Dear Christy: Resign

Jun 6, 2017 | 5:00 AM

KAMLOOPS — Dear Christy:

I was sorry to hear of your loss and know how difficult these times can be.  Rejection, disapproval and being avoided can be difficult things to deal with, even in the best of times.

During such trying times, I’d like to be able bolster your spirits and comment on how well you’ve handled everything.  You know, something like a pat on the back along with some reassuring words about how unfairly you’ve been treated by the voters.  

Unfortunately though, the voters haven’t treated you unfairly and worse yet, they are always right and always do have the last word.  Yet unfortunately, you don’t seem to realize this and continue on as though the voters are indeed wrong and don’t deserve that last and final word.  

I wonder if not understanding or accepting this is a big part of your problem and a contributor to the current state of affairs you now face.

Yes Christy you won the most seats in the Legislature but the reality is, you didn’t win enough seats. On top of that, nearly 60% of British Columbians said you were no longer their choice for government.  So why do you continue to refuse or acknowledge the will of the people?  

It is this desperate clinging to power that is now defining you and with that, your party.  A legacy that will only remember how nothing was more important to you than wanting to be the boss.  There are many examples, Mr Harper being one of them, that have shown how badly this is going to turn out.  This personal demonstration of lust for control and power at any cost, will in all likelihood, be the marker historians use when pointing to the beginning of the rapid decline of the BC Liberal party.

Pierre Trudeau, Mulroney, Campbell and many more like them, faced defeat at the polls. Like you, they overstayed their welcome, got carried away with and abused the power of their position and took the voters for granted.  Anyone of these can be dangerous for a political career but as those before you have learned, absolutely lethal when taken in combination.  

This personal longing of yours is just as dangerous for the party and doesn’t discriminate along party lines.  Left, right or straight down the middle, it only needs abundant ego to grow, thrive and destroy everyone in the path you are now creating.

One important thing that separates you from these ghosts of political Armageddon is that all of those before you admitted defeat.  They owned the loss that was created by their own hands.  No last minute reprieve from the Queen’s representative, no public blaming of others and no clinging and grasping to what is no longer theirs.  They realized how desperate and sadly pathetic such behaviour appears.  

Staying beyond your expiry date will as mentioned before, end up defining you and that is sad, as even I must admit you did, at least in the early years, work tirelessly for British Columbia.

My cynical side wonders why you are doing this and comes up with any number of reasons for your, “I am still the Premier” exhortations: Patronage appointments and the need for more time to get as many of your friends on the doll:  The desire to sign more of those binding contracts for the Site-C dam: Figuring out how to blame others for the financial manipulations and secrets that are soon to be uncovered at BC Hydro and ICBC.  The craving for one more Throne Speech where you can tease and taunt voters with all kinds of imaginary promises of goodies you’ll never be called upon to deliver.

The list goes on and any of these actions will only be seen for what they truly are…A petulant child’s revenge on those who wouldn’t support her.

Is it not time to think of the province and the people of British Columbia instead of just you?  And what about your Party?    

It is time to go Ms. Clark.  It is time for you to be remembered for something other than a sad and vindictive reminder of what once was.  

Many others, including myself, would have much more respect for you if you simply admitted that this time around you did not earn the corner office and will be stepping down.