WILKINSON'S ATTACK ON NDP ACCURATE, BUT TONE DEAF
Ex-Liberal leader talks accountability after hiding from public since election
The B.C. legislature was debating an NDP bill to delay the next budget when it heard from an unexpected source one day last week: Andrew Wilkinson.
The former B.C. Liberal leader has said next to nothing in public since losing the election.
He gave a 90-second concession speech on Oct 26 and took no media questions. On Nov 21, he announced on Facebook that he was stepping down as leader, again without further comment.
But there he was last Thursday afternoon, on his feet in the legislature in his capacity as re-elected MLA for Vancouver- Quilchena.
Wilkinson spoke for 30 minutes. But anyone expecting a mea culpa from the leader who led the Liberals to their worst showing in seven elections and 25 years would have been sorely disappointed.
The now ex-leader of the Opposition started on a bitter, blame-the-NDP note and the tone deepened as he went on.
“We cooperated with this government for six solid months,” said Wilkinson. “We did not carp on about testing rates. We did not get into debates about regional opening and closing. We did not go on about school closures and about the need for disclosure of information in schools.
“That did not come up because we decided that it was our responsibility to the people of B.C. to work with the government for the betterment of the people of British Columbia during this COVID pandemic.”
The Greens did likewise, co-operating with the government in the spirit of their power-sharing agreement.
Then came September's snap election call: “We saw the trust that we had invested in the NDP minority government and the trust that the Green party had invested for three years, tossed to the wind.”
True, as far as it goes. But Mary Polak, house leader for the Liberals in the last legislature, provided a more balanced perspective.
“There were choices that we made and one of those choices was to cooperate with the Greens and the NDP throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said after the party's electoral defeat which included the loss of her own seat in Langley. “Did that hurt us electorally? Probably. But it was the right decision to make.”
Either way, the NDP's electoral doublecross was front and centre when Premier John Horgan called the snap election. Opinion polls showed significant opposition to his decision to call an unnecessary election during a pandemic.
Wilkinson and the Liberals failed to translate the backlash into electoral momentum because they ran a wretched campaign, as tone deaf as it was gaffe-ridden.
For all of his avoidance of that particular elephant in the room last Thursday, Wilkinson did make valid points in his attack on the NDP budget bill.
The legislation will allow a further delay in the tabling of the 2021 budget, beyond the one the New Democrats voted themselves last summer when the premier and his advisers were already scheming for an early election call.
The extension means no obligation to produce a budget before April 30, one month into the next financial year. The New Democrats are abandoning the Feb. 16 fixed budget day in much the same way that they abandoned the Oct 16, 2021, fixed election date.
“This will mean that we have over a year between the last budget in February of 2020 and the next budget in 2021,” said Wilkinson.
“It will delay the needed supports going out to sectors in the community and in our business sectors. There will be nothing until there's a new budget, that now, apparently, is five months away.”
He was not alone among B.C. Liberals in reflecting on the irony of the New Democrats amending the 20-yearold Budget Transparency and Accountability Act in ways that will reduce both transparency and accountability.
“It (the Act) was part of an overall package, with fixed election dates, fixed budget dates, taking away the arbitrary decision-making power of the premier of the day.”
Wilkinson served the first of those premiers, Gordon Campbell, as a deputy minister and the second, Christy Clark, as a cabinet minister.
He scoffed at the NDP claim the double-extension for the budget was necessitated by the early election — especially since Horgan insisted the snap election would mean no holdup in managing the pandemic or preparing for economic recovery.
“I went through five budget cycles as a deputy minister,” said Wilkinson. “The deadline is mid-December for all submissions. Those were prepared months ago and would have been tweaked according to the election outcome.”
But by the end of the speech, Wilkinson had mostly conveyed that he was not the best person to be making the case.
He complained about the silence of the NDP backbench: “Sadly, very sadly, we see the members opposite — the NDP caucus members — who are ashamed to stand up and speak to this bill.”
He faulted the premier and cabinet: “You cannot just blow these things past the electorate and hope they won't notice. … It is not acceptable for this government to hide, to suppress the truth and to pretend to be transparent.”
Silence. Hiding from the truth. Lack of transparency. Avoiding accountability.
Sounds like an apt summary of how Wilkinson has conducted himself since losing the election.
“High-handed behaviour, arrogance, is a sign of weakness,” he preached last week. “It is not a sign of strength.”
For a case study, he could start by looking in a mirror.
It is not acceptable for this government to hide, to suppress the truth and to pretend to be transparent.
ANDREW WILKINSON, former Liberal
leader