While the B.C. Liberals aren't about to win any awards for superior governance the last 14 months, the NDP opposition doesn't make much of a case for trophies either.
On a daily basis, the NDP shows a cynical view of the electorate, underestimating the smarts of B.C. residents while it continues to play the same game that's been played in this province for decades.
If the B.C. Liberals say white, the NDP will say black. Wow, there's some real strategy. What a contribution to the betterment of the province and its governance.
Latest case in point: the NDP's news-release attack on the B.C. Liberals after it was announced last week B.C. Ferries has awarded the $165 million design-build contract to a Polish company.
The NDP news release talked about how the B.C. Liberals have "given up on creating jobs" here and "are doing nothing" to help the B.C. shipbuilding industry.
Nowhere in the NDP news release does it mention the fact that the only Canadian firm shortlisted for the ferries contract that eventually went to the Polish company — North Vancouver-based Seaspan Marine — pulled out of the bidding early this year, saying it was too busy with upcoming contracts, including the $15 million cable ferry between Buckley Bay and Denman Island.
An oversight by the people writing NDP news releases? Are these the same people who worked on their party's polling before the last provincial election?
We can't believe they didn't know the Seaspan Marine angle, so we have to assume they left that information out of the news release on purpose.
This is the same-old, same-old political nonsense that has turned voters off party politics, especially those under 30 years of age. These are the same kind of games played 50 years ago in B.C.
It's not like the NDP has cornered the market on this cynical game of disrespecting voters. The B.C. Liberals — the kings and queens of sloganism — aren't much better. And judging from what we hear from the B.C. Conservative Party, that's no source of fresh air either.
The residents of B.C. deserve better from the government and its opposition. Tell the truth. Park the spin. Quit playing the same game you have been playing for upwards of a century.
Ah, we can hear the hacks in Victoria telling us how naive we are. Thanks, you're making our point for us.
— Editorial by John Harding