George Abbott has gone crazy, crazy like a fox, in attacking Christy Clark as best shot at becoming BC Premier



George Abbott at Saturday's BC Liberal Special Convention after weighted vote lifts weight off his shoulders - Bill Tieleman photo



Yellow-T-shirted Christy Clark campaign delegates at BC Liberal Special Convention - Bill Tieleman photo

George Abbott knows a relentless campaign against a "just visiting" Christy Clark is his best chance to win, even if it makes him look mean

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

By Bill Tieleman

“I don’t have any personal animosity at all towards Christy Clark.”

- B.C. Liberal leadership candidate George Abbott

B.C. Liberal Party leadership candidate George Abbott has gone crazy -- crazy like a fox -- in the endgame to become the province’s next premier.

He may not be able to beat likely winner Kevin Falcon but you have to admire his moxie -- because Abbott knows he has to muscle opponent Christy Clark out of second place to have any chance at all.

And that’s why Abbott’s negative attacks on Clark as “only visiting” the B.C. Liberals so long as she has a chance to be leader and calling her a lightweight on policy are bound to continue till the February 26 vote.

It’s not that George isn’t a gentleman, but taking Clark down a big notch is really the only possible way for Abbott to win.

And now with B.C. Liberal Party special convention delegates this weekend overwhelming approving a weighted vote leadership ballot  that was essential for Abbott’s chances, the Shuswap MLA is going all in to beat the favoured Falcon.

If that makes Clark an unfortunate road bump on Abbott’s fast route to the premier’s office, too bad.

‘A good friend in my life’

In a convention interview, Abbott told me he actually likes Clark.

“Christy Clark has been a good friend in my life and I want to keep her as a good friend in my life but that won’t stop me criticizing her ideas,” he said.

And Abbott has done that in spades, saying in a statement Thursday that: "This is not about Ms. Clark as an individual, but about the highly controversial and contradictory positions that she has presented over the past three months.”

In a heated debate on CKNW radio Friday Clark complained about Abbott’s antagonism, saying it would only benefit the New Democrats.

“I think the kind of personal attacks that we've seen from you, George, are writing the NDP's script for them in the election," Clark complained. "I don't say those kinds of things about you or about any of the other candidates."

But Abbott would have none of it and pumped up the volume.

"There's been no personal attacks from me, you're making that up, I'm sorry," Abbott replied.

"This is a campaign, we should be debating the issues and when we have a vigorous debate of the issues, I think that's not negative, it is constructive. It's important that we have that debate."

‘Such a plethora of issues’

The day before that Abbott was again on the offensive.

“Ms. Clark has given me such a plethora of issues to work with. If anybody thinks I should give a free ticket to Christy for whatever reason, they’re wrong. Whatever Christy says is fair game for debate, and that’s what I intend to do,” Abbott said.

“She walked away from government seven years ago, leaving the party to rebuild on its own and only returned when there was an opportunity to be in charge,” Abbott continued, referring to Clark’s sudden departure from the B.C. Liberal government in 2004.

On Saturday Abbott told me that it was Clark’s campaign that had fired on him first.

“Of course, it wasn’t Christy who attacked me -- it was Pamela Martin,” Abbott said with a slight twinkle in his eye, referring to the ex-CTV news anchor turned Clark campaign official and enforcer.

Pamela the enforcer

And indeed it was Martin who signed an open letter to supporters denouncing Abbott.

Martin wrote: “George Abbott keeps sending out more negative attacks against Christy. Sadly, it’s a pattern. It seems like every day brings more negative campaigning…. These negative attacks are misguided and misleading…. Come on George -- let’s not turn people off with mud-slinging.”

Clark’s team knows exactly what Abbott is doing. That’s why they aren’t shying away from counterattacking the former health and aboriginal relations minister.

A ruthless equation

But the reason why Abbott is taking on Clark is simple. The math on weighted voting and the knowledge that Kevin Falcon likely has more first-ballot support than him or Clark.

As one delegate wryly said Saturday at the Vancouver Convention Centre gathering, it’s like George Orwell’s book Animal Farm – “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”.

The B.C. Liberals have made all ridings equal, but not all voters. Rural voters are far more equal than others -- maybe ten times more equal.

Here’s how it works: each of the 85 ridings will have 100 points, with candidates getting a proportion of that 100 based on the percentage of member votes they receive on February 26.

But a small riding with 500 members has the same 100 points as a huge riding with 5,000.

The weighted vote takes away an enormous advantage from candidates like Falcon -- who signed up 17,500 new members, Clark, who added 20,000 or more and likely fourth-place finisher Mike de Jong, with about 12,000 signups.

Those three alone have likely added more than 50,000 new B.C. Liberal members, predominantly in urban ridings.

And an unknown but large number of new members are in the South Asian community, which is concentrated in relatively few B.C. ridings.

It will take 4,251 points to win – 50 per cent plus one of 8,500 points in total -- meaning there will likely be several rounds of ballot counting, though only one vote.

The bottom candidate will be dropped off after the first count and their second choices added in, and so on until a winner is declared.

The critical ballot will likely be the one where the fourth or possibly third place candidate is forced out.

That’s why Abbott is pounding on Clark’s credibility -- and is being diplomatically but clearly supported by Falcon and de Jong, who also want Clark’s numbers to drop by questioning her legitimacy.

Falcon, for example, says he’s “sticking around regardless of the outcome” of the leadership contest and that he’s “ready to govern” immediately -- because unlike Clark, he’s already an MLA.

Abbott knows that if he can edge past Clark on one of the ballot counts, he can stay in a two-person race against Falcon. And if Clark somehow gets ahead of Falcon, Abbott may still have a shot at Clark in the final ballot.

