Everyone within the party needs to give up their bitterness and get on with the task at hand.

Over the past few days, I have seen a real outpouring of emotions from members from all sides of the leadership debate.  And, to say that they have been raw, heated, and even venomous, is an understatement.

Once again, speaking from outside the party (even if I wanted to join,  I couldn’t due to the stupid rule of requiring membership in the federal party if you sign up as a provincial member), the party has a very small window in which to get its shit together.

I have a feeling that whoever wins the BC Liberal leadership is going to consider calling an election within months of their victory (likely after the delivery of a budget).

That means that the party not only has to pick a leader that is going to be better than Carole James in terms of public popularity (a task that, in spite of the declarations of some, is much easier said than done), but it also has to repair the deep rifts that have been created and are sure to widen in the months ahead.

The NDP is in a hole because even though both the BC Liberals also in the throngs of a leadership battle, the NDP process is destined to be significantly impacted from all the dirty laundry that has been aired over the past month or so.

Because of this and the factions that have clearly emerged in such a transparent fashion, the momentum lies with the BC Liberals, in spite of polling that is currently being conducted with the events of the past few days (on a side note, all polls that are being conducted right now when it comes to voting intentions should be considered useless, as the possibilities of matchups in the next election are endless, and the eventual showdown will be the most important determining factor in gauging public opinion).

If the party has any shot of coming out of this leadership battle ready to fight a snap election, the rifts have to be repaired – all sides must come to the table and agree to put forth a publicly united front regardless of the end result of this upcoming race.

Otherwise, a victory will be far from guaranteed, in spite of Campbell’s legacy and the BC Liberals toilet-based public approval ratings.

What is done is done.  Now it is gut check time, where each and every member has to decide what is more important – their chosen candidate’s fate, or the possibility of sitting in opposition for another 4 years.

• The position expressed by Paul Faoro in this article with regards to the changes going on at City Hall is very telling.  Why?  Because a top-heavy, in efficient organization is what was embraced by a City Hall run by former City manager Judy Rogers – and the prospect of ongoing and upcoming consolidation isn’t exactly something that a union leader likes to hear.  Yes, the Sam Sullivan loyalists and NPA supporters stuck in the past have problems with the changes that have been made – and from the looks of it, so do several of the managers that have left over the past year because they weren’t used to getting challenged about their little fiefdoms.  But in the end, the bureaucracy that ballooned out of control without the accompaniment of improvement to service, is now being culled to design a cost-effective and intelligently run system from within City Hall.  It isn’t easy, but it most definitely is the right thing to do, in spite of the backlash from those that are responsible for much of the mess in the first place.

• The over-the-top enthusiasm for the Mayor by pollster Mario Canseco is a little hard to understand, but these numbers are certainly not as dire as the usual suspects are making them out to be.  I won’t go into the different polling techniques and questioning that make this Angus Reid poll and the one conducted by StratCom that far off from each other.  Rather, I will put this question forward: who of any profile or status in this city worthy of a potential Mayoral run would be willing to battle against Gregor Robertson at this point?  I still can’t see a worthy opponent stepping up that easily, and from what I am hearing, neither can the executive board members of the NPA.  Oh, and for the record, there were several other candidates for this round of the NPA nomination process taking place on November 20th, who abruptly pulled their names from the running, promising instead to come on board next June.  Yeah right!  Bottom line, the Mayoral void on the side of the NPA is a huge problem for them that will not be solved by a Suzanne Anton or Ian Robertson candidacy.

• If she decides to do it, two things happen.  First, Surrey First will be in disarray, as the entire team revolved around the salience of Diane.  There are some candidates that could prove to emerge as a viable replacement (Tom Gill?), but the landscape of possibility for opposing parties truly opens up upon her departure.  Secondly, if she is handed the keys to the Premier’s office (as should be arranged if I was advising the party brass), she gives the BC Liberals a fighting chance.  That is of course an assessment made under the proviso that Carole Taylor is truly out of the game, and is going to stick with her new SFU appointment.  If Taylor enters the race, however, I’d say that both women could be game changers for a party that is in deep trouble at the moment.

• And what if they say no?  Is the entire burden on the municipalities?  Weeks ago I advised these Mayors to stand up to Gordon Campbell…and now with the events of the past week, it is all the more reason to step up and take a stand.  Provide some new funding mechanisms devoted for transportation instead of putting everything on the shoulders of property owners – that is the message to be collectively delivered to the Province.  There should be no approval by the Metro Vancouver’s Council of Mayors unless Gordo in his last few remaining months makes a commitment for new revenue sources for these cash-starved municipalities that BY LAW are not allowed to run a deficit.

