Filibuster Cartoons
It was big news in British Columbia when, on November 3, 2010, after nearly a decade of rule, Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell announced he was finally resigning.
Though they had opposed the man tirelessly since he first became Liberal leader, the reaction of the BC New Democratic Party — British Columbia’s second-largest party — was not entirely celebratory. Premier Campbell had become an enormously unpopular man during his third term — according to some polls, the single most unpopular politician in Canada, in fact. His replacement by a new premier, someone younger and more dynamic, would present a new challenge for the opposition, who had grown use to running against the “Campbell record.”
Not running very successfully, however. Despite Campbell’s growing unpopularity, the NDP had lost three-back-to-back elections against the man, two of which were fought under leader Carole James, a former school board president who had only limited experience in provincial politics. Within the NDP, sentiment began to grow that if Mrs. James was the wrong woman to take on Premier Campbell then, she would certainly be the wrong person to take on his almost certain-to-be-more-popular successor in the future.
A loud and prolonged campaign of internal dissent began to brew in the BC NDP, with several high-profile members speaking out against Mrs. James, and her style of leadership. On December 5, 2010, nearly a month to the day Mr. Campbell resigned as premier, Carole James announced she was stepping down as leader of the BC New Democrats.
On April 17, 2011, members of the BC NDP will pick a new boss. Will that man go on to be BC’s next premier?
