NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge

“THE NEWCOMER to the throne, Gordon Campbeii, sat stone-faced in his royal box during Wilson's
"> speech at the Liberal leadership convention.

LIBERAL, ‘CONVENTION ANALYSIS

What if they gave a leadership
convention and nobody came?

: “We are here wid it is now. Further
-- than that all human knowledge is
moonshine. 11.L. Mencken.

By A.P. McCredie .
_. News Reporter:

THE HERE. and now came
* crashing: down on Gordon Wilson
‘fast weekend in.a chandelier-filled
ballroom at the Hyatt Regency in
downtown Vancouver.
The final fibre-optic taily at the
r - provincial . Liberal leadership con-
vention had: Vancouver Mayor —
-and: “four-month -: Liberal
member: — ‘Gordon Campbell a

“first-ballot“winner in the seven-
» candidate bid for leadership of the -

official Opposition.

Leadership ‘conventions - are
historically painted as politics at
its rawest, with thick .brushstrokes
of:.last-minute, backroom

allegiances ‘filling out ; the: leaders-.

hip landscape.. “ .
The’ Liberal. ‘convention was
.:paint-by-numbers: Or, more ac-
urately, phone-by-numbers.
“The. much ballyhooed,
emocracy-at-your-fingertips
‘tele-vote “.system performed ad-

‘mirably on Saturday - morning,
though ‘a 30-minute. extension
caused ‘Wilson to raise the accusa-

‘tion’ of fraud in’ his own party.
The straws were running out, and
- Wilson grabbed hard.

The. real action, ‘at: the conven-
tion. took : place on Friday nigat,

" sspeech night.

‘* With. the majority of voting
members. ensconced comfortably
in their homes, TV remote in one
hand, a telephone in the other, the

-. seven candidates took to the stage
-for their,20 minutes of air-time in

‘front of a live audience that con-

sisted mostly of sycophantic sign

. wavers, and bored looking jour-

party.

nalists. (Or is that backwards?)
The convention room had been
transformed into divided territory,
with the Campbell clan housed in
a royal box-like area, smiling and
waving to friends and supporters
— a group that more resembled a
country club mixer than political

- gadflies,

Gibson, the runner-up, had a
giant billboard-like structure with
his name in flashing neon at the

‘top. The setup had a high school
_ science fair look about it.

The final Gordon was perched
in the. far corner of the hall —

serving penance? —- surrounded .

by friends, family and curious
stares.

Talk on the convention floor -
‘prior to the’ speeches. focused on

how many Socreds had flocked to
the Campbell side of the now
right-leaning party, but a scan of
the crowd found no white belts or
white shoes. The conspiracy-
minded might point to the faceless
tele-vote system ‘as a. way of

dropping, mercenary-like, Socreds
- through the faceless fibre optics.

I was having ‘none of it until

‘word came following the Saturday

morning vote that some members
in the hinterland had: been at-
tempting to. tele-vote with rotary
dial phones. Smelled like Socreds
te me.

At 8:51 p.m., Wilson, the phi-
losopher king who had taken the
Liberals from obscurity to the of-
ficial Opposition, took the stage
for his swan song.

After thanking “‘the true and
faithful leadership”? in the party,
his mother, his father, his son,
Wilson railed that he wanted ‘‘to

“make sure the party is not hi-

jacked and taken in the wrong
direction.””

Wilson’s attempt to intoxicate
the Liberals with his lofty rhetoric
and philosophical! leanings had an

almost sad and hollow ring to it as
the country club crowd of Camp-
bell supporters sat stone-faced,
their minds reeling to recall that
college philosophy course.

After polite applause for
Wilson, Campbell took the stage
to the strains of the Proclaimers’
song ‘1 would walk 500 miles,’
and to the chant, ‘'9.4-6-
CAMPBELL!” (referring to the
tele-vote code for Campbell).

Promising a balanced budget in
Vistoria, Campbell broke the one
golden rule of speech -making
(other than picturing your .au-
dience naked).

He played to half the room. His
half.

