Thank you Georgia Straight editor Charlie Smith. I needed that. In the midst of unrelenting bad news broken up only by worse news — pipeline debates, carnage in Syria, the federal government’s ongoing dismantlement of Canada’s worthiest accomplishments — a good laugh was just what the doctor ordered.
On the Straight’s website yesterday, Smith wrote a fanciful piece speculating that former Canadian Alliance leader and Jet Ski aficionado Stockwell Day might run for Premier of BC. Smith admits that this does not come from anything Day himself has actually said, and bases his thought experiment solely on reports of Stockwell sightings at dinners attended by pro-Liberal Party Fraser Institute directors. (Sometimes I wonder if journalists create drama just for drama’s sake. Yes, I know I’m naive.) According to Smith’s line of reasoning, the governing party is debating whether or not to debate a name change at its convention this fall, and there is a chance that this in turn could prompt a leadership review which Premier Christy Clark might not survive.
And who better to take her place and unite BC’s newly divided right than Flintstones-era prophet Stockwell Day?
After momentarily jumping atop my desk in celebration whilst giddily chanting “Hell yeah!” at the top of my lungs, I begin to worry that a “fully-Stocked” (har-har) BC Liberal Party might indeed reclaim political territory ceded to the upstart Conservatives. But then I remember who we’re talking about. This war-mongering, homophobic pro-lifer used to routinely create embarrassment for himself — whether by showing up at a press conference on the shores of Okanagan Lake in a wetsuit or reportedly expressing a belief that the Earth is 6000 years old and humans once coexisted with dinosaurs. Any Liberals silly enough to consider electing him as their leader would be demonstrating an uncommon eagerness to put the final nail in their party’s coffin. Which, as far as I’m concerned, is reason enough to support his re-entry into politics.
Of course, Day will never do it. Any suggestion to the contrary is nothing but a left-wing journalist’s wishful fantasy.
But is it a crime to dream?
Song of the Watermelon 
Hi David,
I’m glad you liked my post. Perhaps you can revisit this “wishful fantasty” in late November and early December after the B.C. Liberals’ convention. Don’t underestimate Peter Brown’s determination to keep the NDP out of power. Do you really think that he, Hassan Khosrowshahi, and Phil Hochstein are going to sit idly by with a B.C. Liberal leader who can’t win a by-election in Chilliwack-Hope, let alone a provincial campaign?
Charlie Smith
Hi Charlie,
I don’t doubt much of the right’s disappointment with Christy Clark. But for the Liberals (under whatever name) to dump a still-untested sitting Premier a few months before a general election would smack of cynicism, in-fighting, and desperation, and would almost certainly cost them more votes than they could possibly gain. Most Liberals probably know this. They also know how much baggage Stockwell Day comes with and how easy it would be for the NDP to attack such a polarizing figure.
Again, I think it would be fantastic if your forecast came true, but I’m not holding my breath. I will happily revisit in November or December, however, if I am proven wrong. Thanks!