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There should be no doubting that one of the most sorrowful souls in British Columbia today is the province’s leader of the Official Opposition, Kevin Falcon.
Two years ago, Falcon left a lucrative executive role at Anthem Properties to return to politics after a decade-long detour. When he left, he was deputy premier and finance minister, the latest in a string of cabinet posts and a renowned heavy lifter in the BC Liberal government.
His expectation was reasonable upon return: seven years of NDP government would have worn out its welcome by 2024, he would ascend to the premiership. The forlorn business community would celebrate, as would anyone with an expense conscience.
That it has gone sideways and downward is in part his responsibility, in part his misfortune of circumstance. It wasn’t enough to have him in the saddle again with his earlier badges of honour – he needed to show the province how he could get the old steed to gallop. Turned out he didn’t have the formula for giddyup, that he was a buckaroo gone bust.
On Wednesday, he relinquished the reins to John Rustad, the leader of the BC Conservatives, a former cabinet colleague he fired two years ago for questioning the degree of human contribution to the climate change in front of our eyes each season now. Falcon thought this was a fixed burr in the saddle; he found himself thrown from bucking bronco.
I’m sure many don’t know the feeling of losing your dream job. Many years ago I did, and it is a sickening experience of regret, shame, anger, denial, defensiveness, embarrassment, desperation and outright grief. It rattles confidence, dispirits your carriage, and sends you into lengthy soul-searching – unless you disappear into soothing yourself unhealthily.
Falcon doesn’t deserve the drubbing he took this week. Few do.
Instead, he is owed an expression of appreciation for trying to revive his masterful ride and recognizing he doesn’t have the jam that he thought. He chose to get down from the mount and concede that he ain’t what he used to be, that the change agent British Columbians prefer wants to offer clearer alternatives than the more vague, incremental measures he’s offering.
Putting the province before his pride is a true sign of leadership because it involves an enormous, absolute write-down of two years of fervent, feverish aggression to dethrone an administration. Travel when you’re bone-tired. Speeches in small halls. Food that ages you exponentially. Raising money from people you sometimes dislike but must appease. Trying to keep the home fires burning through it all.
I signed on for it once a decade ago. I can feel his pain.
It is quite possible his stubborn streak got the best of him and held out too long for any true partnership of the BC United and BC Conservative teams. (Joe Biden might be wondering the same thing. Justin Trudeau remains in his own state of denial.) The deal Falcon struck with Rustad in some respects resembles more of a divorce than a marriage, but it solves the household bickering and focuses on the NDP for the next 50 or so days.
The worst-case scenario was a prolonged irritant for the Conservatives as the United threw Hail Mary passes every day trying to get out of the deep hole they have fallen into late into the game. Better to take a knee.
Feel, too, for the dozens of candidates who knocked on doors, raised cash, and thought they had much to offer in public life. They’re correctly in mourning today. They now have to either run independently or run later, neither of which offers imminent satisfaction.
On the bright side, Falcon saved his team some serious embarrassment Oct. 19. The question is whether he saved the right-of-centre in time or waited so long that his suspension of the BC United campaign is too little, too late to win the day.
He might be faulted for waiting, but shouldn’t be faulted for relenting.
He gets his life back, and as you find out after failure to win the prize, and as I can attest, that is no small consolation.
Kirk LaPointe is a Glacier Media columnist with an extensive background in journalism
