Culling the Liberal herd in BC

The front runners continue to jockey for the pole position in the upcoming Liberal leadership in British Columbia, but back at the rear of the pack the candidates are dropping off at a quick march these days.

With the polling numbers and recognition factor in decline, a pair of Liberal hopefuls have admitted that their cause while just is apparently lost and so we bid farewell to the campaigns of Dr. Moira Stillwell and Vancouver Island's Ed Mayne.

That leaves four remaining candidates left to ambitiously take to the podium following next Saturday's leadership vote, George Abbott, Christy Clark, Mike de Jong and Kevin Falcon.

While the lower polling candidates folded their tents, both candidates Abbott and Falcon were busy scooping up support from cabinet ministers and MLA's, with Liberal members quick to try and park their support with the candidate that they believe will arrive atop the vote count on the 26th.

Both ready to galvanize their supporters for a day long festival of political intrigue that would appear to be shaping up to be one of party insiders banding together to challenge the campaign of Christy Clark and providing the impression that Mr. de Jong to ponder where he might want to move his support on the pivotal voting day.

Some of the reviews of the departures and the build up to the vote next weekend can be found below.


Vancouver Sun-- Abbott confident he will be one of two names on final ballot
Vancouver Sun-- Gloves are off, but winner is undecided
Vancouver Sun-- 'Genial George' goes negative
Vancouver Province-- Another for Abbot as Ed Mayne drops leadership bid
Vancouver Province-- Stillwell backs Abbot, Mayne to follow
Vancouver Province-- Abbott bandwagon gets more crowded
Vancouver Province-- Abbott strikes back at Clark as leadership race heats up
Vancouver Province-- 'Nothing wrong with questioning Christy's positions, says Abbott
Vancouver Province-- Voting rules a big relief for Abbott
Victoria Times-Colonist-- Stilwell has plenty of ideas to share
Victoria Times-Colonist-- Voting change gives Abbott more hope
Victoria Times-Colonist-- Clark's health-care cap plan draws fire
Globe and Mail-- Mayne drops out of BC Liberal leadership race, endorses Abbott
Globe and Mail-- Clark scorns rivals' 'backroom deals'
Globe and Mail-- For the other candidates, it’s all about stopping Christy Clark
The Tyee-- BC Liberal leadership field likely to narrow further
The Tyee-- Mayne out of Liberal leadership race, supports Abbott
The Tyee-- Stillwell supports Abbott, Falcom Abbott's second choice
The Tyee-- Two more cabinet ministers throw support to Falcon

As if we don't confuse our American friends as it is...

This will no doubt put America's media machine on red alert, bad enough they think that above the 49th parallel lay a land of socialists, relishing in their access to free medical attention and cultural entitlements, but now Gawd Dang it, they've gone and given the vote to animals...

We can hear Glen Beck railing away from here.

The Pundit Kitchen has been tipped off to an on line editorial cartoon featuring the recent Cats for Christy excitement in the BC Liberal leadership campaign, providing the paper's website with what we imagine will be a generous bump in popularity over the next few days.

Of particular interest to Canadians (British Columbian's more so than others perhaps) will be the comments to follow as Americans and others beyond our borders contemplate the electoral process in BC and what it offers to all.

Watch and wait for the fur to fly from the Pundit Kitchen

Cheryl Gallant goes into the deep end and no one has a life preserver

"In Ontario we have inland seas, the Great Lakes, and it would never occur to any of us, even up in the Ottawa River, to count on the coast guard to come and help us," -- Cheryl Gallant, Conservative MP, provides Prime Minister Harper with the need for an aspirin or two.

There is much made about the "control" that Stephen Harper reportedly has over his caucus (see Harperland), if so, one wonders what distracted him when Cheryl Gallant waded into the debate over Coast Guard services on the Atlantic Coast.

Ms. Gallant, the Conservative MP from the Ottawa Valley riding of Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke has provided no shortage of material for commentators today, after providing her thoughts on the nature of emergency services on the water and how those that make their living on the seas should perhaps just take better care of their own requirements.

Exhibiting a rather scary lack of knowledge of matters marine, Ms. Gallant suggested that those on the coasts of the unpredictable oceans, should be more like the weekend pleasure boaters of the Britannia Yacht Club and not call on the the Coast guard when such things as 60 foot swells potentially rise up to swamp their boats.

