Opinion

What's in a Name?

A political makeover for shoot-from-the-hip Christy and her BC Libs.

By Bill Tieleman, 17 May 2011, TheTyee.ca

Premier Christy Clark

Clark's Liberals doing an about face? Photo: Justin Langille.

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"The type who would charge hell with a bucket of water." -- Lady Bird Johnson, on those who act without thinking.

Do you think any political party in the world would trumpet the following approach as a winning strategy?

The party leader narrowly wins a seat in a by-election to enter the legislature, defeating a candidate she repeatedly refused to debate and who wasn't supposed to have a chance.

Within 24 hours of that slim victory, which was a fraction of the margin the ex-leader racked up in several elections in the same riding, the new leader announces she may run somewhere else next time.

In the same 24 hours, a veteran legislator, the leader's campaign chair and until recently the finance minister, makes a surprise announcement that their party should seriously consider changing its name.

After all, why remind voters you handily won three successive elections to hold power for a decade, and have existed as a political party with the same name since 1903, first forming government in 1916?

The leader chimes in to say there are "real merits" to changing the name, but other senior cabinet members disagree -- in public.

Then the leader announces she will make "bold" and "smart" changes to "fix" a despised tax that's been in place for nearly a year -- but won't tell anyone what they are for weeks -- until just before a binding referendum vote.

But she is spending more than $5 million on a government advertising campaign already, despite no one knowing what changes are coming.

Oh yes, and the TV ad campaign features a cartoon stick man to inform consumers about a $2-billion-a-year tax.

Is this any way to run a party? Or a province?

Change in the air

By now you've guessed that this is British Columbia under new Premier Christy Clark, with former minister Colin Hansen in charge of party name changes.

And it's clear Clark is busy trying to change the provincial symbol from the dogwood tree to one more representative of her own style -- a loose cannon!

As someone who endorsed New Democrat candidate David Eby in the Vancouver-Point Grey by-election, where Clark eked out a win of 595 votes despite former premier Gordon Campbell winning by 10 per cent and over 2,300 votes, I should be thrilled at her political miscalculations and insult to the riding.

And as a founder of Fight HST, the group that ran the successful citizens' initiative petition leading to the binding referendum on the Harmonized Sales Tax, I should applaud the outrageous ad spending and uncertainty as help in getting a "Yes" vote to extinguish the HST.

But as a political commentator and communications consultant, I'm appalled at how amateurish British Columbia looks right now.

I suspect it's a position shared by some BC Liberal MLAs, all but one of whom declined to endorse Clark in the leadership campaign for increasingly obvious reasons.

Lend a name

So let's at least help the BC Liberal Party pick a new name that accurately reflects its current status.

You can email suggestions, post them on my blog, or post them in the comment thread below.

To get you started, here's a few ideas:

"The Party Formerly Known as BC Liberal";

The "Gordon Campbell? Never Heard Of Him" Party;

The "Because Christy Clark's Really Awesome & Zany, Yeah" Party -- B.C. C.R.A.Z.Y.

The names may change, but B.C. politics will remain wild! [Tyee]

Bill Tieleman is a regular Tyee contributor who writes a column on B.C. politics every Tuesday in 24 Hours newspaper. E-mail him at weststar@telus.net or visit his blog.

45 Comments:

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  • North of Hope

    40 weeks ago

    Opportunists' Party

    Let's call it the Opportunists' Party.

  • puppyg

    40 weeks ago

    It's The Christy and

    It's The Christy and Scratchy Showwww... always entertaining.

    A new party name? The Wallpaper Party.

    CC hopes to hide all that came before.

  • Lawrence

    40 weeks ago

    BCP

    I'm sure someone on the right holds the rights to the name British Columbia Party.

    It reminds me of the old west where no matter how sleezy you were you could always change towns, change your name, and it would work.

  • Hughes

    40 weeks ago

    With apologies to Margaret Atwood

    Alias Disgrace

  • Worrywart

    40 weeks ago

    The Fraser Instiutes Nightmare

    How about "Corptocracy BC". It is actually rather encouraging to think that the best Gwyn Morgan and the Fraser Institute have to offer is Cristy Clark.
    Finally, please let me say that it is only a rumour that Christy Clark and Sarah Palin are sisters.

  • alive

    40 weeks ago

    Always astonished

    In deference to Crustys plucked eyebrows: call it the
    " Raised eyebrow party? "
    Yes, with a question mark at the end!

  • Jeffrey J.

    40 weeks ago

    Funny If It Weren't So Scary

    BC's slide into amatuer, highschool politics would be funny...if it weren't so scary. These guys can do a lot of damage to the rest of us. As they have demonstrated already. And are about to do again.

    And we, the majority of citizens, are apparently helpless to do anything about the rule by the few over the many.

    Time to turn off our TVs and begin the process of waking up and becoming involved in retaking control of our society.

