After months of public scrutiny and backlash over questionable policies and decisions, Premier Gordon Campbell announced his resignation Wednesday morning.
Campbell has asked the B.C. Liberal Party executive to hold a leadership convention to select a new leader. Under party rules, the executive has 28 days to meet and can have up to six months to decide when they will hold that convention, but we hope it doesn't take that long. A new leader must be chosen as quickly as possible. There is too much at stake in this province to have a lame-duck leader at the helm. The debate over the harmonized sales tax (HST) aside (ultimately the final nail in Campbell's coffin) there are many more issues at play here; education, health care, better transportation and getting the economy back on track - all issues that have taken a back seat to the Liberals bungling of the HST.
Campbell made a last ditch plea to the public last week on Global B.C. where he spoke for 15 minutes about the merits of the HST and how much good it will do for the province. He used many graphs and charts to explain his rationale to the public, but sadly, those charts and graphs should have been used in the last election when Campbell and his Liberals should have been upfront and honest about their HST plans.
Had the Liberals done that, who knows what the political landscape in this province would look like today? Would Campbell have received the same public outrage had he been honest in the first place? Who knows? One thing we do know for certain is that Campbell's resignation was a long time coming.
Campbell served for more than 24 years in public office, if you count his time in municipal politics.
Whether you like the guy or not, you have to give him credit and thanks for the role he played and his contribution to this province. Politics is never easy. It is, for the most part, a thankless job with little recognition, so we join opposition leaders Carole James of the New Democrats and Jane Sterk of the Green Party in thanking Campbell for his service and for his personal and family sacrifices.
But it is time for a new person to lead. It's time for a new person with new ideas to help lead the Liberal party and maybe lead this province come the next election. Maybe it will be James and the New Democrats who take power. Maybe the Greens will make an impact. Only the voters can answer those questions.
One thing we do know is that Campbell's soup is finally finished, and that's a good thing for this province.
