Pubdate: Thu, 13 Dec 2012
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Michael Smyth

FEEL-GOOD COMMERCIALS MAY BE TOO LATE FOR CLARK

Two things Premier Christy Clark really wants for Christmas: A big 
boost in tax revenue and an even bigger boost in the opinion polls.

So why not legalize marijuana? After all, a large majority of British
Columbians now support legalizing pot (75 per cent, according to
pollster Angus Reid) and taxes on legal bud could generate $500
million a year, says the International Journal of Drug Policy.

But Clark won't touch the issue with a 10-foot bong.

"It's not even provincial jurisdiction, so I'm not spending my time
prognosticating about it," Clark told me in a wide-ranging, year-end
interview in her office this week.

I point out there's nothing to stop her from saying where she stands
on the issue, as several of her Liberal colleagues already have. And
they just legalized pot in Washington state, potentially impacting
B.C. She still won't go there. "Do I want to publicly enter the
debate? No," she told me. "I'm sticking to our knitting. I'm staying
focused on growing the economy."

Of course, the economy. The Liberals' lowly standing in the polls is
obviously the reason the government is spending $15 million on ads
bragging about the economy and job creation.

I suggest to Clark she needs to increase her 29-per-cent approval
rating in the polls to have any hope of winning the May election.

"I don't reject the premise, I guess - but that's not the purpose of
the ads," she said.

So why spend $15 million on ads when the government is pleading
poverty and wrestling with a $1.5-billion deficit? She blames the
media. "If you read the papers, you would think British Columbia was
in really tough shape," she said. "People need to know that British
Columbia is stable and growing."

Despite all the criticism the saturation advertising has attracted,
the Liberals appear willing to take the flak if the ads produce a
positive jump in the polls - and they are up a couple of points in the
last survey.

But not enough to erase the NDP's big lead, especially among women
voters, where Clark's Liberals trail by a stunning 24 points.

"I don't read polls," she said, insisting "women and men feel the same
about the important issues around the economy, and that's where I'm
focused."

Watch for her to push hard for a historic, 10-year labour contract
with one of her oldest enemies - the teachers' union - as one way to
heal the rift with women voters.

But will it be enough to erase all the negative stuff? What about
government employees using taxpayers' resources on a nasty Liberal
Party website, as revealed exclusively in this newspaper?

"They screwed up," Clark said, in her first public comment on the
story.

"... They should not have done that. I have given explicit direction
to the staff: that cannot happen again."

The problem for Clark: There have been so many screw-ups - not all of 
them her fault - that no amount of feel-good TV commercials may help her now.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D