Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Help the BC Liberals rename their party! Your suggestions for Premier Christy Clark's makeover gratefully accepted

Christy Clark - "what's my riding?"
Loose cannon - new BC Lib symbol?











What's in a Name?  "BC Liberal" must go! 

A political makeover for shoot-from-the-hip Christy and her BC Liberals

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday May 17, 2011

By Bill Tieleman

"The type who would charge hell with a bucket of water."

- Lady Bird Johnson, on those who act without thinking.

Do you think any political party in the world would trumpet the following approach as a winning strategy?

The party leader narrowly wins a seat in a by-election to enter the legislature, defeating a candidate she repeatedly refused to debate and who wasn't supposed to have a chance.

Within 24 hours of that slim victory, which was a fraction of the margin the ex-leader racked up in several elections in the same riding, the new leader announces she may run somewhere else next time.

In the same 24 hours, a veteran legislator, the leader's campaign chair and until recently the finance minister, makes a surprise announcement that their party should seriously consider changing its name.

After all, why remind voters you handily won three successive elections to hold power for a decade, and have existed as a political party with the same name since 1903, first forming government in 1916?

The leader chimes in to say there are "real merits" to changing the name, but other senior cabinet members disagree -- in public.

Then the leader announces she will make "bold" and "smart" changes to "fix" a despised tax that's been in place for nearly a year -- but won't tell anyone what they are for weeks -- until just before a binding referendum vote.

But she is spending more than $5 million on a government advertising campaign already, despite no one knowing what changes are coming.

Oh yes, and the TV ad campaign features a cartoon stick man to inform consumers about a $2-billion-a-year tax.

Is this any way to run a party? Or a province?

Change in the air

By now you've guessed that this is British Columbia under new Premier Christy Clark, with former minister Colin Hansen in charge of party name changes.

And it's clear Clark is busy trying to change the provincial symbol from the dogwood tree to one more representative of her own style -- a loose cannon!

As someone who endorsed New Democrat candidate David Eby in the Vancouver-Point Grey by-election, where Clark eked out a win of 595 votes despite former premier Gordon Campbell winning by 10 per cent and over 2,300 votes, I should be thrilled at her political miscalculations and insult to the riding.

And as a founder of Fight HST, the group that ran the successful citizens' initiative petition leading to the binding referendum on the Harmonized Sales Tax, I should applaud the outrageous ad spending and uncertainty as help in getting a "Yes" vote to extinguish the HST.

But as a political commentator and communications consultant, I'm appalled at how amateurish British Columbia looks right now.

I suspect it's a position shared by some BC Liberal MLAs, all but one of whom declined to endorse Clark in the leadership campaign for increasingly obvious reasons.

Lend a name

So let's at least help the BC Liberal Party pick a new name that accurately reflects its current status.

You can email suggestions, post them on my blog, or post them in the comment thread below.

To get you started, here's a few ideas:

"The Party Formerly Known as BC Liberal";

The "Gordon Campbell? Never Heard Of Him" Party;

The "Because Christy Clark's Really Awesome & Zany, Yeah" Party -- B.C. C.R.A.Z.Y.

The names may change, but B.C. politics will remain wild!


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38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Silly topic brings out a silly column.

The party that relaly does need to rebrand itself is the BC New Democratic Party.

What exactly has been "new" in New Democratic??

(0ther than leaders being stabbed, and Dix carting in memberships and membership money in hockey bags)

Adrian B. said...

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. And unlike Obama who wasn't talking about Palin, I am talking about Clark.

Anonymous said...

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. And unlike Obama who wasn't talking about Palin, I am talking about Clark

Many could also be talking about the NDP. In regards to patronage and pork, the NDP is no different.

Same trough, diferent pigs.

Be around when it happens.

terrence said...

Gordo's Remains.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I know! We can rename them the "Social Credit Party."

Anonymous said...

Party name:
CCCP. Christy Clark's Clown Party

Anonymous said...

New name: How about Social Credit? It has a long history of ridiculous leaders, buffoonery, corruption and lying. It would be a perfect and seamless rebrand. HMK

Anonymous said...

How about: CPC-ML ? Christy's Party of Clark- Mostly Losers. -hm

Jeff Barkley said...

How about TLCP? It sounds like "tender loving care party" for an election campaign yet retains honesty by meaning "Thieving Lying Corporatist Party"...

Anonymous said...

There is no doubt that the name change side show was sprung by the Premier's office to deflect off the attention from a slim victory in the byelection.

500 votes and then Premier Clark says she won't run in the same riding?

For everyone to change the topic to a name change still shows how the msm can be manipulated. Good work by the BC Liberals. The NDP are working toward the HST failing as that may be the only hope of winning the fall election.

Anonymous said...

How about: CPC-ML ? Christy's Party of Clark- Mostly Losers. -hm

More applicable to the NDP, since both the CPC-ML and NDP are socialist in nature -hmmmmmmmmm.

DPR would be good too.

Dix People's Republic

Anonymous said...

