Mayor Janice Perrino believes municipalities especially those in rural British Columbia will be able to work with Premier-designate Christy Clark, who beat out former cabinet minister Kevin Falcon, George Abbott and Mike de Jong, to claim the leadership of the B.C. Liberals.
“I think she will be good for the municipalities,” said Perrino, who played a small but direct part in the leadership contest, as one of 55,600 party members who cast ballots by phone or by computer. While Clark’s power base lies in the Lower Mainland, she promised Saturday during her acceptance speech, whose opening passages fell flat more than once, to build the province from “corner to corner” in reaching out to the rural parts of the province.
Perrino refused to disclose her choice during what she called a “marvellous” process that concluded with Clark beating out Falcon after three rounds of balloting. De Jong dropped off the ballot after the first round, while Abbott did not make the final round, which saw Clark barely edge out Falcon.
The election of Clark officially ends the era of Gordon Campbell as premier and leader of the B.C. Liberals. They now face the task of rebuild public support after what Perrino called the “rough” introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax, the very cause that led to the resignation of Campbell who led his party for 17 years and the province for almost a decade.
While Perrino praised Campbell’s accomplishment, she noted that the time for a change had come in praising Clark’s message, which aims to improve the conditions of families in British Columbia.
Clark, Campbell’s former deputy premier and education minister, re-enters political life, after working as a talk-show radio host, a career Perrino believes proved to be decisive in her victory. Clark, who styles herself an outsider, enters her new office with limited support inside the legislative caucus of her own party. Aside from one backbench MLA, caucus members either backed Falcon or Abbott.
“I definitely think she has her work cut out (to build support), but she knew it,” said Perrino, who nonetheless believes that the party will rally around her. “I think they (the MLAs) will be there for her.”
Former Summerland councillor David Finnis, who has followed the election as a New Democratic insider, said Clark’s lack of support inside of her own caucus poses a genuine “problem” in echoing commentators who suggest that Clark’s election might divide the party.
Clark, who was born into “Liberal shoes” according to Perrino, belongs to the wing of her party that shares much in common with its federal namesake, a potential affront to the small c-conservative wing of the party that tilts closer to the party of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
B.C. Conservatives, many of whom enjoy strong ties to the Okanagan, have suggested Clark’s election could boost their chances to break into the political mainstream as a credible third alternative.
Such a move could also benefit New Democrats and it is no wonder that party insiders such party president Moe Sihota have already declared Clark to be their preferred opponent in an coming election.
Finnis agrees with that sentiment, suggesting that Clark might turn out to be like former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm, a charismatic individual whose style hides lacks a substance, a charge that Perrino rejects.
With Clark set to take the oath of office in mid-March, attention now turns to the race to elect a new NDP leader, following the resignation of Carole James, after a party coup. The party will hold a leadership assembly April 17 using a one-member, one-vote election process that bears similarities to the process, which the B.C. Liberals used thanks to the use of online and telephone voting.