British Columbia's political leaders were keeping a light schedule on Saturday as they prepared for Sunday's televised debate.
In Vancouver, B.C. Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell announced his government will team with the Vancouver Whitecaps to build a $31.5-million soccer development centre in Delta. The government's share would come in at $17.5 million.
The announcement drew immediate fire from Delta North incumbent Guy Gentner of the NDP, who said the Liberals are scrambling to get Delta South incumbent Wally Oppal elected. Oppal is in a tight race in that riding against independent Vicky Huntington.
As well, Gentner said, the deal was announced before Delta council signed off on the deal.
"There's no partnership signed by the municipality and this is another example of cheap politics in getting Wally Oppal elected without doing due diligence and a consultative process," Gentner said. "This government has completely ignored municipal government — it's ignored Delta for years."
The Liberals say five of the seven fields to be built at the complex will be used for Whitecaps player development, while the two others will be for exclusive community use.
NDP Leader Carole James had no reported stops on Saturday, following her second major swing through the B.C. Interior earlier in the week.
Green Party of B.C. Leader Jane Sterk had high hopes for the debate, which airs live at 5:00 p.m. PT on CBC Television, CBC Radio One and on the internet at CBC.ca.
"I'm hoping that we can focus on Green party policies so that people know how we are different from the two other parties and encourage them to take a serious look at us," Sterk said. "And I'm hoping that we can convince people that it's worth getting five or six Greens elected so we can change the culture in the legislature."
Campbell praises scientists
On Friday, Campbell interrupted campaigning to attend the daily swine flu briefing at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. The premier walked a fine line as he tried to enlist public support to combat the spread of swine flu without increasing the fear factor.
Campbell praised the work of scientists at the centre who've been testing hundreds of flu samples, tracking the virus's development and preparing to help develop a vaccine if necessary.
"People are right to be concerned about this influenza," he said, reminding the public of their role in stemming the spread of the virus. "The WHO [World Health Organization] has been warning for a long time that it has never been a question of if we would have this occur — it was really a question of when."
James spent the past few days shoring up support in the Kootenay region, a traditional NDP stronghold that has been hit hard by the downturn in the forest industry.
James finds friendly faces
She spent part of Friday in Nelson, where she paraded down Baker Street followed by a boisterous band of supporters as she visited an art gallery, coffee shop and museum.
Farther south, James was met in Grand Forks by a cheering group of forest workers. The workers, including many who have been laid off, said they have never been through such a difficult downturn.
Local Steelworkers Union president Bruce Gardner said the forestry workers feel they have been abandoned by the B.C. Liberals, whose priorities did not include the forest industry. "Olympics, the B.C. Place roof — all come before forestry," he said.
James told the workers she has "spent too much time in the past few years travelling to mill closures."
Grand Forks, located near the U.S. border about 500 kilometres east of Vancouver, is in the new Boundary-Similkameen riding. It's one of six extra ridings up for grabs in the May 12 election, bringing the total number of seats in the legislature to 85.
The riding is also one of 24 where the fledgling B.C. Conservative party is running a candidate, which could lead to vote-splitting with the Liberals on the right of the political spectrum.
Vote splitting also a concern for NDP
James said vote splitting could be a reality on May 12 — but not just for the Liberals.
Both the Conservatives and the Greens are running candidates, and James doesn't dispute that Green candidates could take votes from her party, given that some major environmental groups in the province have pulled their support from the provincial NDP.
"There's a debate going on about whether there's vote splitting, with a Conservative and a Green candidate," James said. "We're focused on making sure our candidate is out there."
The B.C. Conservative candidate in Boundary-Similkameen is Joe Cordaso, who originally tried to run for the Liberals but was dumped when an old letter he'd written to a newspaper criticizing early Campbell government cuts surfaced.
Grand Forks B.C. Liberal candidate Jim Slater, who stood on the street as James walked by, said he would rather discuss his own campaign than potential vote splitting.
With files from The Canadian Press
