Christy Clark’s Alberta field trip was all optics and little substance according to observers on both sides of the Rockies.
“She is, by a wide measure, the most inconsistent, self-contradictory and desperate politician in Canada,” wrote Calgary Herald columnist Don Braid.
He chronicled the B.C. premier’s “wild and contradictory” demands on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and quoted an Alberta government staffer who calls Clark a “pain in the butt.”
Braid also points out that Clark’s speech to students at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy happened because she invited herself.
“Very nice for them, but it’s hard to resist the conclusion that Clark was hunting for a grandstand,” he writes.
Edmonton Sun columnist Lorne Gunter gave credit to Alberta Premier Alison Redford for accommodating a meeting with Clark despite the B.C. leader’s “ham-fisted effort ... to act tough on Gateway to try to close the growing gap between her Liberals and the B.C. NDP.”
“I would have let Clark twist in the Calgary wind,” he says.
Clark’s performance is not viewed much better at home in B.C.
Journalist and former cabinet minister Rafe Mair says Clark is operating with “abysmal ignorance” in demanding a cut of the pipeline’s royalties.
“The only purpose for Ms. Clark to crash Ms. Redford’s office is to make it appear to folks at home that she’s doing something. She is making a fool of all of us, painting us as supplicants to Premier Redford’s throne and the gold that is there," he blogged.
"Premier Clark’s bleating about 'risks to B.C.' is bullshit as she and the rest of us know."
Also on HuffPost