Interim BC Conservative Party Leader Scott Anderson of Vernon is condemning the BC Liberal party’s use of the term “illegitimate government” in reference to B.C.’s governing NDP.
In a twitter video, Shuswap Liberal MLA Greg Kyllo referred twice to the current NDP government as “illegitimate.” Rich Coleman, interim leader of the BC Liberal Party, subsequently retweeted the video.
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“It is one thing to be sore losers when a party loses an election to another party,” said Anderson. “But it is quite another to take that a step further and irresponsibly imply that the resulting government is in some way unlawful or improper.
“My concern is that this tactic of trying to delegitimize a duly elected political opponent is not just a vulgar attack on another political party – in this case the NDP – but an attack on our form of government. It calls into question the foundations of our very democracy by suggesting that in spite of following the letter and spirit of the law, the result is still unlawful.”
Anderson said Canada has one of the most respected forms of government in the world, “responsible for maintaining an orderly transfer of power between parties since B.C. entered Confederation in 1871.”
Kyllo’s comments, said Anderson, are an attack to the process.
“I can understand why one relatively inexperienced MLA might have an irresponsible slip of the tongue, twice, on a published video,” said Anderson. “But to have that irresponsible statement endorsed and further disseminated by the interim leader of a Canadian political party is frankly outrageous.
“Neither I nor the BC Conservative Party are happy with the fact that B.C. is once again under an NDP government. But we live in Canada, not in a banana republic, and I suggest that the BC Liberals try to remember that and behave with a little more decorum.”
Anderson is currently a councillor for the City of Vernon.
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