But if Abbott gets seriously behind both Falcon and Clark, he’s through.

No Mr. Nice Guy

So Abbott’s strategy is simple and -- to Clark -- brutally negative.

Abbott doesn’t care much about Clark supporters’ second choice or third choice picks. He is willing to risk alienating Clark’s core base in order to win second and third round support from Falcon, de Jong and also-ran candidates MLA Moira Stilwell and business owner Ed Mayne.

Some observers presume Abbott is crazy for repeatedly criticizing Clark.

But the old adage “nice guys finish last” exists for a reason.

And it’s hardly crazy that Abbott is determined to finish first.
 
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Bill Tieleman heads to BC Liberal Party special convention - will regional weighted vote pass? Will Christy Clark and George Abbott duke it out again?



Mike de Jong, George Abbott, Moira Stilwell & Kevin Falcon line up at the mike - Bill Tieleman photo



CTV BC's Jim Beatty, left, and CBC Radio's Jeff Davies interview Gulzar Cheema - centre - at BC Liberal convention - Bill Tieleman photo

I am now heading down to the BC Liberal Party special convention where delegates will decided if the proposed weighted regional vote for the new leader - and BC premier - is acceptable.

The amendment to their rules requires a 2/3 majority to pass - and some prominent BC Liberals like ex-cabinet minister Gulzar Cheema say no way - one member-one vote is the only fair and democratic system.

But what other party decides the rules to pick a new leader and premier just 2 weeks before the vote?  Pretty crazy in my view.

Besides that vote delegates will be watching to see if George Abbott and Christy Clark continue their blood feud in the leadership debate later in the afternoon. 

I bet yes - Abbott and his people have decided that he has to knock Clark's support down and it's too late to back off now.  Expect more fireworks today and in the next nasty two weeks.

Time for me to put on the Kevlar and wake up my bodyguards - it's BC Liberal showtime!

UPDATE - BC Liberal debate "plumping" - letting members vote for only 2 candidates for leadership - amendment to weighted vote.

Delegates split - only needs 50% + 1 to pass.

And it passes - 751 - 606.

Now it's Christy Clark vs Gulzeer Cheema over weighted vote.

UPDATE - Weighted vote passes by embarrassingly large margin - 1319 to 23!

Cheema and a few brave souls argue for OMOV but all leadership condensers speak in favour - game over.

I left before the tame debate started - only so much I can handle!

But I had pleasant - really - conversations with George Abbott, John van Dongen, John Les, Ida Chong and many other BC Liberals.  More on all that later.

No illegal Kevlar needed!

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Who do you trust? Kevin Falcon, Christy Clark publicly state they support weighted voting system for BC Liberals at convention Saturday - Clark whacks George Abbott too



Premier Gordon Campbell & George Abbott



Christy Clark on TV

Kevin Falcon, Christy Clark promise to tell delegates to support BC Liberal weighted voting system for leadership at Saturday special convention - even though the value of their mass signups would be diminished by equal votes per riding

And Clark attacks George Abbott over his alleged negative campaign against her

UPDATE - Abbott fires back at Clark - see end  of post

UPDATE #2 - Abbott accuses Clark of being backed by "supported by NDP insiders who see her as the easiest opponent to beat to bring the NDP back to power in 2013" - see very end of post - could he be referring to Clark supporter - and ex-BC NDP Caucus Communications director Brad Zubyk

UPDATE #3 - FRIDAY FEBRUARY 11 - Union Of BC Indian Chiefs asks "Does Christy Clark see Russia from her living room window?"

In a scathing news release from Grand Chief Stewart Philip today with that headline, the UBCIC denounces Clark's support for the federally-rejected Prosperity Mine project.

"As part of Christy Clark’s campaign to lead the BC Liberal Party, Ms. Clark has publicly stated, if elected, she would strongly encourage Prime Minister Harper to overturn the federal decision to reject Taseko Mine’s proposed Prosperity Mine.

“Ms. Clark’s shameless pandering for Liberal delegates support serves her political aspirations and does not serve the majority of British Columbians who share the environmental values of First Nations and which are reflected in the federal independent panel’s decision,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.

“The federal panel and federal environmental assessment process took the time to hear the many concerns of Tsilhqot’in Elders, women, families and leaders about the land, water, fish and wildlife.”

It's getting to be an uglier and more interesting BC Liberal leadership campaign - today two of the top contenders to become BC's next premier separately pledged to support a weighted vote that will hinder them and help opponent George Abbott.

And Christy Clark laid a barrage on Abbott over his ongoing attacks on her campaign.

Ouch and ouch.  And they were all getting along so well before!

Falcon and Clark both issues statements saying they are in favour of the weighted vote proposal to be decided at the BC Liberal special convention in Vancouver Saturday - but Falcon earlier this month announced he'd signed up 17,500 new members and Clark is reputed to have signed up 20,000 to 25,000 new BC Liberals.

NOTE: Figures above do not include Kamloops Blazers hockey team members, cats, Joey's Restaurant managers or others unaware of their new memberships or where they reportedly live.

Here are excerpts from Clark's and then Falcon's statements, followed by Clark's full attack on Abbott - stay tuned for more fireworks!

Clark Will Put Hand Up for Weighted Vote

“This Saturday, BC Liberals will gather in Vancouver and at sites across the province and make a decision that is critical to the future of our party across British Columbia.

“I am strongly encouraging all delegates to accept the leadership election rule changes recommended by the party executive that call for regional weighting, so that each riding has an equal voice in selecting our next leader. Governments are elected by giving 85 ridings equal weight and I believe this principle should be followed in this leadership election.

