Teachers' strike, Christy Clark's popularity falls, and Election Act charges against two B.C. Liberals

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      "It is fashionable to speak of political leaders in terms of their charisma. But charisma without substance is a dangerous thing. It creates expectations that cannot be satisfied. Then come bitterness and disillusionment that destroy not only the leader but the party."

      —Kim Campbell, speaking at the Social Credit leadership convention in Whistler in 1986

      The late 1980s were a tumultuous period in B.C. politics. The premier during that period, Bill Vander Zalm, was elected leader of his party with the initial support of just three members of caucus.

      In some respects, Vander Zalm was the polar opposite of his predecessor, the rather cold and uncharismatic businessman Bill Bennett, who retired undefeated after winning three majority governments.

      Vander Zalm oozed charisma and smiled easily, but eventually ran into trouble with members of his caucus, including the attorney general, Brian Smith, and long-time party stalwart Grace McCarthy. Kim Campbell, then a rookie MLA in Vancouver–Point Grey, abandoned the ship and ran federally, getting elected to Parliament in 1988.

      Before serving a full term, Vander Zalm's career went down in flames in a scandal over the sale of his theme park in Richmond.

      The buyer, a Taiwanese businessman living in the Philippines, had applied for a provincial trust company licence while negotiating the private real-estate deal with the premier.

      There were allegations that Vander Zalm didn't pay a commission to the agent, Faye Leung, prompting her to blow the whistle about what happened.

      Christy Clark's rise paralleled Vander Zalm's

      BC.'s current premier, Christy Clark, was elected party leader with the support of just one member of caucus, the now-retired Harry Bloy. Like Vander Zalm, she replaced a rather cold and uncharismatic former businessman, Gordon Campbell, who retired after winning three majority governments.

      Less than a year-and-a-half into her first full term as premier, Clark has found herself in the midst of major controversy over the teachers' strike.

      This past week, her troubles were compounded when two B.C. Liberal insiders were each charged with three offences under the Election Act.

      One of the accused, Brian Bonney, is the former B.C. Liberal government director of communications and a former business partner of Bloy. The other, Mark Robertson, served as the party's director of field operations.

      The allegations concern the 2012 by-election campaign in Port Moody–Coquitlam. Part of this constituency was formerly represented by Clark in the legislature when she was MLA for Port Moody–Burnaby Mountain. The 2012 by-election was taking place in her former political back yard.

      The NDP was running Joe Trasolini, a former supporter of Clark and the long-serving mayor of Port Moody. To Clark, Trasolini's entrance into the race as the NDP candidate must have reeked of treachery and opportunism.

      The B.C. Liberals claimed that Trasolini had demanded a cabinet post in return for running for them. Trasolini denied this had occurred.

      Joe Trasolini captured Port Moody–Coquitlam for the NDP in 2012.
      Charlie Smith

      None of the allegations against Bonney and Robertson have been proven in court.

      They're charged with three grubby offences all related to failing to report the contribution of someone else's services to the B.C. Liberal campaign. It seems like small potatoes, given that the B.C. Liberals were trounced in the by-election.

      Watergate started small

      When I read the announcement earlier this week from B.C.'s criminal justice branch, it reminded me of the two-bit break-in of the Watergate Hotel in Washington before the 1972 presidential election.

      That was a grubby crime committed by friends of then president Richard Nixon, who seemed certain to be reelected. It didn't make sense at the time.

      Nobody thought much of the Watergate burglary until a senior FBI official, Mark Felt, revealed much more to reporter Bob Woodward of the Washington Post.

      Felt provided sufficient information to implicate Nixon's network of senior staff and the attorney general in a stunning amount of cheating and deception.

      The scandal eventually led to Nixon's resignation. Only later did the motive become clear—the goal was to sabotage Edmund Muskie's bid for the Democratic Party's nomination, clearing the way for Nixon to face an easier opponent.

      There's no evidence that we'll ever see anything like this unravel in connection with what happened in the Port Moody–Coquitlam by-election. The two B.C. Liberal operatives could be acquitted of all charges. And make no mistake, Clark is not the political equivalent of the president of the United States.

      But there's still danger for the premier. The special prosecutor, David Butcher, won't receive a final report from the RCMP until 2015. That provides plenty of time for the Mounties to dig up new information.

      The two accused in this case can choose to cooperate with Butcher or fight these charges in court. If they cooperate with the Crown, there's no telling what else could be revealed or who else's actions could come under the RCMP's radar.

      By-elections were crucial for B.C. Liberals

      In 2012, the provincial by-elections in Port Moody–Coquitlam and Chilliwack-Hope were seen as important political litmus tests for the premier. Some felt that she would be politically doomed if the B.C. Liberals came third behind the NDP and nascent B.C. Conservatives in both races.

      Thanks to a vigorous effort by the B.C. Liberals, they avoided this fate. This sent the B.C. Conservatives under John Cummins into a tailspin from which they never recovered. The collapse of the B.C. Conservatives cleared the way for the reelection of the B.C. Liberals in 2013.

      The B.C. Conservative candidate in Port Moody–Coquitlam was named Christine Clark. That was bound to sow confusion among some voters, including those for whom English was a second language.

