Following the P.C. Party’s defeat in last
Tuesday’s two by-elections, one might have had some sympathy for Premier Davis
if he had not been part of the Dunderdale and Marshall Governments. Davis had an opportunity to deal with those
years of misrule. He didn’t.
Upon winning the Tory Leadership, Davis should
have dashed for the job, attempted to strike a different tone and set a new
agenda. Instead, he dallied on getting sworn-in, chose a politically
inexperienced Chief of Staff, made a balls of his new Cabinet, signalled the
wrong public policy priorities and proceeded to confirm he was happy with the Government’s
record.
Not having caused the current Session of the
House of Assembly to prorogue, he lost a strategic opportunity to assert
additional ideas for a ‘fresh’ image. He
overlooked the fact that the chief function of a Throne Speech is to signal innovation
and renewal to an expectant public.
Now, Davis enjoys (sic) three fewer Seats
together with the perception (perhaps, the reality, too) he has brought nothing
to the job. By-elections in Trinity-Bay de Verde and Humber East were lost with
margins larger than those that reported when Dunderdale and Marshall were in
Office. While he can’t take the responsibility for all the damage done by
Dunderdale, his leadership, to date, continues to be a drag on an
intellectually and financially impoverished Government.
Can Davis start over?
Not likely.
He has a narrow comfort
zone. He needs political expertise to compensate for his
own deficiencies; but Joe Brown is a paramilitary man with the skills required for
a command bureaucracy. The justice and court
house decisions do not speak to voter expectations, either.
Last week, Davis told the Telegram: “I’m never convinced that a byelection
is reflective of what the people of the province are looking for…”
One by-election loss may not be reflective of
much; but, three are. Seven losses equal a message shouted from the roof tops.
Former Finance Minister Charlene Johnson’s
comments to a CBC reporter, last Tuesday night, might have spoken to Davis’
malady when she expressed being “completely dumbfounded” over her father’s loss
in Trinity-Bay de Verde. Ms. Johnson said, “…she saw the pavement, fire trucks,
municipal infrastructure…this government did so much for these communities and
this is what happens in return…”
Johnson’s thinking is as archaic and as it is
offensive. It speaks to an attitude which infected the
Williams/Dunderdale/Marshall Cabinets and, because they constitute largely the
same crowd, infects Davis and his Cabinet, too.
For them the attitude is just ‘normal’. In spite of having presided over the best funded government in history, it is not infrastructure but 'attitude' that
is emblematic.
The Tories don’t realize that most of them
won their Districts on the coattails of Danny Williams. While Danny was an
arrogant showman, he had a talent for connecting with voters. Unfortunately, his admirers, including Davis,
failed to understand the limitations of his skill. They learned nothing about his ability to
connect; they merely cashed in on his unseemly cache. Voters may have interpreted Williams’ arrogance
as bravado. But, in Dunderdale and the others,
the attitude had no camouflage.
That, in a nutshell, is the Tory
Administration’s undoing.
Voters love new pavement; they want to see
improvements in their communities and in government funded projects and
services. But such gains do not trump legitimate criticism, secrecy or
corruption.
The public may be less upset with Davis, personally,
than determined to chastise him for his predecessor’s sins. He had one
opportunity to make large and empathetic moves in an attempt to dispel their
ghosts. He tripped up at the start.
The upshot is that the public are eager to
embrace the Liberals; but not because they are ready with new ideas. In the absence of an alternative, the public
just feel safer with them.
What is Premier Davis to do?
Likely, the public don’t care as long as he
doesn’t get more reckless, as his woes are compounded. Falling oil prices have illuminated
the government’s irresponsible fiscal management; this third budget deficit, in
a row, is now in the range of $1 billion.
The Government’s real problem is not OPEC’s failure
to prop up an oil market, using monopolistic practices illegal here. It’s that drunken
sailors should have no role in fiscal policy.
Why?
Davis doesn’t ‘understand’ why the Government is unpopular. He doesn’t get it in the same way that Dunderdale and Marshall didn’t. Not understanding the problem means he is unable to fix it.
This Administration has earned a distain
reserved for the guilty. The public want the Tories gone.
Political Science Associate Professor Kelly Blidook
commented that Davis lacked the “moral authority” to continue. He may have a
point; though it will be the Caucus who will arbitrate if the Administration
will survive much longer. We will look for more defections and resignations.
One other thing is clear: if Davis stays on
the current path, not only his Caucus won’t win a Seat in the next general
election; he won’t win his own.
