Vancouver Courier
for June 10, 1998

"Unite the Right" is the phrase of the moment and has concrete proposals for its implementation from no less that the Leader of the Opposition, Preston Manning. We know that prominent people and those not so prominent are setting their hair afire at the thought that Glen Clark might win again.

First, let's look at the problem here in B.C. I will assume that about 40% will vote NDP, 40% Liberal and 20% for others. If Clark's fortunes (and ours) continue their free fall they may come in at much less, say 35%. But even that's too close for comfort for those who wish to see the back of him. It's worth remembering that when Harcourt beat the hugely unpopular Vander Zalm-Rita Johnston government in 1991 they did it with less of the popular vote than they had in 1986 when they lost by a landslide. Sobering thought for those who think the NDP is unpopular that they won't get their traditional measure of support.

Let's look at that 20%. For the Liberals to win, they need half of them. Some of that group will be voting for fringe parties, no matter what, but most will have to decide either Liberal or NDP and to a person they hate the Liberals from another movie. But is that their only choice? What about a revived Reform Party under, say, Bill Vander Zalm?

This has to be Gordon Campbell's greatest nightmare but for more reasons than have been widely commented upon. Vander Zalm, you see, is not interested in making a contribution to public affairs but seeks revenge on the Liberals. He said as much on my program last week when I put the question of revenge to him. There was a long pause ... then Mr Vander Zalm said "I wouldn't admit to revenge ... but it would be nice to set the record straight". Any who heard this would have, without question, assumed that revenge (or perhaps a synonym) was exactly what the former premier was after.

But Bill Vander Zalm is not so naive as to believe that his re-entry won't almost assure another NDP victory. His answer was that perhaps there will have to be a high level meeting between Reform (run by him, naturally) and the Liberals.

We must, dear readers, go back to yesteryear. During the 1986-91 period there were no conspiracies to bring down Bill Vander Zalm. There were no cabals meeting in the Bengal Room at the Empress or on the 3rd floor of the Vancouver Club planning strategies to usurp Vander Zalm's throne. There probably should have been but there weren't.

But that's not the way Mr Vander Zalm remembers it at all. He ran a wonderful government and was stabbed in the back, first by Brian Smith, the Attorney-General and then by Grace McCarthy. The hostile Socred Convention of 1988 was the work of malcontents. Then there was the media, especially yours truly. It was terrible!

Of course it was all really the fault of the Liberal wing of the Socred coalition. Never mind that Smith is a lifelong conservative and that the four Socred MLAs who quit the caucus in disgust were conservatives.

Now I pause to observe that it was the conservative element which chose Rita Johnston, barely, as the leader to succeed Vander Zalm in August 1991 but this was the far right. And that group also included Liberals - former attorney-general Allan Williams comes to mind. But what elected Ms Johnston was what were known as the Zalmoids, the far, often fundamentalist Christian right plus all those who hated Grace McCarthy's guts from another movie.

But the fact remains that Bill Vander Zalm believes otherwise. He overlooks scandals over pub licences and the finding of then Deputy Attorney-General Ted Hughes that he used his public position to further his private interests.

Where does this leave us?

Vander Zalm wants rehabilitation above all else. He's smart enough to know that he will never be premier again but he could be a cabinet minister. After all, the NDP offered a cabinet post to Gordon Wilson, didn't they?

And he sees this as possible.

First he waits until the appropriate time to seek the Reform leadership. Once leader, he waits for the first polls to show that Reform has gone up in the polls so that the 20% I spoke of earlier is moving his way. Then he starts talking about the need to "unite the right". Then - and here is where it becomes pretty tense for everyone - he starts goading Gordon Campbell into having a meeting to discuss this prospect. The price of a Liberal-Reform deal is, of course, that the Liberals agree not to oppose Vander Zalm in the constituency he chooses and that the former premier is to become a senior cabinet minister.

An utterly improbable scenario?

Maybe. But again maybe not.

What we do know for sure is that Bill Vander Zalm, improbable as it seems, is back in politics and he's do a lot of damage before he's through.