April 24, 2000
Christy, Gordon and a broom - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- Word out of Victoria late last week was the fact Gordon Wilson and Christy Clark were conducting a public and personal shouting match that spilled outside of the Legislature and into the press scrums. Christy was then on the BCTV News Hour on Friday painting herself the victim of Wilson’s personal attacks.
She rose in the house during Question Period questioning his use of private chartered jets during his travels as the Minister of Employment and Investment. He, as all Cabinet Ministers do during Question Period side stepped the question by spewing rhetoric and jazz about this and about that. Actually, he gave an answer, but it just wasn’t the one the Liberals were looking for. Heckling was prevalent from both sides of the house and it goes to show the description former Prime Minister John Turner gave to the entire Question Period process. He called it “bullshit theatre”. Kim Campbell, another former PM, went further by saying Turner was being generous in his description.
Well, after Question Period, Wilson was asked by the press what he thought about Ms. Clark’s line of questioning. He said something like, “Christy Clark has a hard time realising that from time to time ministers have to travel because I, unlike her don’t have a broom to travel on.”
Ms. Clark, one of the more vocal members of Gordon Campbell’s Liberal caucus, felt somewhat hurt by the implication of being a witch, appeared with Brian Coxford on the News Hour with a black cat in tote. She went on to say that he is making the situation more personal. As much as I like Christy as a person, her observation is simply oblivious hogwash. Politics in this province have been personal for years and years.
I’ve met Ms. Clark and Minister Wilson, and they’re tough, determined and respectable politicians. One report said Ms. Clark is harping on about this because Wilson left her party in debt. I guess she forgot he brought that party to opposition status in 1991, after decades in the cellar.
The entire exercise has turned into a bigger farce, as Ujjal Dosanjh has refused to offer support to his Minister. Wilson is reported to have said, “She should be standing up and apologising, not trying to drive a wedge between the premier and myself.” Great stick handling, Gordo.
I guess this entire situation has given me pause to think about the state of politics and my experiences at the recent NDP convention.
For one thing, Ujjal Dosanjh’s pledge to the end of political polarisation in BC, is simply hot air. He’s alienated any possibility for civility in the house with his handling of the election of the speaker.
There is definite bad blood between the Liberals and the NDP. I guess, it also goes to show that the NDP aren’t much of a problem, as this is the biggest thing going on in the Liberal’s agenda as the Official Opposition.
Also, when I chatted with Wilson and his wife Judi at the convention, they struck me as people who had only one thing on their mind. Power. Both are political animals of the highest order (or lowest, depending on your political affiliation) and have had great ambitions to the trappings of power in this province. Perhaps, their ambitions are for free travel, and just that?
Christy Clark also struck me as a head set character. She’s young, which is a rarity in politics. She’s in her early 30’s, yet her conduct in the house is that of a veteran rabble rouser. No wonder whenever Gordon Campbell’s leadership is called into question, her name floats to the top of the list. Hell, even I think we’d need another woman premier, if she was running.
What it all comes down to is that politics is very much alive and well and living in Victoria. Christy Clark is one of the best and bright spots in the Liberal caucus. With her broom, she could very well sweep the NDP out of office.
All except Gordon, who I hear will be flying.
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