One of the reasons Friday’s apology was so difficult for Premier Christy Clark is that she’s not used to making them.
The last time she made a personal apology of this nature as premier was in 2012 after the “quick wins” scandal, about a cynical plan to pull in ethnic votes.
Her government was in serious trouble over that issue and looked to be hanging by a thread at that point, so the contrition was obvious.
That situation heightens the import of Friday’s move. When questionable conduct comes up where some form of withdrawal or regret might be in order, a formal apology from the premier only comes when she and her advisers realize their backs are truly against the wall. That’s the traditional stance of most leaders, and Clark holds closely to it. The best defence is a good offence.
It’s fascinating how an off-the-cuff remark in a social-media interview escalated to the point where a full-scale withdrawal and apology was felt necessary.
Some people will feel distinctly put off by this caper, because it has been such a silly waste of everyone’s time. But it’s also perversely encouraging. People watching the institutionalized mendacity streaming out of the White House can take a small comfort in the fact that in B.C. we’re still at the point where a leader caught flagrantly making up stuff has to back up and say sorry.
She started building this crisis after a fuss about people’s personal-contact information leaking from a B.C. Liberal website. A party official said the data were “stolen” and they were going to “engage the authorities.”
“Dirty tricks by our opponents.”
Then Province columnist Mike Smyth reported all the data were freely available, if you knew where to look.
Confusion ensued. It didn’t stop Clark from barging into the case and fingering the perp.
“The NDP has said it’s going to be the ugliest, dirtiest campaign that we’ve ever had,” she claimed, falsely. “We saw them try to hack into our website the other day. Hacking into websites is illegal.”
It sounded dubious from the start, and a retreat began. With everyone else shovelling out from under the blizzard, her communications team started a concerted effort to dig her out of her own mess. It turned into a complete farce on Friday. Independent MLA Vicki Huntington stepped up and said it was her office that found the open data. The site apparently had a security hole you could drive the Spirit of British Columbia through.
“Putin, I’m not,” she cracked.
That prompted Clark to apologize publicly, and to NDP Leader John Horgan privately.
“It’s further proof of the fact when we jump to conclusions and make a mistake, we should apologize. I have no problem saying I’m sorry because I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have jumped to those conclusions as quickly as I did.”
She had difficulty reaching Horgan directly, so had to leave the apology on his voicemail. Horgan is taking his time checking his messages. Maybe he’ll get to it after the election.
She also noted “the party is going to ensure that the proper protocols are in place to protect information.” That’s encouraging, but it’s something more professional outfits would have done years ago.
Liberals reported the supposed heist to the Information and Privacy Commissioner, mostly because they were obligated to do so, and partly to heighten the sense of urgency. If there’s any poetic justice in this world, the investigation will land a lot harder on the complainant than on the fictitious hacker. It’s almost inevitable, because the snoop exists only in the Liberals’ fevered imagination.
Just So You Know: Last spring, the situation was somewhat reversed. The NDP levelled a conflict complaint against Clark and after it was dismissed by the commissioner, the premier obliquely discussed apologies. As in: “I’m not hopeful that the NDP will offer an apology for all this.”
She said: “Politics has gotten down to the level of: If you say enough bad things, you don’t have to prove them to be true. If you say them enough, enough people will believe them. I think better of British Columbians than that.”
