Arts/Review Not much analysis, but Persky’s book informative, witty FANTASY GOVERNMENT: Bill Vander Zalm and the Future of Social Credit. By Stan Persky. New Star Books, 1989. Paperback, $14.95. Available at People’s Co-op Bookstore. Fantasy Government is Stan Persky’s third ‘book about Socred government in B.C. When he published his first two books, in 1979 and in 1983, he was hopeful in each case that he would help to get the voters to reject the Socreds at the next election. Per- haps he will have better luck this time. The new book covers the political career of Premier Bill Vander Zalm, how he won the leadership of the party and how he has misconducted himself as premier. Describing himself as an advocacy jour- nalist, Persky is critical of both the premier and the leader of the official opposition, the New Democrats’ Mike Harcourt: “If, for example, I find Premier Vander Zalm to hold too many views that are too boldly stated, rest assured that I will discover his counterpart, current NDP leader Mike Harcourt, to harbour too few opinions too timidly stated.” However, Persky’s main fire is against the Socreds. “I am not stating,” he writes, “that the differences between the two major parties are unimportant to people’s lives.” While admitting that the personality of Vander Zalm may temporarily exaggerate the differences between the parties, he goes on to state: “*... it is best to admit at the outset that political life on Canada’s west coast is very much within, rather than an aberration of, the national context.” While this book deals with a serious sub- ject (political struggle is always a serious matter), it has an amusing third dimension: Persky’s wit and sense of humour. If I find any fault with the book, it is because the style is descriptive rather than analytical, but descriptive in a very informative way. At one point Persky refers to the throne speech deliverd to the opening of this year’s spring session of the legislature. “‘It was either one of the most spectacular con- versions since that of St. Paul on the road to Damascus, or else a display of extraordi- nary bold fibbing or, more likely, a cold- blooded reading of the polls by the premi- er’s advisors.” Persky describes how Vander Zalm started out as a Liberal, became the mayor of Surrey and then made an unsuccessful attempt to win the provincial leadership of the Liberal party. He had astounded the Liberal delegates by promising he would “whiplash drug dealers, cut off welfare deadbeats, update education, crack down on wife deserters and provide government- financed dental care.” When then Social Credit premier Bill Bennett started his search for Liberals to join the Conservatives in the provincial Socred party, in order to defeat the Barrett NDP government in the 1975 election, Vander Zalm in May became a born-again Socred. Six months later he was elected as MLA from Surrey and was rewarded with the portfolio of human resources in the new cabinet. In a period of eight years, before he took a three-year sabbatical from the legislature, Vander Zalm served as minister of human 10 « Pacific Tribune, November 27, 1989 resources, of municipal affairs and of edu- cation.-Persky sums up those eight years: “In each of the three portfolios Vander Zalm held... he had shown himself contro- versial, but not particularly competent, populist but hardly profound, perhaps suit- able for small-town gladhanding, but clearly out of his depth at the provincial level. He left, not gracefully, but in a huff, still grousing at the ‘gutless’ colleagues who had failed him.” He did not run in the 1983 election. In 1984, when he ran for mayor of Van- couver against the incumbent Mike Harcourt, he received only 38 per cent of the votes cast. As Persky reminds us, Vander Zalm was not a graceful loser. But his main complaint was that a good, Christian busi- nessman, Philip Owen, had lost his alder- manic bid to Bruce Yorke, a Communist: “Tf this country is going to be governed by people who are affiliated to the Commu- nists,”” he declaimed, “I am getting out. I'll keep going ‘til I get to the last bastion of free enterprise.” If you are a studious reader of the Van- couver Sun and Province, and also of the Toronto Globe and Mail, you will find much in this book that you have read before, because Persky quotes those sources extensively. He refers‘to Vaughn Palmer, political columnist for the Sun, as “the most knowledgeable writer in the daily press.” Your reviewer must confess that he too reads Palmer’s column regularly, and finds it very informative, even if, like Persky, he doesn’t accept the small-c conservative out- look of the writer. Shortly after