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| BC Premier-Elect Christy Clark |
Clark had just one MLA backing her - all others supported Falcon or third place finisher George Abbott.
The final ballot had Clark with 52% against Falcon's 48% - 4420 vs 4080 - a razor thin margin.
Watch the BC Conservative Party closely in the days ahead - and the federal Conservatives, who were mortified at the thought of Clark winning with her deep federal Liberal Party roots and after her constant drubbing of Prime Minister Stephen Harper on her CKNW AM 980 radio show.
This is a fascinating result that will determine BC's political history for years to come - and the story is only just unfolding as we watch tonight.
At least three other winners tonight - MLA Harry Bloy - or should I say Deputy Premier-elect Bloy? As Clark's only MLA supporter, he done good.
Another winner - CKNW's Michael Smyth - he just got himself a more permanent job as the afternoon talk radio host!
Perhaps the biggest winner? Perpetual backroom party operative and lobbyist Patrick Kinsella! Pat is back in charge, as he was under Premier Gordon Campbell, as he was as chair or co-chair of the 2001 and 2005 BC Liberal election campaigns.
Losers? Too many to mention!
But the BC New Democrats are not among them. They know the cat is now among the pigeons and if they play their cards right, a provincial election victory is entirely possible.
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The snowy weather has forced me to cancel plans to attend the BC Liberal leadership vote gathering - it's NOT a Convention - but I am live blogging with Public Eye Online's Sean Holman - who is on the scene at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Check it out for full coverage.
33 comments:
Christy Clark: "It's all about La Famiglia".
PINS not sent? Would they have made a difference? Will Falcon pursue this?
I know this; the conservatives out here in the Fraser Valley are not happy tonight.
This is going to be the best fun we've ever had in this province. I love living here!
Was there ever any doubt Christy Clark would be anointed? Her appointment is more than fortuitous for both the RCMP and those in the Liberal government who want the whole BC Rail mess to just disappear.
Missing pins? Electronic voting? Election fix?
She serves the RCMP's interests. And if the RCMP have an interest in her, she'll be "elected" premier absolutely no doubt.
the vancouver stun has ten questions,to ask the premier,they still haven't answered the last set of question's anyone remember that?
Great outcome! Christy was voted in!!
Myself and plenty of others in my union are happy with the outcome!!!
"As Clark's only MLA supporter, he done good." Nice Palinism there Bill. Getting ready to cover our version of Sarah by adopting her vocabulary?
I went to the BC Liberal website hoping to see a breakdown of the number of voters per riding and was dissapointed to find that all they have so far is the percentages for each round for each riding. Maybe they will have more later on, but it is pretty much impossible to make an informed decision as to whether this weighted system is better than one man-one vote.
At a quick glance through round one, I was surprised to see George Abbott fair so poorly in Penticton and Christy pretty much winning all of the Vancouver Island ridings.
The party has made its choice, but Christy will not have earned the right to call herself the Premier of BC until the electorate at large gets to weigh in.
I am also disappointed with the fact that only a tad over 60% of the members bothered to vote at all considering that they had to pay for the privilege, didn't have to leave their house to vote, and even allowed kids as young as 12 to vote. This leads me to believe that voting online is not the answer to increasing voter participation in a general election, and one has to wonder if all of the votes cast were done so by legitimate voters. A PIN number is not the strongest form of identification.
CBC BC is not allowing comments on many stories critical of the BC Liberals.
The CBC is still a publicly owned asset and they need to answer to us as to why certain stories have their comments blocked while others (puff pieces) do not.
Ask them:
# Email cbcnewsvancouver@cbc.ca
# Call 604-662-6801
The Vancouver Sun headline on Ms. Clark is:
Christy Clark's first message: Families, prosperity and unity are her top priorities
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Christy+Clark+first+message+Families+prosperity+unity+priorities/4353890/story.html
All that Ms. Clark has done is won the Leadership of the BC Liberal Party, El Gordo is still the Premier, and will remain so till he resigns.
Then there has to be a by-election called and an election won by the Leader of the BC Liberal before she can be sworn in as an MLA.... and only as an MLA can Christy Clark become the NEXT Premier of the Province of British Columbia. Until that happens Ms. Clark is a lame duck Leader.
Colin Hansen, Finance Minister, he's still the Deputy Premier (appointed by El Gordo)... can he remain the DP if El Gordo steps aside..... no, he can't, because the only person who can release the Minister from his duties is the person who appointed him as El Gordo walks out the door.
Just my opinion.
CLEAR & PRESENT DANGER
This evening the grossly misnamed "Liberal" Party of British Columbia "elected" a megalomaniac as their leader, and by flawed parliamentary default the citizens of this province will soon have a "premier" who (all joking aside) really believes . . . she is ordained by divine right to rule.
