"You know Westside-Kelowna has been represented by two premiers in the past, both of whom travelled a lot - you know, were outside the riding a lot - but delivered a lot for the community, for Kelowna; really changed the place because they were premier."
Christy Clark, June 12, 2013
SO there you have it, the yet-to-be-elected-premier of all British Columbians, Christy Clark, confirming to the Okanagan's CBC-Radio West host Rebecca Zandbergen how politics is done in B.C.
Elect her as MLA for Westside-Kelowna on July 10 and you get your Westside Road fixed up; reject her and, presumably, you wait your turn.
After the May 14 vote-counts were finalized, I promised myself I would ignore them and move on. Judging by the relative silence of stunned bloggers and NDP candidates alike, I wasn't alone.
Unlike some, I had not been gleeful about pollsters' predictions. "Watch out, Mr. Dix," I thought and wasn't surprised when the clouds rolled in closer to election day.
The quality of poll results depends on the questions asked and how they're phrased, so what better way to lull NDP voters into believing all was over bar the shouting than to skew the questions?
That said, after the Liberals' 12-year history of obfuscations, payouts and outright lack of honest government, I really didn't expect voters to return them to Victoria, let alone with an increased majority.
How could anyone believe four years of an NDP government would be more "scary" than a government that has transferred the control of public corporations into unaccountable private hands and manipulated the accounting of the largest of the two remaining: BC Hydro?
How could the NDP be scarier than a regime that shuts down the B.C. Rail enquiry with a $6-million payout and then pays $30 million to Boss Energy - both to avoid testifying in court? Or that forces out an auditor general for calling them to account?
Remembering the Boss fiasco: How can any mining company trust a government that refuses to issue an operations permit after Pacific Booker Minerals spent its own $30-million to clear every federal, provincial and environmental regulatory hurdle? Is the loss of Booker jobs and revenue not scary? How much will it cost us to defend that company's lawsuit?
As I wrote in an earlier column, I didn't want an NDP government with a huge majority. All we needed was an NDP minority administration being careful not to lose a confidence vote.
But here I go, breaking promises and not even halfway done in my futile attempt to understand the election results. So instead, how about we look at more of Clark's telephone comments to Kelowna radio? Let's see if the future is less scary.
When Zandbergen asked the would-be premier how she can represent the people of the riding when she doesn't live there, Clark replied "It's the riding I will live in!" Then, saying she hopes to be in Kelowna about half the time, she made a Freudian slip: "I think you're going to see a few cabinet retreats, uh, caucus meetings, ha-ha, in Kelowna over the next four years."
Would those be invites to the home she plans to be "maintaining there"? Or, Coquitlam-like, will Clark's cabinet-uh-caucus retreat-meetings be "networking" gatherings housed at the best hotels courtesy of taxpayers' pockets?
But when it comes to foolish political comments and decisions, I'm not about to let the NDP off the hook.
What kind of campaign was that anyway, Mr. Dix?
Did the NDP "take a dive" in an economic downturn to avoid landing in the Liberals' deficits and doubling of the debt?
For 12 years, the Campbell-Clark Liberals handed you enough ammunition to win a dozen elections, let alone one.
I guess you know by now there's a big difference between negative personal attack ads and being courteous as you fire off the artillery.
Unfortunately, while you were learning on the job, you sacrificed B.C. to the cause for another four years. Polite though she is, Carole James would never have let the Liberals off the hook like that.
So now, what are your plans for the byelection?
You've already made one mistake by not fielding a "star" Kelowna-based candidate to face down Clark, instead of the recently-defeated Carole Gordon.
Since you didn't do that, will you set Gordon free to address the provincial issues Clark escaped in the first round?
Issues like a budget that can only be balanced by selling off $500 million in public assets?
Or the 4,000 long-term care beds still outstanding of the 5,000 promised by Colin Hansen and Gordon Campbell in 2001?
Will you allow Gordon to remind Kelowna voters, politely of course, that each of the disgusting, recently announced $50,000 pay raises for her political appointees would buy 2,000 months of egregious $25 wheelchair rentals?
Will she mention the under-funding of teacher aides that prevents young people with barriers to learning from reaching optimum grade levels? Or will she allow Clark to commit us to another court challenge - this time a human rights case that's brewing in the wings here on the North Shore.
Will Gordon drive home to Liberal voters in Kelowna-Westside that roads can be re-aligned and potholes repaired this year or next, but that a young person who cannot enrol in cancelled employment-preparation programs - whether here in North Vancouver or in Kelowna - is set back for a lifetime?
However the byelection plays out, the North Shore is represented by Liberal MLAs. So, if we're condemned to play by the political rules outlined by Clark, we should be looking forward to some pretty good handouts, eh?
Did I say "disgusting"?
