Opinion

TheReview

Wednesday, January 31,1990 — A9

@ HONOLULU — First let me

. admit that I was wrong. I thought
Premier Vander Zalm would throw
in the towel. I thought I had come
up with the right reasons why he
would resign.

Well, he didn’t, and like any
self-respecting columnist, I’m
now falling all over myself trying
to explain why the premier didn’t
do what I thought he would do.

First, however, an ode to modem
technology. I’m writing this col-
umn from my Honolulu hospital

ged, half an hour after Premier

Wa inal © x Zalm’s
announcement. I’ve got a copy of
the premier’s speech in front of
me, received just minutes ago, via
facsimile, from Ian Jessup, the
premier’s press secretary. :

In the morning, the column will
be faxed to Victoria, from where it
will be distributed to all my.
papers.

Anyway, the Zalm obviously
wanted us to kick him around a bit
longer. Fine with me. You see, in
all my previous speculations, |
tried to put myself in the premier’s

Pirame of mind, something I’m not

going to do so soon again. If
anyone had asked me what I-would
do, I would have told them nght
off the start I’d stay.

Do you think for one moment, |
would have allowed some back-
biting jackasses run me out of the
premier’s office? Not on your life.
Id have told that white-shoes,

g full-Nanaimo crowd a long time

ago to get stuffed.

But I don’t believe I would have
pulled some of the boners that got
Vander Zalm into such trouble.

His speech contained all the
elements I predicted, with the
notable exception of his resigna-
tion, of course. He pointed to the

yprovince’s outstanding economic

=performance; he stressed the -

steady increase in secondary man-
ufacturing; he talked about the

Balanced budget, relative labor

peace, record housing starts and a

preduction in the accumulated

deficit.

But he sull accepted no blame
for any of the problems that have
plagued him, except, perhaps, for
his stand on abortion. That, he

admitted, might have been a bit too

overbearing. As for the rest, it was
all blown out of proportion by

@nown and unknown enemies, as

well as the media.

‘Like any self-
respecting columnist,
I’m falling all over

myself trying to

explain why the

premier didn’t do

what I thought he
would do’

Of course, his enemies tried to
derail him at every turn. His
biggest problem was trying to
work things out with them instead
of unceremoniously firing them.

==. For the sake of his own political

a

“future, maybe he shouldn’t have

- waited for Grace McCarthy and

| would have done the same, Bill

the power brokers lost control.
Vander Zalm was the choice of the
hundreds and hundreds of dele-
gates who had never met any of the
Socred power brokers.

They wouldn’t know Peter
Brown if they found him in their
comflakes. They didn’t care what
schools the Zalm went to.

And it was mainly because the
power brokers withdrew. their sup-
port from him — if they ever gave
it in the first place — that Vander
Zalm was finally abandoned even
by the grass roots. I’ve often said
that he didn’t help matters, but
what really did him in was not the
media reporting and commenting
on his follies, but his own people.

But now, the Zalm says “the
plague on all your houses. I’m
going to stay.”

Opposition Leader Mike Har-
court says he’s sick and tired of the
premiers “self-indulgent preoc-

cupation with his future.” He says-

this nonsense has to stop. He says
is “arrogance of power’ when
people believe they are the only
ones who can govern.

Well, unless I’m mistaken, Haz-
court believes that he is certainly
the better one, if not the only one,
to govern right now. And I don’t
really see Vander Zalm’s decision
so much as one of arrogance, than
one of anger and stubbomness.

Vander Zalm has told his critics
where to go and what to do with

_themselves when they get there.

| NOTICE

AM 550
RADIO

1 p.m. Daily
HEAR THE —
ANSWERS |

He says he was duly elected in
1986 and he intends to place
himself before the voters as party

The ball is now clearly in his
critics’ park. What the Zalm ene-
mies will do remains to be seen. In
the meantime, it looks like he’s
still in the saddle, with the horse
bucking just a little less than
before.

leader in the next election.

Now that you have tried the rest —
Come to Willi’s to look your best

G iba
me Soe a

“in the Marina Court” on 2ND ST.
Tues. - Sat. 8:30-5:30 656-4443

PAINTIN

For

—<—s
1 it

“Open 7 days a week”
| 2488 Beacon Ave. Sidney 656-8611

- Brian Smith to do their grandstand

_ performance, prior to quitting cab-

sinet. Maybe he should have pre-
empted them by giving them their
pink slips.

Wh ll of Vander Zalm’

faults a FCROFCS nc HEE \ | Chat Bos Watch your mail for our spe-

analyzed, there remains one great \ I = at Za cial Money Back Guarantee” *
~ barrier to acceptance by his party SN! Z EFA Wie offer. Call us for details!!
- peers — lineage. PY = Fis Zea
; Vander Zalm is an immigrant, VN S ) Si ZAK

and no matter how successful a YW XX a A2\\'

businessman he has been, he Al

’ didn’t go to the right schools and
universities and belong to the right

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SOUPESS .

CFIAINING

ees. 5 s ~ Basic cable required. Converter and taxes may be extra at participating cable companies. ™ Allarcom Pay Television Limited.
~~ Hah, if that is so, why was he = : :

elected party leader at the Whis-
“x Convention? you ask. Because