If B.C. New Democratic Party Leader Adrian Dix鈥檚 career crisis is weighing heavily on his mind, he sure is good at hiding it.
Reporters were camped out in the hallway Wednesday morning as the Opposition convened an all-day caucus meeting.
Dix walked through and the business of collecting non-answers to questions about next week鈥檚 announcement of his plans was about to start.
But in the blink of an eye, Dix and NDP energy critic John Horgan concocted a spontaneous mock question period about the news of the day 鈥� the leaked discussion paper from B.C. Hydro about the need for a massive rate increase.
It was a dramatic enactment of what might have happened if Premier Christy Clark hadn鈥檛 cancelled the fall sitting of the legislature the previous day.
Dramatic in the sense that the scenery-chewing pair of hams went over the top in playing to the amused crowd.
Referring to the newly revealed 26 per cent rate hike under discussion at Hydro, Horgan told Dix in shocked tones: 鈥淭he only people talking about it in the legislature are you and me!鈥�
Dix: 鈥淎nd the premier said that wasn鈥檛 going to happen. She was personally standing in the way.鈥�
Horgan: 鈥淪he was going to stop it.鈥�
Dix: 鈥淚 have a question.鈥�
Horgan: 鈥淧lease do. Fire away.鈥�
Dix: 鈥淗ow could that have happened?鈥�
Horgan: 鈥淭he premier said everything was fine. The premier said in a byelection in Kelowna that rates wouldn鈥檛 go up. I鈥檝e got a question for the leader of the Opposition. How do you sell a balanced budget the day after you learn that Hydro is going to have to give more money to government than they can afford? Doesn鈥檛 that make it a bogus budget?鈥�
Dix: 鈥淚 think you are correct. I think your question answers itself and the answer is yes.鈥�
Horgan: 鈥淚 know this is isn鈥檛 answer period, but we鈥檝e had two answers in 30 seconds that we haven鈥檛 heard in the legislature in 12 years.鈥�
The exchange goes to show how much fun question period can be when both sides are on the same team. And the focus of the song-and-dance routine was obviously Clark鈥檚 decision to cancel the fall sitting.
It鈥檚 just as important for the Opposition to complain about cancelled sittings as it is for them to show up for sessions that actually take place.
Comedy aside, Dix has been intent since the election on keeping the caucus focused on the job of watching the government. He may have lost, but his party was still elected to do a job, even if it isn鈥檛 the one they wanted. The Hydro rate issue is the prime example this week of a situation that needs watching.
The story for the past few years has been one of a utility that desperately needed to raise rates, but was rebuffed by politicians who didn鈥檛 want to take the heat before an election.
With Bill Bennett鈥檚 appointment as energy minister after the election, the story changed. He鈥檚 been warning rate hikes are coming practically since he was named to the job.
The twist to the tale is that when the leaked document confirmed exactly what he鈥檚 been saying, he promptly downplayed it and said it won鈥檛 be the whopping 26 per cent that was discussed by the working group.
In short form, it鈥檚 obvious to almost everyone that Hydro rates have to go up, for a variety of reasons, including the requirement that it has to fork over a half-billion dollars to the government as a dividend. But the B.C. Liberals are a lot more comfortable admitting that after an election, rather than before.
The most engaging explanation of how B.C. arrived at the present uncomfortable situation involves the time-bomb theory.
Liberals didn鈥檛 want to hike rates because they didn鈥檛 want to offend anyone before voting day. They didn鈥檛 expect to win, so were quite comfortable leaving that inevitable job to the NDP.
Now that they鈥檝e held on to power, they have to deal with a booby trap that was supposed to go off on the NDP鈥檚 watch, rather than theirs.
Desperate to make the best of a bad situation, Dix can at least take some amusement in watching from a safe distance.
