The political scene is supposed to slow down in the summer but last week’s torrid pace of events, some big and some small, was a reminder that with an election campaign set to begin in two months things will remain active.
Where to begin?
How about the musings of one Andrew Weaver, the former B.C. Green Party leader, who took to social media to criticize Premier David Eby’s leadership style? After a series of tweets on X (formerly known as Twitter), various news outlets approached him for interviews.
That is when things got weird.
Weaver, a Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist, stunned many when he talked about turning his support over to the B.C. Conservative Party and its leader John Rustad, who says climate change is “not a crisis” and is critical of “scare tactics” used by those who think it is.
The B.C. Conservatives certainly have a flair for attracting people who denounce them one minute and embrace them the next. Weaver’s flirtation with a party on the other side of the argument that put him on the political map comes after Elenore Sturko, who is gay, defected to the Conservatives from B.C. United just months after calling on Rustad to “make an unequivocal apology” for saying homosexuality is a “lifestyle.”
While all this was being digested, along came news that the B.C. United Party had hired Mark Werner as their campaign manager. Almost instantly, pictures appeared on social media showing him posing in a picture with Donald Trump Jr., prompting the NDP to issue a news release denouncing the party’s continued “hard right shift.”
The United caucus appears not to have been consulted about the hire, but one of their MLAs did point out to me that when it came to links to Trump, the B.C. Conservatives can also be included in the conversation.
The party’s executive director, Angelo Isidorou, appears in a photo published by The Tyee some time ago that shows him wearing a MAGA hat at a pro-Trump rally.
Moving on, two-term B.C. United MLA Michael Lee suddenly announced he wouldn’t be seeking re-election, bringing down the number of party incumbents down to just 10 (and counting).
Lee said he had a waiting job with an AI company and decided to make the jump. He is a well-regarded and well-respected MLA but I wonder whether new changes to his Vancouver-Langara riding’s boundaries might have also played a role in his decision.
What used to be a very safe B.C. Liberal seat is now a very competitive one with the NDP and with the B.C. Conservatives also running a candidate there I doubt Lee would have been re-elected anyways.
Finally, the NDP had to put out a brush fire set when provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry released a study recommending that hard drugs be made available on a widespread non-prescription basis.
Even though the NDP government was quick to dismiss the recommendation, it allowed both the B.C. Conservatives and B.C. United to revive the whole hard drug issue that has plagued the NDP in recent months until it put the brakes on the decriminalization experiment.
Like I said, a busy week. With an election around the corner, perhaps we won’t get that traditional summer slowdown after all.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.
