Pretty well everything the provincial government (and, to a lesser degree, the Official Opposition) does these days has to be framed against the backdrop of the looming election campaign.
Recent case in point: the bolt-from-the-blue announcement by Education Minister Mike Bernier that school districts would be able to keep $25 million in administration "savings" they had taken out of their budgets. The money could now be spent on what the districts wanted, whether it was directly in the classroom or on administration duties.
The announcement itself was met with mixed reaction by school trustees. Some were happy to see any kind of money, while others dismissed the funding move as either a case of too little too late, or simply a government stunt that moved money to school districts that was theirs all along anyways.
But what was telling about the minister's announcement was where he made it and where two other B.C. Liberal MLAs made the same announcement simultaneously.
Bernier was in Surrey, a pivotal battleground in the election campaign. The burgeoning municipality is having one riding added within its boundaries come the next vote, giving it nine seats.
Education is a hot-button issue in Surrey, and the situation there is unlike anywhere else in the province. While other districts wrestle with the sensitive issue of closing schools because of declining enrolment, Surrey is in precisely the opposite situation.
The population growth in Surrey is escalating, and with that comes more development, which creates more residences, which attract more people and the result is tremendously overcrowded schools. Some elected officials there actually want a ban on development, or at least a mandated slowdown of it because the problems rapid development is causing have become so acute.
Bernier has recently met with a delegation of Surrey parents, and seems to have secured approval for more capital spending to build more schools at a more rapid rate than first envisioned.
The B.C. Liberals currently hold five of Surrey's eight seats, and one of them was won by the tiniest of margins and another is a swing riding. Based on the 2013 voting results, the new riding should be in the B.C. Liberal win column, but intensely local issues - such as education funding - can be a voting determinant and catch wild-fire with the electors.
Hence Bernier's sudden and intense interest in talking about education in Surrey, and handing some money over at the same time.
While the minister was doing his thing in Surrey, two backbench MLAs were busy on the same file. Dan Ashton, the MLA for Penticton, and Linda Larson, MLA for Boundary-Similkameen made the same announcements in their hometown ridings regarding the administrative savings maneuver
Ashton won his seat by less than 1,500 votes in 2013 and Larson by less than 1,300. Education is a big issue in both ridings right now, and Larson's riding in particular is in an apparent uproar over the closing of the high school in Osoyoos.
Presumably, the B.C. Liberals want to shore up their support in both ridings and for both MLAs, which explains their heightened profile on the education issue in their hometown media.
As we get ever nearer to the beginning of the official election campaign, keep in mind we are in the unofficial one right now and the intensity of it will begin to ramp up.
So expect more off-the-cuff government spending announcements, probably focused on the geographical areas the NDP need to score a breakthrough to have any chance at forming government in 2017.
Surrey is one of those places, as is the Southern Interior. So too are: south Vancouver, Burnaby, the Tri-Cities, Maple Ridge and Delta North.
That's where the B.C. Liberals' hold on seats is most tenuous, and therefore potentially susceptible to an NDP takedown. The ruling party will no doubt craft policies and promises specifically designed to woo what are largely suburban voters and keep them in the party fold.
Education is one of those issues. Others likely include crime, seniors' health care, transportation and perhaps housing affordability.
Don't be surprised if a cabinet minister or MLA near you suddenly pops up to talk about those issues, and has coincidentally also brought a government checkbook along.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global B.C.
