Christy Clark adds new song to playlist

Editor: Since the election writ was dropped on April 11, we’ve all witnessed inanely preposterous photo opportunities, outlandishly absurd, soon-to-be-broken promises and never-ending, mind-numbing, stomachchurning television commercials.

Four weeks of these sphincter-clenching festivities, fuelled by way too much money in the campaign coffers, had most of us just wanting the election to be over already.

If it seemed so much longer than a month, then of course it was.

A surreptitious and stealthy campaign began before last year’s Thanksgiving turkey leftovers had been gobbled up; under the guise of publicly-funded advertisements which relentlessly trumpeted perceived achievements of the government in power.

Sections of the commentariat kept pumping up some parties and deflating others, while pollsters were finally correct in advising that any predictions were too close to call. By the time the midnight hour rolled around on May 9, voters had elected a minority government for the first time in 65 years.

The three party leaders all declared themselves victors, and there were no lethargic losers — surely, that could only happen in B.C.

Seat numbers have to be finalized after recounts and absentee votes are tallied, only then will we know what our political landscape will look like for the next little while.

Politicians have received an enema from the voters. That should flush out the absenteeism, arrogance and antagonistic actions that have become the norm, and Victoria’s legislature should now become a place of decent and sensible discourse between parties — rather than a zoo containing putridly paranoid partisan political animals.

In keeping with B.C.’s political quirkiness, the election was held on the eve of the flower full moon. Traditionally, minority governments don’t survive long, so by the time the next flower full moon lights up the sky in 2018, we may be headed toward another campaign.

Chances are the hard-hat, blue-jeans and painted-on grin, reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat, will be pulled out of the closet again, and the premier’s office will have a new song on its playlist — an oldie from 1963, The New Christy Minstrels singing Green Green.

Bernie Smith, Parksville