So often in politics, people learn of major decisions after elections.

Former premier Gordon Campbell announced the harmonized sales tax 10 weeks following his reelection in 2009.

Going further back, a former NDP premier, Glen Clark, waited until after the election before working out a compromise with Alcan on the Kemano Completion Project. Clark also announced a new Millennium Line, which would travel through five NDP constituencies, well after the polls had closed in 1996.

At the federal level, Stephen Harper never let the public know before the 2011 election that he would introduce Bill C-51. If passed, this legislation would allow judges to approve police investigators violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms before any charges are laid.

More recently, Premier Christy Clark never let on that she was going to close St. Paul's Hospital. In fact, she conveyed precisely the opposite impression in 2012 when she and Finance Minister Mike de Jong committed to investing $500 million to modernize the West End health-care facility.

The St. Paul's Hospital story is intriguing for another reason. Clark's chief rival in the 2011 B.C. Liberal leadership race, Kevin Falcon, also left the impression that he would keep the hospital in the West End.

In an interview with the Straight in 2010, Falcon ruled out downgrading St. Paul's.

Falcon was health services minister at the time.

“I think there was a lot of people concerned that it might get downgraded, but St. Paul’s Hospital provides, as you know, world-class service in the whole range of areas, including their cardiac and their HIV [care], et cetera—I can’t for a minute imagine that we would want to do any less than that,” he said.

Falcon also revealed that his mother had worked as a nurse at St. Paul's Hospital for more than 20 years.

"The fact that St. Paul's tends to be so innovative and tends to try different things is really founded on its unique historical nature," Falcon said at the time. "I really believe that has imbued the staff and the administration with a different perspective on delivering health care. That's something we value and we treasure—and we support."

The Straight has left a message with Falcon to see if he would like to comment on the premier's decision to shut down the facility and build a new hospital on Station Street near the Main Street SkyTrain station.

In the past, Falcon has declined invitations to speak about other provincial policies, so we're not expecting him to reply this time.

But it raises the question: would St. Paul's Hospital have remained in the West End had Falcon won the B.C. Liberal party leadership?

Falcon ended up with 48 percent support in the third round of balloting compared to 52 percent for Clark.