NDP leadership hopefuls were "surprised" when Adrian Dix caught them off guard by materializing a large number of ethnic block voters at the last minute before last week's deadline. Well I wasn't, because "surprsing" people is something of an Adrian Dix specialty. As I tried to warn people back on December 6 , Dix wasn't "mulling" a leadership bid, he was planning it. And one of the things he was planning was a secret block ethnic vote, to be sprung upon opponents at the last moment so that they could not respond in kind.
His tactics reminded me of a passage in Auditor General George Morfitt's Report on the Fast Ferries, which noted that Glen Clark's Ministerial Assistant was already lining up contractors whiile Clark was Minister of Employment and Investment in 1994-95. That Ministerial Assistant was, of course, Adrian Dix. What he and Clark were doing was ensuring that potential opponents of the scheme would be presented with a fait accompli before they had a chance to properly assess the program's merits. All in the interest of "jobs" and "getting things done" of course, but it wasn't good public policy. And in his daily modus operandi as Principal Secretary, he routinely preferred the element of surprise to the enlightenment of dialogue.
Dix may have scored a tactical victory with his latest stunt, but in so doing he may have also revealed how little he has really changed.
5 comments:
I follow your blog through Google Reader and enjoy every post. But do you mean next NDP "leader" and not premier?
Thanks for your comments. I get @70-100 hits a week, which isn't a lot, but it is enough to make it worthwhile. My postings have also been occasionally reprinted in The Mark News and in a couple of community newspapers.
You have asked a fair question. I have leaped to the conclusion that the next NDP leader will probably become the next NDP premier, because people are tiring of the Liberals.
The reason that I am exaggerating the probability is that I want people to focus on the seriousness of the decision to choose the next NDP leader. He or she will be an even bet win the next election--and, if it is Dix, he has a very safe seat, a paucity of other career choices and probably two or three more elections at the helm of the NDP.
Also, if the Liberal leader is Christy Clark, the chances of the Liberals blowing the next election will be very high.
Well said. Keep at it!
Funny thing. Never felt this way before, it must have something to do with the corporatization of our lieberal Gov. Talk about feeling like a commodity. Don't like lieberal supporters. There either ignorant or just plain dumb. The hole gets deeper as they excavate our public assets.
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