For a woman who campaigned hard (twice) for a seat in the B.C. Legislature, Premier Christy Clark sure doesn't seem to like the place very much.
With only 24 days scheduled for MLAs to sit in their hard-earned Victoria seats for the rest of this year, Clark has scheduled herself a trade mission to India for 10 of them.
Her sixth India trip since becoming premier, she's scheduled to arrive in New Delhi just two days after the start of the fall session.
MLAs will tell you they're hard at work when they're not in Victoria and a quick look at their social media feeds will confirm there are a lot of barbecues and wine tastings to get through. There's not a single MLA who campaigned to represent us on the barbecue circuit. Each and every one of them was elected to represent us in the legislature, and they already spend far too little time there.
Now, we don't fault the premier for trying to advance our business interests abroad and maybe while she's there she can get some pointers on why their middle class is rising as ours is shrinking away.
But we have to ask why the trade trip couldn't have been scheduled for any of the 294 days this year that the legislature was reduced to a tourist attraction?
A cynic might suggest it's the best way to avoid scrutiny and needling from the opposition while there's an ongoing crisis in public education. Or it could be that some of her old friends and supporters are now up on charges under the Elections Act.
Whatever the case, we'd much rather she be front and centre.