“The NDP have chosen a one member-one vote system for selecting a new leader. They are cutting rural British Columbia out of the equation and that is quite simply wrong. Rural B.C. deserves a voice and the NDP are stifling that voice.

“It’s important that all parts of the province thrive and to do that you need to make sure voices from all regions are equally heard.

“On Saturday, I will put my hand up in public and vote for the regional weighted voting system because it is the right thing to do and will help bring the party and province together.”

*****

Kevin Falcon Pushes for Weighted Vote

Thursday, February 10, 2011


VANCOUVER, BC - BC Liberal Party leadership candidate Kevin Falcon reiterated today his support for a weighted vote system, and encouraged delegates to Saturday’s extraordinary convention to vote for the new rules.


“I believe any new leader must demonstrate that they can secure support from every part of this great Province,” said Falcon. “The weighted system will significantly strengthen the leader in the minds of both members and the public at large. The BC Liberal Party executive has made a good recommendation to the delegates, and I encourage the convention to adopt the point system for ridings.”


On Saturday, Feb. 12, delegates to the BC Liberal Party convention will vote on adopting a new system, where each of BC’s 85 ridings will be awarded 100 points in the leadership vote. This gives every riding an equal say on the new leader.


“As I have travelled across BC over these past three months, meeting BC Liberal members from big cities and small towns, from urban areas and rural communities, from every region, I have been continually reminded of
how diverse our province is,” said Falcon. “We need to hear from them all on Feb. 26, and the weighted system is the best way to do that.”


*****
Christy Clark:


Response to Abbott’s Negative Campaign

George Abbott is running a campaign of negative attacks against Christy Clark.

 

Here are the facts:

Health Care

As a former deputy premier and vice-chair of Treasury Board, Clark knows we need to maintain sustainable funding in the health care system by improving innovation and focusing on the needs of an aging population. Her plans for health funding are consistent with recommendation #1 of the Legislature’s Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services for the 2011 budget. Check page 24 of the report found here.

HST

We are having this leadership campaign because the HST was mishandled. In announcing her candidacy, Clark put two potential approaches to the HST issue on the table. Then she went out and did something that should have been done about the HST long ago — she listened to British Columbians. After this consultation, Clark is recommending a referendum be held on June 24. Clark also believes the province should fund both sides of the question as a way to start breaking down the distrust created by mishandling of the HST in the first place.

Election Date

Clark believes it is unreasonable to expect British Columbians to accept an unelected premier for more than two years. The question is who can win a general election. The clear answer from poll after poll is Christy Clark. You can learn more here.

Coalition Unity

Clark is deeply concerned that the negative campaign being run by George Abbott puts the unity of the coalition at risk. It is worth noting the NDP have focused most of their attacks on Clark – while ignoring Abbott – as they know she is the biggest threat to their return to power.

Rural BC

Clark has made getting the Prosperity Mine up and running her top priority for dealing with the federal government.

Clark has also released a comprehensive plan to create jobs and economic development in rural BC. You can read the plan here.

Byelection

Abbott’s assertion that “Clark would rather ignore the law and spring an early election on British Columbians just to avoid the risk of running in a byelection” is ridiculous and completely unfounded. Why would George Abbott make this up?

UPDATE #1 - GEORGE ABBOTT FIRES BACK AT CHRISTY CLARK

At 12:53 p.m. Thursday, the George Abbott campaign released the following statement.

"Christy Clark has launched a media campaign claiming that she is the subject of “negative attacks” from myself and other members.

But here is the truth. The opinions and concerns I have expressed are not about being positive or negative. This is about seeking accountability from those running for Premier, and establishing a clear contrast between candidates so that BC Liberal members understand they have a fundamental choice in front of them.

This is not about Ms. Clark as an individual, but it is about the highly controversial and contradictory positions that she has presented over the past three months. There is nothing wrong with me, or any other party member, asking her to be accountable for those positions.

Trying to silence discussion around legitimate issues as “negative” does nothing to help members make a decision, and does nothing to drive democracy in our Party."

George Abbott

BC Liberal Leadership Candidate

UPDATE #2 - GEORGE ABBOTT ACCUSES CHRISTY CLARK OF BEING BACKED BY "BC NDP INSIDERS"



Public Eye Online's indefatigable digger Sean Holman has uncovered an attack by George Abbott on Christy Clark in which Abbott claims Clark is being "supported by NDP insiders who see her as the easiest opponent to beat to bring the NDP back to power in 2013".

Could Abbott be referring to Clark campaign spokesperson and ex-BC NDP Caucus Communications Director Brad Zubyk? 

The ex-Premier Mike Harcourt era Zubyk - who has also worked for Phil Hochstein's BC Liberal-loving ICBA, the federal Liberal Party and other even more dubious international clients - is more than likely who Abbott is targetting, though rumours of other Dippers for Christy continue.

But Zubyk's loyalties tend to end with his last paycheque - and his Christy Clark role has more to do with getting an in with a possible premier than helping out the BC NDP - where his bridges are burned..



BC environmental groups reap bitter harvest for urging supporters to join BC Liberal Party - Clark, Falcon support eco-damaging Prosperity Mine



First Nations and environmentalists have opposed the Prosperity Mine that would devastate Fish Lake

Five BC environmental groups have learned a harsh lesson about politics - be careful who you get in bed with.

The groups - working as part of "Organizing For Change British Columbia" - recently emailed supporters to suggest that they join the BC Liberal Party before the February 4 cut off date in order to vote in the February 26 leadership contest that will choose the province's next premier.

The idea was that these new members could tip the balance of votes in favour of the most environmentally-conscious candidate - hard as that is to believe for some who have studied the BC Liberal government's atrocious record.

