The entire exercise was a waste of time and filled with Christy's dodging and weaving, her nervous giggling and her empty platitudes.
Technically, since the legislature was prorogued, there was no need for a formal throne speech but nevertheless the premier has an obligation to inform all citizens of its plans in a neutral environment. Not all B.C. citizens could access the Bill Good show, and her former employer's flag ship was hardly neutral.
Familiar themes soon emerged from Christy's answers to Good's queries: It's not her fault. It was the previous government's policy; it's too late; it's too difficult to change; it's complicated; do people really want Dix? This broadcast should have come with air sickness bags.
Instead of offering what Clark was so quick to tout to the voters as her "fresh" approach to a moribund government, she made it clear to the listeners that she had nothing new to offer and that she was still stuck in the Liberal morass.
Clark tried to take credit for initiatives she had absolutely nothing to do with like the eight billion dollar shipbuilding contract (an essentially apolitical process), the family law collaborative divorce change (she was at 'NW), yet she tried to deny responsibility for things she was guilty of (see Community Living B.C. cuts) such as the gutting of the CLBC which started while Christy was Deputy Preem.
She was unable to answer how an internal review of recent community service cuts to the developmental handicapped could happen if her government didn't even know how many clients were waiting for help. Her response? "Exactly."
Her lame excuse for the glacial speed at which the HST is being handled was ridiculous, and she couldn't explain why it took 19 months for an HST freedom of information request to be released, despite her insistence that her government was a more "open" one.
When Good asked her why the delays for trials was longer than ever despite more judges and more money thrown at the problem, Clark replied, "I don't know..."
More than once an exasperated Bill Good exclaimed, "But you're the premier!"
Her most egregious bafflegab, however, occurred when she was asked by a caller about the unfairness of the Port Mann bridge toll. The caller explained that carpooling with a friend involved travelling over the Port Mann every day but since his partner was dropped off before the bridge he wouldn't be paying the extra $1500 dollars a year out of his disposable income, despite riding on the Highway 1's improved infrastructure.
"That was the previous government's policy," protested Christy. "But that was YOUR government!" a frustrated Good ejaculated.
Clark's unwillingness and inability to deal with the unfair tolls will come back to haunt her. Suburban communities, especially south of the Fraser will seethe with resentment over the tolls, while the Sea to Sky and North Shore bridges continue to be free for the privileged on their way to Whistler.
The answer, clearly, is to either eliminate tolls or make them more equitable. Vancouver could follow San Francisco's example when it comes to tolling. That region implemented $1 tolls on all seven state-owned bridges back in 1988 to pay for administration and maintenance costs of the infrastructure. The tolls have since risen to $5, with $3 paying for critical seismic upgrades to all bridges, and another $1 increase approved by voters to pay for a package of transportation improvements including BART extensions, new express buses, highway upgrades, and pedestrian and cycling facilities.
Adopting a similar model here would raise enough to invest in future transit, pay for a new Pattullo, create a third SeaBus, expand West Coast Express, and expand transit to UBC and Surrey just for starters. With this tolling model commuters would also think critically about their travel and routes creating fewer congested roads.
What isn't going to work is the pig-headed refusal by Christy and the Sycophants to ignore the tolling issue. Commuters' personal radiators will continue to boil over as they pay to sit in the snail trail of daily commutes.
Don't know if newly elected Diane Watts would abandon her job as mayor of Surrey to take over the Liberal leadership but if Christy's popularity continues to plummet or if (read "when") she loses the next election, watch for Watts to roll up her sleeves to tackle the Liberal mess.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls, Christy, it tolls for thee.
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