Without once turning his. head

towards the Wilson and. Gibson’

Campbell told the
flock, “there is nothing for
nothing anymore,’’ a sentiment
mel with approving head-nodding
and sign-waving.

Perhaps the one moment that
summed up the politics of the
convention was when Campbell,
having just been crowned King
Liberal, invited Liberal MLAs to
take the stage.

Renegade party member David
Mitchell — MLA for West Van-
couver-Garibaldi —- leapt out of
self-imposed exile to grab and
wildly shake the hand of Camp-
bell, taking his place beside the
new leader of the provincial Lib-
eral party.

Wilson’s feigning disbelief in
how he lost control of the party is
a mere sidebar to this convention.

The real story is that present
day, here and now, politics have
everything to do with image, and
little to do with the moonshine of
philosophy and ideology.

All bets are off.

supporters,

_See page 10 for more conyen-
tion coverage.

EAT

Inyengar Yoga in a Fine Studio

, OPEN HOUSE 5

5-7 PM SEPT. 14 & 16

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Wednesday, Saptember 15, 1993 - North Shore News - 8

Standards for a
Changing Workplace

You are invited
to a public hearing

The Employment Standards Act governs

minimum standards in the workplace and sets

the rules for hours of work, payment of wages,
vacations and terminations. An employment
standards advisory committee has been appointed
by the British Columbia government to review the
Act and hear your ideas. A hearing is scheduled for:

Time:
Date:
Place:

9 am to 9 pm
September 29, 1993
Inn at Westminster Quay,

900 Quayside Dr., New Westminster

We need input about flexibility in the

workplace, who should be covered by the Act,
family and social responsibilities, ways of
improving compliance and emerging standards.

To book a speaking time call 660-9940. Or your
views may be submitted in writing by September 29

to:

Commissioner Mark Thompson
Employment Standards Review
Parliament Buildings

Victoria, B.C. V8V 1X4

Ministry of Labour and Consumer Services,
Hon. Moe Sihota, Minister

Ted White, Candidate
North Vancouver |

| Herb Grubel, Candidate
Capilano-Howe Sound

I'LL NEVER VOTE REFORM |

A friend of mine, returning last
week from a month in Holland,
asked a customs officer at Vancouver
International Airport whether the
election had been called. “1 don’t
think so,” was the reply, “but I don’s
_take any notice of politics.”

Although the conversation went no
further, it was clear that if this per-
son bothers to vote,at all, it will
probably be based on something like

ow her family has traditionally
voted.

This is very disturbing for someone
like myself who has become so aware
that a New Zealand style debt crisis
could happen in Canada in the near
future. | am always sad to come
across such a lack of interest in how
the country is governed.

Those who refuse to budge from the
way they, and their fathers and
grandfathers before them, have
always voted, are unwittingly con-
tributing to our problems. They form
a “compliant mass” who quietly
‘accept higher taxes, loss of jobs, and
a deteriorating criminal justice sys-
tem. Each election they vote again
for the same old parties even though
the promises are always broken and
the MPs ignore their input.

It requires strength and conviction
to break free of the “complaint
mass” to criticise what is being done

to our country by those fresently i in
power. It takes an open rind to find
practical solutions to the problems.

If you are a traditional 4 foter who has
managed to read this far, | ask you to
look within yourself,for the reasons
why you cling to the old line parties.
Have you ever really thought abour
it?) Are you part of the “compliant
mass”?

We are ata crossroads in Canada.
The tuming we choose can lead us
to a new Canada where voters have
a voice, where governments live
within their means, and where MPs
actually listen co and vote their con-
stituents’ wishes in Parliament. Or
we can go down the same old well
worm road that we know so well. It
doesn't take courage to choose that
toute because there are no policies
to study and no questioning of old
beliefs.

But in £993 the old road has become
a little too well worn. Even those
loyal to the route can see the pot-
holes and are ccnsidering taking the
new road.

If you do nothing else this election,
please chink about exploring the
new road, We have a clear and well
thoughr out map and we are willing
to share it with you.

Ted White, North Vancouver

Authorized by Vic Bennington, Officral Agent fe Tad White