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Gordon Campbell Resigns: A post-mortem

Tony Wanless

| November 4, 2010

Image by: Flickr / PremierofAlberta

After nearly 10 years as B.C.'s premier, Gordon Campbell steps down.

Gordon Campbell resigns as BC Liberal leader after almost a decade ruling a continually angry land. Who can blame him?

You won’t have Gordon Campbell to kick around anymore. So who do you kick around next?

And there will be a next because this is B.C., the land of a thousand angry stances, where we live by the principal that politicians are there to be beaten on constantly because they may not serve our individual wants/desires/complaints.

In B.C. our politics tend to imitate mixed martial arts brawling more than reasoned discourse. For example, it seems to me that the same complaints were made about Glen Clark, whose NDP government “destroyed” the province before Campbell came in, and Bill Vander Zalm, whose Socred government “destroyed” us before Mike Harcourt took over.

Every premier in B.C. has been blamed for everything from bashing the poor to kicking dogs and bringing on the rain in November. Usually, that means he or she has just done something that we didn’t like personally.

The politics of anger and discontent like that of the Tea Party in the U.S.
In this case, the installation of the HST – which despite the outcry from individuals who might be paying a few bucks more on the odd consumer purchase (in most cases they’ll be paying the same as before) is actually a pretty good thing – has been fingered as the fall guy who brought down the latest premier.

That’s completely illogical, but logic has nothing to do with it. It’s all about raw emotion.

Sure, Campbell was dissembling when he said before the election that there would be no harmonized sales tax in B.C. But do you blame him? Would any politician go into an election declaring that he or she was going to change the system so that it looked like a “new” tax was going to be imposed?

I don’t have any particular insight into why the premier suddenly resigned. I'll leave that to the political pundits who inhabit every barroom in B.C. The only insight I have is that they're probably angry – at Gordon Campbell, at the world, at themselves.

I do think that after a decade at the helm of this angry and continually outraged province, Campbell was going to leave anyway. In this cantankerous region and time, surviving 10 years of fractious politics is a major accomplishment.

This way, he goes out early and gives his party time to bring in a new hero, rebuild, and get all the grumps and complainers off its back.

That may last a few years until the next big fall.

Tags
- BC Liberals,
- Gordon Campbell,
- HST,
- tony wanless,
- City and Government,
- Politics

Tony We moved to Vancouver

Submitted by MikeWestVan (not verified) on Fri, 2010-11-12 00:23.

Tony We moved to Vancouver in 1999. Loved the city, the ocean, the mountains and held our nose at the politics. Politics was a very bad joke and we only hoped for no decisions that would harm us. When Campbell was elected, he represented hope. Someday, someone will create a scorecard on Campbell's years. Take a look at individual tax rates - corporate tax rates etc. Sure the government did an absolutely atrocious job of selling the HST. Just ask any business owner and they will tell you it is much better for business. Being Premier is huge job. No such thing as 9 to 5. And Campbell worked his butt off. He made some business and personal mistakes but haven't we all. Once the dust settles and we find out who will sit in that chair after the election and give them a chance to lead in what will be challenging times, maybe only then will we truly appreciate what he accomplished. I say - thanks Gordon!!!!!

nice article Tony Wanless it

Submitted by jeff smith on Fri, 2011-10-07 05:47.

nice article Tony Wanless it will definitely impact on mma.
UFC Forum

To Yves, re fault: No one is

Submitted by Tony Wanless on Fri, 2010-11-05 17:54.

To Yves, re fault: No one is claiming that "fault" should be laid. That's your take. As for sheep, seems to me that those supposed voters who were herded into signing a petition to recall the government because of a "new" tax they didn't understand was for the most part a more efficient replacement of an existing tax constitutes a pretty good definition of the misuse of free will. "They're sticking a new tax on me -- at least that's what a bunch of ambitious ex-politicians trying to get back into power told me" is hardly a description of independent and free thinking. Neither are "the media" -- most of which blatantly pander to populism and so took up the anti-HST cause -- lumping you all into the category of grumps and complainers. That was me describing BC's favorite blood sport. For proof, re-read the conclusion of your comment.

Rolls eyes ... yes, it is

Submitted by Yves (not verified) on Thu, 2010-11-04 12:19.

Rolls eyes ... yes, it is all the fault of the angry B.C. citizens that the Premier has resigned and while we are at it ... let's not forget to admonish those angry voters that dare to stand up to elected officials and speak their minds. Here again we have media rolling all of those voters that signed a petition against the HST (or have an opinion contrary to the Liberals ...) into a category of "grumps and complainers", inconvenient miscreants that dare to have free will, refusing to behave like sheep. Mr. Campbell obviously has worked hard but equally clearly he has misjudged the electorate. He was not forced to resign by some unruly mob. He was faced with a bona fide electoral revolt because he was not executing the will of the people, the electorate, his bosses and the completely democratic uproar forced him to either do a mea culpa or resign. He chose to resign in the face of certain electoral death for the Liberal party at the polls and indeed, in any recall election. The new leader of the Liberals hopefully will understand the political reality: either the HST tax goes or the Liberal Party gets tossed out of the legislature on election day and in any recall election held prior to that date.