The only person who talks about coalitions more than Stephen Harper...
From Christy Clark's victory speech last night:
"Our party is a coalition, it is a great coalition, and I am proud of the support that I have received from all elements of that coalition."
Clark's talk of the BC Liberal "coalition" is a direct response to her largest challenge - keeping the right flank of the BC Liberals content. Right now, the BC Conservatives aren't in the game, but that doesn't mean they can be ignored. That's the external threat. The internal threat is a caucus that didn't really want Clark as its leader - sure, it's in their best interest to get behind her, but that never seems to help when you're dealing with elected officials, now does it?
From the vantage point of someone who pays only passing attention to BC politics, Clark strikes me as the party's best bet to win the next election. She's likable and, more importantly, is a fresh face at a time when the BC Libs desperately need a fresh face.
All eyes now turn to the NDP, who will pick a leader to go up against Clark on April 17th.
"Our party is a coalition, it is a great coalition, and I am proud of the support that I have received from all elements of that coalition."
Clark's talk of the BC Liberal "coalition" is a direct response to her largest challenge - keeping the right flank of the BC Liberals content. Right now, the BC Conservatives aren't in the game, but that doesn't mean they can be ignored. That's the external threat. The internal threat is a caucus that didn't really want Clark as its leader - sure, it's in their best interest to get behind her, but that never seems to help when you're dealing with elected officials, now does it?
From the vantage point of someone who pays only passing attention to BC politics, Clark strikes me as the party's best bet to win the next election. She's likable and, more importantly, is a fresh face at a time when the BC Libs desperately need a fresh face.
All eyes now turn to the NDP, who will pick a leader to go up against Clark on April 17th.
Labels: BC politics, Christy Clark
posted by calgarygrit at
1:27 p.m.
18 Comments:
No coalition with the NDP or Bloc from Christy.
By
Rotterdam, at 2:10 p.m.
Doesn't matter how you dress it up CG, anyway you look at it, Dion's coalition was a power grab,
and would have been bad for Canada.
The proposed 2008 coalition would have installed more Quebec MPs (64) than Canada's most populated province, Ontario MPs (55).
23% of pop (Quebec)representated by 39% of MPs sitting in government.
31% of the pop (Western Cda) represented by 13% of MPs.
3 X more Quebec MPs in government than Western Cdn MPs.
Bloc separatists won 9% of the voting population 'handed' 30% representation in a coalition govt.
And no matter what language Liberals/media use, when 'consultation' with the Bloc is required for legislation to be tabled,
we all know what that means.
If it isn't 'good for Quebec' it isn't gonna happen.
Perhaps Danny's six will be hard to convince, that works for them.
By
wilson, at 2:57 p.m.
The BC Conservatives have pretty much never been in the game in provincial politics and they won't be for several reasons:
1. They have a leadership convention upcoming on May 28th with a total of 0 declared candidates.
2. "Big business" (and the large amounts of money that go with it) will continue to support the BC Liberals fearing that vote splitting will result in an NDP government.
As a federal Liberal and recent BC Liberal member (just to vote for premier), I'll probably continue to vote for the NDP.
Since Campbell took over the BC Liberals it has become the party of greed rather than a liberal party in any sense. I don't mind some right-wing policies. I do mind government policy that solely benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor (minimum wage), government finances (P3s), and the environment (supporting industry projects even the federal Tories won't approve).
By
Sean, at 4:36 p.m.
@Wilson: Check your facts, the Bloc was never a partner in the 2008 coalition.
By
Ian, at 6:49 p.m.
@Ian: Don't feed the troll ...
By
Anonymous, at 11:59 p.m.
I think perception is everything in BC politics. Truth be told, there was almost no meaningful policy differences between Clark and any of her rivals, but the media, desperate for a more interesting story, kept peddling the line that Kevin Falcon was the most "right wing", Christy the most "liberal" and Abbott the most "centrist." No examples ever provided of course, we were just supposed to take these labels at face value.
And a lot of people, even within the party, really took these labels as god's truth. I was at the convention yesterday and was amazed at the amount of venom the Falcon people have for Clark. They really truly believe that she is some far-left kook bag, even though she actually got a better rating from the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation than their boy (who added that none of the candidates were true fiscal conservatives).
