A watershed moment for B.C. politics

By Gerry Warner
Cranbrook Daily Townsman
Oct. 22, 2010
With a Liberal government led by Gordon Campbell no longer able to pass the smell test and a NDP opposition led by Carole James in leadership disarray, we are at a watershed point in BC politics.
Given the abysmal turnout rate of only 50 per cent in the last provincial election, it’s obvious the voters of B.C. have had a low opinion of Campbell and James for a long time. But a lot of dirty – if we only knew how dirty – water has passed under the bridge since then to the point that both leaders are on political death row whether they want to acknowledge it or not.
Let’s deal with Campbell first. At nine per cent in the latest Angus Reid poll, the Premier has set an unenviable record. Not even at the nadir of his unpopularity, did former NDP Premier Glen Clark come anywhere close to nine per cent. The Liberals have always been fond of saying what a “disaster” Clark was. Now if they want to see a real disaster they only need look in the mirror.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to all members of the B.C. Liberal Party. There are good people in every political party. But the fact remains, that despite the disaster of the HST – a political disaster a thousand times greater magnitude than the fast ferries – and the stench of corruption surrounding the Basi-Virk affair, only one Liberal MLA – a cabinet member at that – has publicly parted ways with the Campbell leadership. The others? Not a peep.
Is there no morality left in B.C. politics? Is there no courage? Or is that the case only in the B.C. Liberal Party? If you think this is too harsh, I absolutely disagree with you. First the colossal ineptitude the Liberals showed in the way they handled the HST followed by their brazen unwillingness to acknowledge the deceitful depths to which their government has sunk in the Basi-Virk fiasco.
After seven years and more than $6 million of taxpayers money spent on their “defence,” the pair cop a guilty plea the day before the former finance minister was set to give sworn testimony on the facts surrounding the scandal, facts that the people of the province will likely never hear.
Sheeesh! This is how things happen in Third World countries.
Then there’s the NDP, a party that knows no equals when it comes to consuming its own leaders. Remember Mike Harcourt’s famous comment: “I took a silver bullet for the NDP.” Now its Carole James’ turn except in her case the bullet appears to be self-inflicted.
Make no mistake about it, James political capital as leader is all used up. As Rafe Mair said in a recent column in the Tyee, once members of your own party start questioning your leadership in public, as Bob Simpson did, the curtain has fallen. Oh sure, you can carry on in a token fashion and even lead into the next election, but the party won’t be behind you anymore, at least not in the fiercely committed fashion that’s needed to win an election.
So what does the NDP do now, considering that some Liberal insiders say Carole James is their best asset? It’s too late to close ranks with Simpson booted out of caucus and Norm Macdonald willingly relinquishing his $20,000-a-year caucus chairman’s position to protest Simpson’s ousting. There’s only one answer – move up the party’s annual convention scheduled for November 2011 and make it a leadership convention open to anyone, including James.
By doing that, the NDP would create a lot of buzz around the party, buzz they badly need as they vainly try to ride Vander Zalm’s coat tails in the HST fiasco, and they may even get a bright, shiny new leader, one capable of creating the kind of excitement that could win them an election.
But they must do it soon because this long-time observer of BC politics is convinced of one thing – whatever crazy party in this politically crazy province gets a bright, shiny, credible, new leader first will be the party in the driver’s seat when the next provincial election rolls around in May 2013.
Count on it. Either that or a Third Party.

Mine rescue a win for the human race

By GERRY WARNER
Cranbrook Daily Townsman
Oct. 15, 2010
Call it one for the human race.
Call it a big one for the human race because they don’t come any bigger than the miraculous rescue Wednesday of the 33 Chilean miners trapped for 69 long days more than 2,000 feet deep in the bowels of the earth.
If you were watching the TV coverage of the rescue Wednesday, you’d have to have had a heart of stone not to have a lump in your throat as one by one the bedraggled miners rode the Phoenix, or Fenix as they called it, to Camp Hope on the harsh desert surface where a riotous welcome awaited them and helium balloons filled the sky.
You couldn’t see their eyes because of the black Oakley sunglasses that covered them, but in some cases you could see the tears on their cheeks as they embraced their loved ones and shook hands with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera. “I hand the shift over to you and hope this never happens again,” said shift boss Luis Urzua, gripping the hand of the Chilean President.
When he said it, you could almost feel a sigh of relief around the world – and given the power of the Internet you probably did – as the born-again miners were hauled away on stretchers for medical checkups and psychological examinations. And, in the height of irony, the rescued miners have yet another ordeal to face, and in the long run it could be even more dangerous than the horrific one they’ve already been through.
And that, of course, is the ordeal of fame.
It’s already started. A Chilean billionaire is giving every one of them $10,000. The president of Greece has offered all of them a vacation in Corfu. Steve Jobs is sending each one of them an IPod. They’ve even been offered a trip to Graceland because many of them were singing Elvis Presley songs while they were entombed. And can you imagine the movie and book deals? This is one of the reasons they’re being kept under medical supervision for the next six months and will not be allowed to return to work before then. Not that they need to worry about working in the San Jose Mine again because it’s being mercifully closed.
But what about the perils of fame?
According to the English service of Al Jazeera, Eugen Gaal from the UK Society of Occupational Medicine said the ordeal will be a life-changing experience for the miners. “Some of them will actually use it to change their lives and others will crumble. There’s a range of emotions I would expect them to go through. Feelings of panic, nightmares, anxiety . . .”
For many it will be a “born-again” experience for better or worse. All 33 of the miners are heroes now. Babies are even being named after them. But the life of a hero is seldom an easy one. Expectations are high, impossible even. And not everyone can live up to them. It’s no accident that so many rock stars and Hollywood celebrities die young. How old was Elvis when he died? Forty-two. Hank Williams? Twenty-nine. Point made.
Whatever is the case, I don’t think it’s too much to say the entire world owes these brave men of the deep an immense debt of gratitude. For one day, at least, the entire world was caught up in a good news story, an emotional, inspirational and riveting news story that made all of us feel a little better, and hopefully for many, renewed our faith in the essential goodness of human nature.
Flawed creatures that we are in a world that’s filled with hatred, war and grief, for one unforgettable day we truly became a global village, and like our ancient ancestors huddled around the campfire, we huddled around our TV’s or linked up on the world wide web and enjoyed a redemptive experience that made all of us feel a little better about the human condition.
You can’t ask for anything more than that. God bless those miners and I say hats off to the media for doing such a great job of presenting their story to us.