The 'Kwan-dary' of NDP unity in BC

Kwan with James - Happier times
or eye-on-the-camera?

Catherine de'Medici left no
permanent legacy

Interviewed by  Evan Solomon on CBC's Power and Politics today (watch: full interview), Jenny Kwan - speaking out of the left-side of her mouth about "values" being what unites the British Columbia NDP - brought to mind Catherine de' Medici. A dowager queen of the NDP, if you will.

Values, indeed. Ms. Kwan's values split the NDP and led to the abdication of the ethical, if not electable, Carole James.

The longest continuous serving New Democrat MLA in BC and decidedly on the left-wing of the party, Ms. Kwan told Solomon that she has no leadership aspirations. How could she? She has shown none of the values of leadership in this ugly mugging. But on which candidate will she place her de' Medici touch?

If the NDP emerges united it would be well advised to exclude Ms. Kwan from important political decisions and dispense with her advice and, so-called, values. She should be left with no permanent legacy.

Nuovi Democratici di British Columbia cosa nostra

British Columbia's New Democrats need a Joseph Valachi to reveal its inner workings after the hit on leader Carole James by the parties Gang of 13. 



For the good of the party, there will be nothing like the "Valachi Papers" coming from Ms. James, Joseph 'Joe Cargo' Valachi's testimony before US Senate committees in the early 60s named names, gave history and structure, revealed that American mafiosi referred to their organization by the term cosa nostra ("our thing" or "this thing of ours").


The public knows only some of the names after the two sides went to the mattresses in the NDP's all-out gang war. The Gang of 13 have been identified, led by longtime, made-NDPers Jenny Kwan, Harry Lali and Leonard Krog, and the likes of hypocritical Laura "The Bag Lady" Popham who accused James of commanding "same old, same old" party politics despite doing the same.      


Whose thing is the NDP in BC? Has the Gang of 13 taken over? Is labour pulling the strings? 


This much is clear after union leaders played middle-man in 11th hour dealings that left James with an offer she could not refuse (read: The Globe and Mail's Gary Mason, A timeline of the downfall of Carole James), the NDP are leaning left from the centre that James had been attempting to drag the party. Whose side was labour on in this turf-war? It is doubtful they wanted James to succeed in making the NDP more legitimate to business. 


Back in the day, back on the prairie where Canadian socialism was bred, we learned quickly that the party was run like the mafia. It still is run as "their thing," But back then loyalty was demanded, unlike this thing of theirs today.

  
  

Desolation Sound: of the BC political toilet flushing

British Columbia - The BC Liberals never anticapted a scenario in which a series of events, both within and beyond their control, would lead to the party's self-destruction.

An unscientific RT poll on globeandmail.com this week asked BC: Do you agree with former energy minister Bill Bennett?

Bennett was fired from cabinet and then fired back with a believable salvo denegrating Premier Gordon Campbell's character. Some of the statements he made in the heat-of-the-moment he has since retracted.

Bennett said: "The (BC Liberal) party is going down the toilet. If we don't have a fresh start, I fear it's going to go the same was as the Social Credit party went." Eight-seven percent agree.

But wait a minute. It is widely known that friends brought Mr. Campbell to power as the leader of a, so-called, Liberal Party. It was his creation - a coalition that folded the Socreds - a party that, if we follow Mr. Bennett's argument, was a political septic tank. Campbell and Co. took that sewage and treated it with their idea of BC-style liberalism.

"It was the biggest dump of my life!"

The effluent didn't start to stink until bad politics and worse politicians - notably Mr. Campbell and his finance minister Colin Hansen - gave rise to a grassroots campaign rebellion, led by odorous and opportunist former Socred Premier Bill Vander Zalm, against the toxic idea of the HST. Campbell's popularity plunged and now the party is decomposing.

The next sound you'll hear is the Liberal caucus flushing Mr. Bennett down the drain.

The big question is, what will rise from the stench of the BC Liberal Party? Likely, more neo-con crap.

Out here, in the country on the BC Sunshine Coast, we say you can never have enough poop for growing in our gardens. Politically, the province is up to its neck in shit, its plugging up the works and, unlike gardening, political poop is not good for growth.

PHOTO CREDITS: www.theglobeandmail.com