I'm a conservative myself, and I don't consider the BC liberals to be particularly friendly to the right (being blindly pro-corporation does not unto itself a right-winger make), so I'm cool if many of the naive conservatives who have been backing Premier Campbell all these years wake up and realize that, hey, this is a LIBERAL government after all!
But a Conservative Party? It really depends who the leader is. He'd have to come from somewhere other than the Liberals, and I'm not sure anyone, aside from maybe Vander Zalm, has the sort of political star power and independent track record necessary to kick-start a third-party uprising in this province.
By
J.J., at 1:25 a.m.
It wouldn't be so bad if Christy Clarke weren't dumber than a bag of hammers. This woman was on the radio displaying her shocking lack of intelligence for all to see. She didn't bother to do basic research before she interviewed guests and was regularly bamboozled (Sunil Ram?? The guy recently told Bill Good the US economy was going to collapse in six months. With Clark gone maybe this self-aggrandizing, self-proclaimed "expert" will fade into the woodwork again) or made statements totally at odds to what her guest was really promoting. God help BC, we're screwed again
By
The Rat, at 11:33 a.m.
Clark had very little caucus support...so keeping the caucus happy will be challenge.
By
calgarygrit, at 11:47 a.m.
Sean - Thanks for the background on the BC Conservatives.
Any rumours out there about BC Libs MLAs jumped to the Cons or starting up another party?
By
calgarygrit, at 11:57 a.m.
Wilson - That may all be true, but this post really has nothing to do with the Dion coalition...
By
calgarygrit, at 11:57 a.m.
Blair Lekstrom resigned from cabinet and caucus due to his riding's anger over the HST. He's been very conciliatory towards Campbell and the party. Bill Bennett was kicked out of cabinet and caucus. There has been a rumour, from Randy White no less, that he would join if Clark won. Independent MLA Vicki Huntington has noted in the past that she leans Conservative.
Randy White (former Reform/Tory MP), John Cummins (Reform/Tory MP), and Rita Johnston (former Socred premier) are all part of rebuilding the BC Conservative Party.
It is quite possible they have recruited a prominent Conservative to run for leadership and are planning a coronation at the convention.
By
Sean, at 8:11 p.m.
Hi there!
I'm Chris, and I'm a huge reader of your blog. Just wanted to let you know I love your writing! Keep it up!
I'm a student at the University of Calgary, and just recently along with two other fellow students I created a video about our idea to make our University a greener place. Here's a quick summary:
"Revitalize sustainability measures, increase fitness and lessen the negative environmental impact of elevators by promoting existing stairway infrastructure through auditory/visual enhancements, nature themes, educational eco-facts and sustainability-focused features."
We would be honored if you could help us reach our goal of getting the most votes - the team that wins earns their university $100,000 to implement the environmental solution!!!
If you could, please feature this story and help us build awareness to combat this growing dilemma. You can find our video at http://www.tdgogreenchallenge.com/video/id/18/playid/18.
Thank you so much!!!
Christopher Bowal
Student at the University of Calgary
By
Chris Bowal, at 9:47 p.m.
"Clark strikes me as the party's best bet to win the next election. She's likable and, more importantly, is a fresh face at a time when the BC Libs desperately need a fresh face."
I agree with you.
But I do note that they said the same thing about Campbell. Kim Campbell, that is.
By
Ted Betts, at 11:00 p.m.
the Bloc was never a partner in the 2008 coalition.
Uh oh, then we'd better tell Duceppe that someone forged his signature on this document.
By
The Invisible Hand, at 11:20 p.m.
Ted - And like Campbell, her predecessor left hugely unpopular.
By
calgarygrit, at 4:10 p.m.
A fun fact is that one of Clark's major advisors is Patrick Kinsella, who was also an infamously disastrous campaign advisor to Prime Minister Campbell.
By
J.J., at 11:56 p.m.
Sean: "Randy White (former Reform/Tory MP), John Cummins (Reform/Tory MP), and Rita Johnston (former Socred premier) are all part of rebuilding the BC Conservative Party."
Wow. Two racist homophobes and the woman who led the Socreds to oblivion. I'm sure that will work out just great.
By
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