A letter published in Victoria's Monday Magazine this week says “we need to remind the [provincial] government they don't have the 'mandate from heaven' they seem to continually think they have.”

That message differs greatly from what Premier Gordon Campbell and the MLAs on both sides of the house heard from Pastor Ed Skutshek on the opening day of the legislature this week.

“Lord God, it is our constant prayer that in your mercy you would give us good government and defend us from natural disasters,” Skutshek said in the August 25 prayer, according to the Hansard transcript.

“In response to our prayers for good government, you have given us the members elected to this Legislature," he said.

Now you know.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.