With less than a week to go before election day, Mark Carney and other federal leaders are running out of time to make their case to the public.
“This is the last five minutes of Game 7,” the Liberal leader told supporters at the Sax Pointe Public House in Esquimalt on Wednesday, in the midst of his second visit to the Victoria area in just over two weeks.
It is precious time to spend in an area that has been an NDP stronghold in recent elections.
Victoria hasn’t gone Liberal red since David Anderson was MP there 19 years ago, but political analysts say Carney sees an opportunity there and in neighbouring Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke riding, also recently orange.
“Clearly with Mark Carney going to Victoria, he’s playing offence,” said political scientist Hamis Telford, a professor at the University of the Fraser Valley.
“He’s hoping to pick up a couple seats for the liberals in that area.”
Carney’s support across Canada – including in B.C. – has seemingly been bolstered by fears about Trump and tariffs, and the view that he’s the leader best suited to deal with them.
That was a theme he returned to when asked if he thinks the Liberals can win a seat in Greater Victoria.
“The stakes are enormous here in Victoria and all the way across British Columbia and across Canada,” said Carney.
Despite not turning a single riding red on the electoral map in 2015 – even with the Liberals winning a majority government – this time around, polls suggest the support for Liberals may spill over to the South Island.
“That would suggest the wave is going to be larger, the last time around it didn’t reach Vancouver Island,” noted Research Co.’s Mario Canseco.
That support has seemingly come largely at the expense of the NDP.
With just days before the historic election, its likely other national leaders will also make a trip to Vancouver Island, pushing to hold back the surging red wave.
