The Written Word
for February 20, 2000

As I write this, I’m exhausted after three days of covering the NDP leadership convention which chose Ujjal Dosanjh the leader and about to be Premier. And I must say that as one who has never voted NDP and is highly unlikely to, it did give me a warm feeling to note that we could have a premier of colour emerge in our community, a community that is often painted as rednecked by the eastern media because we have never been crazy about bilingualism. It’s in that aspect, a very proud moment for British Columbians.

As I also noted lightheartedly on air, it was difficult to get used to the idea of a premier "Corky" though it would have been fun to see the Toronto Globe and Mail wrestle with their self imposed rule about never calling Premiers by their nickname … would it have been Premier C. St George Evans? Alas, we’ll never know!

But there is a message in all of this for Gordon Campbell. The Dosanjh victory was no accident. His was the best managed campaign I’ve ever seen,

Example. Yesterday Len Werden – a no hoper it’s true – crossed the convention floor to join hands with Corky Evans. The hoopla from the Evans Camp was not only drowned out by Dosanjh supporters, the Dosanjh camp immediately trotted out the only MLA Mr Werden had in his camp as now supporting Evans. Today, when Gordon Wilson made his jump to Mr Evans it was followed within a couple of minutes by an announcement by Dave Haggert of the IWA that they were supporting Mr Dosanjh. Never was any appreciable momentum conceded to any opponent by the Dosanjh camp. And none therefore ever built up.

I don’t believe it’s possible for Mr Dosanjh to pull yet another NDP rabbit out of a hat though in politics 6 weeks is an eternity. I think the mess Glen Clark left behind and the fact that all the current crew were part of it makes it well nigh impossible for another NDP victory. Such a victory in my judgment would require a goof by Campbell and the Liberals of monumental and unimaginable proportions. But what Mr Dosanjh will be seeking is a decent sized caucus after the next election – at least 20 members and, for him, ideally closer to 30 out of what will be a 79 seat Legislature. As he works towards that, while Mr Campbell is of course in the catbird seat, he must constantly guard against giving the voters some reason to vote against him.

Mr Dosanjh is a cool cookie who will bring to his team the sort of thoughtful approach the party hasn’t had since the days of Tom Berger. At the same time, he will have the very effective Corky Evans doing the kind of barnstorming campaign that does so well in rural B.C.

It was quite a weekend. History was made. And now we’ll see if miracles still happen as Mr Dosanjh heads to an election that must he held by May of next year.