The smell of waffles in the BC air

With a population still not totally convinced on the merits of its Premier, you would think that the time would be ripe for the BC NDP to start to formulate a bit of buzz about their leader and her policies.

As Premier Campbell begins the process of spreading the wealth , proclaiming the good word and paving the roads, the numbers are beginning to turn his way finally. Whether that success lasts will be interesting to watch, but for the moment the strategy seems to be working. While still not the most loved public official to ever call Victoria home, the Premier has been able to arrest the slide of his personal popularity, keeping the untested and relatively unknown Carole James at bay through the summer, into the fall and into an election year.

The strange strategy of the NDP peek a boo campaign, was on display today at radio station CKNW, Ms. James was a guest on the Bill Good show and managed to spend an hour in the studio and on the air without actually providing much information about how an NDP government may change the direction of public governance in BC. Much to the exasperation of host Bill Good, James continually advised that as “we get closer to the election, we’ll have a policy on that, make our views clear”. Til then one assumes we are just supposed to say oh hey, Carole has a plan it will all work out.

The Liberals had all sorts of problems at the start of this year, scandal nipped at their heels, the economy with the exception of the Lower mainland was still very much a basket case in the “heartlands” and the perception of the leader was less than reassuring for Liberals. However, if the latest Mustel poll is any indication the Campbell forces may have weathered the storm and the captain of the ship may actually survive to bring the ship into the electoral port.

The Vancouver and lower Mainland economy is chugging along nicely, parts of the heartland are coming around especially the North east portion of the province which contributes massive oil royalties and promises a rejuvenated minerals sector in aid to the provincial treasury. The lumber industry is still very much a troubled sector and in some places, the Northwest for example the economic indicators are not particularly positive for the short term.

Yet the NDP has offered no solutions, let alone policies on anything, we’re told to wait for the election when James and her forces will offer up something substantial. By then it may be far too late, they have wasted a valuable year, effectively giving the Liberals a free pass at their most vulnerable point. By not getting their leader more involved and the message out to the public they run the risk of once again finding themselves marginalized in the Legislature in the spring election.

The cause of the NDP mission is not served well by comments to wait until they announce their plans. The time to take a stand has arrived; the voters need to know what it is they would change, what they would keep the same and how they would be a viable change to the current government. It says on the NDP website that the countdown to change has begun, if so it's the quietest countdown in history! Don't let these folks run your New Year's Eve party, you may never know the calendar has flipped!

You can listen in to the CKNW archive (select Wednesday, 8:30-10 am for full coverage) to hear what waffling sounds like, like Good the average voter is getting rather frustrated waiting for the NDP to set some kind of course of action.

So far, this peek a boo campaign has only served to give comfort to Liberal election planners. By not engaging in serious debate of the issues, the NDP run the risk of being overtaken by events in BC. The telling tale for the NDP, the one thing that should give them cause for concern? It's only Six months before the next election (May 17th, 2005) and over 55% of the electorate have no opinion of the leader of the opposition. While the optimist will say at least they don’t hate her, the real fact is that she doesn’t even register, a fact that may be more damaging to her and her party on Election Day.