The B.C. Liberals are trying to spin an exodus of MLAs as an opportunity to rebuild, while most observers and critics are calling the governing party a sinking ship.
On Thursday morning, the B.C. Liberal party released a statement touting 11 MLAs who will be returning to run in the May provincial election, including Pat Bell and Shirley Bond.
But the party lost Finance Minister Kevin Falcon on Wednesday with three are set to resign on Thursday.
B.C. Premier Christy Clark said on Wednesday she expects more resignations and is preparing a cabinet shuffle next week to fill the empty positions, reported the CBC.
She had asked her MLAs to announce their plans by the end of the summer. By the end of Thursday, 10 Liberal members won’t be campaigning in May. But Clark downplayed the departures and played up the “bench strength” in her caucus, reported the Times Colonist.
“This is an opportunity for renewal,” she said on Wednesday. “We need to go into the next election campaign with a new team."
Observers are alternately characterizing the exits as leaping off a sinking vessel, crumbling like a house of cards, and joining a conga line.
"Better make some more room in that Liberal lifeboat, Kevin Falcon!," wrote Province columnist Mike Smyth. "Now that the SS Liberal has hit the iceberg and is slowly sinking, it looks like cabinet minister George Abbott will be the next to abandon ship."
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