Well, this is it folks — the big day, the make it or break day for Decision BC 2013. Tonight at 6:30pm, broadcast on the three major television networks across British Columbia, as well as radio stations throughout the province, the four leaders of the main political parties in our province come together for the televised Leaders’ Debate, the only opportunity British Columbians will have to assess the cut and jib of the provincial party leaders who are vying to become the Premier of our province for the next four years.
Ostensibly, the purpose of tonight’s leaders’ debate is to provide British Columbians with a keen insight into the policies and political belief structure of our provincial leaders. Premier Christy Clark has the most to gain or lose, as she is the one leader who will face an audience that is primed to give her a thumbs-down review on both delivery and substance.
Adrian Dix steps in front of the cameras tonight the perceived front-runner in the May 14 election. All Dix has to do is keep his powder dry, appear reasonable, engaging and perhaps even avuncular while presenting his, and the NDP’s, plans for British Columbia through 2017, and the next provincial election. BC Green Party leader Jane Sterk acquitted herself well on CKNW’s Leaders’ Debate on Friday — will she perform as well again tonight, as she attempts to paint herself as a reasonable alternative for voters?
And, finally, Conservative leader John Cummins, who thus far in BC’s election campaign hasn’t gained much traction, even given his ridiculing of the balanced budget legislation that forms a central raison d’être plank of the Liberal platform. By Wednesday, when the major pollsters release the results on their post-election sampling of the public’s reception of the four leaders, we’ll know who the leader will be that will enter the final 11 days of the campaign with the most forward momentum headed toward May 14.
One of the “issues” that will almost certainly come up during the course of tonight’s Leaders’ Debate will revolve around the poor judgement Premier Clark displayed in blowing through a red light at 5:15 a.m. one morning this past week, her son Hamish and Vancouver Sun reporter Jonathan Fowlie in tow. As former Chief of Staff to Gordon Campbell writes in The Straight …
“Even if Clark was banking on the incident not being reported or captured by a red light camera, it is illegal. ‘Fun’ or not. No matter how empty the intersection was or how early in the morning it was, it displayed a wanton disregard for the law and common sense. It sends a horrible message that, metaphorically, too closely approximates her approach to governing.
In Clark’s world, rules are meant to be broken. It is a message that is endemic to her Office and that has been reflected by her example and by her most senior political staff. Whatever you can get away with when you think that nobody’s watching is A-OK … This Premier stops for no one. She’s cool with “pushing the envelope” with actions that she assumes will never be held to account.
Note that when Clark ran that red light, it was no accident. She didn’t run a yellow light that turned red before she could stop at the intersection. She deliberately chose to go through the light because it was red. Because she could. … It speaks volumes about her troubled leadership and government.”
And thus the metaphorical issue that best describes Christy Clark’s reckless and wanton approach to government rears its head in the final weeks of the British Columbia election campaign, in this ‘do or die, on the line‘ election for Clark’s governing BC Liberal party. Premier Clark’s decision to run a red light, when she knew full well a reporter was sitting right next to her in her car - as research for a profile piece he was writing on her - was a blunder.
A blunder on top of one blunder after another — from the so-called ethnic vote scandal that served to alienate British Columbians across the province, to the failure of her government to respond to the heartbreaking protests of parents over the Liberal party’s unconscionable cuts to services for their developmentally disabled children (all the while, promoting her disingenuous “families first” agenda - parents with disabled children apparently seeming not to fit into Premier Clark’s ruddy definition of family), from the utter lack of ethics displayed by senior government officials in her office who engaged in partisan activity to identify the vote for her Liberal government, to the iconic wooden office building scandal respecting the partisan efforts of Ministers in her government respecting the bid process — has defined her time as Premier of the province of British Columbia. Just as is the case with a marriage, it is rarely ‘one big thing’ that destroys a marriage, but rather it is the litany of ‘little things’ that when added together prove to be the most consequential in the final, heartbreaking decision to end a relationship.
And so, the 12-year reign of a BC Liberal government that lost the favour of the voting public with the implementation of the much-despised HST, through Christy Clark’s reign of error since winning the leadership of the Liberal Party on February 26, 2011, must come to an end. As the defining line of the BC NDP campaign says, “Change. One practical step at a time”.
Update: For VanRamblings’ coverage of Monday’s BC Leaders’ Debate click on BC Election 2013: The Campaigns Move in to the Homestretch.
BC Election 2013: A Wrap-Up of News from the Mainstream Media
We’ll wrap today’s post with a review of print and online press coverage.
- Georgia Straight. As we’ve reported previously, editor Charlie Smith is on a roll. In his latest commentary, Smith tackles the BC Liberals for neglecting to pay attention to the tenor of politics in the western world, their failure to recognize that “the winds are changing”, and for their decision to campaign to the right rather than as a moderately progressive party. Smith also writes that the NDP are poised to add many new seats if the polls hold, suggesting he believes they will. Also in The Straight, Vancouver-False Creek Liberal candidate Sam Sullivan writes that marijuana prohibition is a failed policy. You’ll find more Georgia Straight coverage of the provincial election here.
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Globe and Mail. Andrea Woo writes a profile on ‘underdog’ Vancouver Fairview candidate, Geoge Heyman. Mark Hume travelled north to write a riding profile of Peace River North, one of the ridings to watch on election night, with Independent Arthur Hadland on track to defeat Liberal incumbent Pat Pimm. Guess we’ll see in 15 days.
C’mon back tomorrow for VanRamblings’ take on tonight’s Leaders’ Debate, and other election-related news of the day.
(Find the latest VanRamblings election coverage at Decision BC 2013)
(As the ‘story of the the April 18th Kitsilano Community Centre AGM continues to generate interest, readers will find VanRamblings’ coverage of the KitsCC AGM here. The Vancouver Courier’s Sandra Thomas wrote about the KitsCC AGM, her article to be found here, along with a Letter to the Editor in response to Thomas’ article. In related news, The Courier’s Bob Mackin writes that Kate Perkins, Trout Lake Community Centre President, and Chair of of the community center Associations Presidents Group — currently involved in a sensitive re-negotiation of the operating agreement that defines the relationship between community centres and Vancouver’s Park Board and City Council — is, in fact, as she describes herself, a “mole” for the office of the City Manager, and Dr. Penny Ballem — at best, questionable conduct as well as a conflict of interest for Ms. Perkins, and unethical behaviour on the part of Vancouver’s City Manager, if in fact Dr. Ballem made promises of employment or favour to Ms. Perkins in exchange for her duties as a “mole”)
