Emerson not sharpest knife

David Emerson is fond of looking stunned when visible opposition to his undemocratic appointment is about. One of his enduring communications strategies (“spin”) has been to portray himself as above politics and thus appear to be immune from political criticism. Speaking on CTV‘s Question Period in February he famously said:

The truth of the matter is, when I came into politics I came in as a Paul Martin Liberal, I was not a political person. I’m still not much of a political person, as perhaps you can now tell . . . . I’m not the sharpest political knife in the drawer, I quite freely admit that. David Emerson

Anyone who follows BC politics knows that line is utter rubbish.

Emerson has a lengthy political pedigree dating back decades in this province. He’s been connected through ideology and employment to the Socreds and thus the BC Liberals for a very long time. His career has benefited from those connections. And since Emerson made it to the federal scene, its payback time.

David Emerson and Kim Campbell were both advisors to former BC Premier Bill Bennett back in the 80’s. More recently, several weeks ago Campbell came out of the European weeds to offer her support to Emerson on a CKNW radio show. Political chits are being called in from the BC gang.

Emerson was also a senior deputy minister in BC twice, first as Deputy Minister of Finance under Bennett and then as Deputy Premier in the government of Bennett’s successor, Bill Vanderzalm. No one gets these jobs unless they are simpatico with the government’s ideology and policy objectives, and as a former policy advisor to a BC Premier, Emerson had a role in shaping those policies.

John Reynolds, self-admitted intermediary between Harper and Emerson, was also a BC Socred cabinet minister and served on the province’s Vancouver International Airport committee before returning eventually to the federal political scene. After taking the top job at crown corporations BC Ferries and BC Trade Development Corp, Emerson went on to head YVR airport too.

Reynolds is arguably the most powerful federal Conservative today in BC despite having retired as a parliamentarian. Campbell is a former Prime Minister. Former Premier Vanderzalm is a supporter and was out at last Friday’s event. Emerson singled out his former boss, drawing parallels between him and Zalm and calling himself a “walking scar”, presumably referring to Zalm’s Fantasy Gardens ordeal. Another political chit collected.

For every one of these public figures there are tied to them literally hundreds of other back-room operatives and supporters, many of whom have their own political agendas and aspirations.

With so many current and historical lines, dotted or otherwise, linking many of our current political players both in front of the cameras and in back rooms, its not surprising that few Conservatives are willing to stand up and speak openly against the undemocratic appointment of Emerson.

After all, speaking out in favour of truth and justice is a career limiting move.

I’ve always felt that Emerson was a likely candidate to take over from Gordon Campbell as BC’s Premier. Mentioned it here. Note to current and aspiring politicians – regular Canadians have the ability to end political careers, as we are proving here.