Elections are not cheap so maybe it's important to have a good reason before calling one.
Sadly, in the case of the Coquitlam-Burke Mountain byelection held Feb. 2, there wasn't one except that the MLA seat of Douglas Horne had to be filled because Horne dropped out long before his provincial term had ended to run for an MP's position.
Horne could be forgiven this bit of hubris if he had won or the issues that were raised galvanized voters. But he didn't and the resulting voter turnout — 23.17% — tells the story.
It's true Horne lost his bid to replace retired Conservative MP James Moore in a federal Liberal wave that swept the country and his overly optimistic run for the Ottawa post was possibly doomed from the start. It's also true that politicians shouldn't run for office only when they think they can win.
But was Horne the only credible Tory candidate? He could have saved taxpayers a lot of money — $549,000, not including politicians' more than $200,000 in election expenses — had he stayed put.
Thus, we have a cautionary tale for ladder climbing among politicians: Think before you jump. Are you adding to the debate? Are you raising public awareness when you quit mid-term to run for a higher post? Or are you making voters more cynical and skeptical with your vanity project?
The true winners in the byelection were Jodie Wickens, who carried the banner for the NDP and won, and Liberal candidate Joan Isaacs. Both candidates will re-run their race in May and will use what they learned in the byelection to run against each other.
But money isn't everything and most voters recognize there is a cost to running elections — unfortunately, they don't always see value in showing up at the ballot box.
It would be disheartening to say the exercise in voting was wasted and Horne's seat should have stayed empty. But could more have been done to get voters into the booth?
The folks who have to answer that question are in Elections BC marketing departments and the folks in the offices of the BC Liberal, NDP and Green parties.
Soon, the knives will be out and the negative advertising campaigns dialled up to hysteria in the lead-up to the May 9, 2017 provincial vote. Once again, top dollar will be spent to garner votes. If these dollars are well spent will depend on voter engagement and turnout, not to mention decisions made by the winning party once in office.
• An earlier version of this editorial mistakenly identified Joan Isaacs as an MLA, she was in fact a candidate. Jodie Wickens is the MLA for Coquitlam-Burke Mountain.
