Adrian Dix says BC NDP must “listen and learn” after Conservatives win majority

The Story

BC NDP MLA for Vancouver-Renfrew Adrian Dix said the party is focused on what comes next after Premier David Eby resigned as BC NDP leader following Saturday’s snap provincial election, which resulted in a strong majority for the BC Conservatives.

Dix said the election “blotted out every other issue,” making it harder for the NDP to move public discussion beyond health care and other topics the party had planned to raise.

He also said the election demobilized some supporters who did not vote because they were responding to an election they “did not see was necessary,” adding that the NDP will need to talk to members and voters in areas that did not return NDP support.

Dix said the snap election also affected how the NDP was able to make its case, arguing that calling an election in B.C. carries a major risk because “everyone is close,” and he said the voters indicated they did not see a “very strong and compelling reason” for the move.

While Dix said the NDP has people who want to work and “hold” the newly elected BC Conservative majority government to account, he said they must also adjust their approach going forward. “But we also have to listen and learn,” he said.

Dix said the party still needs to pick a new leader, but that it also has to take time to reflect on what happened and why. “We’ve had nine years in government,” he said, pointing to both “significant successes” and things “we didn’t achieve as well.”

Dix added that while he expects the results to produce a Conservative government, many voters still supported the NDP, noting that “38 per cent of them voted NDP.” He said the party’s task is to deliver a strong opposition, emphasizing that the NDP “can only do that if we listen, we engage, and we do our job as an opposition.”

Dix also referenced a prior loss, saying that in 2001 the BC NDP suffered the biggest defeat in the party’s history. “We came back from that,” he said.