Tuesday, January 11, 2011

A Chance At History

It is entirely plausible that Canada will soon have not one but two, female premiers, at opposite ends of the country. This would be the first time that Canada has had more than one female premier...trail blazers Rita Johnston of B.C. and Catherine Callbeck of P.E.I. having missed each other by months.

The clear win appears to be in Newfoundland and Labrador, where Kathy Dunderdale already has the job, having been named acting Premier when Danny Williams left. She has since been urged to run by what seems to be the entire PC Party of Newfoundland, and the St. John's Telegram reports that her only obstacle is a quixotic candidacy by a CFA (come from away) named Brad Cabana, who may not even fill out forms properly.

Though if his middle name is "Copa", one might be tempted to vote for him. All together now..."His name was Bradley, he was a Tory......"

The tougher race to call is in B.C., where Christy Clark seems to be the most popular candidate among the public, but has almost no caucus support. The BC Liberals use, as most parties now do, a pretty open leadership process, and veteran political watcher Michael Smyth thinks Clark has a good shot.

Whether the lack of caucus support haunts Clark in trying to reunite a gang left fractious by Gordon Campbell's final days is a different issue. Polls show Clark has the best chance to win, which is probably why parties like open leadership formats. After all, if you have to hide from the public to win the leadership, you probably aren't the best candidate to win an election.

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