EDITORIAL: Parties must quit the spin

The residents of B.C. deserve better from the government and its opposition.

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 Liberals say white, the NDP will say black. Wow, there’s some real strategy.

Latest case in point: the NDP’s attack on the 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 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’s Seaspan Marine — pulled out of the bidding, saying it was too busy with upcoming contracts. 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 release on purpose.

This is the same nonsense that has turned voters off party politics. It’s not like the NDP has cornered the market on this cynical game of disrespecting voters. The 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 for a century.

Ah, we can hear the hacks in Victoria telling us how naive we are. Thanks, you’re making our point for us.

— Parksville-Qualicum News

 

Vernon Morning Star