As the Campbell Liberals get ready to invoke closure on the debate surrounding the HST, the rumblings about forming a new political party are getting louder and no one should be surprised.
Back in the day, more than a decade ago when I was the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, the BC Liberals were mounting an all-out campaign to try to stop the then-NDP government from passing legislation to implement the Nisga’a treaty. I invoked closure because the Liberals were trying to stall the passing of the bill because they were suing the government to try to block the historic treaty from becoming law.
When I introduced closure Gordon Campbell, then Leader of the Official Opposition, called the use of closure a “menacing, autocratic and undemocratic assault on the B.C. Legislature”. What the government of the day was doing, in Campbell’s words, demonstrated “the worst kind of tin-pot democracy you could find.”
I didn’t agree with him then, but I think this time we have a real example of menacing, autocratic and undemocratic use of the legislature.
It is one thing to use closure to end decades of debate on a long-negotiated treaty that applies to a small First Nation their historic lands in Northern B.C. The HST is an entirely different.
The Campbell government is introducing a new tax system that amends British Columbia’s constitutional right to set tax rates, and to collect taxes provincially, and it will impact every British Columbian and every sales transaction in the province.
What’s more, there was an exhaustive clause-by-clause debate on the legislation governing the Nisga’a treaty before I invoked closure. This has not occurred with the bill on the HST. Neither, I should point out, was there a petition circulating throughout the province gaining widespread support from the electorate to stop the legislation.
The use of closure is the most recent demonstration of arrogance from the Campbell government. There are plenty of other examples of this government’s callousness.
School hours for our children are being reduced to save money from a financially beleaguered education system, but there is plenty of money for a new roof for B.C. Place.
There is lots of money to fly five plane loads of staff and reporters to hear the Premier announce Site C, but no money for B.C. writers, painters and musicians.
So, the rumblings for a new political party get louder.
Ironically the loudest voice comes from the B.C. Conservative party. I suggest it’s ironic because they were the only party whose platform actually advocated for the harmonization of the HST. Reading their policy papers suggests that they are angry because Campbell hasn’t gone far enough to the right.
The latest Angus Reid poll added some fuel to the smouldering embers, by reporting that 49% of those polled believe that British Columbia needs a new party. More fuel was poured on with the report that 52% of the Metro Vancouver respondents would support a third option, and an even higher number in support, 54% coming from respondents in the interior of the province.
Sadly for those pushing the B.C. Conservatives, the most popular new party will be one that enters center stage left, not on the far right. A new centre-left party, similar to the real liberal party that I led in the late 1980s and eventually took to Official Opposition in 1991 would take votes from both established parties and would head to the next election with a six-point lead. I have long believed that most British Columbians sit comfortably in the center left position politically. That is why I worked hard to position the B.C. Liberal Party into that space, and after it was hijacked, the Progressive Democratic Alliance.
There are of course many within the Vancouver establishment who are uncertain about any political party that does not steer well to the right of center. While they are pragmatic about having a leader who provides an appearance of being center-left, they won’t support one who actually goes there politically. The result of this is that the people of British Columbia have to not only want progressive policy through political leaders with a vision and passion to deliver it, but they have to be prepared to defend and finance their choice.
The Vancouver establishment, realizing that Campbell’s day is done and not wanting to give up their position at the public trough, is already starting to polish up their choice to succeed him: Carole Taylor. A fresh new face on the Campbell Liberals might actually give the liberal party the appearance of being the real thing.
Carole Taylor has been quick to point out that as Minister of Finance she rejected the introduction of the HST. Using the public platform afforded her by virtue of her position on the CTV’s Power Play, Taylor has cited the HST as ideological, shifting roughly $2 billion in taxes off business and onto consumers. Perhaps she is smart enough to know that every person in business is also a consumer, and what’s more a voter.
Of course while Taylor can smugly claim “not on my watch” with respect to the HST, she is going to have a much more difficult time explaining how it came to pass that as minister of finance she removed the corporate capital tax off banks, a tax that had been in place for over thirty-eight years. It was a tax that provided needed revenues to the province form the wealthiest businesses, Canada’s national banks. What will be more difficult to explain is why she voluntarily gave up this revenue source, since no one, with the possible exception of the deputy-chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank Financial Group, Frank McKenna, was lobbying for it.
McKenna, a former Liberal Premier of New Brunswick was, according to the Globe and Mail, “instrumental in helping persuade British Columbia” to repeal the corporation capital tax off banks. A few months later, Taylor left politics and was appointed to the board of directors of the Toronto-Dominion Bank Financial Group at an annual remuneration with benefits of up to $350,000 per year.
If British Columbians are really ready for change, there is no better time to recruit and train the army of progressives to bring it about. But it isn’t going to happen by sending one or two brave souls over the top, only to have him/her fall to the inevitable barrage of fire that will come from those for whom such change is unthinkable.

1. Gloria Says:
   May 9th, 2010 at 3:37 pm

   Perhaps Alberta has the right idea, for the western provinces to separate from the east. There would be 40%, advantage if we did. The west’s tax dollars, would stay in the west. We would have a lot more money, in our wallets, perhaps the little guy, could even have a life. If we could actually, get rid of Campbell, Hansen and the BC Liberals, that is good enough for me. Anything is better than them. How many of their ministers, are under investigation now? The Alliance Party in Alberta, is really steaming along, and getting, a large numbers of voters. I liked their policies. Hopefully, Vander Zalm, will bring the Alliance party to BC. We people are stuck with Campbell, even though 89% of us, want him to take a long walk, off a short pier. Between Hansen’s ridiculous budget and the HST, the number of homeless will double. I would need $2,700, more per year to survive. Me and thousands of others, don’t have that extra money. Corruption, screw ups and greed, is what governs BC.

2. Leah Says:
   May 17th, 2010 at 11:32 am

   Might I be so bold as to suggest some members of choice for a new BC “dream” party?

   Gordon F. D. Wilson
   Paul Nettleton
   Elayne Brenzinger
   Corky Evans
   Vicky Huntington
   Carole Taylor (only if she’s willing to undo her mistakes)

   add to the list! With the above, we might stand the chance of a snowball in hell getting BC back from the abyss…anything else, forget it. Bringing in anyone currently sitting in cabinet or caucus in either party is a no-go. They’ve proven themselves willing to serve their own interests first. I tend to agree with Gloria in some ways, but who writes the new constitution?