Juan de Fuca NDP MLA-elect John Horgan says he's so bitterly disappointed at the idea of a re-elected Liberal government he wants to "retch."
Horgan did several radio interviews on May 15, the day after the provincial election. His comments have raised eyebrows among some New Democrats.
Horgan was on blogger radio show in the Lower Mainland.
"I'm not looking forward to the first day the legislature sits and the smug smiles on the other side," Horgan said.
"The public's always right," he added later, of the election results.
"Am I bitter? You bet I am. Am I disappointed? I can't describe it. But ultimately we get the government we deserve. My job now is to represent Her Majesty as a loyal opposition member, and it makes me retch to think about four more years, from my personal soul, of negativity. It's not my thing. I'd rather not do that. But somebody has to. And the electoral gods have put it upon the NDP to continue to be opposition. And that's what we're going to have to do. And we're going to have to be better at it, it appears, than we have been the last four years."
"[Liberal leader] Christy [Clark] did an expert job of making the economy the issue. There's nothing there. You know that. It was a fact free campaign. I thought everyone saw that but clearly they didn't. I'd love to take a shot at the mainstream media, but the last time I did that I was called a baby and a whiner so I'm not going to bother. You do a good enough job about making that contrast obvious to people, so I won't have to put that exclamation point on it."
The day after the 2009 provincial election, which the NDP also lost, Horgan for keeping his party's message from voters.
Horgan has not returned repeated requests for comment from the Times 91原创 since election day.
Horgan also accused the Liberals of a "fear and smear campaign" designed to keep voters from the polls.
"Voter suppression is the order of the day it seems for successful campaigns. The Liberals again executed it marvelously. The textbooks will show this as one for the ages. But it will also be a catastrophic failure for decency.聽 Like you, I agree that people would prefer, when you're talking to them civilly at their doorstep that we all treat each other well. But at the end of the day they also want a little bit of meat with their potatoes and we didn鈥檛 provide that."
"When we can't hold polls in places like Kitimat, you look right across the industrial base, the working class base that has been historically the NDP, and it's just not there. We have to take stock of that. Leadership is an issue and we can't avoid that and Adrian will be dealing with that over the days and weeks ahead. But we as a party have to take a look at just what the heck we are. If we're going to be a perpetual opposition, I for one am not interested and I think I speak for a large number of caucus members. We did not expect four more years on the opposite side of the house. And I don't think there's a person looking forward to that."
Horgan was also on CFAX radio in Victoria on May 15.
"Clearly today, the NDP, my party, has to take a good look at our soul and say, 'What are we?' Are we a perpetual opposition party or are we going to be putting forward a platform that people are excited about and vote in favour of? Clearly that didn't happen this time."
Horgan said the NDP did a bad job of criticizing the Liberal record, even though he supported leader Adrian Dix's positive campaign focus.
"Adrian is going to have to take a look at things. The party will have to take a look at things. But he's my friend and I'm proud of him. He was committed two years ago to run a positive campaign and he did that. You get full marks for that but you don't get to form the government. That's going to be a difficult challenge for the NDP. But it's聽 not just about Adrian. What is our relevance in the 21st century? We need to find our base again and re-define what the NDP is if we鈥檙e going to be successful in the future. Clearly it didn't work this time."
Update: Horgan also appeared on CBC radio's On The Island with host Gregor Craigie, which you .
