Opinion

'But You're the Premier!'

Christy Clark returns to radio to reveal you're not very powerful when premier of BC.

By Bill Tieleman, 14 Feb 2012, TheTyee.ca

Christy Clarke

Text size:

Rate this:

Login/Register

Related

"When you make speeches you elicit expectations against which you will be held accountable." -- former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley

To hear Christy Clark tell it Monday, being premier of British Columbia surprisingly isn't a very powerful job.

Clark appeared for 90 minutes on radio station CKNW to give a "preview" of the BC Liberal government's agenda as the B.C. legislature resumes sitting Tuesday.

That decision alone caused Clark considerable grief when her deputy press secretary issued an inaccurate media advisory stating that: "In place of a formal throne speech, the premier will be appearing on CKNW's Bill Good Show to outline the government's agenda for the spring session."

In fact, the B.C. legislature was continuing the previous fall session, not starting a new one, so no throne speech was ever planned.

But perhaps a throne speech would have been a better idea, because Clark repeatedly had to make excuses for her lack of action in response to questions from host Bill Good and callers, while dishing out a wide collection of cliches.

That darn HST won't go away

After Clark claimed she was opening up government, Good pointed out that a recently released freedom-of-information request by Vancouver Sun reporter Jonathan Fowlie -- on the $780,000 Harmonized Sales Tax brochure that was printed and then shredded by the government -- took 19 months to get.

"How is that open?" asked Good.

"It's not," Clark admitted. "I agree."

"But you're the premier!" an exasperated Good replied.

More of the same came when Good asked about problems at Community Living B.C., where adults with developmental disabilities and their families have complained bitterly about cuts to services and wait lists.

Good: "I mean, how is it possible that you do an internal review and you don't even know how many clients are waiting for your help?"

Clark: "Exactly!"

The premier then went on to a meandering explanation about releasing documents and having an inaccurate waiting list.

Clark's lack of power apparently also extends to getting rid of the HST, which continues to be charged six months after B.C. voted in a binding referendum to end it, providing hundreds of millions in additional revenue. [I helped create Fight HST to oppose the tax.]

"If I could snap my fingers and get rid of the HST tomorrow -- I'd do it," Clark said before blaming the federal government and the complexity of changing back to the Provincial Sales Tax for the delay.

Toss another cliché on the fire

When not claiming being premier doesn't come with many powers, Clark was also spinning an endless series of familiar clichés.

Ever heard these?

"There's only one taxpayer."

"You have to say no sometimes."

"You can't make promises you can't pay for."

"It's about getting government out of the way of job creation."

And this classic, complete with Clark's irritating habit of dropping the letter "g":

"You can just keep throwin' money at stuff if you don't fix the problem."

But on other issues, Clark may have actually given a more direct answer than she intended.

When Good asked Clark how B.C. could supply the massive amount of electricity necessary to run her proposed three new liquid natural gas plants near Kitimat for tanker export to Asia.

"We know that we can power the first two," Clark replied. "We've figured out how to do that with existing power sources."

"On future ones though, we are going to have to have more power in British Columbia. Site C is coming on line and so are a whole host of renewables."

Actually, the huge Site C hydroelectric dam project is not "coming on line" anytime soon.

The controversial project that would add a third dam on the Peace River is part of a federal-provincial environmental assessment process that won't be finished until 2014.

'Way ahead of Dix'

Clark also claimed that she was "way ahead of Adrian Dix" in some polls, adding that: "I think that was the Ipsos poll maybe."

Maybe not. Ipsos-Reid released a poll last week showing the BC New Democrats at 44 per cent, the BC Liberals at 32 per cent and the BC Conservatives at 16 per cent.

Clark did narrowly lead Dix on the question of who would be best premier, with 31 per cent to Dix's 25 per cent, but that margin has dropped six points since the last Ipsos poll.

Otherwise, it was old hat material. The B.C. Teachers' Federation is demanding too much money in contract negotiations, B.C. Hydro can lose 1,000 jobs without a problem, no B.C. Liberal caucus members will quit to join John Cummins' BC Conservatives, B.C. can't afford to go back to the 1990s, etc.