But regardless of your analysis, today it backfired badly as a leading BC Liberal candidate came out strongly in favour of proceeding with the controversial Prosperity Mine in northern BC - a project even the federal Stephen Harper Conservative government rejected in an environmental assessment as too damaging to allow.

And the Prosperity Mine has been vociferously fought by First Nations and environmental organizations - including some who urged members to join up with the BC Liberals.

Christy Clark pulled no punches in a story by Ian Bailey in today's Globe and Mail newspaper - saying it is only "common sense" that the Taseko Mines-owned project environmental assessment be overturned - and that view will go ahead full steam ahead if she becomes premier.

"I think the Prosperity Mine needs to move ahead, not just for the thousands of jobs that would be created over the years in the Williams Lake area, but as a signal to investors across the world that British Columbia is open for investment, and if you want to tell people not to come the Prosperity Mine is a pretty big signpost telling them we don't really want investment here. We have to change that," Clark told Bailey.

Ouch!  Jobs trump environment again?

And that follows similar comments late last year from fellow BC Liberal leadership candidate Kevin Falcon, who told the Prince George Citizen's Gordon Hoekstra that while the environmental concerns were important, the federal government had not properly weighed the economic benefits.

Falcon said he wants the Prosperity Mine's status put back in front of the federal government.

Falcon and Clark's views are totally at odds with environmentalists of course, who condemned the provincial approval of the project and hailed the federal rejection.

"The big difference in this case is, the federal panel was arm's length from the government, it's more transparent, and more likely to result in findings of environmental impacts," Andrew Gage, acting executive director of West Coast Environmental Law - one of the five groups pushing BC Liberal memberships - told the Vancouver Sun's Larry Pynn in November 2010. Ecojustice, another of the five, also denounced the province for approving the mine.

Today the Sierra Club - a member of Organizing for Change but not a participant in the BC Liberal membership strategy - released a scathing news release denouncing Christy Clark.

"Sierra Club BC is dismayed by BC Liberal leadership candidate Christy Clark's statement that one of her top priorities is to reverse Ottawa's decision to reject the proposed Fish Lake gold and copper mine near Williams Lake," the release reads.

"British Columbians are deeply attached to our wilderness areas and understand that we cannot build an enduring and strong economy by further endangering our water and wildlife," said Sierra Club BC Executive Director George Heyman.

"Fish Lake (Teztan Biny) has significant importance to the Tsilhqot'in First Nation in terms of their traditional culture, rights and title. Their concerns are swept aside by Ms. Clark's ill-advised support for the 'Prosperity' mine proposal, which was soundly rejected by the federal government," Heyman says.

"Ms. Clark was part of the BC Liberal government which gutted our provincial environmental assessment process a decade ago. Their jobs-at-any-cost approach led to provincial approval of a lake-destroying mine", concludes Heyman, who admitted considering a run at the BC NDP leadership but decided against it.

The federal government environmental panel did indeed soundly thrash the mine proposal that Clark and Falcon love.

The mine, the federal panel wrote: "Would result in significant adverse environmental effects on fish and fish habitat, on navigation, on the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes by First Nations and on cultural heritage, and on certain potential or established Aboriginal rights or title."

The Prosperity Mine "in combination with past, present and reasonably foreseeable future projects would result in a significant adverse cumulative effect on grizzly bears in the South Chilcotin region and on fish and fish habitat." 

The original idea of swaying the BC Liberals in favour of the environment, as outlined in an email from Lisa Matthaus of Organizing for Change and obtained by Public Eye Online's Sean Holman, is below:

"If you received this message, you live in a provincial riding with very few Liberal Party members, probably less than 400.

If the BC Liberals change their voting rules, as expected, a vote for leader in your riding will likely carry at least 5 times more weight than one in a riding with 2000 members. Enough people are receiving this email to carry the vote in most of your ridings.

If you want a Premier who is going to feel compelled to respond to environmental issues, now is the time to get involved.

But you have to act quickly. The cut-off date for people to join the BC Liberal Party and be eligible to vote for leader - who will immediately be the new Premier - is February 4th, this Friday. [Note: the cut-off date for the BC NDP leadership vote is now past.]

Conservation Voters of BC has all of the information you need to make sure you are part of this crucial decision. Keep in mind that taking action on this unprecedented opportunity now does not determine the vote you will cast in the next provincial election, which isn't scheduled to happen until 2013. Party memberships can be cancelled at any time. But it will likely determine who is running for Premier.

Organizing for Change has been encouraging environmentally-minded British Columbians to make their voices heard in both current leadership races. We will also be publishing responses from all leadership candidates - Liberals and NDP - to a series of environmental questions that have been sent to them.

Make the environment a determining issue for BC's new political leaders!

This alert is part of a series of action alerts from members of Organizing for Change, an effort of BC's leading conservation groups working to protect the health of the people, land, air, water and wildlife of British Columbia.

Together we identify environmental priorities that we present to government as opportunities for them to demonstrate their environmental leadership. We are partnering with Conservation Voters of BC on this e-alert; CVBC is a separate, volunteer-run organization that works to elect environmental champions in BC.

Organizing for Change members participating in this special B.C. leadership message:

Dogwood Initiative

Ecojustice

Georgia Strait Alliance

West Coast Environmental Law

Wildsight"

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Bill Tieleman - NDP Svengali? BC Business magazine feature profile asks the question

Bill Tieleman in 1975 on Triumph Daytona 500

Bill Tieleman interviewed by Doug Kerr of CBC TV with Eddie Petrossian at Fight HST rally outside Premier Gordon Campbell's office, 2011

I am on the other, uncomfortable side of the pen in the February issue of BC Business magazine - available on newsstands now and online - in a feature profile by writer Richard Littlemore.

