In essence they were saying my democratic right, to choose the party I support, is irrelevant

A comment was made on social media yesterday (April 24) that because I and thousands of others like me, do not support the BC Christy Clark Party, then somehow we do not care about BC.  They went on to say that if did support her, then BC and the people would come first not the party (meaning our support for the BC Conservatives)

In essence, they were saying that MY democratic right to choose the party I support, and that best fits with my beliefs, is irrelevant.

This is the same talk as we hear from the BC Christy Clark Party. It is arrogance to the extreme and just one more example of why I personally cannot vote Liberal. I would spoil my ballot first, to show my disgust at the options presented, if I did not have a BC Conservative option.

That kind of arrogance doesn’t just come from supporters of the BC Liberals however … it that comes from the top down.  Here are the words of Christy Clark herself

"I am the leader of the free-enterprise coalition in this province and I'm going to lead us into the next election."

Chilliwack Liberal MLA John Les … lashed out at the Conservatives calling them spoilers.  “All parties on the centre right have to carefully consider the greater provincial good ahead of the specific good of any individual or party.”

Sorry John … but this is not a dictatorship, and in a democracy we have a right to choose the political party, and candidates, that best meet with our beliefs.

Meantime, in another interview, Christy Clark went on to say that she is not prepared to merge with the BC Conservatives. "I don't think British Columbians respond very well to back door deals.”

Well that’s an interesting comment to make, given calls that were made by BC Liberals right after the by-election, to some within the BC Conservative Party, as reported by the Victoria Times Colonist:

What are the B.C. Liberals actually saying when they phone up Conservative organizers and try to open up talks between the two parties?

Here’s an interesting account from a Times Colonist interview with Jeff Bridge, the Conservative party’s deputy campaign manager, who got a call from Premier Christy Clark’s chief of staff, Ken Boessenkool, around 9:30 a.m. Friday.

“They say they got a list of names from guys in the [Liberal] cabinet of people that are involved in the senior level of the Conservative party and want to know if we’d be interested in listening to them and working with them and avoiding a vote split in the next general election,” said Bridge. “In other words they want to merge the parties.”

Boessenkool didn’t have much to offer, said Bridge.  “He just said the leadership isn’t up for negotiation,” said Bridge, referring to B.C. Liberal Party leader and Premier Christy Clark.

A Vancouver Island Conservative party director, Al Siebring, declined to go into too much detail about his call from Boessenkool Friday, saying he’s an old friend.

“He inferred in the weeks or months ahead there might be some changes to the B.C. Liberal Party,” said Siebring.

The overtures to Conservative organizers are likely just beginning, with former federal Conservative MPs like Stockwell Day also apparently making the rounds to bring the two provincial parties together.

Here are two more examples (in a list of many) that have been expressed in recent days by political pundits in the news media:

Brian Kieran
… vote splitting is not the problem. It is simply the consequence of more than a decade of Liberal arrogance and presumption. It is the consequence of a decade long failure to adequately consult, a failure Clark will now repair. It is the consequence of consolidating power around the leader while ignoring the grassroots except when foot soldiers are needed for campaigns.

And from Max Cameron, in an article in the Tyee, “It is not enough to oppose the NDP bogeyman. That does not cut it with moderates or conservatives.  A centre that does not know where it stands will not hold in a polarizing party system.”

Thanks Max … I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Today I’ll wrap up by taking a look at the definition of ARROGANCE.  In part, arrogance is an attitude of "superiority" manifested in an "overbearing manner" or in "presumptuous claims", or "assumptions.

The BC Liberals are saying that there should be no other choice other than them.  Does that smack of arrogance to you?

I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops, with the thoughts of one conservative