Following the close result in the B.C. Liberal leadership vote Saturday, winner Christy Clark and runnerup Kevin Falcon offered reassurances about party unity.
She visited his after-party, joined him on the platform, and made clear that she needed him in her government. He reciprocated by telling the news media: "I'm going to be fighting hard to keep us together. I'm going to tell my supporters to get behind Christy."
His supporters echoed those comments, then and later. "She'll have my support financially and every other way I can help," said John Reynolds, a prominent federal Conservative who'd earlier expressed concerns about her ties to the federal Liberals.
Good beginning. And Clark will be leaning on Falcon and his supporters on an ongoing basis, unity being more of a challenge when the bloom is off the win and the decisions are hard and heavy.
That need, coupled with the 48-year-old Falcon's status as heir apparent, gives him leverage in the Clark administration cabinet sweepstakes.
He'd probably welcome a return to transportation and infrastructure, where he had his happiest days as a minister in the years 2004-2009. But this is not a time for the new premier to be handing out rewards and sinecures.
She needs him, yes, but not just anywhere. Rather, in one of the toughest cabinet portfolios.
Finance heads the list, being the line ministry in charge of figuring out how to save the harmonized sales tax in a referendum later this year. Or, failing that, figuring out how to manage the consequences of a defeat.
Finance Minister Colin Hansen is a spent force. Privately, he would probably welcome reassignment. Falcon would be a strong choice to replace him, for several reasons.
He was one of the first Liberals to acknowledge the launching failure on the tax and he did so in characteristically candid fashion.
"We have to acknowledge and apologize to the public for the terrible job we did in explaining and rolling out the HST," he told reporters after the anti-HST petition was certified. "The bottom line is, we could not have done a worse job."
His leadership bid garnered the broadest endorsements from the business community, whose help will be needed to make the case that going back to the old provincial sales tax would hurt jobs, investment and the economy.
Then, too, Falcon is known as the government's "action man" for a reason. He had the support of the senior ministers at the cabinet table because of his ability to get things done, particularly on transportation but also (with more mixed results) during his more recent posting in health.
The HST, more than any other file in government, needs decisive action.
For starters, there's the challenge of crafting a winning campaign to persuade the electorate to come out and vote to save a tax. The premier would have to help in the selling, but can't afford to risk all of her time and credibility.
Should the effort fail, then there's the followup challenge of untangling the tax system, entailing months of work at this end and lengthy negotiations with the federal government.
If the Conservatives are still in power, Falcon's federal connections might help him in negotiating the repayment schedule on the $1.6 billion in federal transition funding.
Moreover, among all the candidates for the leadership, Falcon would appear to have given the most thought to a possible rescue plan for the HST.
"I do fundamentally believe it is the right public policy," he declared at the Nov. 30 launch of his leadership campaign. "But I also want to say to the public that I want to have a discussion about whether their opposition might be tempered if the rate were marched down to 10 per cent."
The tax is locked in at 12 per cent until July 1, 2012. Each point raises an estimated $750 million for the provincial treasury. Falcon suggested approaching Ottawa about the possibility of reducing the tax by one point as soon as possible, then by a second point "when provincial revenues are sufficient to accommodate it."
If that prospect doesn't bring people around and they still vote for extinguishment? "I guarantee I will have a plan the next day on how we're going to manage a world with no HST."
Falcon, during a media scrum after Saturday's loss, dismissed any interest in the finance job, saying in effect that life was too short to spend it immersed in numbers and statistics.
Clark, having strongly advocated a return to balanced budgets in the closing phase of the leadership campaign, might have some reservations of her own about the cost of his proposal to save the tax by cutting it.
But the premier would betray a great weakness if she gave him a veto over his first assignment in her government, particularly on a file where both the province's investment climate and its fiscal well-being are at stake.
Besides, Falcon's hallmark is supreme confidence in himself. If there's a better way of proving his ability than taking on the job of saving the HST, I don't know what that would be.
vpalmer@vancouversun.com
