By Lorne Eckersley
Consider the election of Darryl Plecas as Speaker of the BC Legislature as one giant step forward for the NDP-Green Alliance and a giant step back for those who would prefer Canada not stumble into the same pigsty that we witness daily in American politics.Sure, this week’s naming of a Liberal MLA to the post is a boon to the government and a slap in the face to the opposition. But, beyond that, it is one more example for the cynical, beleaguered voter to feel even more distrusting of politics and politicians.
According to the on-line news source The Tyee, Plecas said this to The Province’s Mike Smyth only a few months ago: “The notion of us (the Liberals) putting up someone for Speaker under the current circumstances is ridiculous. In fact, I would go further to say that it would be an outright manipulation of the democratic process.”
After apparently having told his own party that he would not accept the position if offered, he now says that he was pushed into saying so by former premier Christy Clark. That statement might have been an easy sell if he was the Stanley Knowles of the BC legislature, so highly regarded that he seemed above the down and dirty of politics. But his abandonment of the Liberal party (formally, he was given the boot, but no sane person would have doubted for a second that that would happen) is very little different than crossing the floor to join the other side.
The NDP and Liberals both now have 41 members and the three Greens give the new government some much welcome breathing room. The by-election to replace Christy Clark won’t have nearly the same drama now, because it won’t make much difference to the NDP-Green partnership’s chances of lasting until Premier John Horgan thinks it’s safe to call another election to try for an outright majority.
The bigger problem, though, is that Plecas can now be seen as just another pig at the trough, looking to get a job he says he has dreamed about, and getting a hefty pay raise, too.
“I was elected as a Liberal,” Plecas told reporter Tyler Olsen of the Abbotsford News in June. “It would be very disrespectful of me, very dishonourable, for me to do what would in effect be crossing the floor.” (As reported by the Vancouver Sun’s Vaughn Palmer.)
And, technically, he did not “cross the floor”. He did not resign from the Liberals and he did not join the NDPs or Greens. But I doubt that a cynical voter will worry about those little details. In taking a job he had said he would not take, Plecas becomes just another liar, I am sure the cynics will conclude.
I wonder how the voters of Abbotsford who walked into the booth on election day and put their mark beside Plecas’s name feel today. He says this is a great move for his constituents, but I don’t know how that argument squares with having won an election under one banner and then taking a job that helps prop up a government made up of the opposing side.
Like most British Columbians, I suspect, I know nothing about Darryl Plecas except what I have read in the past few days. He would appear to be well qualified for the Speaker’s position and he no doubt has friends and family who love him. But I think he has done a disservice to anyone’s notion that politics is an honourable place for honourable people.
As I read though various news sites on this subject, I happened upon praybc.com, a web site devoted to prayers for BC MLAs. I had to scroll down quite a long way, but eventually did find one citing Dr. Darryl Plecas. My guess is that he is going to need all the prayers he can get in the next election.