By Katie Stobbart (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 13, 2013
Christy Clark owes more than an apology to the Province of British Columbia.
In the Liberal Party’s “Multicultural Strategic Outreach Plan” drawn up by deputy chief of staff Kim Haakstad, strategies for “quick wins” include “identify[ing] and correct[ing] ‘historical wrongs’” and “advanc[ing] government initiatives and projects that would be resonant in ethnic communities.”
The implication of soliciting these “quick wins” by apologizing for historical wrongs to certain communities is that the Liberal government would not have bothered to right those wrongs or apologize for them had it not been beneficial to their cause. Anything to get back into power, right?
The strategies listed in this privately-circulated document clearly outline an intention to use public funds on initiatives that are specifically designed to gain votes from those “ethnic communities.”
I think some politicians today forget their purpose, which is to serve the people who elect them.
We’re not paying them to campaign, and we’re not paying them to make a list of ethnic voters they can target so they can run for office as Miss Popularity. We’re paying them to do their job.
If you break the trust of the people you are supposed to represent, you should at least have the decency to step down. To refuse to do so adds insult to injury.
It seems to me that there is a type of person scarce in Canadian politics, and that is someone genuine. Sincere. Honest. Compassionate. Someone who knows right from wrong.
Clark apologized for the ideas and for the language in the document. Did she apologize for exceptional disrespect of the people she works for? Did she apologize for flippantly disregarding the severity of the historical wrongs that need to be corrected? Her apology falls flat. I think the only truly sincere apology she could offer would be her own resignation.
What fuels my disappointment and disgust that Clark ever managed to land the top spot in this province is that Christy Clark was not elected in the first place. I don’t recall having been given the option to select her as Premier, nor do I remember giving her permission to spend public money that should be serving the interests of taxpayers.
I would prefer that Clark save her campaign strategy for when the writ is dropped in the middle of April, and leave public money out of it. At least there is the small consolation that the plan to target ethnic voters backfired and is more detrimental than beneficial to her goal of being properly elected as Premier.
In May, we will have the opportunity to actually decide who we want as Premier. If I hadn’t already decided that Clark is the last person I want as the leader of this province, the ethnic-vote scandal would probably have settled it for me.
