Comments on: Is the BC NDP Up to the Task?

By: Task mastery? | BC Vote

Task mastery? | BC Vote — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:16:32 +0000

[...] Eye Radio, Simon Fraser University public policy analyst Doug McArthur joins us to discuss why he thinks the provincial New Democrats aren’t up to the task of “acting as a public check on [...]

By: doug

doug — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:06:05 +0000

I agree that Jenny has not always been that effective. But I don’t know how one can fail to recognize the incredible achievements of Joy MacPhail as leader of the opposition against an overwhelming wall of government members who did everything possible with rules changes, finances and personal abuse to shut her down. But she got the message through and took the opposition NDP from near oblivion to a real threat again to the Liberals. I can think of no other equal situation in Parliamentary history. The NDP has never come close to duplicating that track record.

By: Dee

Dee — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:11:32 +0000

Nic – I checked out publiceye (after having not looked at it in over a year and having previously not been too impressed with it) and I’m surprisingly impressed with its new format. Still not too keen on Sean Holman, but I’ll give him a second chance and look forward to following his site.

Doug – you seem to be overlooking some rather obvious facts. Joy and Jenny garnered attention during their time together as Opposition Dynamic Duo in large part due to the sheer novelty of the two of them being the only two non-government party MLAs. Any two MLAs in such circumstances would have found it easy to get noticed. Vicki Huntington has also been garnering attention partly due to the sheer novelty of being the lone Independent MLA. Other examples abound across Canadian political history.

In saying that Jenny Kwan has been “relegated to a second tier position by this Caucus”, you seem to be giving her far more credit than she is due. After the 2005 election she was appointed to the very senior role of Finance critic – and was utterly mediocre. Likewise during her tenure as Economic Development critic (Will McMartin pointed out her failings in this role in a Tyee article a few months ago). Your colleague Paddy Smith criticized her dismal failure as Municipal Affairs Minister to bring in much-needed municipal campaign finance reform – and in response to such (more than legitimate) criticism she blamed her staff! That’s just tasteless. Whatever happened to the “buck stops here (- i.e. with the Minister)”? I myself have met her twice in the past and was less than impressed. Among several things, I found her to be a bad listener.

By: doug

doug — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:06:55 +0000

Paul:

I think we can all agree that Joy was the heart and soul of that opposition. So that is part of the explanation. But to be fair to Jenny, I also think she has be relegated to a second tier position by this Caucus. I do wonder if she has ever actually been seriously asked how she and Joy did it, for instance – in a true learning and listening way. That information alone would be pure gold.

Doug McArthur

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:07:31 +0000

What puzzles is why, once Joy MacPhail left, Jenny Kwan hasn’t shone more.

By: Nic Slater

Nic Slater — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:33:54 +0000

Dee, I can’t claim to follow question period or the Sun & the Province. But I do follow Sean Holman and I find his site to be very much more informative of the legislature’s happenings than any other source in BC. Public Eye was recently revamped and is much more informative than before. In particular the Twitter feed on the side, where he has Tweeted several links to this site.

Internet based articles and media sites have far better writing than the MSM can now compete with. The problem is that we need more writers to go directly to the source as you have done.

By: Dee

Dee — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:50:54 +0000

I agree with Nic’s comment that “you would assume to know what the NDP has done based on media reports” because that’s precisely what you and others seem to be doing. I’m probably one of the few “ordinary British Columbians” who has the extra-ordinary habit of watching Question Period (for roughly the past 2 years) and I am often impressed with the work that Carole James and her Caucus do in the legislature. And I am frequently astonished by what doesn’t get covered in the news.

You make the comment that “one bright spot is the work of Jonathon Fowlie of the Vancouver Sun, who shows some of the spark once common to BC reporters and columnists” and in doing so hit the nail on the head of a serious problem we have in this province – namely, the very poor quality of reporters and columnists (the only exception being Vaughn Palmer).

We have terrible media in this province and that was reinforced for me after watching this past election campaign. Listening to guys like Keith Baldrey, Jim Beatty and Sean Holman to name but a few is often excruciatingly painful – they are SO BORING! An average voter can’t learn much if anything from them and who would want to. It is also quite disturbing to read reporters like Shachi Kurl basically shrugging shoulders at the rise of “infotainment” (as she did in the Sun back in July in one of the worst articles I’ve ever read by a so-called “journalist”) – no wonder people are turning off and tuning out when people responsible for covering politics in this province have attitudes like that.

I’m not ready to write off Carole James and the NDP Caucus just yet (many people did exactly that to Manitoba’s Gary Doer after his third election loss in 1995 and well look what has happened since) but I’m definitely ready to write off most of BC’s reporters and columnists. It’s quite clear and has been for some time that many of them aren’t up to snuff and aren’t doing their jobs. Maybe it’s time to start demanding that they be elected and held accountable given the important role media plays in a democracy?

Oh and Doug: you spelled Jenny Kwan’s name incorrectly.

By: Nic Slater

Nic Slater — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:57:21 +0000

Living in Delta South where we attempted to recall Val Roddick, we are all stingingly aware of those difficulties. We had enough signatures, but they disallowed a massive number of those. How can we prevent the fox that is already in the hen house from escaping by tricking us yet again?

By: doug

doug — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:47:50 +0000

I don’t mean so much to give the NDP credit as to ask what it can do. I agree that the current state of the NDP raises doubts, as I indicate in the posting. So far as recall is concerned, it doesn’t have a chance unless a lot of resources and organization is put into it. I too puzzle over who would do that. I can’t be a purely partisan effort if it is to be credible, and the legislation sets a pretty high bar for success.

Thanks for your comments.

Doug McArthur

By: Nic Slater

Nic Slater — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:05:56 +0000

Doug, your point is well taken, but my sense is that you are giving too much credit to BCNDP in its current state. On the one hand, you would assume to know what the NDP has done based on media reports, as most of the rest of us do on a daily basis. On the other, there is always this attempt to spin the public’s perception by the Gov’t in power, the media’s bias and the opposition’s bias.

So a more important question to ask is how much of what we hear, see and read is accurate? Your post comparing BC politics to Afgan politics, I think, was more relevant to our situation politically here in BC. On balance, what is the difference between outright lying and manipulation by our gov’t? In our case I would think none, and how does the opposition counter, after the fact (the election), this obvious manipulation? Recall. How? Haven’t a clue. But your now being part of the “new media” is an excellent start in the right direction.

Your articles should be front page in the MSM.

Thanks

Nic