EDITORIAL: Will chair shuffle precede sinking?
Shuffling the deck chairs before the ship goes down?
Or shuffling the deck and possibly coming up with a full house in time for the May 14, 2013, provincial election?
How you view the shuffling of the B.C. Liberal cabinet this week depends entirely on how you view the fortunes of the beleaguered governing party.
If polls are to be believed, most voters would view the B.C. Liberals as a listing ship whose demise into the murky waters of political history is inevitable.
This camp could also point to the dizzying number of MLAs — cabinet ministers included — who are jumping ship, deciding now not to go down with the captain next spring.
At this point, it would be quicker to list the incumbent Liberal candidates who are seeking re-election.
Those who may insist the end is not nigh for the party — and they could very well be limited to the incumbent MLAs and the men and women seeking to replace the outgoing among those incumbents — constantly herald the new blood and point to faulty polling in recent Alberta and Ontario elections to bolster their defence.
What is interesting amid the cabinet shuffle is the appointment of what may be the first doctor to the Ministry of Health portfolio.
Margaret MacDiarmid writes on her web page that her time as a family doctor in the B.C. Interior and in Vancouver prompted her to run for the MLA seat in Vancouver-Fairview.
How MacDiarmid tackles the monster that is health care, coming at it from perspectives as a doctor, a patient and a politician, will be fascinating.
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