Christy Clark is not the first power-crazed female despot to acquire power, Evita Peron did it Argentina in the 1940s and Imelda Marcos did the same in the Philippines during the 1970s and 80s, but these old-school despots slept their way into power as the right hand women to weak male leaders.
Evita and Imelda once securely positioned by their husbands, opened the state's fiscal floodgates and enveloped an entire society with massive political patronage, graft and corruption designed to reward their personal supporters, and ultimately glorify and enhance their insatiable self-images.
Christy Clark, the ultimate political diva, through skillful manipulation of a her very nebulus and elementary message by BC's corrupt mainstream press has managed tonight to subvert the parliamentry system and seize power in "Canada's first media coup d'état".
In most countries and states, a coup d'état or putsch is an instrument of power used by the army or the secret police to install one of their own as "The On The Take Boss," but today . . . BC's media elites put "their man" into power.
I have no doubt that without the intense six week propaganda blitzkrieg engineered by BC's mainstream media, Christy Clark would likely at best have come in a distant third in balloting.
In the days, weeks and months that follow in the reign of Empress Christy of Clark, we are going to experience a tsunami of patronage and corruption not seen in Canada since the Maurice Duplessis regime in Quebec during the late 1930s.
Forget Basigate, and all the other minor scandals of the last decade, we now have an elected-kleptocracy absolutely rapacious in it quest for money, glory and power.
Tonight government of the people and for the people has perished, and we now live in a state of Clear & Present Danger.
What kind of distater is this?!? 60% of 80,000 party members "elect" the Provincial premier?!? Should not there be general elections ASAP?
This truly is sickening.
I hate to be picky but she's not premier until she gets elected as an MLA.
so says anon 11:04
Tonight government of the people and for the people has perished, and we now live in a state of Clear & Present Danger.
....I have to agree and disagree with this. Government for the people and of the people was trashed by Gordo a long time ago, when Christy was around and complicit to boot. The state of clear and present danger is in the red zone.
What planet do Christy supporters live on?
"Christy Clark and the New BC Liberals"
what's old is new again
I predicted this outcome on this forum 6 months ago when the NDP was still thinking its then lead in the polls meant something. I will now deliver the rest of my prophecy: Christy will benefit from a Zalm-style media love-fest and win a spring 2012 election running away. Then she will suffer a Zalm-style fall from grace due to party divisions, terrible political skills, gender backlash and the media's habit of taking away what it giveth. The bad news for the NDP is it has just lost the next election. The good news is it has just won the one after that.
Anonymous 10:46 and 1:31 - you're wrong, a Premier does NOT have to be an MLA, not at all. It's convention for a Premier-designate to run for a seat, but anyone can be on the Executive Council, technically a seat is not required; only custom and convention call for that.
She's just as illegitimate with a seat as without, i.e. as Premier, because the people have not spoken: have not been allowed to speak, that is. She'll parade as Premier until a general election, with or without a by-election in the meantime.
There's really no time for a by-election, and far too much risk of losing it, especially given the political heat if she gives riders in her own riding a say but no one else (probably Coquitlam-Westwood again) - she pretty much has to call a full provincial election if she's gonna call any election at all.
So sorry to hear your sports car let you down Bill. But to be fair you were not "forced" to cancel your plans you chose to not attend. Whether you had plans to attend your precious anti-HST rally is anybody's guess. How many did you get? About 40? Wow that sucker's picking up steam isn't it?
Oh, I know. The weather. That didn't stop 200+ people marching to (Olympic) Village and hanging around over 6 hrs. Now I know, or at least I believe, you have no idea of the police presence at your precious tea-party but the news coverage I saw didn't mention any as opposed to "as many as 50 police" that harassed peaceful social housing protesters and chased them from one location to another before threatening to arrest them and then finally blocking them from entering public space late in the afternoon.
Just fulfilling my promise to let you know. Any thoughts on the police being used as a goon squad for politicians that lie? They must be very worried that we will convince more people to join our campaign.
Apparently not so worried about your wasted breath. Wouldn't you agree?
Oh Precious Pete - thanks for checking back in. I support, like you , more affordable housing - so I don't know why you want to attack the Fight HST cause, which has absolutely nothing to do with your efforts.
But if you are so cocky, go out and organize your own citizens Initiative and get British Columbians to sign up for more housing. That will have far more effect than your efforts to date.
The BC Liberal Party Constitution:
"Composition"
"In this Constitution, the "Caucus" means those members of this Party who are elected as Members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia."
How can someone who resigned from Office seven years ago because of family obligations, now return to Office without being elected by her Constituents, especially as the Premier of British Columbia? The Leader she may be, elected by the BC Liberal Party Membership, but Premier? The public knows who the Premier answers to if she were an elected MLA, but a Premier without a seat??????
"When public debate becomes focused on one person, instead of what is in the best interest of British Columbians, we have lost sight about what is important. When that happens, it's time for a change." - Gordon Muir Campbell
Its time for a change all right, its time to have the recently elected Leader of BC Liberal Party, seek a Seat in the BC Legislature, at the earliest possible moment.
