Christy Clark won’t run for Liberals in federal race
Former B. C. cabinet minister is vacationing in Hawaii and won’t be returning to seek nomination, husband Mark Marissen says
VICTORIA — The federal Liberal party plans to have all its candidates in B. C. nominated by the end of this week. But they won’t include a name long mooted as a potential star recruit: Christy Clark.
The former B. C. cabinet minister, who lost her bid to become Vancouver’s mayor, is now tanning on the beaches of Hawaii, making it impossible for her to be one of the Liberals’ nominees.
“ Absolutely, categorically not,” said her husband Mark Marissen, co-chair of the Liberal campaign in B.C., when asked if his wife might be returning from vacation to try her luck at becoming a Liberal MP.
As the federal campaign heads into full gear, Marissen eschewed a joint vacation to stay behind to run what is predicted to be one of the tightest elections ever in B. C. for the Liberals. Of the province’s 35 ridings, one third of them — where victory was determined by voters swings of less than five per cent — are viewed by all the parties as being up for grabs.
If a minority government is in the cards, as early polls suggest, that means B.C. voters could hold the balance of power on election night, Jan. 23.
“For certain, the Liberals have very high hopes for B.C.,” said University of B. C. political scientist Allan Tupper. “It’s very tight and though it’s one of those cliches, every seat does really count. Every party leader sees B. C. as a growth area.”
The Liberals’ over-riding strategy in B. C., Marissen said, will be to remind voters Prime Minister Paul Martin made good on the promises spelled out in the “ made in B.C.” campaign book the party introduced in the last campaign.
There’s no doubt that the Liberals loosened the purse strings, particularly in recent months. B. C. has received about $600 million as part of the Pacific Gateway plan to develop ports and infrastructure, another $600 million for forestry relief, $ 100 million for pine beetle relief, not to mention support for the Vancouver convention centre, the Olympics and the RAV rapid transit line, recently rechristened the Canada Line.
“We’ll be talking about how we delivered,” Marissen said.
Liberal cabinet ministers have also been showering the province with money too, according to the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation:
Nov. 7 — $ 1 million, for crime prevention.
Nov. 9 — $270,000 for substance abuse.
Nov. 16 — $350,000 for storm water management in Burnaby.
Nov. 23 — $121,000 to help integrate new immigrants.
Nov. 24 — $ 1.24 million as part of a land claims settlement in Esquimalt with the Songhees First Nation.
Whether it will help the Liberals improve on their current hold of eight of B. C.’ s 36 federal ridings is too early to say.
The Conservatives, who won 22 seats in the last election, are expected to pay more attention to the westernmost province during this campaign. The NDP, with five seats, is buoyed by the recent comeback of the provincial party and will be hammering home the message that it was they who pushed the Liberals into spending on social programs and defending medicare.
mcernetig@png.canwest.com
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