Vander Zalm was sworn in as premier, he announced that he was nego- tiating a deal to sell prefabricated homes to South Africa and called upon Ottawa to lift its sanctions against that country. After a storm of protest and rebuke from the fed- eral government, he soon dropped that idea. - Fantasy Government gives the reader a good picture of the Socred record under Vander Zalm, including the Expo land con- flict, privatization, the rise and fall of David Poole as the premier’s chief advisor and fixer, the defection of key cabinet ministers and MLAs, the introduction of anti-labour legislation, the extremely negative position of the premier on the pro-choice issue, his contradictory reactions to the environmen- tal movement and the response to other public issues. It also exposes the religious bigotry of the premier and his supporters in the right-wing Christian fundamentalist groups, whose weight is very heavy in the party. Persky describes the premier as a shrewd, wealthy businessman who has kept his face in the public eye for two decades. Crazy, yes, but crazy as a fox, according to this book. As the author sees it, the premier is a true reflection of the thinking of the major- ity of the Socred membership in B.C. In short, a small-town Babbitt elected to the highest office in the province. It would have been a better book, in my opinion, if the author had analyzed the atti- tudes of the various interest groups in the world of big business towards the Socred government. For example, why are the Vancouver Sun and the Province constantly ¥ ““s criticizing the provincial government? Is it because they want the Socreds out, or it is because the policy makers of these news- papers want a more acceptable Socred leader in place of Vander Zalm? In my opin- ion, the latter is the case. _ STAN PERSKy Despite its shortcomings, the book is easy to read and should help many readers to understand that Socred government, under any leader, is not good for the people of our province. : : — Jack Phillips Loreena McKennit, a traditional and contemporary singer-songwriter known for her skill on the harp, performs at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre on Sun- day, Dec. 3, 8 p.m. For those who get this in time, there’s Vancouver’s own Stephen Fearing at the centre on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 8 p.m. Admission for both events is $12, phone 254-9578 to reserve. * Ok * It isn’t supposed to be partisan, but it may afford a glimpse into the conflict in Lebanon. The Vancouver East Cinema presents Beirut: The Last Home Movie, concerning a Greek Orthodox — and hence, neutral — family of aristocrats living in the Middle-East country’s capi- tal during the bombing and fighting. It’s on Wednesday, Nov. 29-Thursday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m. & 9 p.m. * Ok * The Tube: Knowledge Network of B.C. airs The World at Your Feet: Canada featuring Vancouver Island’s West Coast Trail on Sunday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m.; The Planets: Are We Alone?, on whether there are other solar systems in the uni- verse, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m.; Native Indians: Images of Reality,concerning the _origins-and cultures of the west coast’s Native peoples, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 8 p-m.; Cross Currents: Disciples of Chaos TV examines racist group ‘at the hands of educators at Hungary’s ’ brain-injured children to the clinic. The about Britain’s neo-nazi National Front, which purports to examine the ultra- right’s changing tactics, Thursday, Dec. 7, 9 p.m. We could all use a break from the negative news we’re being fed by the daily media that distorts the character of the earthshaking changes to socialist societies. Existing socialism has a number of achievements to its credit, including groundbreaking achievements in the fields of medicine and education, and pointing this out is a KCTS public television showing, To Hungary With Love. It concerns the amazing progress of a five-year British boy, dismissed as an incurable spastic quadriplegic at home, Peto’ Institute, and notes that more than 200 British families have since taken their one-hour BBC production airs Thursday, Noy. 30, 8 p.m. The station also presents Peter Ustinov in China, a two-hour show on Nov. 30 at 10 p.m. KCTS features a reunion of the legendary folk song heroes Peter, Paul and Mary ina performance of Christmas and Hanukkah songs accompanied by the 160-voice New York Choral Society. It’s on Dec. 9, 7 p.m. And every Saturday KCTS runs a half-hour program, South Africa Now at 12:30 p.m. It’s sometimes repeated on Sundays at 11 p.m.