The headline asks:  "Bill Tieleman - NDP Svengali?"

I don't agree with everything in the article but think it's a fair and balanced view of what Littlemore describes as my "exotic" role in BC politics.

Some people definitely won't like it - HST, carbon tax and STV fans, for example, and some will - exactly the same reaction I get personally!

There's also a big online photogallery of many in BC politics that I know, in addition to photos in the article.

And do pick up a copy or subscribe to BC Business - always an interesting read.

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Cats, rats, prevaricators & The Kama Sutra - BC Liberal leadership contest for new premier full of trouble

The ancient Indian book The Kama Sutra illustrates many sexual positions - and Christy Clark's HST positions too, according to opponent George Abbott!

George Abbott laid the Kama Sutra slam on Christy Clark

From ‘Kama Sutra’ to Christy’s cats, BC Liberals find themselves in a strangely uncomfortable position

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday February 8, 2011

By Bill Tieleman

“Pleasures also bring a man into distress, and into contact with low persons; they cause him to commit unrighteous deeds, and produce impurity in him.”

- The Kama Sutra

B.C. Liberal Party leadership candidate George Abbott accuses opponent Christy Clark of doing the “Kama Sutra” with her various positions on how she would handle the Harmonized Sales Tax.

And while many voters head to Wikipedia to discover Abbott is referring to a book of explicit sexual poses  , a cat named Olympia belonging to one of Clark’s senior volunteers turns up on the B.C. Liberal membership list.

Abbott is outraged -- he meows: how many other fake feline Liberals may have been recruited?

Then Abbott’s campaign coughs up a stinky fur ball on the carpet -- admitting its Ontario political advisors Campaign Research -- the folks behind right-wing Toronto mayor Rob Ford - secretly created a Kitties4Christy.com website to ridicule Clark -- but days before the story was even uncovered. Abbott puts Kitties4Christy.com in the litter box.

It sounds like some serious rat fornication is going on, to use a more polite term for the dirty tricks practiced in politics against opponents.

Then there are Abbott’s claims that Clark’s HST position was out of the ancient Indian sex manual.

"She [Clark] is adopting really the Kama Sutra of HST positions here with now many, many different interesting variables to her position on the HST," Abbott said last week . "She is desperately reaching for solid ground here after a series of miscalculations on the appropriate position on the harmonized sales tax."

And fellow candidate Kevin Falcon joined the Clark Kama Sutra chorus.

"Thank goodness she moved away from that position because I think a five-minute discussion with almost anyone in this province would have told her that was an ill-informed position to be taking," Falcon said.

"I think there is a little bit of a 'ready, fire, aim' approach that's sort of taking place," Falcon added in also criticizing Clark’s suggestions that she would hold a snap election after becoming premier and add a new public holiday in February.

"You can't be making these kinds of public commitments without discussing it with anyone," he said.

Meanwhile Falcon trotted out more corporate tycoons backing his campaign than you would find at a U.S. Republican Party fundraiser, while simultaneously boasting he’s signed up 17,500 new B.C. Liberal members by the February 4 deadline.

And “Open Mike” de Jong proudly says he’s convinced 10,000 British Columbians to join the B.C. Liberals to support his candidacy, which is exactly 10,000 more people than ex-cabinet minister de Jong has persuaded to back him amongst B.C. Liberal MLAs. Zero would be that number.

[Zero is also the number of MLAs backing forgotten leadership candidate Moira Stilwell, another ex-cabinet minister, and zero for outsider Ed Mayne, while just one lonely MLA supports Clark -- Harry Bloy.]

Both de Jong and Falcon say most of their signups came from the South Asian community.

And surprise, surprise -- Gulzar Cheema, a prominent Indo-Canadian and former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister -- has launched efforts to block their party from using a weighted voting system so each riding has an equal voice in the leadership contest.

That weighted voting system would mean, of course, that having more than 5,000 new Liberal members in Surrey-Newton -- which had only 200 before Campbell resigned -- would get the same 100 votes for leader as a rural Liberal riding with just 500 members.

Cheema is -- shockingly -- a supporter of de Jong, but swears Mike still backs the weighted voting system that will be either approved or killed at a special convention February 12 and needs two-thirds support to pass.

And Cheema, who sat at the same cabinet table as most of the candidates, amazingly told The Province’s Mike Smyth that some of them may be lying in public about backing the weighted vote.

"I think there are some candidates who say they support it, but they secretly don't," Cheema said. "They are secretly hoping that it fails."

Yikes, that makes Olympia the B.C. Liberal cat look like she’d be a more honest leader!

Clark’s campaign won’t disclose signup numbers -- but surprisingly their chief organizer in the Indo-Canadian community is Amar Bajwa – one of the so-called “Basi Boys”  who worked with David Basi, the convicted B.C. Legislature Raid case defendant, to take control of federal Liberal ridings to support Paul Martin’s insurgency against former Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

Yes, the B.C. Liberal Party has found itself in a strange position indeed, one that may need considerable lubrication and difficult contortions to get out of.

The sticky situation is the potentially disastrous break up of a party that has managed under Premier Gordon Campbell to keep personalities, federal party allegiance and a wide range of political ideologies from spinning out of control.

But not now.

It’s not just the dirty pool being played to win the leadership -- it’s all about the future direction of the party and the province.

And that’s why it’s far nastier than the B.C. New Democrat contest, It’s about trying to stay in power.

The next battleground in this political war will get more fur flying than just a single feline’s party membership -- it’s going to be an ABCC effort -- “Anybody But Christy Clark”.

