Call it the ‘phone speech instead of the Throne speech.
Premier Christy Clark used a Vancouver radio talk show microphone Monday to layout her government’s plans for the spring session of the B.C. Legislature. And by doing so, she bypassed the traditional pomp and ceremony of having the lieutenant-governor read the speech in the Legislature.
And it was a good thing too, Steven Point would have had little to say.
While Throne speeches are notoriously short on substance, this faux version was simply a rehash of what Clark’s Liberal government has done or is already doing. There was nothing new.
Referring to it as longer (at nine minutes) than the editorials she used to deliver when she sat in the same studio as a talks how host prior to winning the Liberal Party leadership last year, Clark used the free airtime, and subsequent Q&A with host Bill Good to stress her B.C. jobs plan initiatives, her consultative approach and her desire to see fiscal responsibility.
But her words came across as a state of the province address, not a speech laying out any new direction for the government.
So it begs the question—what was the point?
Given that the the new session is actually just a continuation of the fall session, and because of that a Throne speech was not required, why did Clark bother?
During her appearance on Good’s show, she said the government plans to keep doing what it has been doing—focusing on fiscal restraint, job creation and economic growth.
She reiterated there will be no more money for teachers—or any other pubic sector workers who come looking for a raise— and said she is not optimistic a deal will be reached with the folks who teach out kids. spring
In the end, Clark’s appearance ahead of today’s opening of the Legislative session, was little more than nine minutes of uninterrupted political advertising, followed by an appearance on a radio talk show.
And I’m betting most people paid little or no attention.
Riding lower in public opinion polls than her NDP counterpart Adrian Dix, Clark’s radio appearance continued her recent moves to put herself out front of her party on everything from the recent announcement of a new jail in the Osoyoos area, to trade with China and energy announcements in Northern B.C.
She says polls put out more than a year before the next election don’t mean anything but it would appear she doesn’t really believe that.
The Liberals are floundering at the moment and as the leader, the responsibility for that rests with Clark.
She may have spent her first year as premier cleaning up the messes left behind by Gordon Campbell’s government but now she has to chart a new course.
And if Monday’s ‘phone speech was the start, it was not a strong one.
Alistair Waters is the assistant editor of the Capital News.
