BC Premier seems to be courting the right wing.
by Bill Tieleman
I would rather go to any extreme than suffer anything that is unworthy of my reputation, or of that of my crown.
– Queen Elizabeth I, 1533-1603
Why was BC Liberal Premier Christy Clark — a longtime federal Liberal — speaking last week at "a conservative family reunion" organized by former Reform Party leader Preston Manning that was filled with Liberal-despising right wingers?
Why has Clark hired three ex-Conservative operatives closely connected to Prime Minister Stephen Harper?
Why hasn't Clark yet called byelections in the Port Moody-Coquitlam or Chilliwack-Hope ridings where incumbent Liberals in previously safe seats resigned long ago?
And why did ex-Conservative cabinet minister Stockwell Day visit Port Moody-Coquitlam Monday to support BC Liberal candidate Dennis Marsden's campaign?
The BC Liberals are bleeding support to the BC Conservatives under leader John Cummins — a former Reform MP with Manning.
The answer is in the polls. The BC Liberals are bleeding support to the BC Conservatives under leader John Cummins — a former Reform MP with Manning.
So Clark thinks shameless pandering to right wingers is her only salvation to get back those votes, a big comedown for a federal Liberal. And it may backfire, alienating those who previously voted BC Liberal but fear Harper and Manning's style of conservatism.
A Forum Research poll conducted in late February paints a grim picture: BC New Democrats at 42 percent, BC Liberals at 24 percent and the BC Conservatives at 22 percent.
For Clark — now dubbed the "Iron Snowbird" by Manning in some bizarre Margaret-Thatcher-meets-Anne-Murray moment – it gets even worse.
In results not previously made public, Clark's favorability rating dropped to 31 percent compared to NDP leader Adrian Dix's "dramatic increase" to 43 percent from 35 percent in January, Forum notes. Cummins is also up, to 27 percent from 21 percent.
NDP voters are "the most enthusiastic about voting for their party; Liberals least so," Forum found, with 62 percent of NDP supporters "very enthusiastic" versus 46 percent of BC Liberals.
Why else would Clark be schmoozing with hardcore right wingers like former Harper strategist Tom Flanagan, Sun TV host Michael Coren and current and former Conservative cabinet ministers that she found despicable in her previous federal Liberal life?
Courting the right may give Clark a slim chance at redemption, but the increasingly un-Liberal premier might also be on a right-wing road to ruin.
About Bill Tieleman
Bill Tieleman, president of West Star Communications, is one of BC's best known political commentators and communicators. Read political commentary from Bill every Tuesday in 24 hours, Vancouver's free weekday newspaper (also online) and in The Tyee — BC's award-winning online magazine.
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