Why? Clark is still the frontrunner in Ipsos Reid polling that shows the on-leave CKNW talk show host would far more electable than Falcon or Abbott, the two other serious contenders, although the number of people paying even scant attention to the race is dubious.

The poll favouring Clark includes not just the general public but B.C. Liberal voters too.

Abbott and Falcon are already working hard to erode Clark’s support -- and so too is Clark herself, albeit unintentionally.


The goal of the two long-time senior cabinet ministers is to paint Clark as a lightweight who talks a good game on air but lacks the gravitas to actually govern a tough province.


It’s actually a pretty convincing argument. Clark’s two cabinet portfolios during Campbell’s first term in government were both busts – education and children and families – while in her role as deputy premier she is only now known for sitting at the cabinet table when B.C. Rail was privatized in 2003.

Clark had no problem totally alienating the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and many parents, but who couldn’t? By the time Clark was involuntarily moved by Campbell to the ministry of despair -- children and families -- she had no notable achievements in education.

After a few dismal and unnoticed months in her new portfolio Clark up and quit to “spend more time” with her then three-year-old son. But less than a year later she was running to be Vancouver mayoralty candidate for the Non-Partisan Association.

Another failure -- the high profile Clark was beaten by 69 votes by Sam Sullivan, the low profile city councillor. Ouch!

But Clark landed a lucrative job at CKNW, renegotiating an allegedly substantial raise just before announcing the political bug had bitten once again to run for premier.

Abbott and Falcon want to paint Clark as a “political tourist” – which is easy when she offers them the brush so willingly.

Clark has opened her campaign to several key B.C. Legislature Raid figures. One is B.C. Liberal insider Patrick Kinsella – her two-time election campaign chair or co-chair. The other is her brother Bruce Clark, whose home was searched by police and confidential B.C. Rail government information was found there, while she has steadfastly rejected any public inquiry calls into the case.

Her initial HST position -- to hold a free vote in the B.C. Legislature to presumably reverse course completely and kill the tax without holding the binding referendum promised by Campbell -- was ridiculous, given that every B.C. Liberal MLA who voted for the HST last year would have to vote against it while Clark herself was sitting in the visitors’ gallery watching.

But Clark had her own comebacker that punched Falcon and Abbott squarely in the face and hard over the HST.

"It's pretty rich for any of the cabinet that was sitting there through this whole HST fiasco to be accusing anyone else of a flip-flop. What I've been trying to do is try to fix part of the problem that they created by doing what they refused to do," Clark responded.

"The reason we're here is because of the way the government did the Kama Sutra on the HST," she said, although Clark wisely avoided saying B.C. consumers were the ones who were actually screwed by the new $2 billion tax.

The wild card in all this is former attorney general de Jong.

Clark hasn’t announced how many new Liberals she and membership campaign chair Pamela Martin -- the ex-CTV news anchor -- have signed up with extensive organizing and radio advertising, excluding cats of course.

But it’s likely substantial. And if “Punjabi Mike” de Jong, as R. Paul Dhillon calls him in the Indo-Canadian The Link newspaper , were to fold his tent in favour of Christy before the vote, she could potentially be B.C.’s next premier.

If, that is, she and de Jong can surreptitiously kill the party’s weighted vote proposal so one-member one vote is triumphant.

Even de Jong delivering his second choice votes to Clark in exchange for a reciprocal deal could do the trick.

On the other hand, if de Jong were to back Falcon before the vote or on second ballot, Clark will likely have to try and resurrect her radio career.

Could de Jong back Abbott? Very unlikely because Abbott has called for a third party review of de Jong’s signoff of the $6 million legal fees paid to lawyers for the two ex-B.C. Liberal ministerial aides who made surprise guilty pleas in the B.C. Legislature Raid case – David Basi and Bob Virk.

But it still could happen -- especially if the weighted vote proposal passes. De Jong could surprise Clark and Falcon by supporting Abbott, reasoning that his membership signups could deliver several ridings in the Fraser Valley to Abbott, giving him a good chance to win.

Cats, rats, prevaricating candidates and the Kama Sutra -- that’s how this province’s next premier will be chosen under the B.C. Liberals’ strange rules.

After that, even the previously divided New Democrats may seem like the picture of unity and decorum.

Additional Business

You can read a feature profile of me in this month’s BC Business magazine now on newsstands or online.


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Recall campaign in Oak Bay-Gordon Head was no failure - look at results

Ida Chong and Gordon Campbell - judgement day delayed but not denied

The Recall campaign launched by Fight HST and local activists in Oak Bay-Gordon Head riding was no failure - despite not reaching the required number of signatures to recall BC Liberal MLA Ida Chong.

Just look at the amazing results.

First - can you imagine how little would have been said in the media about the Harmonized Sales Tax if there had been no recall campaign launched before Christmas?

Do you think that every single one of the BC Liberal leadership candidates would have agreed to move up the date of the HST referendum to at least June instead of September?

Or accepted outgoing Premier Gordon Campbell's pledge that the referendum would be binding and would only require 50% plus one of those voting across the province?

All those conditions being completely different than the non-binding, super-majority rules of the Recall and Initiative Act.

Do you think the BC Liberal caucus would have been nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof without the threat of Recall?

What's more, almost 9,000 individual voters signed a petition calling for cabinet minister Ida Chong to be removed from office because she voted for the HST in the BC Legislature and still supports it today.

Do you think Ida Chong stands much chance of being re-elected after that in the next provincial ballot?

And why do you think current politicians like BC Liberal cabinet minsiter Kevin Krueger and former politicians of every party stripe - from ex-NDP Premier Dan Miller to ex-Social Credit Attorney-General Brian Smith are calling for Recall to be repealed?