• I don’t always agree with him on his political viewpoints, but on the eve of Remembrance Day, I have to give huge praise to Allan De Genova, who has been one of the key architects behind the opening of Honour House.  De Genova’s contacts in the development industry have been invaluable in raising funds, and I know how proud De Genova is that the project is now open to host veterans and their families.  Congratulations Allan on an amazing job of taking your dream and making it into a reality – 2 years from conceptualization to grand opening is an impressive feat.

• I have received a number of emails from NPA members wishing to remain anonymous who are upset with not only the individuals that have been acclaimed as candidates for the party (one individual said to me “a man who hasn’t been relevant in decades and tried to change our great party’s name, and a guy who ran for the Conservatives years ago and lost”), but also the fact that they have been shut out of the decision (another email contained this line “They took my money for the dinner, but they aren’t going to get anymore after this kind of interference in the democratic process.  I am done with the NPA!”).  This “nomination” process has already turned into a gong show and we haven’t even got to the date for the actual meeting.  My assumption?  The people that I mentioned above who pulled away from their stated intentions to run are not coming back.  And filling the rest of those vacancies with viable candidates is going to be an effort in futility.  Good luck Manjot…you are going to need it.

• I want to encourage everyone to go out to your local Remembrance Day ceremony and pay your respects.  It has been a tradition for me since I was in high school, and no matter the temperature or weather, I always feel blessed to be in the presence of greatness, and to be able to offer a small gesture of how appreciative I am.   Lest we forget.

Enjoy the beautiful sunshine today.  Vancouver is so stunning at this time of year.

He went out on his own terms instead of waiting to get embarrassed, in spite of what internal polling numbers released after the fact are saying.

The fact that 17 MLAs signed and delivered a letter of non-confidence against him was dire, but the prospect of having factions actively working to undermine him at the upcoming party convention in Penticton might have been the nail in his coffin.

These points have been confirmed for me as the two reasons that Campbell pulled the plug on what was expected to be a longer tenure as Premier.

He might be saying that it was because of his dismal public approval rating, but he has been unbelieveably unpopular for over a year now, and it never seemed to faze him.

I mean, you don’t go out and hire a veteran like Belle Puri as your new press secretary (she was completely caught off guard) and Paul Taylor as your new Chief of Staff – both the week before – or spend $240,000 on a slickly produced address showcasing upcoming income tax cuts, if you are on planning on making such an announcement.

This is why for a number of reasons, I find these numbers very suspect.

From what I am told, many of the party brass within the party wouldn’t even be privy to this kind of information.  Why?

Because it is a number that is kept top secret amongst the party executive, the members of which make a concerted effort to keep these results private until their release at the actual convention.

Here’s how it works.

The party convention was slated to take place in Penticton in two weeks.

At the delegate selection meetings of ridings across the province, delegate are also asked whether they support a leadership review.

These numbers are compiled and kept under lock and key – particularly far from the prying eyes of political operatives and caucus members – to preserve the sanctity of the membership’s will.

There were many in the caucus that while silent in the meetings that Campbell ran with an iron fist, were actively working on ensuring that enough delegates got elected that would cast a vote of non-confidence against the leader.

84 per cent, in consideration of public approval ratings that stood at 9 per cent, recall campaigns that will picking up steam, and a general view from most observers that the party was burdened by Gordo more than any other factor at this piont, seems like a bogus and manipulated result to me.

Like all of the potential leadership candidates were saying after the press conference, today is about the Premier and his legacy.  By the same logic, the party wanted to hand the press ammunition to send off the most hated man in the province with as much good will as could be mustered.

But like Christy Clark said in the above-linked CTV video on the resignation, Campbell did not look like a man that wanted to leave.

The media might be bewildered as to whether he was jumped or pushed, but the complete 180 that was pulled in the past week should put those kinds of questions to rest.

Campbell went out on his own terms before his own party embarrassed him publicly.

More later on the prospects of the BC Liberals to pull their electoral fortunes out of the fire.

New Education Minister George Abbott is poised to lead sweeping changes to BC's education system, according to my sources.

Yesterday I received an email about Premier Gordon Campbell’s prime-time address to the electorate tonight.

While I have yet to be able to confirm the information, my source is telling me that Campbell is poised to completely overhaul school boards, possibly by amalgamation in a similar fashion to what he did in 2001 with health authorities.

Thus, it is likely that this map will soon become obsolete as larger regionally-based authorities are created to represent broad interests from disparate communities.

This announcement is a precursor to a Friday meeting between school board chairs and new Education Minister George Abbott.

This kind of decision would mean the end to elected school boards, making the hopes from school trustees and the BCTF to establish a new relationship with the Minister moot.

Again, I have not been able to confirm this rumour, but will be working to do so in advance of the Premier’s public address.

I will be back with more later in the day.