Malcomson

I attended a political function last evening as a way of getting to meet the candidates who are running for the BC Liberal leadership on February 26. So far, I have listened to Clark and De Jong, and needed to hear from Kevin Falcon as another frontrunner in the race. After listening to this boyish-looking man of a politician go on for over an hour about his record in Victoria, a picture started to form in my mind as to what I was actually dealing with here: Here was a person who so desperately wanted my vote that he was willing to impress with his record of performance over the last seven years in office: roads, healthcare delivery, bridges, the Olympics, mines, airports, etc. etc. etc. His promise to the audience was that in the future as the new premier cum leader, he would seek the best advice from all those around him. When I posed the question as to where he got his idea to grant certain BC teachers merit pay, he segued into talking about the fact that he is married to one and hung out with teachers, and that this informal interest group had impressed on him the need to start awarding teachers for going beyond and above the call of duty. Just a lot of talk to try and impress me that you are a man of the people. Kevin, you’re nothing but a professional politician looking for my vote and willing to indulge in some risky self-promotion to get it, like the $30 a head tickets your group sold to 200 Ruperites recently to buy the right to meet you. In short, you’re all about big government and the party is just a means to the end, which I hope will not be the premier’s office.