Campbell storm occasions foolishness Drunk, with power

Gordon Campbell has contrived to get himself into hot water over a number of things during his short tenure as premier of British Columbia, but it took a traffic stop and impaired driving charge in Hawaii — on the island that gave the world Maui Wowie, no less — to really get people on his back.

As a self-appointed voice of mining, we’re not too sure which way to jump. Campbell’s Liberals were the choice of the mining industry in British Columbia, faute de mieux, but take a look at le pire — that’s French for the New Democratic Party, by the way — and you have to concede that doesn’t hold them to a very high standard. A slower decline to the province’s mining industry satisfies us quite nicely. Mere competence can come later, with all those other Platonic ideals.

However, tearful apologies fix a lot in the television age, and Campbell looks secure for now. Callers to phone-in shows praised him for seeking professional help, a compulsory step for anyone wanting to make a public transition from lawbreaker to victim. (The occupant of this chair has in the past sought professional help with his drinking. His name’s Ray; his bartending manner is straight out of P.G. Wodehouse, and he always knows when to call you a cab. That’s professional.)

In truth, the incident is a sharp illustration of why — rather than how far — political standards have fallen. As Paul Wells neatly puts it in a National Post column, “when we make the private life a proxy for the public — when we fire a politician for his down-time behaviour — we’re not ‘holding our leaders to a higher standard.’ We’re holding ourselves to a lower standard: admitting that we’re too thick to handle a debate about tax rates and quality of service, so we need to base our judgments on something more garish and simplistic.”

And it’s in precisely that spirit that this incident has allowed some people to show off their ignorance. Louise Knox, Canadian president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving — a group that appears, from recent statements, to be turning into a turn-of-the-century temperance society rather than a road safety campaign — issued a call for Campbell to resign temporarily.

Now even in British Columbia, the Queen’s government must be carried on; if a premier resigns, it brings the ministry to an end and another one has to be sworn in. To suppose that three months later, a premier can knock on the lieutenant-governor’s door and say, “oh, that business about the criminal charges is all cleared up now, and I can go back to work,” is to misunderstand the nature of responsible government. We realize that sort of thing is widespread, but Knox should not put it on such indiscreet display.

Campbell should stay, faute de mieux. His Energy and Mines Minister might be another matter. Am I makin’ sense here, Ray?