BC Politics with Hubert Beyer

VICTORIA -- B.C. politics, never dull to start with, just got a little more exciting. Gordon Wilson says his Progressive Democratic Alliance and the B.C. Reform Party are "exploring the options" of working together.

Wilson didn’t say it, but the most interesting option would undoubtedly be a full merger of the two parties.

On the surface, neither party amounts to much. Wilson is the only sitting member of his party, and Reform has two members in the legislature. Even together, they would be one seat short of official party status.

So why even talk about forming either a loose alliance or merging the two rump parties? Because opinion polls show that there is a political vacuum which neither the NDP nor the Liberals appear to be able to fill.

In a recent poll, the Reform Party came in first, followed by the Liberals, with the NDP trailing both. And that’s without a leader. It’s obvious from these figures that the public wants a party other than the Liberals and the NDP to play a role in B.C. politics.

Some of the public support for Reform is probably a spill-over from the federal Reform Party, even though the two have little in common, other than the name. But that doesn’t account for a leaderless party to claim first place in opinion polls. There has got to be more to it.

Wilson says his phone has been ringing off the hook, people telling him that the Liberals don’t have what it takes to be an effective opposition and take on the NDP in the next election.

"They are telling me we had better get our act together, and I’m sure the Reformers are getting the same message."

What Wilson says is true. The Liberals have been the most ineffective opposition that

ever graced the legislature. They have the numbers, they have a few bright people, but they just don’t seem to have the wherewithal to ride herd on the government and show the public that they’re worthy of eventually becoming the governing party.

The Liberals are the only party I’ve ever seen that managed to turn the daily Question Period into a mine field for themselves. They are the only party I’ve ever seen that dislikes the media. Usually, an opposition’s way to power is through careful manipulation of the media. The NDP knew exactly how that game worked. The Liberals don’t have a clue.

And while being without a leader doesn’t seem to diminish public support for the Reform Party, having a weak leader certainly harms the Liberals. Gordon Campbell is at the root of the Liberals’ problems.

How sweet it must be for Wilson to see the man who replaced him as leader of the Liberal Party to fail so badly.

And how much sweeter it must be for Wilson to contemplate the possibility of leading a merged Reform-Alliance party and kick butt in the next election.

Jack Weisgerber and Richard Neufeld, the two sitting Reform MLAs, have, I’m sure, serious doubts about working with Wilson, let alone for him.

Wilson likes to say that it was the Howe Street Boys in Vancouver who knocked the slats out from under him and replaced him with Campbell as leader of the Liberal Party, but that’s only partly true.

Wilson has an authoritarian streak in him that got him into trouble as leader. A colleague of mine said the other day that Wilson can only lead a one-man caucus, but he has plenty of smarts. And maybe he has learned from his mistakes.

Wilson is the best parliamentarian in the legislature. He would bring a lot of talent and style to an alliance of the two parties. And if he eventually manages to become leader of that alliance, so be it.