But soon enough it was back to yet more puzzlement for the premier.

When Good pointed out that the judicial system was short of judges, with more than 100 cases thrown out because of time delays, Clark was at a loss.

Her government has added new judges and money, Clark said, and there are fewer cases going to court as well as a lower crime rate in B.C., yet there are longer delays in the justice system.

"So why do you think that is?" Good asked.

"I don't know the answer to that but we're going to get to the bottom of it," Clark replied.

The powerless premier. Who knew? [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.

19 Comments:

Login or register to post comments

  • freebear

    14 weeks ago

    Of the 90 minutes, how much was commercials time?

    On the HST switch to PST & GST-they'll squeeze the revenue out of that one as long as possible, before switching back!

  • Luck

    14 weeks ago

    IF YOU WERE THE PREMIER

    HOPEFULLY BILL GOOD WILL ASK ADRIAN DIX NDP LEADER TO COME ON AND GIVE HIS MIX.

    WE HAVE NEVER HEARD BILL GOOD SO EXASPERATED OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

    REALLY FOLKS IF YOU WANT TO FIX HEALTHCARE YOU NEED TO USE THE HUB AND SPOKE MODEL WERE THE MONEY IS ACCOUNTED FOR FROM TOP TO BOTTOM.

    IT AINT GONNA HAPPEN IN BC AS LONG AS THE LOCAL UNIONS WANT THAT INGRAINED CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT IS HELPLESS TO DECISION MAKING.

  • Vox.Pop

    14 weeks ago

    tough, brave premier

    Our tough, brave premier is "not going to raise taxes to give the teachers (& nurses & health care workers & the poor etc) a raise".
    What she really means is she's going to keep Gordon Campbell's annual $1000 million tax break & not restore the taxes on BC's rich & powerful who pay to keep her party in power.
    Ooooh, Christie - real tough, real brave, real DUMB. You must have forgotten there's a BC election next year & you are heading for a spot on the trash heap of history, right next to Brian Mulroney (remember him, the one who brought Canada the GST?)

  • Waltz

    14 weeks ago

    Poor performance will lead to lower poll ratings

    Christy Clark's fandangle on the Good show was huge mistake and will only lead to lower poll ratings comparing her to Adrian Dix

  • Granville

    14 weeks ago

    Nuthin wrong with a premier that can sing.

    Christy sould sing her press releases instead of reading them. Entertainment is hard to come by these days.

    By going public, she is reminding her colleagues that she has more clout than they do with the media.

    Again, there ain't nuthin wrong about leading with your strong suit in a game of cards.

  • oilslick

    14 weeks ago

    Christy Clark on tolls...Shocking story here

    Check out the updates at the bottom f this revealing post...

    Somebody has been caught lying their face off..

    Is it Gordon Campbell,Shirley Bond, Kevin Falcon or all of them.

    You decide.

    http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2012/02/christy-clark-is-over-her-head-in.html

  • kootenay

    14 weeks ago

    Any fool can do this job...

    I guess Christy just considers herself an intermediairy whose sole purpose is to channel funds from tax payers to corporations. Really not much power required to carry out such a mandate.

    Christy probably can't understand all the fuss about being Premier, obviously its not that difficult.

  • Henry Dorsett Case

    14 weeks ago

    The segment of the BC

    The segment of the BC population that still listens to CKNW for "news" is limited to the hard right and those that give critical analysis to what is said on this hard right media propaganda machine.

    The fact that CC chose a platform with a mostly contrived audience fits with the current strategy being deployed by neocons everywhere - Speak to the converted or don't show up for the debate.

  • IndyJones

    14 weeks ago

    Our Powerless Premier

    Our powerless premier is also our Sarah Palin.

  • zalm

    14 weeks ago

    It could have been worse

    She could have been interviewed by Ben Mulroney. Or Tim Gunn.

    Different audience... same IQ....

