I know you have October 19 of this year marked on your calendar. I don’t mean the calendar hanging on your fridge or the small size one that’s somewhere in your purse or wallet and that you see so often that it doesn’t register anymore.
No, I mean the one you keep under your pillow, with the real important dates like birthdays and anniversaries. You just couldn’t let yourself forget the day of the next provincial election!
Now I know that this election won’t be as critical to most of us as some in the past have been. You may not have had many birthdays, maybe not even any, by the time 1945 came along, as I had not, youngster that I am, but the ’45 election was a barnburner. It was the first time that the word ’coalition’ became a real word in BC politics.
Just like it will be in the ’24 election.
In case you haven’t noticed, two of the non-NDP parties are trying to get together, again here in ‘24, to defeat the NDP. That might sound like a fool’s errand, but it worked in ’45. And in ’49. Then in ’52, coalition politics really kicked into high gear with the first victory of Social Credit under W.A.C., or as he came to be known, ‘Wacky’Bennett.
And as you watch the weeks unfold between now and October 19, what you will be seeing is an attempt by the two non-NDP parties to re-form Social Credit, just with a different name. Social Credit, you see, was one of the most successful coalition parties and governments in the free world’s history. Started in Alberta in 1936, it would move into BC in ’52 and dominate BC politics for the next forty years, first under Wacky, then under ‘MiniWAC,’ Bill Bennett Jr.
So when you hear of Kevin Falcon of the BC United Party, really the Liberal Party, and John Rustad of the BC Conservative Party talking about forming a coalition, or not talking about it, what it’s really all about is trying to snatch political power back away from the NDP. And since it has worked before why not do it again? Especially since it worked in the one instance for forty years, the forty years of Social Credit.
It’s probably also even reasonable to wonder why they wouldn’t just use the Social Credit banner? Perhaps reasonable, but in this day and age of ‘branding’ wouldn’t it be a little bit like hooking up with an old boyfriend, or Ford bringing back the Edsel? No, things have to be new these days, an old horse just wouldn’t do it.
But in looking to what will do it, with the split in political history and the loyalty between free enterprise and democratic socialism in our province, we know one thing, if the Liberals and Conservatives don’t get together, they’ll both be bridesmaids.
In lots of ways, I suppose it doesn’t matter as much these days as it might have in earlier years. Many of the possible great political errors that could have been made which might have destroyed our province or country have probably been made, either here or in some foreign land for us to see.
No matter which party is elected, health care will always be its number one priority. And even if some party could give us a 100% best government, we would survive under one that gave us 80%, just maybe not as well. So a provincial election now is all about that other 20%, or whatever that number really is. When I was in school all we needed to pass was 50%. I know that well because my grades were usually in that neighbourhood!
But in the real world, why settle for 50 or 80 percent. Why settle for low employment when there could be more jobs? Why settle for half the doctors graduating from our medical schools when we could have more. Why settle for fewer four-lane highways when we could have more?
Jim Chabot was our MLA for 23 years. He was elected seven times. Near the end of every political meeting he would usually work in the question “who do you want to manage your affairs?”
That’s what October 19 is all about.
Our affairs!
So if you haven’t marked it on your calendar already, grab your Sharpie.
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Duane Crandall is a former publisher of the Golden Star (1982-1986) and the Golden News (1992 – 2003). He served as MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke from 1986 – 1991.
