All the New Democrats had to do was sit back and watch the Liberals continue to unravel, and they probably would have been a lock to win the next election in 2013. After all, the NDP are leading in the polls, but after last weekend's party discourse and infighting, we're having serious doubts whether the NDP could run a successful garage sale, let alone this province.
On Saturday, with James' leadership on the line, 84 per cent of the NDP's provincial council defeated a motion that called for a leadership convention to be called in 2011. The final vote was 97 members against the motion and 18 voting in favour - including Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons.
But it didn't just end with a vote against by Simons. Our MLA allegedly got into a heated exchange with fellow MLA Mabel Elmore, in which Simons pointed his finger at her and asked, "Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?" - all of which was witnessed by Global TV's Keith Baldry, who reported what he saw on Saturday's 6 p.m. newscast. Simons called media reports inaccurate, stating he wished the party's infighting would have stayed private inside of going public.
We ask what Baldry has to gain by reporting this - nothing - so we find it hard to believe that his account of Saturday's proceedings is entirely inaccurate. And if our MLA truly wanted to keep things private instead of public, he should have answered reporters' questions in a respectful manner rather than offering up a terse, "That's a fair question, but it's fair to say I'm not talking about that," which was shown on the 6 p.m. newscast, or the quote provided to The Province's Michael Smyth in his Sunday column, when Smyth asked why Simons was not wearing a yellow scarf, as James' supporters were wearing: "I'm not putting a noose around my own neck."
Simons told the Powell River Peak that he wasn't offered a scarf to wear, but that's a pretty flimsy statement, isn't it? If Simons truly wanted to wear a scarf, he could have put one on.
In saying all of this, we're just surprised and disappointed with the way our MLA conducted himself. We have always known Simons to be respectful to the media, and the optics of how he was portrayed last weekend just don't reflect that respect. We know this was a volatile situation, but it quickly spiralled out of control, and our MLA should accept the blame for his part of it.
All we ask is that he get his house in order before laying the blame on others and act like the mature and professional politician the residents of this riding voted for.