  • igbymac

    14 weeks ago

    ???

    People listen to Bill Good?

    No wonder we don't know anything about anything...lol

  • patrickculverton

    14 weeks ago

    Poor chrusty hasn/t any power.

    Gee than get out of the job and let someone with "power" do the job. Power is something you get by taking it like Campbell did. Ms. Clark is simply saying she can't manage the system she is supposed to be in charge of.

    As non premier, Ms. Clark can simply call her cabinet ministers into her office and tell them what she wants done. If she hasn't done that then she is to blame. If she has told them what she wants them to do and they failed to do it then fire them and get some one else to do it. Real simple.

    Ms. Clark's poor excuses simply made her look stupid and weak. If Clark wanted Community Living to function as it should she would simply pick up the phone and fire them and hire people who can do the job.

    Of course if Ms. Clark is alluting to the fact she wasn't elected to be premier then she should call an election.

    As to the NDP. of the 90s. Please try to remember it is Campbell who ran the biggest deficiet in B. C. history not the NDP.

    People like to point to the fast ferries but really folks, they were built in Canada and not in Germany. If you want to look at over runs, try the convention centre, about $500Mil in over runs, on Campbell watch. Signing hydro run of the river contracts with corporations for more money than the hydro is worth and then selling it at a loss. Not good buiness on portable storage containers Campbell's watch.

    Campbell was a disaster for B.C.'s economy and Christie is no different. . All either of them can do is export our natural resources as fast as foreign corporations can get it out of B.C. with no secondary industry to benefit B. C.

  • Kreditanstalt

    14 weeks ago

    Not very powerful?

    Wonderful!

    Short of funds in an egregiously micromanaged, overregulated, inefficient, sow-growth job-destroying economy...no wonder they've all turned into little more than "social program providers".

    We're surrounded by authoritarian socialism, yes, but also by governments which are increasing less proactive and more managerial. They're boxed into a financial corner: raising revenue is entirely counterproductive yet they dare not cut entitlement recipients & system beneficiaries off.

    But this is all great for economic freedom!

  • Skywalker

    14 weeks ago

    What she is really saying.

    When Christy says, "If I could snap my fingers and get rid of the HST tomorrow -- I'd do it", what she means is that she can't because the BC Liberals would have the province in a big hole and the truth of their incompetence would be revealed in great numbers. Can't means she doesn't dare risk the political damage and proves once more that she is nothing more than a servant of the corporate and business elite.

  • lynn

    14 weeks ago

    Duh......premier

    Obviously, too many hours spent staring at orange juice cartons that have the word 'concentrate' written on the front of them.

  • Tahsis Tattler

    14 weeks ago

    Power for Liquefied Natural Gas

    I worked in a large gas plant in Alberta that was self sustained. The multi-staged compressors and the generators were run on natural gas taken from the incoming supply. So don't tell me that we have to subsidize a gigantic petroleum company with free power, and just in case your worried about the refrigerant required to cool the compressed gas down to liquefy it, how about propane, thats what we used.

  • zalm

    14 weeks ago

    You know...

    ...I wondered about that "electricity for compression stations" nonsense when they first brought it up. But as it was spoken by a politician, I wasn't worried that I was hearing the truth.

    But tell me, TT, how did you scrub the sulfur and other pollutants from the waste stream of the turbines? Environmental laws are a bit tougher now than in the 1980s when many of those compression big stations were put in.

  • zalm

    14 weeks ago

    Math is hard

    Good point, skywalker.

    "If I could snap my fingers and get rid of the HST tomorrow -- I'd do it"

    I'm mindful of the Tyee article of a few weeks ago on Falcon's budget simulator, and a contributor named Howard William who balanced the budget according to Falcon's specifications, and only gored one or two sacred cows in the process.

    http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/01/11/Phony-Budget-Simulator/

    Someone should give Ms. Christy a subscription to Tyee.

  • Bob Watts

    14 weeks ago

    Power!

    She has the power to vote herself a raise!

    • The discussion for this story is closed. No more comments can be added.