Christy Clark’s deep thoughts?

B.C. Liberal leadership candidate Christy Clark

As one crusty but well-connected B.C. political tweeter put it, Christy Clark is not a deep thinker.

Maybe her chief rival to become leader of the B.C. Liberals and premier, Kevin Falcon, had it right when he shot back at Ms. Clark's criticism his business backers as "insiders," 

“Glib, off-the-cuff comments might make for good ratings on a talk show, but if you want to be leader of our party and premier of our province you have to know that your words have power. So, pick them carefully..." 

Sarah Palin

I had a talk show on which I made a lot of glib, off-the-cuff comments, and they didn't help my ratings, but content did. Come to think of it, a successful political campaign shares the same simple formula as a top-rated talk show: a star host, which Ms. Clark is, and a high, clear concept, which her campaign has not.

Ms. Clark has not been careful or thoughtful, and she is fast becoming, in my opinion, the Sarah Palin of the BC Liberal leadership campaign. Witness her latest back-peddling on her very first big idea when she entered the race: another free vote in the legislature on the HST is out.

Please, don’t  ask her what magazines she reads. For goodness sake, don’t ask members of the Liberal party or the electorate what they’ve been reading about Ms. Clark because for some inexplicable reason she continues to lead the polls as the choice of party members and of British Columbians as leader and premier.  Odd that she doesn’t have the Liberal cabinet and caucus lining up to support her, or the party’s business base. But it does speak volumes to the lack of interest this campaign is generating aside from political junkies and newsrooms.

The platforms and gentle sparring to-date from the gun-shy Liberal contenders show the six, so-called, qualified contenders and would-be premiers, for the most part, are displaying a reluctance for bold ideas. When they do, it often comes with the caveat – after public consultation.  Can this be attributed to the post-HST fallout from their accumulated governing tactics; the public renunciaton and resignation of quick-draw Gordon Campbell; a dearth of ideas; a collective defensive political strategy to wait for the other guy to go for the holster first? Or, as Rod Mickleburgh tweeted me, nobody has any ideas until they're premier.

"(Christy Clark's) lack of depth on policy matters has been exposed during the candidate debates. Her flip-flop on the HST represented the first major gaffe of any of the candidates. Her plan to fund the “No” forces in the lead-up to the HST referendum has also angered many. And now the cat." - Gary Mason, The Globe and Mail 

"Lack of depth." "Flip-flop." Both should be an albatross around the neck of the Clark campaign, and now the cat. Surely, she's finished. Not so. Nine lives? Nothing so superstitious. The voters who believe Christy Clark has the best chance of defeating the NDP in an election based their decision on name recognition and her likability, and have now tuned out, like a feline bored with a toy mouse.

Ah yes, the cat, Olympia, owned by a volunteer member of the Clark organization inexplicably wound up as a registered voter for the Liberals February 26th leadership vote. The puns have been fast and furious since The  Globe and Mail broke the story - "the cat is out of the bag"; "Fur flies over alleged fraud"; "scratch" the cat from the membership list. It's all just a prank for the Clark and George Abbott campaigns embroiled in - dare I say it? No, I won't. ("Catgate." Yea, I said it.) Or, as The Globe and Mail's Rod Mickleburgh might say, it's all been a giggle.

Ms. Clark has wrapped a few pretty presents. But a closer look shows she's re-gifting. Her commitment to "family's first" was what Michael Igantieff was taking on his federal Liberal road-show last summer. When she was given the flag to shift her family agenda into high-gear, put pedal-to-the-metal and outline her strategy for reducing child poverty in BC, following a disturbing report from the province's children's watchdog, there was silence from her campaign.

George Abbot  has promised a plan to reduce child poverty if he becomes leader and premier but, you guessed it, after public consultations. The need for action on this travesty and tragedy is urgent and Abbot's time frame for implementation of between 5-10 years is unacceptable. 

Child poverty has been a travesty of monumental proportions for years. Far too long. In a province with the wealth of British Columbia, but not the will, this mess should have been cleaned-up when children’s advocate Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond first started to expose it. Travesty has become tragedy and the government is accountable.

When all candidates were asked by the Vancouver Sun’s Janet Steffenhaggen questions about education sent to them Jan. 25, Clark’s was one of three campaigns that “acknowledged” her request - Kevin Falcon, Mike de Jong and Ms. Clark - but not a word from George Abbott or Ed Mayne. Only Moira Stillwell, among the Liberals, called for “beefed up” discussion on education with a release stating "it's time to stop fighting about education in British Columbia and to start fighting for it."

Last week – at “Kamloops Lib forum gives the word "debate" a bad name. No debate, no new ideas, impossible to say how the candidates differed.” - @garymasonglobeat – Clark’s answer to the education question was: 

“… ed system needs to include more people than just BCTF. System is supposed to serve students and families not union leaders” - @garymasonglobe

It’s somewhat of a surprise that Ms. Clark continues to be a fervent opponent of the BC Federation of Teachers. She was when she had the education portfolio in the first Campbell term a decade ago when she orchestrated more inclusiveness for parents in education. Here was a missed opportunity to reach out to the province’s teachers, who are every bit as vital to education, even moreso, as parents.  

Ms. Clark has dangled the shiny, unsubstantive bauble of a three day weekend "family holiday" in February - a benefit Albertans received from their former premier Don Gettty after his son was busted on a cocaine charge. Following that she rummaged through George W. Bush's trash bin and found a "faith-based initiative" hand-me-down. 

Someone in Ms. Clark's campign needs to show her where the food dish is before the “Sarah Palin of BC politics" really sticks. She might, in the words on one political scientist, be trying to deal a "populist hand" in what will, ultimately, amount to a Liberal backroom poker game. But, she's bluffing. She doesn't have the cards. In fact, the deck is stacked againts her. By deck, I am referring to endorsements, and Kevin Falson holds the winning hand.

Mr. Falcon, the Liberal establishments chosen successor to their former boss - call him Campbell-lite - doesn't have to put his neck on the line. He can't budge from the Campbell plan because he has the most cabinet and caucus endorsements - the MLAs who were in on the planning.


The Liberals will choose the party's leader and B.C.'s premier through preferential voting. Voters might prefer Ms. Clark, even if they do clue-into the unfathomable shallowness of her campaign, but the math doesn't. You know, math? A subject taught by teachers in the classroom. Christy Clark is about to be taught a harsh lesson now that the Liberal party membership drive is over and the leadership campaign is all about cramming for the final exam.