The New Democratic Party caucus 鈥� a.k.a. the Opposition for Life 鈥� trooped back into the legislature Wednesday and signed up for another four-year hitch of watching other people wield power.
While a school of thought has been developing for the past month that Leader Adrian Dix pretty much booted it single-handedly, he鈥檚 been pretty gracious and good-natured about it in public.
There鈥檚 not much doubt, though, that he is wracked privately about his new place in the history books 鈥� as the guy who blew a 20-point lead and stunned almost everyone by dropping a sure thing.
His job Wednesday was to warm up to the idea that his caucus is back doing exactly what it did before. And that after a year or more of counting on a glorious breakthrough, nothing has changed.
He said the swearing-in was a great day, but 鈥渨e could have imagined ways that it could have been greater.鈥�
Dix had a lot of enthusiasm for the strength of his 34-member team. 鈥淚t鈥檚 fair to say many of our MLAs have achieved more on the opposition side than many cabinet ministers.鈥�
The emotional impact of the ceremony, in which new MLAs join the select club of 915 who have represented voters over the last 132 years, also raised his team鈥檚 spirits 鈥� a bit.
But he acknowledged: 鈥淥bviously, there鈥檚 disappointment on the part of many of us.鈥�
While the party鈥檚 forensic analysis of its catastrophe takes shape, Dix鈥檚 first priority is to lead the Opposition back into the legislature this month and debate the budget.
Prepping for that, he got in a few shots about the pay hikes for political staff that were dreamed up by the B.C. Liberal government during the transition period.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a reflection of a government that has been in power for a long time and is supporting Liberal insiders first and people second,鈥� Dix said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e already seeing significant differences between what the government campaigned on and what they鈥檙e acting on. It鈥檚 very much more of the same.鈥�
He got a touch evasive about his role in the catastrophe in a media scrum after the swearing-in.
Defeated NDP MLA Harry Lali said the party abandoned blue-collar B.C. by not stressing jobs above all else. Specifically, when Dix came out against the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, NDP support started to evaporate.
Dix didn鈥檛 disagree, but said various issues were in play.
鈥淲e lost by four per cent,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you look at different parts of the province, different things occurred.鈥�
Dix said NDP advocacy for the film and TV industry played well, although that seemed to be a marginal issue in most minds.
Unreliable polling, negative and positive ads will be looked at in the party鈥檚 review, along with incidents and issues from local campaigns.
The big one is the party鈥檚 relationship with voters. 鈥淲e have to address those issues in the long run,鈥� Dix said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 lots of reflections taking place right now.鈥�
The party鈥檚 provincial council will meet in 10 days to lay out terms of reference for the review. They will be as wide-open as possible. Said Dix: 鈥淎ll the issues have to be raised about the conduct of the campaign and the performance of those in it. I surely wouldn鈥檛 expect to be spared from that review.鈥�
That鈥檚 one thing he can count on. Dix made every effort to appear as a confident leader, but he鈥檚 a badly wounded politician at the moment. No decisions on his future will likely be made until after the review.
But his own personal review is likely well underway, and it鈥檚 likely to be tougher than anything the party conducts.
Just So You Know: The B.C. Liberals鈥� pay-hike caper detailed this week by colleague Rob Shaw was approved by the last meeting of the old cabinet.
The first meeting of the new cabinet added a refinement. They knocked back the new potential maximum for ministerial assistants (MAs) 鈥� now chiefs of staff 鈥� by a few grand, down to $102,000.
That puts them just a few bucks ahead of the base rate for MLAs. The joke is that some backbench MLAs saw the original rate for MAs 鈥� higher than their own 鈥� and started thinking about erasing the 鈥淟鈥� from their business cards.