  • DPL

    40 weeks ago

    How about. The business tax

    How about. The business tax haven group, inc

  • raging senior

    40 weeks ago

    new name for Liberal party

    It should be called the CONLIE TAX party

  • sajrpn

    40 weeks ago

    New Name for Liberal Party

    BY simply adding one more letter to their current name they could re-brand the Party to reflect their past and current modus operandi

    The BC Lieberal Party would be more representative of this group of Gordon Campbell mini-me's and wannabee's.

  • Vox.Pop

    40 weeks ago

    The BC New Conservative Party

    Since these guys have been Neo-Cons since Reagan & Thatcher it would only be honest to come out from behind the curtain. Only a few 'old-soaks' were original Liberals (in the classic sense), these Neo-cons are like cuckoos - first taking over the Socreds (until they ruined that party) then repeating the process with the BC Liberals.

  • coop

    40 weeks ago

    Fiberals

    They will always be the "fiberals" for me, given their ability to lie to their constituents.

  • island gal

    40 weeks ago

    new party name

    How about the "New Christy Minstrels"?

  • Robb

    40 weeks ago

    In honour of former Premier Gordocchio

    ...why not the Pinocchio Party?

  • island gal

    40 weeks ago

    new party name - PS

    PS After all, they did introduce the "harmonised" sales tax. . . .

  • offended

    40 weeks ago

    Considering their acting as a branch plant of big business

    The Subsidiary Party.

  • the real ODB

    40 weeks ago

    A few more

    My old standby is the "LIEberals". Or, how about the "Doublespeaks", the "999 Leasers", the "Payolas" (sorry Bob and Paul), the "Sellouts" or the "Deceivers" (sounds like names of punk bands, with my apologies to punk bands!).
    This isn't really a name, but more of a concept. How about the "relegated to the dustbin of history and no longer existing" party. SWEEEEEET!

  • John Greg

    40 weeks ago

    Um ...

    Maybe they should just pony up to the truth trough and call themselves the Fraser Institute.

    Or, barring the, ahem, availability of that name, how about the NCPC, the New Capitalist Party of Canada.

    Or even NCF, New Canadian Fascists.

  • wstander

    40 weeks ago

    What goes around comes around

    The CCCP (Clark Crony Capitalist Party)

    Replacing the former CCCP (Campbell Crony Capitalist Party)

    As you can see, not much difference.

  • Ed Seedhouse

    40 weeks ago

    New name?

    The "Undemocrats".

  • OhCanada

    40 weeks ago

    How about

    ... the DressUp party? They dress like the Liberals and behave like neo-con naczis.

  • Terry J. Nanaimo

    40 weeks ago

    The B.C. Liberal Name Game...

    After a decade of political shape-shifting, teacher/student manipulation, rail-roading, parked meters, higher sales taxes and hide n' seek leadership, B.C. Liberals have earned more than a hand.

    They deserve the clap.

    The conservative/liberal alliance project.

    [Caution]:under construction for more than 10 years. Don't buy into it.

  • eight

    40 weeks ago

    Part the Past

    Why not borrow part of their previous name and reflect their current caucus at the same time? The Retreds.

  • RickW

    40 weeks ago

    SCRAP - IT?

    Socred
    Conservative
    Reform
    Alliance
    Party

    In
    Transition

  • Troutsky

    40 weeks ago

    Well they're still 'Social

    Well they're still 'Social Credit', really, so why not go back to it.
    The 'Richmond Auto Mall Party' got suggested at one point several years ago, and of course there's the 'Monster Raving Looney Silly Party'.

  • frances

    40 weeks ago

    Best I can come up with is

    Best I can come up with is the SP or Shyster Party

  • Skywalker

    40 weeks ago

    My vote goes to ...

    ...Terry J. Nanaimo. CLAP is a good fit.

  • Jerry Munro

    40 weeks ago

    At The Drag Queen Ball... That Passes for Democracy.

    "Time to turn off our TVs and begin the process of waking up and becoming involved in retaking control of our society." Jeffrey J.

    Which cuts to what really needs to happen, of course, Jeffrey J..

    The Liberals in BC, really a right wing Conservative/ Fascist alliance party, has never really been a "liberal" party in either the actual meaning of the word, or even in the distorted itself context of the Liberal Party of Canada. Of which there is a long history in BC... Which is in fact what the old Social Credit Party was as well... a Rightist alliance.

    This is party politics in "what passes for democracy" in the ruling class of capitalism context. Even the NDP knows this. Which has used a name change itself, to dress itself up, and pass itself off as a "liberal" party itself, in the US Democratic Party brand style. It should really be called the Democratic Party (North). "Change You Can Believe In" hokum, that changes nothing.

    Nah... it's not really what any of the parties do here that is important or going to change anything, certainly not the essential character and content of what passes for democracy here or the fundamental, underpinning ruling class serving character of our economic order. That is going to take a quite different order of magnitude development than cosmetics... (Which it turns out in a new study, really are toxic :-)... masses of our citizens in motion, demanding first a "co-operative" over "competitive/endless growth" order built around the needs of people rather than money and bullshit "wealth creation". And guiding that, a representative of free and equal citizens system of democracy, preferably in my view, outside self-aggrandizing vanguards "party centric" notions and control. A people NOT party claptrap democracy.

