Hard to believe there were times when Justin Trudeau was beloved by tens of millions of Canadians; Gordon Campbell was elected and even re-elected as British Columbia’s most popular provincial leader; and, even Brian Mulroney managed to achieve two back-to-back majority governments.
And then … they lost it: rejected, replaced and even reviled by many of the same voters who had for years respected and richly rewarded them.
Sadly, it happens to so many who achieve public office … at all levels, from all political parties.
But not all.
John Horgan was elected to head an NDP minority government in 2017, re-elected in 2020 with the highest share of the popular vote in BC NDP’s history, was still well ahead in the polls in 2022, when health problems forced him to step down … and right to the end, he was still highly revered by many, and I believe he would have been re-elected again.
Lester B Pearson, Peter Lougheed, Bill Davis, Jean Lesage also come to mind.
But not David Eby.
Politics … and power, seems to me have changed David Eby … and not for the better.
The BC Premier was in the news this past week after, in the Legislature, calling the man charged after driving a vehicle into a crowd at a Vancouver Filipino Festival and killing of 11 people “a murderer.”
“Because my opinion is that the man made the decision to drive a vehicle into a crowd of children, parents, and seniors, volunteers, kill them,” Eby said. “In my opinion, he’s a murderer. It’s my opinion that he should spend the rest of his goddamn life in jail.”
I’m sure many of us would agree.
But “we” are not Premier of BC; “we” are not trained, licenced lawyers … ie Officers of the Court; “we” were never BC’s Attorney General; “we” were never Executive Director the BC Civil Liberties Association; and, “we” were never adjunct Professor of Law at the University of British Columbia.
Eby was all of these … and I put it to you his public remarks violated the responsibilities attached to ALL of these positions.
Totally inappropriate for a public official involved in government …and especially a Premier … to pronounce on the guilt and sentencing of ANY accused still before the Courts.
And making it worse: rather than apologizing for having an emotional lapse, Eby reportedly doubled down outside the Legislature and repeated his clearly inappropriate condemnatory remarks.
I knew the David Eby at the BC Civil Liberties Assoc before he entered politics: I respected that David Eby; I liked that David Eby. I never heard that David Eby publicly pass judgement, condemn/sentence anyone charged with a crime before their case was even heard!
To me, it shows the new arrogance that too often besets many politicians in power … one that increases proportionately to the time they spend in office. (Like Justin Trudeau, Gordon Campbell, Brian Mulroney.)
The accused in this case is entitled to the very basic precept of our justice system (presumption of innocence until PROVEN guilty in a Court of Law); and, in this case, certainly a medical evaluation to establish mental competence or incompetence at the time of the incident.
BC’s Premier knows this!
“The Law Society said the premier had threatened the rule of law. The Canadian Bar Association said Eby was “ignoring the presumption of innocence and the requirement of due process and giving “permission for others to do the same.”, the Vancouver Sun reported Thursday.
I think it’s even more scary than that.
What David Eby did I’d expect more from Donald Trump, than someone who has held any elected position in BC.
The Premier should apologize … to the Legislature, the Courts, the Law Society … and, most of all, to the public.
Harv Oberfeld
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