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Clark needs 'wedge' issue to separate NDP

There wasnt a lot to chew on from Premier Christy Clarks five-minute radio address this week, but she did signal a looming showdown on an issue that has the potential to right her governments sinking ship.

There wasnt a lot to chew on from Premier Christy Clarks five-minute radio address this week, but she did signal a looming showdown on an issue that has the potential to right her governments sinking ship.

Clark went on radio station CKNWs Bill Good Show to lay out her governments plans for the spring legislative session, and didnt reveal anything particularly bold or new.

But she seemed to go out of her way to call out public sector unions and emphasize, once again, that there was no money on the table for their members to receive wage increases anytime soon. And she suggested the only way those wage hikes could occur would be through increased taxes.

Clark desperately needs an issue to change the parameters of political debate in this province. The mood of the electorate seems, according to the polls, to desire a change in government.

So Clark appears to be developing a new theme she hopes resonates with voters more than the call to kick her party out of office. Shes hoping public sector unions try to take her government on, allowing her to make an us against them type of argument.

It can be an effective theme. Public support for unions has dwindled over the years (the percentage of unionized workers has steadily declined in this province) and in particular, support for public sector unions is likely not very high.

Public sector employees generally enjoy benefit packages that are much richer than anything found in the private sector. They also battle a misplaced public perception that they perform work of a substandard nature.

A number of union contracts expire at the end of March, setting the stage for strike action potentially involving nurses, health-care workers and direct government employees.

The B.C. government is insisting there is no money for wage hikes, unless they are paid for by concessions from employees. The B.C. Government and Services Employee Union have already said it wont stand for a continued wage freeze, and other unions may follow suit.

Clark is no doubt hoping the NDP aligns itself with these unions if a showdown does occur. The theme of whos running this province can be a game-changer, and it may allow Clark to consolidate her voter base and bring back disaffected Liberals currently parking their votes with the Conservative party.

Some have suggested we could be seeing parallels with the Operation Solidarity protests that erupted in 1983 in the wake of government restraint measures. People forget, however, that despite those huge protests the Social Credit government of the time was handily re-elected a few years later.

Of course, the public sector unions may opt not to take the bait this time around, thus robbing Clark of a potential wedge issue that could clearly separate her from the New Democrats.

And then Clark will be forced to search around in increasingly desperate fashion to find another issue that can rebuild her partys popularity. It wont be an easy task.

As I predicted in this space some months back, former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm paid a hefty price for libeling former conflict-of-interest commissioner Ted Hughes in his self-published biography a few years back.

Yet Vander Zalm remains unrepentant. He appeared on CKNW radio the day the verdict was reached, saying he stands by what he wrote in his book.

But if he repeats the libel against Hughes he will pay dearly for it, and Im not sure whether Vander Zalms penchant for trying to rewrite history in more favourable terms to himself can keep him quiet forever.

Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.