Postcards from the Fringe

Today's Vancouver Sun ran a round up of B.C.'s fringe political parties as they approach the May 17 election.

It is a CP wire story, but in opting to run it, the CanWest cabal has sorely disappointed Adrienne Carr and her Green Party syncophants. In 2001, BC's media salivated over the prospect over the Liberals "killing" the NDP "once and for all", and essentially used the prospect of the Greens usurping the NDP's position on the "left" to add insult to injury. Adrienne Carr got a free pass to the televised leaders debate (where she told her "left" leaning supporters that she "trusts business to do the right thing", and parrotted whatever Gordon Campbell said about putting the boots to nurses, teachers, and transit drivers) plus considerable face time on the front page of the Sun.

You might have heard the "cancel my subscription!" scream echoing from the Sunshine Coast this morning, as it appears that Adrienne's media sugar daddy has turned on her, lumping the Greens once again with Reform, Marijuana, and the new Democratic Reform BC (Dr. BC) as a FRINGE party. To make matters worse, the Dr. has a leg up on the rest of the fringe by having an MLA (Elaine Brezinger) in the legislature.

Traditional Greens take the position of "not left or right, but forward", whatever that means. Carr opted to accepts Canwest's labelling of her party on the left, and has suffered the consequences. Voters betrayed by the Campbell Liberals are going back to the NDP, which, despite its more moderate stance under Carole James, still have more traditional left-wing chops than the shrill, opportunistic Greens. In the meantime, Dr. BC has tried to plant itself as squarely in the middle as possible, much like the BC Liberals did in 1991.

In 1991, having moderates shave votes from the right elected the moderate left. In 2005 it could happen again, but it won't be the Greens: taking postions from the radical left and mixing them with a few from the radical right doesn't make you moderates, it just makes you confused.