e-KNOW Editorial

By Ian Cobb

How bad ass is the East Kootenay?

It’s so bad ass our two Members of the Legislative Assembly in Victoria last Thursday had their knuckles rapped by assistant deputy speaker Raj Chouhan and Speaker Linda Reid for letting loose with F-bombs.

And I don’t mean Fuddle-duddle.

Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett (B.C. Liberal Party), one of the more combative of Premier Christy Clark’s cabinet, went all Kootenay Bill on Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald (NDP) during a debate on changes to the Mines Act (Bill 8, the Mines Amendment Act).

NDP MLA Doug Donaldson and Bennett became engaged in a back-and-forth and Macdonald joined in, apparently capturing Bennett’s ire, who said “F— you” to Macdonald, who then asked for clarification as to what the Minister of Energy and Mines had said. “F— you — is that what you said Bill?”

Chouhan heard their exchange and stated, “the minister of mines just used very vulgar and embarrassing language and the member opposite. Both of them will apologize to this house.”

Bennett left the chamber to apparently cool down and Chouhan demanded an apology from Macdonald.

“I will certainly apologize to the house, and I look forward to the minister coming in and apologizing to the house. This is not the first time that the minister has done this. He has called me a loser and now he stands up with an expletive. But I apologize for my behaviour,” he said.

Bennett returned a short time later and Chouhan encouraged withdrawal of the remark and an apology from him, too.

From Hansard: “Deputy Speaker: Member. Member, take your seat, please.

The Chair will ask the Minister of Mines to stand up and apologize and withdraw his comments.

Hon. B. Bennett: I withdraw that remark, hon. Speaker.

Deputy Speaker: And apologize.

Hon. B. Bennett: I apologize.”

Speaker Reid later said, “I can tell all members that the conduct in this house today is absolutely appalling.”

Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer, who generally provides relatively sage, independent pieces on the goings-on in Victoria, noted, “The B.C. legislature has had worse days in the past. Still that statement from the speaker was as unprecedented as the f-bombs flying back and forth inside the legislature chamber and both sides should be ashamed.”

Palmer described the Bennett/Macdonald relationship as “mutual contempt, compounded by a failure to understand how the other keeps getting re-elected.”

Indeed, the two multi-term MLAs have had some dandy dust-ups in the past. There is a report they had to be separated as the Legislature emptied Thursday, so clearly some nerves were jangled, but at least they didn’t go all Korean Parliament on each other.

Bennett later told News 1130 out of Vancouver that he is “mortified” and disappointed with himself and vows it will never happen again.

Macdonald, addressing the Regional District of East Kootenay board of directors the next morning, appeared no worse for wear from his latest dust-up with long time political rival Bennett.

Had he been wounded or incensed from the encounter, he may have seized the opportunity to speak to four members of the media based in Bennett’s riding. He didn’t.

Is it a bad thing for Kootenay East voters that our MLA fired an F-bomb at a neighbouring riding MLA, who then repeated the word?

If you believe in strict adherence to rules of order, yes, it is a bad thing.

Will it harm either politician? Don’t bet on it.

Is it shameful? No. What’s shameful about the goings on in our legislature is the party-approach-predictability of it all.

Both Bennett and Macdonald speak from the heart, which in a world filled with vacuous, empty-headed parrot politicians reading from scripts is a good thing.

It is a shame that partisanship divides Victoria the way it does, because if Bill and Norm actually worked together for the betterment of the East Kootenay (and their ridings), instead of working against one another, we’d all be better off.

But instead of working shoulder-to-shoulder to forge B.C.’s future, our system continues to flounder from the unnecessary weight given it by confrontational political tactics.

And now it seems those tactics include the lobbing of F grenades instead of mumbling “harrumph” repeatedly or spitting “shame, shame, shame” over and over when someone is speaking.

It figures that rough and tumble, ‘get ‘er done’ East Kootenay folk would light up the legislature and ruffle speaker feathers!

Nothing like a little Kootenay shake for the usually bland and predictable stew that is our legislative assembly.

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