Mixed emotions is the feeling you have when your teenage daughter come home at 6:00 in the morning and you're relieved to see she's carrying a bible, then you notice it's a Gideon bible.
It's no doubt with those same mixed emotions that many British Columbians are viewing Premier Christy Clark's new mean and lean cabinet.
On the local good-news side, Prince George keeps its two cabinet ministers. Shirley Bond as Public Safety Minister and Solicitor-General, while Pat Bell becomes minister of a new portfolio called Jobs, Tourism and Innovation.
This is important for our area and points to Clark's interest in Northern development. It would have been easy in a downsizing environment for Clark to reduce the Prince George cabinet representation to one minister.
For those of you who look at city-by-city comparisons, Kamloops maintains one cabinet minister only. The politically accident-prone Kamloops MLA Kevin Krueger is off to the backbench, while former Kamloops mayor Terry Lake becomes minister of environment.
With Bell and Bond, plus South Peace MLA Blair Lekstrom back to the inner circle, the Central Interior and the North are well represented. Those three ministers make up a powerful, persuasive and influential constituency all on their own.
Pat Bell's appointment may seem curious until one looks at the important inroads he's made in China selling lumber. With Canada now on China's favoured-nation visitor list, tourism from that country is expected to grow enormously. Bell has successfully shown he can sell lumber to the Chinese: vertical trees and the beauty of our province should be a snap.
Bond's appointment as Public Safety Minister and Solicitor-General gives our city some serious creds in the law and order department, something we could certainly use.
With Lekstrom in Transportation and Infrastructure, we can not only expect the Liberals to continue with highways spending, but with this appointment, Clark has given a tacit nod to the Site C power project.
Those who try to read capital P politics into Christy Clark's win and subsequent cabinet selection should be relieved. Clark was seen by many as being too Liberal and too far on the left to keep the delicate Liberal/Conservative coalition in balance. Appointing Kevin Falcon as Finance Minister and deputy premier ought to put those fears aside and the emergence of a provincial Conservative party at bay.
Falcon has also been given the tricky job of steering the upcoming Harmonized Sales Tax referendum to a successful yes vote in the next three months.
Mary Polak is also on the starboard-side of the political spectrum. Polak is a tough no-nonsense politician and has been appointed minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation. Polak could be just what the portfolio needs.
There are 17 ministers in Christy Clark's new cabinet. That size of cabinet goes back to days of W.A.C. Bennett. There's something to be said about the productivity of a small group around the table. At one brief time in my experience we had 16 ministers, a few were on time out - not an uncommon occurrence in the 1980s - and we had some out of the country. The small cabinet worked well; there was less parochial bickering and the political in-fighting was reduced considerably. In a cabinet of that size, everyone is important.
Premier Clark gets full marks for her cabinet picks. She's found regional balance, given a few new faces a shot at proving themselves while staying with an experienced core.
Time will tell, but in her first major task at showing she can handle the reigns of leadership, Christy Clark has been successful.
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Transition planning.
I'm indebted to Jim Hume for this light-hearted look at the transition to high office. Hume was the dean of the Legislative press gallery for years. He is the father of reporters Mark and Stephen Hume.
This is Jim's classic transition story. A new premier was coming into office; he (she) asked the departing premier for some sage advice. The exiting premier said, "There are three envelopes in the desk, they're numbered one, two and three, as problems develop, open the envelopes and follow the advice."
Things went well for a while and then the roof fell in; a major political problem developed. The new leader opened the first envelope, it read, "Blame the bureaucrats." The premier tried the strategy and it worked,
A few years later, another serious issue raised its head. The second envelope was opened and it read, "Blame the media." The premier put that advice in place and again it was successful; the political pressure diminished.
Then after a period of political peace a third tough issue surfaced. Out came envelope number three, the premier quickly and nervously ripped it open; it read, "Prepare three envelopes."
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