NDP leader Adrian Dix met with Westside-Kelowna candidate Carole Gordon this afternoon near the sails at City Park to call into question the BC Liberals and their untruths regarding BC Hydro.

“The premier, before the election, said she personally was holding BC Hydro rates down,” says Dix.

“They hid from the public the extent of the $342-million overruns (from the Northwest Transmission line, being constructed near Terrace) that ratepayers in West Kelowna and taxpayers in Kelowna and West Kelowna will pay for.”

Photo: Ragnar Haagen - Kelowna Correspondent

NDP leader Adrian Dix (l) alongside Westside-Kelowna candidate Carole Gordon (r).

He says what has been happening over time is the Liberal Party talked about keeping rates low before the election and now Energy Minister Bill Bennett, contrary to the premier’s comments, is admitting that major rate increases are coming.

“In other words, they say one thing before the election and they say another thing after,” explains Dix.

“What Liberal leadership means is incompetence in the managing of BC Hydro and misleading people before an election, as the premier, according to her own energy minister, did last week and then (will do) something different after the election. And I think that people in Kelowna and West Kelowna have an opportunity to say that is not the way they want to be represented.”

These sentiments were echoed by Gordon, who says she repeatedly hears the same messages from her constituents while doorknocking.

“People aren’t trusting government, they’re not trusting their politicians and this is just a really good example of many broken promises that Christy Clark has made in the last three months alone,” says Gordon.

“She’s saying one thing, she’s doing something else, and this is not what the people of Westside-Kelowna want. This is not what I’m hearing on the doorstep.”

Advance voting has already begun in the Westside-Kelowna byelection, with the final polls closing on July 10 at 8 p.m.