As the end of 2021 approaches, I’ve been reflecting a lot on the year behind us.

It’s been a tough year for people and families all over BC, but I continue to be inspired by communities coming together and stepping up to help each other through the challenges and crises we’ve faced. We will persevere together.

This time last year, we were planning my BC Liberal leadership campaign. We formally launched on March 30th - 9 months ago! This is an extremely long leadership contest, but I think that has been very healthy for our party. Rather than rushing to a decision, it has provided lots of opportunities for us all to have real conversations about who we are and where we go from here.

I was recently rewatching my launch video from March with my wife, Erin, and we noticed two things. The first is that our kids sure have grown up a lot! And the second is that we’ve been saying pretty much the exact same thing for 9 months, and it’s no less true today than it was then:

We should be proud of what we’ve accomplished in the past. But now we need to look to the future, with a committed new leader who will welcome a new generation of voters into our party while recognizing and reengaging those who got us here. To do that, our party needs new energy, new ideas, and new leadership.

Click here to watch my campaign video.

Since Day One, the #DewCrew has been committed to running a constructive campaign of ideas. Our goal has been to put people and families at the heart of how we think and talk about our party, and to increase our relevance to emerging sectors of our economy - without forgetting the bedrock industries and communities that made our province what it is today.

I’m proud that we’ve put out more new thinking than all other campaigns combined, and it’s been great to see other campaigns take our lead on a number of issues, messages, and campaign tactics - imitation is the most sincere form of flattery!

Here are some of the ideas we’ve put out:

Family Pack
Seniors Pack
Getting to Yes
Future Economy Pack
Rural Communities
Fish, Wildlife and Habitat
Growing our Tech Sector
Electoral Boundaries
Childcare Affordability and Choice
COVID Inquiry
Elder Abuse
Ferries and Island/Coastal Issues
Comprehensive Tax Review

Although COVID has at times dampened opportunities to meet in person, we’ve been traveling the province connecting with existing and new members, supplemented by a huge number of personal calls and videoconferences. If we haven’t talked one-on-one yet, you can always book a call at www.meet.gavindew.ca.

Our approach to events is a little different than most campaigns. We think it’s a time for conversations, not speeches, and we try to keep the focus on listening to people, hearing their thoughts, answering their questions, and earning their support one-by-one.

All six (and now seven) leadership candidates have had numerous opportunities to present themselves and their ideas for renewal to the membership. Here are some highlights from the major all-candidates events:

Debate #1
Leadership Showcase at Provincial Council
Debate #2 on Vancouver Island
Debate #3

As I said at the Leadership Showcase, our party is a family. All of us are knit together by common experiences in the trenches of politics, and trust is made in those trenches.

As I said in the third debate, our next leader needs to be able to unify our party, look to the future and move us forward, and go head to head with the next NDP leader to defeat the NDP and form a new government for the people of British Columbia.

Here's to 2022 - Happy Dew Year! 

-Gavin