Mutiny on the Gordo, Part III

Victoria, B.C.
48° 39' West; 123° 26' West


If you were to pay attention only to the mainstream media including, sadly, the CBC, you might come to the conclusion that today's release of the report by the 'Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services' (warning: pdf) is an indicator that the SS Gordon Campbell has battened down the hatches in preparation for a concerted, all hands on deck, change of course.

But if you dig a little deeper, or read Schreck, you might come to a slightly different conclusion, especially given the fact that Joy McPhail was a contributor to the report.

Because clearly there are a significant number of Liberal backbenchers, particularly those outside the Lower Mainland, that are scared crapless about being thrown overboard come May 2005. As such, they are screaming for the skipper to ignore the owners of the Cruise Line, at least for the time being, and pull hard to port (ie. left) to save their skins. Why else would they say that:

"....the government spend more on a wide range of social programs, health care and education in the next provincial budget."

Of course, this type of talk is nothing short of mutiny for a Commander bent on the total dismantling of the social safety net.

So the question is, will Gordo keep up the Cap'n Queeg act, or does he order the Ferret to fire up the $30 million Whirlitzer and start doling out dollups of very little substance that do nothing but grab headlines without actually helping anybody or anything?

Call us cynics, but we figure our Fearless Leader, or more precisely his surely soon to be hired U.S. Republican battle-hardended Handlers, will surely find a way to bash social programs while simultaneously using them as a feel good success story in the run-up to the campaign.

Example.....can't wait to find out what our not-quite homegrown version of the 'No Child Left Behind' act will be. Perhaps having today's grade 7 students take yesterday's grade 4 evaluation exam all over again to demonstrate just how much they've progressed in the three years they've been in Gordo's bareknuckle, bootstrap school system?