Cariboo MLA Says Spring 2012 Election Quite Likely
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 @ 5:39 AM
Prince George, B.C. – Don’t be surprised if Premier Christy Clark calls British Columbians to the polls in a general election this spring, a full year ahead of the election which is due on May 14, 2013.
At least one sitting member of the legislature feels that is not only possible but quite likely.
Cariboo-North Independent MLA Bob Simpson says he’s taken notice of all the high profile government announcements of late, including the LNG strategy in the northeast, record exports to Asia and the Seniors Care program improvements, to mention a few. Simpson says the Liberal strategists could be waiting to see what happens in two by-elections that are coming up.
Two former Liberal MLA’s who’ve packed it in, Ian Black in Port Moody-Coquitlam and Barry Penner in Chilliwack-Hope, have to be replaced, Black in about a month and Penner shortly after that.
Simpson says Clark may wait to see how the John Cummins Conservatives do in those votes. If they win either, says Simpson, Clark won’t be able to wait until next year because the Conservatives would have much more time to build strength across the province. Simpson says Clark is boxing herself into a tight corner. He says “it’s interesting to see Clark, who describes herself as a small “l” Liberal, having to move to the right to try and capture the Conservative vote.” He says she risks losing the centre Liberal vote and that could prove disastrous in an election.
Simpson says as far as a trigger issue goes, look no further than the current teachers’ situation.
Two weeks ago Labour, Citizens’ Services and Open Government Minister Margaret MacDiarmid instructed the assistant deputy minister of industrial relations to report on the likelihood of a negotiated contract settlement between the B.C. Teachers Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association. Trevor Hughes’ report is due this Thursday, Feb 23rd. Simpson says once she has the report, “Clark may look to pin NDP leader Adrian Dix down on whether he would or would not give public sector unions extravagant wage increases. Then she can tell British Columbians Adrian will break the bank while we are fiscally prudent.” Time for an election.
Simpson says he’s not surprised Clark and northern MLAs Pat Bell, Shirley Bond and John Rustad are refusing public comment on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, even though constituents are rising up in great numbers against what they feel is an attack on their way of life. Simpson says “the provincial polls don’t favour Enbridge and its clear what the position of those along Highway 16 is.”
He says it’s almost amusing to see the positions of Prime Minister Harper and Premier Clark. Simpson says on the one hand Harper is over in China selling the pipeline likes it’s a done deal when he’s supposed to be waiting for the outcome of the NEB hearings into the matter. On the other hand Clark “doesn’t want to come out in favour of something that 70% of British Columbians are opposed to.” He says Clark is cringing at having to take a position and her stand on the pipeline proposal is purely political.
Simpson says Clark’s new Chief of Staff and former Conservative campaigner Ken Boessenkool is wasting no time clearing the cupboards in the Liberal camp. He points to last week’s firing of Clark’s press secretary Chris Olsen and yesterday’s demotion of assistant press secretary Shayne Mills.
Comments
I wonder if Clark only took a leave of absence from her radio talk show. Certainly appears there are going to be a lot of unemployed liberals in the near future.
Well she may have no choice but to call an election if her supporters keep jumping ship. The budget will be full of restraint talk which is strange when you have all the hipe about oil,gas,mining,forestry and activity with our shipyards hitting the air waves. maybe all the tax breacks and subsidys are coming back to haunt them. Their messaging is all over the place which means clarks days could be numbered for sure.
Interesting. Just as this City residents have voted in a group on an “open for business” mantra, the provincial electorate may be going the opposite direction.
Isn’t democracy fun?
Palopu will be pleased, but at the end of the day, it’s all speculation. Why would you call an election when you’re trailing in the polls?
If we start to see MLA’s retiring for ‘family reasons’, then I’ll believe an election is coming soon.
“bring on the election…
enough talk,
time for action”
Hey, I like that! We showed ’em with the municipal elections in PG, right? LOL
I like Bob Simpson. He is a very smart man. But smart people can be wrong just as often as dumb people.
I agree with JohnnyBelt. Who would go to an early election when they are low in the polls and they have over a year to go with their mandate?
I think the efforts that the govenment is making to support the economy need to be developed some more before people will buy into them.
Then again, if the government does not believe they will do the trick and they are just crossing their fingers, well, then they may just decide to go for it to mitigate the seat losses.
