers and the professions. Doug Wittal and Tom Aubrey — who announced a $250 million theme park development last week, were among them. Lawyers like Dale Janowsky and chamber of commerce past president Rick Heney were in attendance, as were Thompson Rivers University chair Ron Olynyk and president Kathleen Scherf, plus Venture Kamloops chair Chris Ortner.

And if City council had wanted to hold a quick meeting whilst waiting for the premier, they would have had a quorum: Mayor Peter Milobar, councillors Jim Harker, Tina Lange, John DeCicco and John O’Fee, all sporting Lake buttons. Along with Lake and Krueger were Fraser-Nicola candidate Ella Brown, the former Logan Lake mayor, retired MLA Claude Richmond, and health minister George Abbott in from his Shuswap riding.

There was plenty of music, plenty of cheering and noise, and lots of speeches. CBC was there, so was the Canadian Press. When Campbell arrived almost a half hour late, he delivered a rip roaring speech that focused on the economy. He had the advantage of being able to mention such things as the airport expansion, TRU’s university status, and taking the tolls off the Coquihalla.

Of course, he and his government took a lot of persuading on the airport, strongly opposed university status for quite some time, and removed the tolls years after they should have been cancelled. But, hey, this is an election, not a political science thesis.

Do today’s events actually mean the Liberals will carry a momentum into Kamloops-North Thompson that will help them retain their hold on the riding? The numbers crunchers say math is against them. As one NDP campaigner said to me at the James meeting, “Kamloops-South Thompson is ours to win; Kamloops-North Thompson is ours to lose.”

Campbell, Lake and Krueger all emphasized the need to work hard and get the vote out, and the very fact the party mustered together so many political heavyweights indicates they think they’ve got a fight on their hands on the north side of the river. But let’s put it this way: the relative lack of energy at the James town hall, and the well-orchestrated buzz at Campbell’s show certainly aren’t bad news for the Liberals.