Date Posted: June 6, 2011
Print Edition: May 27, 2011
By Sarah Kingston (Contributor) – Email
The BC Liberal party is considering changing its name. They claim that the purpose is to differentiate themselves from the federal Liberal party.
There has been quite a bit of speculation in the media about the true intentions of the potential name change. NDP candidates say exactly what one would expect from the opposition: the Liberals are just trying to renew public opinion after the abysmal decision making of the previous party leader over the past decade. BC Liberals insist that they want to distinguish their party from their federal name twin.
It’s true that the BC Liberal party has suffered scrutiny over the last decade from scandals like the BC rail corruption trial and the way that the HST was introduced. In November 2010 Premier Gordon Campbell resigned his position after 10 years when the Liberal party was suffering greatly in public opinion polls throughout the province. He was replaced by Premier-designate Christy Clark in March.
It’s hard to believe that one Premier has done irreparable damage to the party. Premier Campbell was elected in 2001 with an unprecedented landslide of 77 of 79 seats in the Legislative Assembly after a decade of disappointing leadership from the BC NDP. This was also the first time the Liberals were elected provincially in about 50 years.
The epic downfall of the BC NDP was due to poor management, which led to a failing economy, resulting in exceedingly high unemployment, forcing about 10,000 British Columbians per year to relocate and find employment in other provinces. There were many other face-palm moments for the BC NDP, one of which includes a unified, province-wide eye roll: fast ferries. The public message of outrage directed at the NDP was heard loud and clear in the 2001 election resulting in only 2 seats won for the New Democrats. However, in the years to follow they regained some of the trust of their constituents winning 33 seats by 2005 and 35 seats in 2009.
This year the BC NDP appointed a new leader, Adrian Dix, and are moving forward with their name and their sordid history doing all they can – promising to do better next time. If the Liberal party chooses to change their name they will distance themselves from all of their history, not just their shortcomings. The Liberal party did a lot to rebuild our province after the Glen Clark years, which should not to be undersold.
The people of British Columbia were angered with some of Campbell’s ‘antics,’ and now must look to Premier Clark, the current leader of the BC Liberals, and decide if we trust her and her leadership as an advocate for ‘Families First.’ BC Liberals are currently and should continue to be a right of center alternative to the left leaning NDP or right wing BC Conservative party.
The BC Liberals need to show British Columbians a financially responsible party. We need a party with a concrete plan for the economy, families, and health care, with a reasonable proposed budget and roll out plans that represent the needs and priorities of the public. Premier Clark needs to remind people what Campbell did right and assure them that what he did wrong will never happen again. If British Columbians decide that they have not yet forgiven the BC Liberals the party needs to use the next few years to fight for the trust of the people based on what they can offer them moving forward and what they have offered them in the past.
