BC Liberals Dissing their own Party: It's about time

I'm not seeing the problem, Bill Bennett. People who aren't running are tired of the sorry b.s. that Christy Clark's government has been spewing and the crap she and her minions have been up to. Bennett has been part of this government for a while now, he likely knows a lot more about the stuff that's been going on behind the scenes than most of us. Don't get pissed off your political career is in jeopardy. Maybe its your party's (mis)management, bad public policies and the hurt your BC Liberal party has unleashed on a whole lot of voters over the last decade that is going to get all of your butts thrown out of office. 

You're also not going to hear any weeping since all of the current MLA's will get "transitional" funding if they get voted out of office. And unlike the majority of voters, politicians are getting gold-star pension plans while in office. 

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Critical BC Liberals not running again, says Bennett

By Andrew MacLeod, 11 Mar 2013, TheTyee.ca 

 

BC Liberal MLAs who have said they won't run in the May 14 election are creating problems for the governing party, Bill Bennett said today.

"There's an issue with a whole bunch of people who aren't running again, who aren't invested the way you are when you are running," said Bennett, who is minister of community, sport and cultural development and the BC Liberals election platform co-chair.

"You think you can just say whatever you feel like saying and there's no consequences and for them I guess there aren't," he said.

He acknowledged he's frustrated. "I want to win. I want to win personally and I want to see our party win. Seeing people not running again, they've taken their eye of the ball. It's not about them anymore."

Bennett made the comments on a day when the Globe and Mail quoted former finance minister Kevin Falcon saying Premier Christy Clark made promises in Prince George for a 10-storey wood frame building to serve as the Wood Innovation and Design Centre, even though he'd told her there wasn't enough money for a building of that scale. 

Falcon, who came second in the BC Liberal leadership contest Clark won, has also recently publicly criticized the government over the controversial ethnic outreach memo.

While Bennett did not name names, around 17 of the current BC Liberal MLAs have announced they don't intend to run in May's election.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Find him on Twitter or reach him here.