Don't Write BC Liberals Off Too Quickly

(Aired on June 4, 2010)

Yesterday, Doug Collins tried to convince you that the BC Liberals are doomed when the next election comes around in 2013.  He said their gaffes are piling up to the point of absurdity.  While I agree with the latter statement, I cannot agree with the former. 

The Liberals are not doing themselves any favours these days.  Cuts to funding are going deep and to the wrong services, MLAs are showing remarkable flexibility in being able to put their feet in their mouths while having their heads buried somewhere else.  The Kash Heed scandal was a major gong show, and the jewel in the crown of shame for British Columbians is the Harmonized Sales Tax.

But let's remember, the election will not take place tomorrow, this fall, or even next year.  By the time we go to the polls, much - not all - but much will be forgotten.  And as I have said before, for the Liberals to fall, they have to have some decent competition.  The New Democrats have yet to show they can provide that.

All you have to do is look at the federal scene to see this principle in action.  The federal Conservatives are in power simply because they're the least of the evils in most Canadians' eyes.  Their competition, the federal Liberals specifically, haven't convinced the public that they are any competition whatsoever.  I'm not willing to predict victory or defeat for either party when the next provincial election campaign.  There's a long time before 2013, and there's a lot more than can go right, or wrong, before then.