CKNW Editorial
for April 4, 2001

Today, the hot rumour hath it, Premier Dosanjh will be calling an election for early May. And, I must say, there is very little on the horizon that the premier can take as good news.

In fact, I’m going to give him a golden opportunity to do what Harry Truman did when he won his amazing presidential victory in 1948 – have a great hee haw at the expense of the media … at least this part of it.

Much of Mr Dosanjh’s problem predates his term of government. This has been a bad government almost from the beginning. Even the native land settlement process, embarked upon by Mike Harcourt to the plaudits of the center-left intelligenstia, is being seen more and more as a bad thing. The ultimate cost to the taxpayer is no clearer now than it was in 1991 except to say that, present trends continuing, it will be horrendous unto unbearable.

The long and the short of it is this government has no record to stand on.

It had no record to stand on in February of 2000 either, when Ujjal Dosanjh became premier. But Mr Dosanjh, no doubt strongly advised by people who pretend to know about these things, did not take the traditional route of seeking an almost immediate mandate.

It probably seemed at the time as if the NDP had bound its wounds and at least could see its old constituency back in the fold. If that were the case the only thing remaining was to get back the independent center-left that was necessary for a good showing, if not a win. To the extent that the party was still divided, I imagine wise counsels thought that Mr Dosanjh, with a new type of leadership, would make the family happy again.

It didn’t work out that way. Premier Dosanjh proved to be a ditherer without any political touch.

From the outset he made the same key mistake Bill Vander Zalm admits making when he didn’t immediately take Bud Smith into cabinet after his 1986 win at Whistler. That left a key constituency out in the cold. While Mr Dosanjh had every reason in the world to be angry at Moe Sihota, it proved catastrophic to turf a man with such deep and strong roots in the party out of cabinet.

The second big mistake of Mr Dosanjh’s was in permitting time to pass. There was nothing on the horizon, in February 2000, that gave any hope at all to the NDP except the Mr Micawber approach that maybe something would turn up. That’s a lousy way to approach politics. What he did by carrying on, was give enough time to pass so that both the charges against Glen Clark could be laid and the Carrier case blow up in his face.

It seems clear that Mr Dosanjh thought that the economic picture would be so much brighter that British Columbians would forget all the rest. He was wrong on that count too. Moreover, even if the economy were suddenly to boom, the public are in no mood to give the NDP a third chance.

Thirdly, the Premier has made a hash of the current session, a session he needn’t have called had he gone to the people earlier. The budget is seen by all as being at the very best highly hopeful and at worst another fudget budget. The premier’s lame attempt to bring in pay equity legislation exploded in his face. That was a 1960s tactic only to be used in front of an unsophisticated electorate. The BC electorate is very wise indeed as electorates go and readily saw that this was a totally unrealistic piece of legislation that would be ruinous to a private sector already badly bashed about by this government. His lamentable efforts to split the Liberals on the question of abortion has backfired giving the Liberals the chance to assure women that abortion legislation and rules will remain the same while showing the pro-life movement that there are Liberals in caucus that agree with them. Mr Dosanjh was unable to learn, or be taught, that the legislature is not the government’s friend – it is where the opposition has all the advantages. It was a very serious mistake to actually call the legislature into serious session – do a throne speech and a budget and then call for an election? Doubtful, but perhaps slightly helpful momentum. Let the opposition loose in their own backyard was the height of foolishness.

There is enough blame for the NDP’s present lousy position to go around. But Ujjal Dosanjh, who tries to play the little man who wasn’t there for much of what went on, not only has his fingerprints over past malfeasances such as the Clark affair and the Carrier case but is also the man who, after seeking and getting his party’s leadership has them even worse off 14 months later than they were before.

And that, dear friends, took some doing. And that is why the NDP will be lucky to get ten seats.