CKNW Editorial
for September 12, 2000

There can be no doubt that the NDP is considerably better off with Ujjal Dosanjh as premier than they were without him. Just the fact that he wasn’t Glen Clark was bound to be good news for the party. Moreover, some luck is running the NDP’s way. Because revenues were much higher than reckoned in the budget there will be a balanced budget this year and there is reason to think that if he goes to the polls next April, Mr Dosanjh will be able to present another balanced budget. The question is whether or not this will all be enough to give the NDP a fighting chance.

I don’t think so but perhaps not for the reason we often hear. I think the NDP will have a devil of a time getting their core support back. Not that they will vote for Gordon Campbell but they may just stay home on election night.

Why do I say that?

Because this government has let that core support down … badly.

If one were to have predicted, back in 1991, where the NDP could be counted upon to outperform the Liberals it surely would have been in the social ministries - education, health and social services plus the environment. They have had some successes. The Kemano Completion Project and the Upper Pitt gravel mine issues were environmental successes. The NDP has won the hearts of university students with their freeze on fees. But politics is very much what have you done for me lately? And there have been some aggravated failures.

To start with, in assessing the social programs one cannot overlook the Pacificat fiasco because the public have, quite rightly in my view, drawn a straight line between the half billion thrown away on this boondoggle and the shortage of funds for healthcare. Then one must look at the two areas most in trouble – Health and Children and Families – and make the assessment. I say this in a highly partisan political sense because it is here that the NDP have much of their traditional support and it’s in these two portfolios that the NDP core support expect to see results.

The problems in the Health Ministry aren’t new but they have come to a head during this government’s term. And with the doctors, Health minister Farnworth loses both ways. Those who support the doctors are mad at him for not doing enough for them and those who are mad at the doctors see Mr Farnworth as crumbling before their demands.

The problem in Children and Families is that there has been no leadership. Under Lois Boone it was pathetic – my spies tell me that Gretchen Brewin is little, if any, improvement. It’s not that the Liberals are saying that they would do better in these two critical portfolios – though naturally they are saying that – but that here is where the NDP is seen, day by day, by its core supporters and its been seen to bungle day after day.

And on the environment front, Joan Sawicki has been, surprisingly, a disaster. She was handed an absolute no brainer with the Sumas power project and she blew it. The BC government couldn’t stop this project but they could stand up for British Columbians who would be affected – and do so at no risk to themselves. This was an even better target than the Canadian Chartered Banks that I used to rail against.

Mr Dosanjh’s problem is that, like the baseball manager in a blowout, he’s used up all his players. There’s no one left to put into health except, perhaps, Joy McPhail again and I suspect it’s too late for that. The regulars have been found badly wanting and there is no one on the bench who can hit.

So, I don’t think that the improving financial situation is helping Mr Dosanjh very much. No one for a moment believes that this has anything to do with Mr Ramsey or the Premier. More importantly, though, his own core supporters couldn’t care less about financial matters - they want good and sympathetic handling of the social portfolios. This they have not had and this is what will hurt the NDP the most.