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Odd Thoughts: Scratching and clawing still works

Columnist Bob Groeneveld scratches to get below the surface of the current political theatre in B.C.
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The socialist hordes are no longer at the gate. They’ve broken through. They’re inside!

But don’t panic. It’s happened before. It happens every other decade.

The first time it happened, it was in the 1970s.

Davey Barrett donned his red shorts and almost destroyed the province. Premier Barrett and his horde did terrible things. They created ICBC and the Agricultural Land Reserve and political financial disclosures – things so terrible that… uhmm… they’re still an integral part of B.C. today.

Then there was Mike Harcourt in the 90s. His NDP was so corrupt and incompetent that it got re-elected in 1996.

Okay, we won’t talk about Glen Clark (what is it with politicians named Clark, anyway?).

Despite Glen’s shenanigans, he actually left the province in as good – or better – economic shape as Christy did, given the overall economic climate each worked within.

Yeah. I know what’s been said. But here’s the thing, the losers always leave huge debts and the winners always clean them up and turn them into huge surpluses… until they become losers, and we find out they actually racked up huge debts. Final judgments always go to the winners.

Christy has done exactly what she was supposed to do: she scratched and clawed to hold on to power that she did not deserve.

That is one of the truly great things about our system of government. If you can’t hang on, you lose. And once you’ve lost, you deserved to lose, otherwise you would have won.

Now John Horgan has to do the scratching and clawing.

Hoping he will fail means hoping for bad government. It is as childish and counterproductive as wishing for Christy’s failure – or believing that she had an epiphany that led to a throne speech diametrically opposed to all her party has stood for. That speech was just the scratching and clawing required of her.

If the Liberals really believed the NDP and Green ideas were better, why didn’t they just let the NDP and Green folks step up and do the job?

Because that’s not the way our system works.

And it does work.

If the NDP and Green can keep the government running, then all of B.C. wins (or at least the 60 per cent who voted for them).

If not, Horgan will go the way of the Clarks, and the system will correct itself.



About the Author: Black Press Media Staff

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