(Hamish Telford – UFV)
We’ll find out Thursday night who the new MLA for the Chilliwack-Hope riding will be.
But just how significant is this by-election?
Hamish Telford from the UFV political science department says there are two ways to look at it.
On the one hand he says it could be a sign of things to come.
“We’ve seen certain political trends emerging over the last few months. The Liberals have been in a bit of a free fall, while the Conservatives have been on an upswing, and if the Conservatives win Chilliwack-Hope, I think that continues those trend lines; it reinforces the Conservative momentum and perhaps sends the message that the Liberals are indeed on the way out.”
On the other hand he says people should be careful about reading too much into it.
“By-elections are really a very safe opportunity for voters to send the government a message or to experiment with a new candidate or in this case perhaps experiment with a new party. If things don’t work out, no big deal…they’ve only got that person for one year.”
3,220 people took part in advance voting. For all the voting information you need, click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/83oaqlu
You can tune into Star FM after the polls close at 8 on Thursday, and we’ll have the results.