Pointing out that Ontario and Quebec's boaters make do without a Coast Guard to call on when the swells get to two feet, Ms. Gallant seems to have offered the thought that the need for safer oceans and faster response is something that should not fall upon the shoulders of a national government.

Needless to say, those that have suffered the rage of the oceans and lost loved ones in ocean tragedies have been quick to suggest Ms. Gallant best not comment on things that she clearly knows nothing about.

Sound advice that one suggests should be heeded immediately, but much to the delight of Parliament Hill journalists, advice we imagine which shall be ignored.

Those journalists have been quick to  join in on the tidal wave of commentary which clearly outlines how out of touch the woman is with the issue under debate, making one wonder how she's been allowed to have any speaking parts in the ongoing theatre production of Parliament.

The political evisceration of Ms. Gallant's commentaries can be found below.

Globe and Mail -- SOS- Cheryl Gallant lost at sea
Montreal Gazette-- MP under fire for search-and-rescue comments
CBC-- Gallant backs away from search-and-rescue comments
Toronto Sun-- MP's comments draw ire of Newfoundlanders
VOCM News-- MP Offended by Conservative Comments Regarding SAR Response Times 

British Columbia Digest: Claws out at fifty paces

The Liberals have a bad case of Cat Scratch Fever in British Columbia these days, as the race to replace Gordon Campbell as leader of the provincial party takes a particularly nasty turn, fuelled mainly by questionable recruitment to the eligible list of voters to the nomination process.

The three main principles of the race, George Abbot, Christy Clark and Kevin Falcon seem to be the main participants in the acrimonious turn of events, highlighted most recently by the addition of a cat to the listings of supporters of the Clark campaign complete with a fan club courtesy of the Abbot campaign and then there was the case of almost an entire hockey team, the Kelowna Rockets supposedly joining up with Team Falcon, apparently much to the surprise of those actually on the hockey team.

It has been a week of wild entertainment, once again providing BC with the title of wackiest of the wacky when it comes to politics. Though one wonders if the Liberals have given any consideration to the optics of this kind of nomination fraud, considering they are trying to provide the image of a party that understands it has made mistakes and wishes to provide a more accountable face to the electorate.

Judging by the events of the last week, we would imagine that isn't something that has crossed their minds in recent days. With the mud slinging starting to pile up on the road to Jerusalem, or in this case the podium at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre (West),  the candidates are pushing back with vigour.

Team Christy brought out the writing talents of Pamela Martin, one time news anchor for CTV BC and now an apparently proud volunteer for the Clark campaign, who as Michael Smyth in the Province uncovers, has provided the talking points for Team Clark in the face of some rather nasty attacks from the Abbott camp.

Those attacks came hot on the heels of a rather unusual endorsement for the Clark campaign, that coming from NDP leadership candidate Adrian Dix. Dix of course was making much mischief among the Liberals with his recommendation, though in a mixed up world of BC Politics, you have to wonder if perhaps it's a pre-emptive shot to sideline Ms. Clark, who might actually pose a bigger risk to any NDP aspirations that Mr. Dix is letting on.

Perhaps Mr. Dix was hoping to gain some traction in his own campaign by stepping into the white hot glow of the coverage of the Liberal controversies.

The interjection of the NDP candidate into the Liberal campaign is also instructive to note, as the NDP race hasn't quite accomplished much in the same way of attention thus far, with most British Columbian's probably rather unaware as to who is even running yet.

For the moment developments on their side of the political divide are certainly proving to be overshadowed by what's happening with the Liberals, a show that is proving to be quite entertaining, though we're not sure it will prove to provide for good news on any eventual election day.

Alberta Digest: Doesn't anyone want their job anymore?

Perhaps they looked over the mountains and found the landscape to their liking, or maybe politicians just get tired of their jobs quicker in Wildrose country, regardless of the reasons if the rumours percolating in Edmonton are true, Alberta like British Columbia is about to embark on a duel track leadership process, with word that Liberal leader David Swann plans on handing in his resignation today.

It's the latest twist in Alberta politics which has seen new movements, political coups and now resignations as part of the churning mill of political life.

Dr. Swann the leader of the Opposition in the province, the latest of politicians to either step down by his own decision or as in some other high profile cases at the behest of the party.

The details on the ever changing political scene in Alberta can be found below.

Globe and Mail-- Alberta Liberal leader to step down
Calgary Sun-- Swann rumoured to resign
Calgary Herald-- Alberta Liberal leader to step down: Source
660 News-- Alberta Liberal Leader expected to resign
CHQR-- David's exit?