Bruce Strachan
Right Side Up
This really is the best time of the year. The season we wrap ourselves in good cheer, happy spirits and gift giving. And for those of us ink-stained wretches who wallow in the entrails of politics (now there's an eminently forgettable image) this has been a year of gifts galore.
We began with the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Olympics. Going into the games the critics were beside themselves with Chicken-Little predictions. They said cost overruns would predominate, and how could Canada be so bold to call our national training program "Own the Podium?"
Didn't we understand our subservient Canadian place in international events? The Olympics would be a dismal failure and we should've spent the money elsewhere.
At the end of the day, we proved our critics wrong. The Games broke even and the residual economic benefit has been estimated at $2.5 billion.
We didn't really own the whole podium, but with a games-leading 14 gold medals, our Canadian athletes took a solid lock on the top half. Vancouver and Whistler were on the world stage for 16 days as we showed off our province and its great hospitality to the world. Even those foul rent-a-crowd protesters were overcome with the Olympic spirit
Over on the federal scene there has been no end of gift exchanges. Stephen Harper spent the year lurching from issue to issue. As soon as his governing Conservatives saw a slight increase in the polls, out came the ready, fire, aim gang.
We saw the debacle of the long-form census. In split-infinitive Star Trek terms, the Tories boldly created a problem where no problem had existed before.
Over in Liberal land, leader Michael Ignatieff spent most of the year spinning his wheels in a desperate attempt to make people see what a great guy he was. He put on a plaid shirt and hit the road on a cross-Canada summer tour. He saw the country, but it would appear the reaction wasn't reciprocal. At the end of the day no one noticed.
Meanwhile, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives trotted out a private member's bill de-registering the long-gun registry. The motion failed, but it showed Harper's inability to stick to the centre and focus on important issues.
Long-serving Liberal MP Ralph Goodale called the 2010 parliamentary session "A year of grinding mediocrity."
He's right. Fortunately both the Conservatives and the Liberals are wallowing in the polls, with neither party ready or even able to contemplate a 2011 federal election.
This is parliament's gift to us this Christmas season, one more year of grinding - and uneventful - mediocrity.
Meanwhile, over here in the wild and politically adventurous West Coast, the gift exchanges have been overwhelming. First, Premier Gordon Campbell handed the NDP a gold-engraved invitation to govern with his inept introduction of the harmonized sales tax package. The NDP in turn handed this off to former premier Bill Vander Zalm, who parlayed the tax issue into his personal mission of populist political redemption.
For the NDP it was the gift that kept on giving. Liberal popularity tanked, NDP leader Carole James had nothing to do but hold on tight and watch the Liberals fall.
But politics in B.C. has a way of dealing wild cards. First, NDP MLA Bob Simpson was ousted from caucus for his criticism of James. Then, 13 more New Democrat members called on James to resign and she did. In the meantime, Premier Gordon Campbell attempted a political Hail Mary, which failed to connect, and he resigned. Leadership conventions for both parties have been called and new polls show the Campbell-less Liberals in the lead. Now that's a gift exchange. One more little tinsel-wrapped goodie has just come the Liberals way in the NDP leadership convention announcement. The NDP will elect a new leader Apr. 17 in a one-delegate, one-vote convention.
I've attended NDP leadership conventions and watched the Vancouver-centric power struggles at play. This one is going to be ugly. Have a Happy New Year Liberals.
By contrast, the Liberals are changing their leadership voting process to a constituency count. This gives the rural areas far more input into the leadership outcome and eliminates the heavily weighted vote bias of the Lower Mainland.
Finally, in all of this political turmoil, take heart. On the international scene, and despite Stephen Harper's feeble attempts to tinker at the edges, Canada is an economic powerhouse. We've emerged from the past two years of global economic meltdown as a player punching well over our weight. Comparing our political and economic stability to the rest of the world, particularly the United States, Canadians have much to thankful for this Christmas.
In B.C., all is equally well. Given the events of the last few months, you might think those in Victoria are a couple of bulbs short of a full chandelier and perhaps some are. But, we still have a responsible and experienced cabinet in place to manage any problem that comes our way.
The Opposition - even in its reduced state - is effective and ready to pounce at the slightest government misstep. And an ever-ready press is on full alert as always. We have political equilibrium; what could be better?
Have a very Merry Christmas and all the best for a prosperous New Year.
