By Chris Beach

Northern View

Northern View – BC United

Apr 28, 2023 | 3:37 PM

The now former BC Liberals finally pulled the trigger on their anticipated name change and became the BC United.No, they didn’t become a soccer team and join the MLS.

They decided that sounding like something other than an actual political party was a good thing, as fewer and fewer people are joining parties these days. So this begs the question, will a name change benefit the BC United, or will it cause confusion for voters and/or possibly backfire?

Many former BC Liberals in the North and Interior always had a problem with the name, citing a connection with the Federal Liberals – one that they strongly rejected because they claimed it misrepresented the party’s centre-right ideology.

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Yet the party has continued to dominate and hold most of the seats outside of Vancouver and the Island – so the Liberal name obviously didn’t hold them back in places like Prince George, Burns Lake, Dawson Creek and the Okanagan.

But in the South, where most provincial ridings are located, that’s where the former BC Liberals/now BC United need to regain more seats in order to get back into power. Therefore, you can make the argument a name change was not only unnecessary, but any confusion or association with the federal Liberals would actually help them – because the federal Liberals currently hold the most seats in BC, all in the Lower Mainland, where they are quite popular.

Clearly, the more progressive ‘Liberal’ tag is a draw for urban voters, and many pundits have stated that the new ‘United’ title sounds and feels more conservative. This then will be Kevin Falcon’s challenge, to maintain support in the rest of the province while at the same time appealing to the more progressive voters in Greater Vancouver with a more conservative sounding new name, which could prove to be difficult.

But, while the NDP are still riding high in the polls, after 6 years in power, cracks in the armor are starting to appear, on issues like health care, affordability and crime and safety.

So it’s going to be interesting to see if Kevin Falcon and the new BC United can convince enough Southerners to fire the current government and hire a new one. Chances are it will take more than a simple name change.

Editors note: The views expressed in this column do not necessarily represent the views of Pattison Media.