As my faithful readers know, I've been using this blog to aggregate media on the BC Liberals for some time and yes, to rant and rave. But here in BC, we've gotten to a whole new level where I couldn't even make this $h!t up if I tried.
Our own Premier, Christy Clark, has actually given her own government a vote of No Confidence in explaining why she is refusing to call the Legislature back into session for a fall sitting. If the Premier and leader of the majority government isn't responsible for carrying out the mandate and creating the culture of the Legislature then who the hell is?
I can only surmise that this was one of those unscripted moments where her media wranglers were notably absent and she went off the speaking points that had been carefully prepared for her. They must have some sort of code word for this by now.
Now, going into an election year, I suppose it will be helpful for the voters of Victoria to be fully aware that their Premier and the "leader" of the BC Liberals does not consider them to be "real people." I'm not exactly sure what she would consider them to be, but the dehumanization of the population of an entire city is pretty clear in spite of what spin they're now trying to put on her very honest and sincere comments.
Some relevant facts:
- The BC legislature only sat for 48 days last year.
- The legislature recessed on Thursday, May 31, 2012 almost four months ago.
- A fall session of the BC legislature was scheduled to be in operation for only 28 days in October
and November 2012.
- The BC Liberal government apparently plans to cut spending by $241 million this year and $398 million next year to meet budget targets.
- It will be almost 9 months between sittings of the Legislature under Clark's leadership.
- A provincial election is scheduled for May 14, 2013.
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Here are some choice excerpts:
By Craig McInnes, Vancouver Sun
September 19, 2012
Clark said the unflattering portrait of the provincial capital she
painted for National Post correspondent Brian Hutchinson after an
interview in her Vancouver office last spring shouldn’t be taken as
insult by the city and the people who call Victoria home.
Hutchinson
first reported her comments at the end of the summer, but they surfaced
again this week in the context of Clark’s decision not to hold a fall
session of the Legislature.
She told him:
“When the House rises at the end of [May], you’re never going to find me in Victoria.
“I
try never to go over there. Because it’s sick. It’s a sick culture. All
they can think about is government and there are no real people in
Victoria, and you get captured by this inside-the-beltway debate, and
it’s really unhealthy.”
Finance Minister Mike de Jong gave a more persuasive and less
flattering explanation for the lack of a session when he told reporters
recently that it was cancelled because Clark restocked her Cabinet with
rookies who need time to learn their portfolios and the government
wanted to continue the work started last summer of “reaching out to
British Columbians.”
In other words, it lacks the competence at
the moment to face the opposition in question period and would rather
spend the time campaigning.
It’s not
unusual for a fall sitting to be cancelled. But to assert that time
spent conducting the formal business of the government would be a waste
of time better spent “listening” to the common folk represents a new
level of contempt for the political process.
What’s most
disturbing is that the contempt is being shown by the one person who is
in the best position to improve the “sick culture” and make it more
productive.
Or who would be if she had any desire to make it a
more effective institution. That doesn’t seem to be on her fall agenda,
however.
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Some people will say anything to get elected, why the change of heart? Which statements are true? How do you trust someone who changes their spots so fast? Or is there another agenda and isn't that as bad, or worse? See de Jong above.
Rob Shaw, Times Colonist
September 19, 2012
While running for the B.C. Liberal party leadership in 2011, Clark "told reporters she loved the daily cutandthrust of question period.
After she won the party leadership, she expressed a desire to run in a
byelection as quickly as possible to get her seat in the house. "As you
know, I love question period and I hate to miss it," she told reporters.
When
Clark was resigning as an MLA in 2005, during her first stint in
office, she also professed love for the job in her last speech in the
chamber.
"I have a deep, deep love of politics. I love question
period. I love debate. I love the people I've met. I even love the
protesters. I love politics."
Some response:
It's little wonder that the Liberals have little support on Vancouver
Island if they think the people who live here are part of a sick
culture," said John Horgan, NDP MLA for Juan de Fuca.
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Your Finance Minister Mike de Jong explained the rationale:
"The government will be preoccupied over the next number of months in
terms of the preparation of the budget blueprint, and continuing what
began in the summer and reaching out to British Columbians. That will be
the focus for the government."
Is it really too much for citizens to want their leaders to focus on key
issues and reaching out — whatever that means — while being held
accountable in their own legislature?
Your government hasn't faced the electorate since you won that
byelection and became Premier and you do have an election scheduled for
May 14, 2013.
So, what's the message here?
That the government doesn't want to hear from opposition parties during a time of deep austerity and cuts?
Or that the government does so little of consequence that there's no
need to meet about its activities? Not a lot of good options.
From Twitter:
@globepolitics
@Adam_Stirling
