The first week of June is shaping up to be an interesting week in BC politics what with the official election results being finalized on June 5.
Premier Christy Clark has some interesting choices to make given she has said that she will name a cabinet later this week ( June 7) and decide what riding she wants to run in to attempt to get entry in the house. Astute political junkies will recall Clark lost her seat in the recent provincial election this past May 14th.
The most likely day for her to call the by-election would be Thursday June 6. Given Clark’s penchant for photo ops that day also happens to coincide with the 69th anniversary of DDay and would make a wonderful opportunity for her to call the election and claim in her heart she is a DDay vet.
She has to win this and of course she will. They will choose the easiest possible seat to run her in despite all the bravado from the NDP about running a candidate against them. (Actually they don’t all say that just some of them).
It is rumoured to be Fort Langley Aldergrove where current MLA Rich Coleman is purporting to be offering to step down. If true, Coleman will still have Peter Fassbender on the inside to watch over things while he gets ready to run for the leadership when Clark is dumped.
What about the BC Conservatives? That decision has not been made yet and will probably be made at an upcoming board meeting later this week. My take, shockingly, is that we should respect the mandate that the premier and her party have received from the people. That means I don’t think we should run a candidate. The party has a wonderful chance to hold this government accountable over the next few years. The NDP won’t,they will be to busy looking for ways to dump Dix and rebuild their own party.
The Premier has demonstrated over the past 2 years that while she is a good campaigner she is a terrible governor. ( Her pipeline announcement this week is an example of that,declaring opposition to the project even though all the tests haven’t been done)
You can bet at some point down the road the Premier and her team will come on board with the pipeline. It will happen about the same time as they come to the realization their balanced budget ( 2013 edition) is not really balanced and they need the revenue to save face. ( How do you spell HST anybody?)
For Clark, The bigger minefield lies with the choosing of her new cabinet. Usually the cabinet that is chosen gives you an idea of which direction the government is going.
In this case I would think that even though Clark has won a majority, the party will keep her on a short leash.( Remember she still has no seat and is a left leaning liberal in a caucus full of right leaning conservatives).
Think also to various gaffes Clark has made over the past few months. She ran a red light that was disclosed during the election. Caucus member and MLA Moira Stilwell spoke up against this. Stillwell is one of the brightest MLAs the party has. What will become of her?
Gordon Hogg took on Rich Coleman over the mess during the botched casino affair. What will happen to Him?
How many of the new MLA’s will be content to thank their lucky stars Adrian Dix and crew screwed up so badly and they got elected.
What if Clark decides to follow her Liberal ways and take the government even more left?( Remember they now agree with the NDP on the pipeline) What will become of the Conservative hopefuls in that BC Liberal Caucus?
Those who are not thrilled can always take out membership in the 8:01 club can’t they?
The week ahead in BC Politics is shaping up to be very interesting and the decisions made will shape the province for the next 4.5 years. ( Assuming the next election is in the fall to allow for proper budget debate)
Stay tuned, I will be here to dissect the different events as they unfold and thank you for reading!