      The two B.C. Liberal operatives are alleged to have dispatched a woman of Iranian descent to work on the party's campaign in Port Moody–Coquitlam, which is home to a significant number of voters of Iranian descent.

      Surprising progress in teachers' strike

      In the same week that the Election Act charges were announced, an upbeat Premier Clark promised that public schools will reopen before she leaves on a trip to India on October 9.

      That was a stunning about-face from her government's previous hardline stance against the B.C. Teachers' Federation. The public had repeatedly been told that there wouldn't be a legislated end to the strike.

      Late this week, both sides have agreed to a media blackout, which suggests that they might be making progress toward bringing an end to the teachers' strike.

      This labour dispute has coincided with a drop in the premier's popularity, according to an Angus Reid poll.

      The potential resumption of talks also coincides with a new cloud on the horizon for the Clark government: Election Act charges in connection with a by-election that could have spelled the end of the premier's political career.

      Whether there's any relationship between potential progress at the bargaining table and these two other developments—the drop in popularity or the Election Act charges—will likely never be known.

      For now, the most important thing is that 560,000 B.C. public-school students resume their education. If a drop in the premier's popularity helps accomplish this outcome, then give some credit to pollster Angus Reid.

      If, on the other hand, some charges under the Election Act played any role in the government modifying its position, then parents across the province should be sending their thank-you cards to the special prosecutor, David Butcher.

      Comments

      29 Comments

      OMG

      Sep 13, 2014 at 9:41am

      Got to hand it to you Charlie. You really spun that well. I hope the BCTF is paying you well.

      400 ppm

      Sep 13, 2014 at 11:59am

      Arghhhhh. CS I get that you have to write for the niche in the market that keeps the GS viable, have to have eyeballs to pay the bills. And I get that Judeo-Christans eyeballs want the good/bad narrative.

      But...

      How much illegality, corruption, lying can you reveal about the gov't to no avail at election time? The zeitgeist is 2014. 1970s foreign politics has nothing to do with $7/gal 2014.

      There is a market for a more nuanced journalism.

      You can fool some of the people some of the time

      Sep 13, 2014 at 12:05pm

      People can be fooled by brainless no-nothings like Clark through hype by media spin doctors, but there is a core of intelligence at the root of a people that cannot be fooled forever. Though the deprivations to our society by corporately driven politicians is not yet at an end, there is a glimmer that people are waking. The reactions to the BC teachers' strike is one sign, despite the moronic comment of OMG above.

      Guilin Fish

      Sep 13, 2014 at 12:33pm

      This is interesting…
      The "liberals" feel they do not need to take into account the courts which have rules twice that it was illegal not to allow class sizes and compositions to be part of the negotiations.
      Yet… I expect the "liberals" to vote (pretty soon) a special law, impose a contract and say the strike is illegal.
      They are not liberals, they are dictators who feel they are above the law. (but impose their own law)
      I am never voting for them again.

      Stan

      Sep 13, 2014 at 1:37pm

      Anyone still STETCHING themselves to still turn a blind eye and believe the Liberals and their manipulations despite all the evidence that they are proven LIARS and CHEATS, is either immoral or a fool. Really. No other possible explanation.

      LR

      Sep 13, 2014 at 4:37pm

      It always surprises me how quickly people slam the Liberal government! Do you honestly think that a different party would be any better?? I know the NDP "support" teachers, but where would the money come from? At least the Liberal party knows that money just doesn't fall out if the sky!

      Dianne

      Sep 13, 2014 at 4:41pm

      This mess not only has to end BUT people need to rally and keep on supporting 'people priorities' in BC.

      The underfunding of public services that are truly affordable if government cares to protect and provide them will be so costly to us all in the end.

      Their spin and rewriting of facts make me dizzy! It's a dangerous agenda disrespectful of so much including legal processes.

      They are a scary lot of elected politicians who will do so much damage. It will take years to turn things around and a whole generation of children and youth will pay for all of our losses.

      Gypsy

      Sep 13, 2014 at 4:58pm

      Charlie, your last couple articles on Liberal spin have been terrific.

      You state, quite correctly that "In 2012, the provincial by-elections in Port Moody–Coquitlam and Chilliwack-Hope were seen as important political litmus tests for the premier."

      They were also important for the Liberal party-Government information and labour sharing mechanism that we saw in full effect in the months prior to the 2013 campaign.

      The 2012 By-elections may have been lost by the Liberals, but their party organizers and the Aids in government communications learned valuable lessons on how to blur the line between government and party politics. Those lesson were crucial to winning the 2013 campaign and are on display today.

      anonymous

      Sep 13, 2014 at 5:11pm

      The Liberals are an embarrassment to BC. Also, do the math: $40 a day per child. Okay so in a class if it wasn't large and you had let's say 25, that would be humm $1000 to pay for babysitters to occupy those kids til the parents came home; where as, alternatively, they could be with an experienced teacher, in a school with varied learning and activities, meeting learning outcomes for their grade for hummm like a third or less than the cost. By the way, schools are not closed. They are open with principals and Vice principals collecting the most expensive wages, looking through the window, checking out Facebook and the like until the teachers go back to work. The education system is still running by its expensive management and costing us all money while the kids get $40 to keep them busy.