You have to give B.C. Premier Christy Clark credit for hanging in there.
After winning the leadership campaign, Clark has been snubbed by those who ran against her, including former finance minister Kevin Falcon and education minister George Abbott, among others.
She spent her first year in office trying to mend party fences while garnering virtually no support from the high-profile politicians who backed up her predecessor, former premier Gordon Campbell.
Without question, she has been hung out to dry by the very people she relied on for support.
But now most of those people have jumped ship, giving Clark an opportunity to build her own team.
In a cabinet shuffle on Wednesday, Clark rewarded those who remained loyal with prominent positions ahead of next May’s election.
Perhaps the phoenix can rise from the ashes with appointments like Mary Polak, who will take on the transportation portfolio and Stephanie Cadieux, who takes on the tough role of overseeing the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Rich Coleman is now deputy premier, while Margaret MacDiarmid becomes minister of health.
Clark’s cabinet is a major shuffle step away from the Campbell government, a move that just might give her party a fighting chance in the next election.
The next eight months will prove very important for this new Liberal government, but it will have to go exceptionally smooth as the public will have little patience.
The public’s hatred of policy left over by the now departed Liberal politicians continues to wane, but with the NDP poised to reap the benefits of Liberal failures, this government will need to prove consistently over the next few months it is up to the task of running the province.
