B.C. party leaders square off in first election debate
VANCOUVER — It wasn’t long before Liberal Leader Christy Clark put her hand on the arm of her main rival, John Horgan, and told him to calm down during Thursday’s first debate of the B.C. election campaign.
The New Democrat leader’s icy response: “Don’t touch me again, please.”
The exchange captured the sometimes chippy tone of the 90-minute live debate as Horgan interrupted and spoke over Clark every time she picked apart the NDP platform. It was a departure from the positive, take-the-high-road approach adopted by Horgan’s predecessor in the last election, which the New Democrats lost despite a large lead in the polls at the campaign’s outset.
A more restrained and smiling Clark stuck to a similar refrain by emphasizing her party’s jobs-first platform and warning that the health of the provincial economy would be jeopardized under the leadership of another party.