Have you ever thought about what the ideal political representative for
the Cariboo-Chilcotin would be like, or at least how the existing job that our
MLAs and MPs are doing could be improved?
I have. As a Parliamentary
Intern working for Kamloops MP Nelson Riis in the 1980s, I saw that it was
possible to be a successful politician without being nasty toward others or having an exaggerated
opinion of oneself. Nelson was a decent
and caring person who was widely respected
by people from all parts of the
political spectrum, which is part of the reason why he remained in office for
20 years . As a Ministerial Assistant
for David Zirnhelt in 1996-97 I came to appreciate not only Zirnhelt’s knowledge of this region
and its people and his extensive knowledge of forestry and land use issues, but
also his incredible work ethic, as he strove to reach every corner of Cariboo South on weekends despite his busy schedule as a
Cabinet Minister in the Harcourt and Clark NDP governments. Those efforts clearly paid off, as he won
three straight elections in what had been the most Socred riding in the
province in Alex Fraser’s day.
No doubt supporters
of Donna Barnett could also sing her praises , based on her long history as
mayor of 100 Mile House and her own deep roots in the area. If
Dick Harris hasn’t done as much as the others to earn his long tenure as federal MP, it is probably because he hasn’t had to in
a riding that is more solidly conservative than his former riding
(Prince-George Bulkley Valley) had been . For him, the biggest challenge has been
winning his own party’s nomination, as when he narrowly staved off a challenge by Dr.
Elmer Thiessen in 2004.
In a less partisan vein, I was encouraged by Nathan Cullen’s attempt in last year’s
federal NDP leadership contest to at least try to cooperate with other
parties. I gave my support to Nathan’s
campaign largely because such an extraordinary strategy is necessary in order
to shake up politics in the federal riding.
I even had a plan ready if Cullen had won the leadership: to approach former Ulkatcho chief Lynda Price to run as a candidate with
the endorsement of both Liberal and New Democratic parties in the next federal
election. (Having her run as an independent would neatly avoid the problem of
persuading one party to support the other’s candidate). As it turned out, Nathan lost the leadership
bid and Lynda had just enrolled in law school, so I never found out whether the
idea would have flown.
Mark Crawford is a
political scientist at Athabasca University . He can be reached at markcrawf@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment