25 Oct A crucial week for McNeil

Posted at 19:09h in That's life by

Despite two disappointing byelections, last week may be remembered as a good one for Liberal leader Stephen McNeil:

  • He turned a potential crisis to his advantage by supporting the government bill blocking access to tainted Grit trust funds.
  • He put Premier Darrell Dexter on his back foot by challenging New Democrats to go further and ban third-party contributions, as recommended by Chief Electoral Officer Christine McCulloch. Caught by surprise, Dexter dithered.

It was a show of leadership under pressure. To consolidate, McNeil should:

  • Keep after Dexter on third-party contributions. Ms. McCulloch’s imprimatur put this issue beyond partisan reproach. Dexter can choose between following McNeil’s sage but apparently unwelcome advice, or looking bad until he does.
  • Bring Party President (and former MP) Derek Wells promptly to heel on the trust fund issue. In interviews late in the week, Wells stupidly undercut his leader by waffling on both the provenance and the fate of the dirty funds.
  • Come up with list of worthy, non-partisan local projects that could benefit from modest one-time cash infusions. The Liberals have an opportunity to turn the trust fund into an unofficial Stephen McNeil Stimulus program, helping shelters, clinics, farmer’s markets, and L’Arche communities from Pleasant Bay to Pubnico survive cuts that are sure to come as the Dexter government struggles to rein in a horrendous structural deficit. The Grits could make 300 gifts of $10,000 each, and still have money to spare.

The Wells matter is critical. McNeil finds himself in the same situation John Savage faced immediately after his election as premier. Savage campaigned on a platform of patronage reform. After the election, Liberal old boys were shocked to find he meant it. At the party’s annual meeting, they mauled Savage in a bear pit session, demanding to know why putative Tories were still drawing paycheques at local highway garages. Savage foolishly tried to mollify them, and back-pedaled on the issue of political firings.

It was a crucial mistake. Savage should have read the first dissident out of the party, inviting him to walk out the door and join a party that still believed in low level hiring by party affiliation.

Savage never recovered the moral authority that could have made him a great premier. Party dissidents never let up, and Savage eventually resigned the premiership after barely four years in office.