The elites have been rocked by Initiative and by Recall - and they don't like it.

It's tough to have made such a valiant effort and come short, to be sure.

But the naysayers in the media who now crow "I told you so" were all to a person dead wrong before when the claimed the Fight HST citizens Initiative would not succeed.

They were wrong when they said former Premier Bill Vander Zalm could never gain the support of voters for the anti-HST campaign.

They were wrong, Gordon Campbell was wrong, the BC Liberals were wrong and political history was made as a result of ordinary people not giving up even when they were told again and again they were wasting their time.

Those who never try never fail.

But those who try are the only ones who will ever succeed - because they have the courage of their convictions.

Will Recall now be successful in Comox or Kamloops?

That's up to the voters there and the exercise of democracy.

But one thing is clear - this province will never be the same because of the 705,643 voters who signed the Fight HST citizens Initiative.

The HST will surely be defeated whenever the referendum is held.

The people will have spoken and after that, the BC Liberal government that imposed this terrible, unfair tax will be called to account.

Voters are waiting.

PS UPDATE

I should have reiterated a point made by former NDP cabinet minister Paul Ramsey that I quoted in an earlier column:

Ramsey was the subject of a bitter recall campaign in 1998 that failed and he currently opposes recall.
Ramsey wrote in 2003: "There's much to be said against the current recall campaigns in British Columbia. They clearly abuse the intent of the recall legislation. They create bitter divisions in communities. They distract M.L.A.'s and ministers from their real duties of office.

"But the campaigns have proven to be more effective at getting the government's attention than other forms of political protest," he continued. "One thing is clear: the recall campaigns have forced the government to pay far more attention to the local effects of provincial policies.

"Recall petitioners may not gather enough signatures to throw MLAs out of office, but they will affect government policy," he concluded.

And that's another big reason why the recall campaign was not a failure in Oak Bay-Gordon Head.

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Take a sunny vacation in Cuba? Not while there is no democracy and political repression

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez - Andre Deak photo

Why I won't be visiting Cuba

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday February 1, 2011

By Bill Tieleman

"I cannot go to Cuba to relax on the beach and keep my eyes shut, while dozens of political prisoners are behind bars there."

- Former Czech president Vaclav Havel, 2006

Each year over 800,000 Canadians visit Cuba for a sun-filled holiday of beaches, rum and great music.

I have not and will not be one of them.

Unfortunately for the Cuban people, their country is run by a repressive military dictatorship that rejects democracy and severely punishes those who speak out for change.

Even leaving the country is close to impossible for most of its citizens, some of whom still take desperate measures to escape the island on dangerous rafts.

In those circumstances, I cannot in good conscience support Cuba’s government by being a Canadian tourist there.

Like Vaclav Havel – who fought a repressive regime in his own country and was jailed for five years – I am deeply troubled by the Cuban communist government of former President Fidel Castro and now his brother Raul’s flagrant and ongoing violations of basic human rights.

"We cannot pretend that nothing wrong happens in Cuba. A lot of evil occurs there," Havel said.

Amnesty International, the respected human rights organization, has not even been allowed to visit Cuba since 1990. That alone should give Canadians pause before jumping on the plane to the beaches of Veradero.

But Amnesty has still documented repeated and severe abuses of Cubans for attempting to exercise basic human rights. Its 2010 Report on Cuba  says:

“Civil and political rights continued to be severely restricted by the authorities. Government critics continued to be imprisoned; many reported that they were beaten during arrest.”

“Restrictions on freedom of expression were commonplace. The government continued to curtail freedom of association and assembly.”

Despite the repression there are Cubans fighting for change.

Yoani Sanchez is – somewhat amazingly – a pro-democracy blogger  in Cuba. Her life has been extremely difficult and her courage extraordinary. As Amnesty International stated in its 2010 report:

“In September [2009], Yoani Sánchez, author of the popular blog Generación Y, was denied an exit visa by the Cuban authorities. She had been due to travel to the USA to receive the Maria Moors Cabot prize for journalism at Columbia University.”

“She was also denied an exit visa to travel to Brazil following an invitation from the Brazilian Senate to present her book at a conference and address the legislature.

“In November, Yoani Sánchez and blogger Orlando Luis Pardo were forced into a car by state security agents and beaten and threatened before being released.” Amnesty said. “The attackers told Yoani Sánchez ‘this is the end of it.’”

Sanchez has bravely written about her own situation and those of her fellow democracy dissidents, actually insisting that others not focus only on her.

“Avoid the cult of personality of a single emblematic blogger and take the alternative blogosphere as a phenomenon in which a growing number of Cubans are participating,” Sanchez writes in a “How to help” section. “Don’t repeat in the virtual world the adoration of individuals that does so much damage in the real world.”

Sanchez is indeed not alone as a democracy dissident in Cuba. Last Friday Guillermo Fariñas was arrested by police for the third time in 48 hours and then released.

Fariñas was honoured by the European Union last year with its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought – but he was also prevented by Cuban authorities from leaving the country to receive it.

And in December Amnesty International said that: “Between 9 and 10 December, at least a hundred human rights activists were temporarily detained in different locations across Cuba by the authorities in what they believe was an attempt to prevent them from attending several acts to commemorate Human Rights Day. They were released a few hours later.”

Being a dissident in Cuba is to be under constant surveillance and intimidation.

In one recent blog posting on January 11 this year titled “The Country of Long Shadows” Sanchez details the situation.

“There are two men on the corner. One is wearing an earphone while the other peers into the door of a building.”