It could end up with a minority government with Bob Simpson holding the balance … :-)
BC Liberals bankrupt BC Hydro..Watch the SHOCKING question period video here.
[urlhttp://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/video/archive.asp?video=201202201300&time=13:51:35&duration=00:31:16&toc=archive&type=qp[/url]
Quite frankly, I think there might be a different opinion of the Liberals if Christy Clark had the guts to clean house and get rid of all the Gordon Campbell dead wood. The MLAs that most people dislike or distrust, are still in position to make policy.
de Jong, Bell, Bond, Coleman and especially Abbott & Falcon, (to name a few of the “we lie for profit” club) are all still making our lives as miserable as possible.
If she had injected some new blood and new ideas, maybe things would be so ugly for them right now.
Which ever way you cut it a person like Christy Clark is definately a no brainer, and I am definately not a liberal.
BC Liberals performing in Question period, for shame.
http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/video/archive.asp?video=201202201300&time=13:51:35&duration=00:31:16&toc=archive&type=qp
Hey Elaine, when did you decide it was appropriate to delete a video of what happens in the BC Legislature..The people`s house, what are you afraid of.
http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/video/archive.asp?video=201202201300&time=13:51:35&duration=00:31:16&toc=archive&type=qp
I wouldnt beleive any of her promises.
Cheers
I tend to agree with Simpson.
Too much bad press for the B.C.Liberals,it never ends, and nothing they do now is going to fix it.
It’s like Campbell and his desperate 15 percent attempted tax buy off right before he crashed and burned…he could have offered twice that, but it was simply too late.
Now it seems at least once a week,someone drops another bad PR bomb on them.
Their are rumours of some serious riffs within the Clark vs Falcon camps.
Boessenkool was a huge mistake…he came in like a hitman, and it gives the appearence that someone is running things from behind the scenes…not Clark.
Very bad idea.
At this stage,the longer Clark waits to pull the pin,the more damage she will be trying to repair.
The estimate is that there are as many as 20 party members who are ready to retire or just bail.
There are rumblings of floor crossing.
Better to make the call sooner than later or there may be nothing left to save.
To many announcements to beleive that they will not go. Nothing to gain by waiting. If they wait till the last day they will appear desperate. (Which they are)
I agree that they stand a much better chance if they get rid of the albatrosses, ie; Falcon, Hansen, Abbot, Bell, Bond, Coleman. People are still very upset with these MLA’s. Once people get pissed off they stay that way for a long time. Im still mad at Brian Mulrooney.
Even after the HST was defeated none of them did anything to push it through sooner rather than later. They all deserve a long vacation.
If Clark wants to be her own person, she needs to take control. Deep sixing the above mentioned MLA’s might give her some credibility.
New Federal NDP numbers surge, especially in Ontario and BC..
Monumental shift, voters rejecting the Harper..
Christy Clark hitched her star to Harper when he`s turned into a black hole.
Let`s have a provincial election.
http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/02/21/ndp-membership-swells-to-128351/
Right on Palopu…keeping the entire Campbell band of lackies in different deck chairs on a sinking ship was Clark’s downfal.
I expect she knew that it would be,which doesn’t say much for her integrity.
In all fairness,I doubt she had a choice.
She has been nothing more than a tightly control puppet Premier since being annointed with the party leadership.
Her job is to smile and shut-up.
Falcon was their first choice and he wanted it badly,but he isn’t even close to being marketable to B.C.voters.
Had they gone with Falcon as leader,this probably would already be over.
It’s not going to be pretty…I see a bloodbath coming.
Over this past weekend, I had two Liberal grunts at my front door trying to get my support for the upcoming by-election in Port Moody.
First time ever, I literally started laughing and said “you have got to be kidding me?”. Usually I show a bit more civility to these people. No need to be rude in most cases.
By the way they left my stoop, I think I wasn’t the first.
Hey, gus… thumbs up! That’s just what I thought
We need Bob Simpson for premier. Go Bob Go.
Cheers
“If Clark wants to be her own person, she needs to take control. Deep sixing the above mentioned MLA’s might give her some credibility.”
Yeah right. It will just be seen as another desparate move.
Let us face it, you are either against of for. Never the twain shall meet at this stage.
So, might as well stay in and shape the province the way one sees is the best for the province. Anything less will be a defeatist attitude.
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