ambition

I've been following closely Christy Clark's interest in becoming Mayor of Vancouver. A year ago, under the shadow of a scandal that might have implicated her, she quit the legislature saying that she wanted to spend more time with her young son. This announcement came mere days before the announcement of the preliminary results of a police investigation that involved a search of her husband and brother's offices.

A year later, she has not been implicated in anything. Suddenly, however, her desire for public service has returned. She wants to become mayor, not of the municipality of where she lives, but of the largest city in the province, a position that has traditionally been a stepping stone to the Premier's office.

Yet, not a question has been raised about the apparent clash between her idea of wanting to stay with her family and her political goals. What has changed? Has her young son grown up so much in the past year that he no longer requires her constant attention, granted I have little experience in raising children, but is there such a difference between a three year old and a four year old that this is the only year in a child's development that requires her undivided eyes and ears.

Perhaps, now that she has not been implicated in the police investigation it's safe to put her political ambitions back on track. Was she frightened that the police would find something last year?

The tactics going on in the NPA are the same that I saw in the hijack of the liberal party 10 years ago. The sudden flooding of membership forms, far too many to be adequately audited by part time volunteers, the bending of the rules to allow a "winnable" candidate to enter the race. It all hearkens back to a dark time when I saw an organization that I worked so hard to put into government taken over by, what I called at the time, "an assortment of snakes and weasels". Granted, the Non Partisan Association has never been an organization of sterling integrity, but even their old time members have to be standing back, shaking their head and wonder what's going on.