June 29, 1999

B.C. Politics, at the end of June 1999 - THE COMMENTARY

By Joseph Planta

The last six months haven’t been a walk in the park for B.C. Premier Glen Clark. They haven’t been either for the people of B.C. Constantly we get left-wingers and NDP supporters yelling bias on the part of the media. This is the same media that they, the left-wingers and NDP praised when they were harping on Vander Zalm to leave office back in 1991. I come from a background where support for the NDP provincially and federally is prevelant. I don’t have a political affiliation to confess here, but I too like many in this province can’t fathom a vote for the NDP in the next election.

Where is the opposition, you ask? Well, they should be assuming the role the NDP played so well in 1991 that got the Socreds out of power and off the B.C. political map. But no, they stand back and all they can do during question period in the house is heckle and yell. There is no substance to the ruckus they raise in the legislature and for the citizen that’s a shame for our democratic process. The list of reasons why the NDP should leave office is long. So long, that if the Liberals were an effective opposition, they’d have raised hell by now and we’d have had an election. Whether it be the NCHS bingo scandal, the inefectiveness of the leaky condo commission headed by Dave Barrett, the fast ferry boondoggle, or this Pilarnos connection, this government should’ve resigned a long time ago and an election would’ve been called. BCTV was right to be at Glen and Dale Clark’s home that March evening. How they got their tips are irrelevant, but the NDP using their coverage as an invasion of privacy is utter hogwash. They, the media are doing their jobs in covering the issues, but bias is very prevalent all over. The bias in the press is due in part to the mismanagement of the province by the NDP. When we’ve got a ruinous government in place the press is only impassioned to break the stories that involve just that.

Throughout the past six months we saw an amazing political transformation, that of Gordon Wilson. He said then that it was to benefit the public, but his defection to the NDP cabinet is nothing, but beneficial to his own personal situation. We’ve also seen how popular Bill Vander Zalm is getting and how he will once again play a pivotal part in the history of this province, come next election. Compared to his own misfortunes in 1991, he’s a saint compared to Glen Clark.

One can’t simply blame each of these groups for the political mess in the province. One must blame them all, because yet again the voter becomes disenchanted and the populous less enthused about voting in the next election. Low voter turnout means the result of a particular election is not representative of any sort of majority and that is simply a terrible blow to the democratic process and the principles that make this nation what is it is and what it should be.

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