“All the neighbours know perfectly well why they are there. A dissident lives on one of the floors of the building; two members of the political police watch who comes and goes and keep a car nearby to follow him wherever he goes.”

“They don’t try to hide because they want this person, who signs his name to his critical opinions, to know they’re there; they want his friends to distance themselves so as not to end up caught in the network of control, in the spiderweb of vigilance.”

“It is not an isolated case. Here, every non-conformist has his own shadow — or a whole group of shadows — who follow him around,” Sanchez concludes.

It’s not a picture postcard situation like the cheery scenes the Cuba Tourist Board in Canada promotes on its website .

While I will personally boycott Cuba so long as it remains a one-party state, I do not support the continued American boycott of trade with the country.

As Amnesty International rightly observes:

“The Cuban government has repeatedly used the embargo as a justification for maintaining restrictions on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” AI stated on September 8, 2010 in criticizing United States President Barack Obama for extending the Trading With the Enemy Act boycott provisions, in effect since 1963.

“The embargo and political antagonism with the USA continue to be used as a pretext for curbing dissent and criticism of the Cuban government. As a result, independent journalists and political and human rights activists are continuously harassed, intimidated and many face criminal prosecution,” AI concludes.

But unfortunately many decades of trade between Canada, European nations and other democracies has not produced the needed change in Cuba.

That’s why individual Canadian tourists can send a strong message with economic impact to the Cuban dictatorship by vacationing elsewhere.

Tourism is Cuba’s second largest source of revenue  and Canada is the number one country sending visitors there.

To be clear - there is no organized tourism boycott nor are pro-democracy dissidents in Cuba calling for it, although to do so would be highly dangerous for them.

It is simply a personal choice – something citizens of Canada and other democracies are privileged to have.

The counter argument is that Cuba has many positive accomplishments despite its repressive government. Infant mortality is among the lowest in the world  and better than the United States, thanks to its public health care programs, and its medical services to citizens are vastly superior to most developing countries.

Public education is free at every level and Cuba spends 10% of its central budget on education versus 4% in the United Kingdom and 2% in the U.S., according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO].

And Cuba’s social safety net is in many ways superior to those of many of its Caribbean basin neighbours.

But Cuba’s citizens pay a heavy and unnecessary price with the loss of liberty and democracy. And now, with President Raul Castro cutting 500,000 public sector jobs  and significantly reducing state subsidies and ration cards for food and other items, that safety net is fraying considerably.

Cuba also has a long and sordid history of repression of gays and lesbians, personally documented by the late Cuban poet and novelist Reinoldo Arenas in the book and movie Before Night Falls.

In recent years, and despite official public efforts to proclaim Cuba anti-homophobic, reports continue to indicate police harassment of gay activists , including the 2009 jailing of Mario José Delgado Gonzáles, who tried to organize a “Mr. Gay Havana” contest and who is vice-president of the Reinaldo Arenas LGBT Memorial Foundation.

Cuba also voted at the United Nations last year to remove a reference to gays and lesbians in a resolution condemning unjustified executions  - many of the countries that voted with Cuba criminalize homosexuality and five call it a capital offence. Canada voted against it.

And Cuba’s history of military intervention to support other dictatorships is odious. Cuba backed the vicious regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia in the 1970s and 1980s – a country with one of the worst human rights records in the world at that time.

Cuba supporters will no doubt be outraged at my suggestion that Canadians consider boycotting the country to show opposition to its repressive record and take sun vacations elsewhere.

They prefer to promote the romantic view of the photogenic cigar-smoking Che Guevarra and Fidel Castro leading the popular uprising against the brutal dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. But the early promise of the revolution faded to the ugly reality of another dictatorship that espoused high ideals while replicating repression.

Many of those Cuba supporters will adamantly oppose a personal tourism boycott but totally supported international boycotts against the apartheid regime of South Africa and the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile when those two terrible governments were in power.

You can’t have it both ways – you either support democracy and human rights everywhere or you don’t. I backed South Africa and Chile boycotts but I don’t look away from Cuba’s abuses.

Arguments from Canadian-Cuba support groups that say: “Cubans want you to witness their country while it remains pristine -- before the impending onslaught of American tourists is unleashed,” as a recent email put it, are simply misleading when it comes to democracy and human rights.

“Rest assured that your dollars are not filling the coffers of greedy multi-nationals involved in war, oil and water theft, environmental destruction, sweatshops, human rights and labor violations, or drug and sex trafficking – all things Cuba decries,” Cuba Explorer claims while at the same time avoiding discussing the country’s disastrous human rights record.

Perhaps the best argument for visiting Cuba is to meet ordinary Cubans and see directly what the situation is there. Certainly many Canadians approach the country with that view.

But there is no way of being a tourist to Cuba without involuntarily supporting the government, since it is heavily dependent on that income.

Would ordinary Cubans suffer if tourism dropped? Yes, that would likely be a temporary result and regrettable, but similar to other international boycotts to encourage democracy.

However, even dictatorships must react to internal pressure and some of the recent moves to reduce restrictions have only come because Cubans increasingly demand it – not because the Communist Party has had a change of heart.

Ultimately only democracy can respond to the interests of Cubans, who will then make the decision about who and how they will be governed. If they choose to continue supporting the existing administration, that is their right.

For those wondering, in addition to Cuba I also have no intention as a tourist of visiting China or other countries with repressive military dictatorships.

And I remain ever hopeful that the spread of democracy and human rights will increasingly isolate vicious governments, like those of Egypt and Tunisia, where massive protests may lead to lasting democratic reform.

But it’s a personal choice for every Canadian who has the opportunity to travel to decide where they go on vacation.

After all, unlike Cuba, it’s a free country.

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