A one Riding by-election can't be too difficult of a task for Elections BC to handle.
Anonymous 10:30
A one Riding by-election can't be too difficult of a task for Elections BC to handle.
Cheap and effective too, if contracted out to Intellivote.
Never could understand your thinking, Bill.
Is this Let's Make A Deal? You support affordable housing (I find that hard to believe) so I should support Fight HST? Who supports what isn't even the point.
We need real change in governance not just an issue here, an issue there. And buddy, you're just more of the same only different.
For the record, I support parts of the Fight HST cause but not all of it but most importantly, the methods being used are a joke. There is lots of support for affordable housing to be sure but government listens only to money, not signatures. You will see what I mean by the end of the year.
Can't understand why you don't see that now but like I said, your thinking is a mystery.
Well, thanks for the advice anyway. I think our efforts have already produced better results than your methods ever will.
"Pravda Pete"
PAB has a new recruit from Russia?
Will PAB and the corporations still control the news Media in BC?
Cknw is a joke. Now Clark's
relatives and friends(PAB) will be put on hold when she is being discussed on cknw or when she is brought in to cknw to discuss how she will not allow a public inquiry into the many corrupt dealings of the Campbell government. Ten years of it Will she have her own office at cknw?
We agree with anonymous who said
" The BC media elites have put
"their man" into power"
"Anonymous 10:46 and 1:31 - you're wrong, a Premier does NOT have to be an MLA, not at all. It's convention for a Premier-designate to run for a seat, but anyone can be on the Executive Council, technically a seat is not required; only custom and convention call for that."
Correct, but such a person is not entitled to be on the Floor of the House (unless technically as a guest) and such a person cannot perform the function of an MLA until he or she wins an election.
"She's just as illegitimate with a seat as without, i.e. as Premier, because the people have not spoken: have not been allowed to speak, that is. She'll parade as Premier until a general election, with or without a by-election in the meantime."
Not illegiate, just a Premier-Designate. There is precednet for such as what we have right now.
She will have to call a by-election. Campbell will not hang around unitl 2013. My guess is that she will call one most likely before the NDP end their leadership.
"There's really no time for a by-election, and far too much risk of losing it, especially given the political heat if she gives riders in her own riding a say but no one else (probably Coquitlam-Westwood again) - she pretty much has to call a full provincial election if she's gonna call any election at all."
She would not run in Port Moody riding. Campbell will step off and allow the by-election. She would run there. The riding is a relatively safe one, it has only had an NDP MLA once (as it was a dual seat back then).
Why are the NDP and their supports celebrating in the streets over Clark's win?
King Gordo said today that he will remove himself from the Point Grey Riding( I can't recall just how soon)so if the citizens want to see egg on her face, go support the folks in that riding who will be organizing to defeat her.
This is interesting.
"Political commentator and consultant Bill Tieleman says he hasn't ruled out running for the NDP against Premier-designate Christy Clark if she seeks a seat in Vancouver-Point Grey."
http://www.straight.com/article-377150/vancouver/bill-tieleman-says-it-would-be-fun-run-against-christy-clark-vancouverpoint-grey
King Gordo said today that he will remove himself from the Point Grey Riding( I can't recall just how soon)so if the citizens want to see egg on her face, go support the folks in that riding who will be organizing to defeat her.
Don't be so sure. She'll win that riding, as Point Grey has only been NDP just twice. THey are smart, they would not want an opposition MLA there as Opposition members can only talk.
Point Grey also has a strong federal Liberal base so she will take advantage of that too.
Anyone who thinks Pt. Grey is an easy win for the NDP is being foolish.
"Was there ever any doubt Christy Clark would be anointed?"
Sorry she wasn't annointed. She won because the other candidates lost in an election.
"Missing pins? Electronic voting? Election fix? "
The NDP will most likely use online and telephone voting too, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Word is the NDP is also using Intellivote.
It'll be interesting to do a pre and post leadership race analysis of whom Amar Bajwa is employed with... wonder what the pay off is for delivering the South Asian vote...
Wonder what the payoff for Jim Sinclair will be for delivering the union vote to Adrian Dix?
Jim Sinclair's members will at least be wary of what they are registering for...not employing cultural and familial avenues for mass sign-ups. Dix's campaign probably has the same BS going on to. I would have respected your retort if you had said that Dix's campaign employed the same methods Clarks did for recruiting South Asians. Your media monitoring contract hasn't expired yet?
"Jim Sinclair's members will at least be wary of what they are registering for...not employing cultural and familial avenues for mass sign-ups. Dix's campaign probably has the same BS going on to. I would have respected your retort if you had said that Dix's campaign employed the same methods Clarks did for recruiting South Asians. Your media monitoring contract hasn't expired yet?"
Don't have one. Never did.
What about your BCFED membership.
Did you renew?
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