    Short of cutting to this chase, it's ever just a dance-off controlled by ruling class money and power, where everybody is in one form of drag or another, and no one is really who they say they are, or does "for the people" what they say they are going to do. Because "in power", regardless of their party labels, they all really wind up subject to the control of, and doing the behest of.... Hell! Everybody already really knows who and what. You don't need to hear me say it.

    The bullshit merry-go-round needs to be stopped. We all just need to get off it and deal with the reality of what actually is... finally.

  • Skywalker

    40 weeks ago

    Aawh Jerry Munro...

    ...just when we were all having some fun, you have to go and get serious. Lighten up dude!

  • Frank

    40 weeks ago

    The Village Idiot party

    I don't care what the new name is as long as its publicized that Stockwell is a member and actively supporting it.

    Christy and Stockwell, I don't know what happens when two such unstable intellectual heavyweights join together but I'm sure it can't be good.

  • dorite

    40 weeks ago

    Name Should Represent Some Goal:

    BC Council of Greedy Big Business.

  • Jerry Munro

    40 weeks ago

    Bud Abbot and Lou Costello Politics...

    "Lighten up dude!" Skywalker.

    And what makes you think that I'm not having fun?

    Though "light", as in airy, is the NDP style, I know. :-) The light to the Liberal Wingnut Alliance heavy, the Lou Costello to the Liberal Bud Abbot.

    Have fun, Skywalker. :-)

  • Skywalker

    40 weeks ago

    I'm still partial to CLAP

    Just think of what you are left with after getting screwed at some unsavory political party function.

  • saorsa

    40 weeks ago

    New Name for fibs (oops sorry)

    A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet!

    So I would like to call them

    THE LIARS CLUB. With their history I think it is appropriate.

  • Frank

    40 weeks ago

    New poll from Ipsos

    Says the Liberals have the support of 41%
    The NDP have the support of 39%
    The Conservatives have the support of 10%
    The Greens have the support of 8%

    So this suggests three things.

    One, Christy Clark hasn't reduced the NDP to 25% as was predicted. There is no similarity to Vander Zalm who had the support of 58% in the first poll done after taking over the Socred leadership.

    Two, The NDP was better off with Carole James.

    Three, most of the gains by the BC Conservatives have been at the expense of the Christy Clark led Liberals. This is very good news.

  • G West

    40 weeks ago

    It'll be interesting

    It will be interesting to see what the effects of John Cummins's serious attack of foot in mouth on the gay issue will be...

    @Frank - how long do you wager it'll be before Lukie shows up?

  • Skywalker

    40 weeks ago

    Frank

    Your #2 was based on Campbell staying around.

  • Frank

    40 weeks ago

    Skywalker

    In the poll done after Campbell resigned and before Jenny Kwan attacked Carole James, the NDP led.

  • Frank

    40 weeks ago

    GWest

    Luke should be popping in anytime I should think. But I don't think he'll be bringing up Zalm's 58% back in 1986 or the gender gap or how the Conservatives are no threat.

  • 71Norton

    40 weeks ago

    BDP

    BIG DEBT PARTY, they took a 1.2 billion dollar surplus from the NDP and turned it into a 12 billion dollar deficit in the first three years, while dishonoring labour contracts, cutting sevices, initiating user fees, hell, they even tried to shut down a drop in centre in Sechelt for the mentally ill,

  • RickW

    40 weeks ago

    Cristy Crunch....

    ....will have to conjure up another "crisis", with more impact than the false flag ICBC speeding penalties, else her plans for a "snap" election will be in jeopardy.

  • Ekaj

    40 weeks ago

    Its funny here but for the

    Its funny here but for the majority of British Columbians (that unfortunately don't read the Tyee) their news sources will tell them whatever spin this group wishes - and most British Columbians will believe it. The fact that someone like CC is even in the running and is a serious contender demonstrates that we have a serious problem.

    We need to take our local msm to task publicly and somehow reform.

  • crankypants

    40 weeks ago

    Who cares

    Who cares what the BC Liberal Party wants to call itself. What matters is what they represent, what their history is and where they are heading. The latter two are evident and I doubt even their "new sensation" has a clue in which direction they are heading.

    When will the media, political pundits and whomever else wants to gain notoriety cease to treat the political scene as either a sporting event or the latest episode of Entertainment Tonight.

    The governance we get affects the lives of every man, woman and child in BC, and to make light of it is a sad statement about how far politics has been flushed down the proverbial toilet.

    How can voters take their governance seriously when those we elect do not?

  • realisticman

    39 weeks ago

    It's All Emotion

    Crankypants makes a good point. These days we have celebrity governance. Ever since the first tv debate (JFK) style and image has been paramount. The HST debate is also in this same trap. All style and bluster and not much serious consideration. Sound-bites for the news shows compounds the problem - as well as strongly slanted media.

    Even this is probably too cerebral for the vast majority:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZXu3LXNwEg

  • Steelhead

    39 weeks ago

    Premier Crusty Cluck

    The "BC Railroad Party" has a nice ring to it.

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