Shocked is an understatement, how was this result possible? No different than anyone else I along with most of the province, including most Liberals if they were honest, never saw this coming. Unfortunately my fear is that the Liberals will misread the true meaning behind this win and they will become even more arrogant than before, if that is possible. As I have said before, as an ardent Free Enterpriser I could never vote NDP and with the record of the Liberals I could not vote for them; I was looking for another option!
I woke up this morning asking myself what just happened. Was I dreaming or was last night real?
OH well, I may as well join the masses and offer my post mortem analysis of last night’s election results. It is interesting to listen and watch all the media interviews of insiders and outsiders as to their views of what went right or wrong. Obviously the insiders, those most closely associated with the guts of the chosen campaign strategy are taking all the credit in the world, but it is interesting they choose to look at what went right as opposed to what their opponents did wrong! This was Adrian Dix’s election to lose and that he did it in spades!
The NDP – Politics, regardless of the popular mythology is a Blood Sport and is not for the faint of heart. It does not nor should it be personal, but it should clearly define the differences between you and the other guy. What defines the difference? The NDP campaign from the outset was positioned to take the high road and be nice with no attacks. Sorry but by mid campaign it was a bland and milk toast message. There was no definition of the ballot box question. At the same time Dix, later in the campaign does a serious flip flop on the Kinder Morgan issue which I believe was a serious error on his part. At the same time, you might recall, Dix told everyone who would listen at the start of the campaign, in response to questions from the media, that everyone would know by voting day what he stood for and what would happen under his leadership. What did we hear; he will conduct a review after the election on virtually every issue. Sorry that didn’t cut it for those that were looking for another viable option. So in my view the NDP lost this one!
The Liberals – From the outset the Liberals ran a negative campaign designed to attack Dix personally (for the forged memo scandal) and concentrate on history. (the NDP 90s) It is interesting that the B.C. Liberals carried enough baggage to satisfy numerous campaign needs but none of it was used by the NDP against them. The Liberals concentrated and hammered home a continual litany of lies referring to their record on debt and deficit and who would best manage provincial affairs. They concentrated on selling the public on paying off our deficit on an iffy LNG program 15 – 20 years out, regardless of the facts of this industry in the world economy. In other words they didn’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.
To the Liberal’s credit they brought on a number of high profile new candidates that to my surprise and I believe many others, got elected. But the question has to be asked could the B.C. Liberals have won without the abject failure of the NDP strategy? An interesting question?
The B.C. Conservative Party – In my view this is the single largest failure IF there was to be a change of government. The litany of events within the B.C. Conservative Party over the past two years destroyed any chance of gaining respectability. This responsibility lies firmly at the feet of John Cummins going back to the day he took over leadership of the party. It was THE chance to build a centrist free enterprise option. To do this there had to be a will for inclusion which clearly didn’t happen. It is unfortunate because there were a number of very good candidates that frankly, given the recent history, could not get any respect or traction. That is not a reflection on them; it is a reflection on the B.C. Conservative Party and its leadership. (or lack of). Do they have an opportunity to rebound for the next election, that will be entirely up to the B.C. Liberal Party and Government? There was an opportunity (ie B.C. Liberals 1991 vintage) but they blew that opportunity.
Summation – So can this win be attributed to the genius of the Liberal Campaign Team or to an NDP screw up? There is probably enough in this equation for both. At the end of the day, and who among us would dispute that they have heard from friends relatives and neighbors that they were going to hold their nose and vote Liberal. That in my opinion was a result of the fear driven by the actions and statements of Dix as well as the barrage of messages from the Liberals. Unfortunately issues such as the file on B.C. Rail and Basi / Virk are closed; I am sure much to the delight of Christy Clark and Rich Coleman. That, in my opinion is the sad post note to this election.
Rick Green
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