There is no doubt that the name change side show was sprung by the Premier's office to deflect off the attention from a slim victory in the byelection

Evidence? Cite? It was Hanson who brought it out, not the Premier's Office.

But as per usual, a few who have nothing better to do than blog on a non-issue, caught the bait.

Anonymous said...

You can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig.

But Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.

Personally I'm leaning on BC CRAZY.

Anonymous said...

CONFUSED

Clark's Onerous Narccism is F**king Up Sincere, Elected Democracy.

turtlewhacks said...

Turtlewhacks Says: "Lie ability" Party?

Brad S said...

Call it the CC Party. Christy will think it's honouring her and her *coff* brilliant leadership, but the rest of us will all know it's really "Carbon Copy".


Of course, I've always liked BCLiars, too.

Madd Rob said...

BCRP = British Columbia Radar Party

Slogan A) "You're not on our radar but your money is"

Slogan B) "Families first, friends firster"

Slogan C) "Get defeat off deradar"

Anonymous said...

BC's D3's

BC's Dishonesty, Deception and Deceit party.

Anonymous said...

Why in the hell would they bother to change the name of the party? The same old liars, deceivers, thieves, corruption and cheaters will be the same. Nothing has changed, and nothing will change.

I can't print the names I have for them. So, I must decline the contest, for my input, for their new party name.

WILLIAM said...

I guess they must be getting desperate. You have to remember they almost lost the bye election, then they have all those scandals, such as 6 million dollar cover up the convicted scape goat criminals so the likes of Christy and company don't go to jail. B.C. Ferries. Crown land sales TFL's to Western Forest Products Sooke, Health care system computer Billing system fraud,etc,etc. Plus the 100 or more athttp://lailayuile.com/100-reasons-the-bc-liberals-must-go/

Then you have the liberal party hack below me trying to defend them, I wonder if he's on the take to?????????

Anonymous said...

How about giving some of the reasons why Colin Hansen made the suggestion of a name change for the BC Liberal Part?

BC Lieberal Party comes to mind.

Gary E said...

Sorry Bill

I don't think I'll be able to give you a name. The language cops are still all over my blog. And we all know how the liberal propaganda machine digs these things up

Anonymous said...

This may set a record for replies to your blog. My entry is Never Dull Party. Don't know what they'll say next but it's sure to be controversial, and if we're going to have two equally vile parties running the gong show in Victoria doesn't it make sense to have names challenging to differentiate? It's not like most of us have a choice anyway but at least the NDP will finally win.

terrence said...

I am sorry but I MUST change the name I proposed earlier (At 10:56 AM, May 17) - Gordo's Remains.

The NEW party name is The Remains of Gordo Party - aka TROG Party

Anonymous said...

Conservative Liberal Alliance Party

After all they are right wing cranks

Joe said...

The Co Creds, Corporate Credit Party. Dedicated to lining corporate pockets with public assets.

Anonymous said...

Take your pick

BC Worst Party
Retreads
Alliance of Used Car Dealers of British Columbia
Snow white and the 47 dwarfs
The Pretenders

Anonymous said...

What a high quality thread. You must be proud of your flock Bill.....

DPL said...

anon 13:00. I sure like your suggestion of Snow white and the 47 dwarfs

Anonymous said...

@Anon 1:03 pm

Said: Evidence? Cite? It was Hanson who brought it out, not the Premier's Office.

Actually this turkey was floated many times previously, even when she was still on the air at the ministry of propaganda.

Anonymous said...

"The Corporate Cronyism Consortium of British Columbia"

Anonymous said...

New name? The Supreme Corruption Party. The taxpayers should ask,"How can the Supreme Court of B.C. be manipulated by the Liberal Party,when they are the defendants?" More questions to come.

Anonymous said...

How about "New Christy Minstrels"?

Anonymous said...

How about New Dix Party?

Anonymous said...

"Actually this turkey was floated many times previously, even when she was still on the air at the ministry of propaganda."

She wasn;'t in government obviously, so the argument isn't valid.

Woner why the NDP hasn't changed its name. What exactly is "new" in "New Democratic"? In fact in some ways, the NDP isn't even democratic.

Anonymous said...

"Meanwhile, John Cummins — leader designate of the BC Conservatives — has called for an immediate review of the issuing of CareCards.

"The Liberals are handing out CareCards like candy," he said in a written release.

"The Ministry of Health is issuing out more than 40,000 new CareCards a month — that's more than 120,000 since Christy Clark became premier. This Liberal incompetence is costing millions because old cards can be used to defraud our health care system. The Clark government talks about cracking down on fraud at some point in the future — but is doing nothing about it right now."

The provincial government has admitted there are about 9.1 million CareCards in circulation in B.C. In the last year, the province has issued about 500,000 new CareCards, while according to Statistics Canada B.C.'s population has only grown by about 60,000 people.

"Right now, there is twice the number of CareCards as there are people in B.C. The Liberals have ignored this issue for years. There is talk about photo ID on CareCards — which only solves part of the problem," Cummins said."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/05/21/bc-smart-care-card.html?ref=rss

Anonymous said...

Going Away Party

Anonymous said...

NDP

Never Developed Plan