Christy Clark treading water as Liberal party sharks start to circle
Not only did she lose, missteps could cost her job as leader of Opposition
Shortly after the razor-close May 9 election reduced the B.C. Liberals to a minority government, Premier Christy Clark insisted she would not ask the lieutenant-governor for another election.
“No, no, no,” Clark said. “I won’t be making that request. Nobody wants another election.”
It was a commitment Clark repeated in the days that followed: she would not send B.C. voters back to the polls for a do-over election.
But, as everyone knows, Clark did exactly what she said she would not do: She asked Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon for another election after her Liberals were defeated in a non-confidence vote in the legislature Thursday.
Guichon rejected Clark’s request, and asked NDP leader John Horgan to form a government. Clark will now resign, and Horgan will soon be sworn in as B.C.’s 36th premier.
As disappointing as this is for Clark, I think Guichon did her a favour. Can you imagine the voters’ wrath if Clark plunged the province into a summer election she repeatedly promised she would not request?
The Liberals could have been wiped out — and not only because so many voters would have been so mad.
The NDP and the Green party — denied a chance to govern even though they formed an alliance with a one-seat majority in the legislature — would also have been seething. They would have pulled out all the stops to win.
The NDP and Greens might even have negotiated a non-aggression pact, with both parties agreeing not to run candidates against each other’s incumbent MLAs.
That would have pretty much guaranteed a large NDP victory, the Liberals would have been reduced to a weakened opposition and Clark’s career would be toast.
So maybe Clark should send Guichon a thank you card. Instead of a disastrous election, Clark is now leader of the largest opposition caucus in B.C. history, facing a rookie government that could screw up royally.
But can Clark hang on as leader of the opposition and live to fight another day? I have increasing doubts she can.
There are already murmurs of discontent in the Liberal ranks over the stupefyingly boring and uninspiring campaign Clark ran, in which she basically said everything is already so awesome there’s no need to promise anything new.
The brutally bad campaign was a gift to Horgan, who vacuumed up votes in places like Surrey with his promise to scrap bridge tolls. What was Clark thinking?
After the election, Clark made things even worse with her infamous “clone speech” — a throne-speech replica of the NDP election platform, copy-catting $2.6 billion worth of NDP promises.
How can she now effectively criticize the new NDP government when she’s already endorsed so many of their policies?
The clone speech was a desperate attempt to win back votes in a snap summer election that never happened. Clark has now neutered any ability the Liberals had to credibly attack the NDP.
Clark has been left weakened and vulnerable. There will be lots of lean-and-hungry Liberals lusting after her job, because they know Horgan could have a rough ride as premier.
Don’t forget, the NDP-Green alliance has just a one-seat majority in the legislature (though Horgan could get some breathing room if some disappointed Liberal veterans quit rather than submit to the ignominy of opposition.)
Here’s something about Horgan, though: He defied a lot of naysayers during the election with a brilliant campaign platform and a steady leadership performance.
Horgan has been called a hothead with a hair-trigger temper. But he learned to keep it under control during the election.
Remember when he lost it during the leaders debate with a creepy shot at Clark?
“I’ll just watch you because I know you like that,” Horgan told her.
Horgan said he was referring to Clark’s track record as a “photo-op premier” who cares more about scoring PR points than doing what’s right for people. But it was still a blunder.
It was about the only mistake Horgan made during the campaign. He learned from it and adjusted. If he is equally adept as premier, he could be hard to knock off his game.
Look at the way Horgan managed the last seven weeks. While Clark hid from the public to plot ways to stay in power, Horgan did daily public events on child care, seniors housing, drug addiction and education.
He was showing he was ready to govern. It was a brilliant strategy that also anticipated a possible snap election call, if Clark had been successful in engineering one. Horgan would have been well-positioned to wage a high-energy campaign.
Clark made a big mistake with her postelection tactics. Her plan to force a summer election completely backfired. And her desperate move to copy big-spending NDP ideas made the Liberals look weak and possibly alienated their right-wing base.
Clark should have stuck to her guns, doubled-down on her commitment to low taxes and small government, and taken her defeat with dignity. But it’s too late now.
Now, even if Horgan does screw up and the NDP-Green alliance collapses like a cheap lawn chair, Clark may not be there to take advantage of it.
She better be a fast swimmer. The Liberal sharks are circling.