Gary Mason June 11, 2010
As long as Blair Lekstrom was associated with a government that was bringing in one of the most reviled taxes in B.C. history, he was dead politician walking in his riding of Peace River South.
Now, it increasingly appears it will be the political career of Premier Gordon Campbell that will be finished as a result of the Harmonized Sales Tax that goes into effect July 1.
Mr. Lekstrom’s abrupt resignation from cabinet and the Liberal caucus over the government’s insistence in bringing in the tax is the type of blow that knocks the wind out of a governing party – if only temporarily. And there is no other way to interpret the move other than a direct challenge to Mr. Campbell’s leadership.
The Premier is savvy enough to understand this. The question is, will others around Mr. Campbell’s cabinet table follow Mr. Lekstrom’s lead? Perhaps if they care about their re-election chances they will.
For his part, Mr. Lekstrom understood perfectly well that his life as an MLA was kaput if he didn’t take the radical step that he did. There may not be an area of the province that resents taxes more than Peace River South, which abuts the B.C.-Alberta boundary. It is one of the reasons the riding has always been allergic to the New Democratic Party, which has a reputation for loving taxes .
But the HST ignited a fury in the riding the likes of which hasn’t been seen in some time. Well, at least since the Liberals broke a campaign promise in 2002 not to sell BC Rail. People were pretty upset about that, too. But according to Alvin Stedel, a local businessman in Dawson Creek, the rage over the HST is without precedent.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen people this mad,” he said.
Mr. Stedel once sat on council when Mr. Lekstrom was mayor of Dawson Creek. Mr. Stedel says he always voted for the free-enterprise option in provincial elections, whether it was the Social Credit party, Reform or the Liberals. But he was upset enough about the HST that he led the local petition to have the tax repealed. He managed to get 4,865 signatures, which was 351 more than the number of votes Mr. Lekstrom received in the past election.
“I think Blair has done the honourable thing,” Mr. Stedel said Friday from Dawson Creek. “Now Peace River South has its representative back. This is democracy in action.
“Blair has probably just ensured that he’s re-elected by huge numbers next time around. Otherwise, he was in trouble.”
And Mr. Lekstrom knew that.
This is not the first time the former minister of energy, mines and petroleum resources has broke ranks with his party. When the Liberals ripped up Health Employees Union contracts earlier in the decade, Mr. Lekstrom spoke out against the decision. Most figured that was the end of his cabinet ambitions.
It wasn’t.
But the HST is a different fish, and Mr. Lekstrom understood this. Maybe he knew, too, that if he was ever going to seek the leadership of his party – as some suspect he wants to – dissociating himself from the hated tax was the politically astute thing to do.
Maybe he also calculated he had nothing to lose at this point. Politically, the HST is taking his party over a cliff. Recent polls show the Liberals in freefall. Mr. Campbell is more unpopular than at any point in his leadership – which is saying something.
There is a growing chorus of murmurs in the party ranks about “the problem at the top.” As well, there are supporters around a small group of potential leadership candidates, mostly current cabinet ministers, who have been phoning around gauging support. Expect that activity to heat up now.
The B.C. Liberal party, and especially its caucus, has been characterized for many years now by a fierce loyalty to the leader. If Mr. Campbell hasn’t ruled with an iron fist, it has at least been with a steely glare and an unflinching ability to make examples out of those whose allegiance became questionable at any time.
Mr. Lekstrom’s decision to quit the caucus represents a huge crack in the wall of solidarity that has always surrounded the party. Suddenly it doesn’t look so invincible and unassailable any more.
Just like Mr. Campbell’s leadership.
[Globe & Mail]
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Campbell better gather up all his blood money and backroom favours, and move to Hawaii with his other buddies ,, His dictatorship is not welcome here and neither are his attempts at AMERICANIZING my Province in my country… He’s already taken everything but a pittance from my Mother who is in a care facitlity.
I get to live on less than 2$ a day like they are whining about on “A” news that the 3rd world people have to suffer with… ( and for any of ya holier than though types, I do not drink, drug or smoke cigs.. so I am not the “excuse” you are lookin for to justify your selfish, narrow-minded judgementalism…) I am getting the same rate now as I was when I first was disabled back in 98.. but all the Gov’t workers get a yearly cost of living increase.. I guess we impoverished aren’t effected by the cost of living
My 1/2 paralysed Mother, has to go out every week in her scooter on a handi dart that she of course has to pay for, and stock up on fresh fruit and edible whole foods, as the oversalted fatty garbage carohydrates they call food just is not pallatable to anyone conscious of thier surroundings… complaints are rare of course, as most patients there are in a veggetative state, so couldn’t complain about being in a filthy diaper for 5 or 6 hours or fed the lowest quality foods money can buy if they wanted to.
It is a farcical, pathetic excuse for a facility that has no competant Occupational Therapist or any real Physiotherapy available… ( private for profit eh… want some canned food to go with that processed fish stick???) and yet gets a license to continue to neglect people’s basic rights from the CAMPBELL GOV”T run Fraser Health Authority… of which I have reported several instances of filth and unsafe conduct and have yet to hear back from.( been well over a year since the report back to me was due) . as they do an internal investigation.. get thier payoffs and whistle why they let people die…
I am disabled and have been waiting for a place to live, (3 years and counting) that I can actually use an elevator cuz walkin up stairs isn’t always possible, so sometimes I have to go hungry for a few days till I can build up the courage to face the stairs again and get some marked down food and hope it doesn’t make me sick…
BC housing has become a flacid excuse for some Gov’t employees to get easy work and their golden pensions off of… the FORM LETTER my Doctor signed and I handed in to BC Housing was immediatly filed and forgotten..especially the part about the infections from the bug bites which I was put on Antibiotics to help heal ( I have hundreds of bites and scars now and has been noted as an “extreme allergic reaction”) from the infestations that the slumlord owners ( Victoria’s finest.. they know who they are) won’t do anything but stop-gap attempts to be able to lie to the public about actually doing something about it, and the fact I am having problems getting up and down the stairs… Don’t matter to the folks at BC housing, they all have nice homes to go to.
These are just a few tiny examples of what this filthy Campbell Gov’t is doin behind your backs.. yet wanting more $$$ to mis-manage or hand over to another Olympics debacle… be careful, you may need one of these care facilities for yourselves or your loved ones someday.. and it will be even more out of control than it already is..
Now you want to tax me and my Mother some more? Been out kickin any puppies while drowning a bag of kittens?
You’re done Campbell.. better get out before you and yours become a complete anomally in BC history … I hope there is a hell
Campbell, Hansen and the BC Liberals, are the cause of , financial ruin, in the province of BC. Campbell, is the cause of, 30.000 mill jobs lost. He has sold BC out to China and the USA. He sends our industry to China, because child labor is cheap. He has shown his contempt for children, as BC has, the highest number of children living in poverty, in the entire country. Campbell has worked diligently for nine years, to devalue our jobs and wages. However, he has stolen from the tax payers, a 53% pay hike for his useless self. His henchmen, were given a 29% raise. Campbell and Hansen are sociopaths and pathological liars. The BC Liberals, have not, one saving grace. They have the highest number of homeless seniors, the highest number of homeless people, in all of Canada. Campbell is so much a sociopath, disabled people, such as Mike, can very easily forced to live on the streets, and that would make Campbell, Hansen and the BC Liberals, very proud.