No one
expected the District of Virginia Waters to be a cakewalk for any of the Candidates
and it wasn’t. Still, a 40 vote margin
of victory by Liberal Cathy Bennett must feel like Everest climbed. In so doing, she has executed an almost
miraculous repetition of the Harbour Grace-Carbonear byelection. She has proven beyond a doubt there are no safe
Tory seats in the Province.
It is a
tough loss for Danny Breen; he deserves our congratulations, as does Sheilagh O’Leary.
But it is
the Liberal Party’s and Cathy Bennett’s victory. She has confirmed that a quiet political
revolution, one insistent and possibly inexorable, is working its way through
the political fabric of the Province.
The Liberals are coming!
Still, there
is finality to every democratic vote.
Likely, the Tories long ago forgot that it is also within the purview of
the voters to be arbitrary.
Many people
will want to read the entrails of this byelection. I have the following observations:
The first is
that Kathy Dunderdale has likely buried the P.C. Party for a generation; though
she is gone the sorry Administration that supported her and her unwise,
unyielding and unsuccessful style of leadership remains.
Who is not relieved
that one of the worse budgetary examples of ‘buy the voter with their own money’
did not succeed as a viable strategy in Virginia Waters?
Indeed, that
the Government was content to announce a review of Bill 29, offer a Committee
and nothing else, as it sought effusive praise for that mere gesture, is proof of
its vacuous calculations and its limited moral capacity.
The
Committee on Oversight of Muskrat Falls constituted an even worse
deception. Four busy senior public
servants, lacking time, expertise or external qualified support are asked to
act as camouflage for the $7.7 billion Project.
The public was expected to buy in. How stunned do they think people
really are! Yes, the media lapped it up
and promptly forgot the issue. No credit
is due them. But, a more expectant public
were not quite so impressed. No one
likes to be played for a fool.
I sense the
people of Virginia Waters saw in Premier Tom Marshall’s pleasantries, smiles
and feel-good mutterings a level of hypocrisy that offended them; though he and
his predecessor have done that many times.
After three
years of egregious behaviour, bad attitude and unwise public policy, why would
the voters feel that the Government deserved anything but a severe public
lashing?
That is not
all.
The
byelection result cannot be viewed in its proper context unless one is reminded
that the Liberals have broken through what the Tories have long regarded as ‘Fortress’
St. John’s. They have beaten down the
doors of a region that, more than any, enjoys the very best of Tom Marshall’s
version of the “Golden Age”.
Only a few
months ago such a possibility was beyond imagining. The ‘fortress’ myth has been slayed; so has
any expectation that the Government’s credibility or poll numbers can rebound.
An
additional caution (especially to Tory MHA’s) deserves mention. You now have it on good authority that even
if Danny Williams slogs side-by-side with you, day-in day-out, he cannot win
you your Seat. The magic is gone. He is mortal, too, like the rest of us.
This is a
fellow who took possession of extra ordinary power, even having left the Office
of Premier. He demanded that Cabinet
Ministers and MHA’s perform his bidding and that he be permitted to choose his
own replacement and her successor, too. He
thought Newfoundland and Labrador his personal fiefdom. The residents of Virginia Waters have shown
him the door.
All Danny has
left is his swagger.
Sometime
before 9PM, last night, as the cold reality of what had occurred in Virginia
Waters descended, a chill must have run down the spine of neophyte politician
and likely Premier, Frank Coleman.
Losing is never pleasant.
But if Mr. Coleman
is as shrewd as his reputation affords, he will pay heed to the message of Virginia
Waters. He will eschew Mr. Williams as
mentor. He will craft an agenda of real
change; one that contains integrity, possessing hallmarks, not of deception as
is Tom Marshall’s wont, but of real leadership.
If he plans to waste the next twelve months, he should let us know.
Dwight Ball must
be both emboldened and relieved. He has maintained
the momentum his Party has built, even if it is in consequence of the
Government’s bungling. He is on a roll.
Perhaps his strategy of letting the Government fall on its own sword will work;
though that approach is very discouraging.
The NDP and
Lorraine Michael have a re-building job to do. We will check in with them, in due course.
The Tories
are a spent force.
They may
even lack the moral authority to govern.
A General
Election will clear the stench of miserable leadership.
The message
of Virginia Waters cannot be clearer.