Thursday, May 10, 2001
Six days to go - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- The election hasn’t turned out to be too bad for Ujjal Dosanjh. I sense that it definitely could have been worse. This Doman/Gordon Wilson mess does nothing for already muddy optics, but I think the population is adamant that the NDP will be out, thus who cares what Wilson did. More prudent voices, like Vaughn Palmer’s in the Vancouver Sun, have gone on to holding the Liberal’s feet to the fire, already, even though they are barely on the cusp of power.
This election will not signal the end of the NDP. Sure they’ll fall from thirty-eight seats to something lower. The polls are saying they could not win one seat. We’ll see. But the other day, I spent an hour listening to voices around the province and looking at the lists of who exactly is running. Doing a little spade work, I figured out that of the seventy-nine constituencies, the Liberals are definitely safe in fifty-one to fifty-four seats. The NDP looks viable in twenty-one to twenty-three seats. The remainder will fall to the odd independent, and perhaps the Greens could get one seat. I honestly do not see the NDP winning more than 10 seats however.
The vote splitting will be a factor. I doubt however the split between the left-wing NDP and Green will be a province-wide phenomena, rather it will figure prominently in certain ridings. Adriene Carr, the Green leader, has definitely run a good campaign. Humble sure. The publicity garnered will not necessarily help her around the province, rather in her own riding of Powell River-Sunshine Coast. The riding is currently held by that NDP cabinet minister, one Gordon Wilson. It doesn’t help that Wilson is running in his third election, under his third party. The Liberal candidate is a non-entity named Harold Long, who’s an old Socred. He could come up the middle and win, if Carr remains strong against Wilson, who looks under cut with the Doman situation. Carr could be the first Green in the Legislature.
During the last federal election, in this space, I gave a sweeping endorsement of the Canadian Alliance and the local Alliance candidate in my riding. This time around, coupled with the ineptitude of both the current government (the NDP) and the government-in-waiting (the Liberals), I cannot in good conscience offer the same endorsement for next Wednesday’s vote. Like CUPE -- one of the province’s leading unions -- I will only offer an editorial endorsement in that of my riding, Vancouver-Kensington.
The NDP’s record as a government stands. The NDP, certainly, would not be my choice to form the government on the sheer basis that Gordon Campbell offers something new and that the NDP have done abysmally after ten years.
That said, I cannot in good conscience fully endorse the Liberal party and Gordon Campbell. Whether it is the annoyance of their name or the litany Vaughn Palmer presents in his Sun column of yesterday, Gordon Campbell proves the axiom that is so true in political life -- you don’t have to be a ten in politics; you can be a four if everyone else is a three. Gordon Campbell and the Liberals are all but better than the NDP. Perhaps that is good enough for some, but that’s what we said in 1991.
Ujjal Dosanjh, for all his faults, is the better candidate over Liberal Patrick Wong. Beyond the spin, as well as the ideologies, Ujjal Dosanjh has done and will do a better job than Wong in representing the views of the constituents of Vancouver-Kensington. Patrick Wong’s absence from constituency debates may be justified, however the optics is not useful for one who claims moral superiority over the incumbant.
Mr. Wong has also displayed contempt in his campaigning. His comments with regards to homosexuality to the ethnic press were different than those perpetuated in the mainstream media. One running to represent the whole, should not tailor their remarks for certain segments of the population.
I also call into question his credibility as a candidate with regards to the media coverage given him specifically. Up to this election, Mr. Wong has been a non-entity on the provincial political scene, for that matter a non-entity in the local community. His name has been propagated in the press as that being the “giant killer” in this election and yet he is susceptible to more damning coverage than that given to his own leader. His handling of that so said media coverage has been appalling and as such, I would not want him to be my MLA in the Legislature.
His experience in the political culture of the province and the community, frankly does not warrant a possible ministerial position in the Campbell cabinet. That said, I think it fairly obvious that to represent the ideals of my fellow constituents in Vancouver-Kensington -- irrespective of culture, creed, political ideology or anything else defining the people who live in the riding -- the better representative is that not of a government backbencher, rather one on the opposition side. One that will hold the government to account, without purview of a Whip or zealous leader.
Mr. Campbell expects and probably deserves the landslide he will get on Wednesday night. My vote will not in any way be directed to perpetuate that mandate by electing a lickspittle and toady like Patrick Wong, which I will no doubt assume he will be should he have the privilege of representing Vancouver-Kensington in the Legislature.
I will hold my nose and vote for Ujjal Dosanjh. He is a forthright and well meaning individual. If the prognosticators say what they say, he’ll need my vote. Let not my vote be interpreted as being supportive of his party. I do not wholeheartedly embrace the ideals espoused by Mr. Dosanjh, nor those of Mr. Campbell. Like Patrick Wong -- who deep down I know feels this -- I will walk to the polling booth and choose the person I see fit to best represent me. As the maxim says, Ujjal Dosanjh stacked up beside Patrick Wong, is a four, while Wong is a disappointing three.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .