BC Premier Gordon Campbell Resigns

Gordon Campbell (photo by Mary McNeil)

In a surprise press conference this morning, BC Premier Gordon Campbell resigned from his post.

This comes after months of heated controversy in British Columbia where Campbell's Liberal government signed an agreement with the Conservative Federal Government to bring in a Harmonized Sales Tax which took effect in July of this year. (A topic on which they campaigned against in the last election)

The tax was openly despised by BC citizens, and dominated the headlines for much of the year as a grassroots movement came to life, forcing the government to agree to hold a referendum on the issue. Due to Campbell's lack of expediting the process (he could have chosen to table a motion in the BC legislature rather than a referendum, AND the fact that he scheduled the referendum for a year down the road), unsatisfied voters began a very public attempt at recalling Liberal MLAs.

It should be no surprise that members of the Liberal caucus did not appreciate the negative public opinion, and began criticizing Campbell's job performance.

It's likely that Campbell is attempting to curb what would have been a very public embarrassment, as it has been rumored that a number of Liberal MLAs were about to call on Campbell to resign during the next Liberal Caucus meeting.

Campbell's party has already suffered damage due to some high profile and well liked cabinet ministers who resigned this summer due to their dislike of the party's direction.

The next step will be for the Liberal Party to hold a leadership convention sooner, rather than later, to choose the next premier of BC. Unfortunately for the Liberals, history shows us that when a leader steps down, the replacement leader ultimately commits political suicide by taking the reins of a sinking party. See Kim Campbell and Paul Martin for examples of this.