May, 2014 - Bill Bennett’s MLA Column

NDP Leadership Race? May 4, 2014

When the BC NDP announced the search for a new leader, they promised an exciting race, full of new ideas that would move British Columbia forward. Well, they now have a new leader. But the rest? That never happened.

With the selection of John Horgan as leader, a colourful personality I admit, the NDP remains firmly stuck in the 1990s. No one else wanted the job, so Mr Horgan, a former adviser to two NDP Premiers from the Dismal Decade, will try to captain the NDP ship.
You’d be right if you are thinking it’s back to the future. The NDP is trying to put a new face on their tired Party with a guy from the 1990’s, hoping no one notices.

This is the second leadership process in a row where the only candidates interested in being leader are connected directly to the Decade of Decline. Mr Horgan, just like Adrian Dix, has been at the centre of the same ill-conceived economic policies for more than 20 years.

Expect Mr Horgan to say the things he thinks you want to hear. Like Adrian Dix, he’ll pay lip service to the economy. His very first event was a photo op with a hard hat; but beyond wearing a hard hat, he offered nothing to grow the economy or control spending.

The new leader is the latest in a long list of NDP leaders who don’t understand what drives our economy. He may say it forcefully. But like all NDP leaders before him, Mr. Horgan does not understand how you generate investor confidence and frankly, he and his Party are incapable of making the sometimes difficult decisions involving resource development. He’s also a master flip flopper, sometimes flipping on his first flop.

When it comes to LNG and extracting the resource from the ground, he has taken several positions: he supports it because we’ve been doing it for a long time but then demands a scientific review that he acknowledges could end with a moratorium and the end of the LNG opportunity.

When it comes to Kinder Morgan’s application, he was fine with waiting for the company to make its application; then he enthusiastically supported the Kinder Surprise, where the NDP abandoned any pretense of believing in a fair review; and now he’s saying the NDP position can be revised one more time. It’s tough to calculate how many flips and flops that actually adds up to!
On Site C? Horgan has taken so many positions it’s tough to keep track. He once said it himself: “I’ve taken many positions on Site C. That’s right.”

Quite simply, that’s not the leadership British Columbians need. We deserve straight answers, clear directions for a plan to make sure the province grows. And that’s what Premier Christy Clark is delivering.

The NDP may be interested in putting the band back together and playing their ‘greatest hits’ from the 1990s. But that’s not our approach as BC Liberals.

We’ve continued to move forward as we balance our budget, grow the LNG sector, reengineer skills training so British Columbians are first in line for jobs and make sure we can support the programs British Columbians need.

That’s what Premier Clark and all of us committed to a year ago. And we will deliver our vision through real action, not with empty words and ever-changing positions.

Sincerely,
Bill Bennett
 MLA for Kootenay East