B.C. premier on hot seat over Victoria remarks
B.C. Premier Christy Clark is in damage-control mode after quotes surfaced in Victoria newspapers in which she refers to the provincial capital as having a "sick culture" with "no real people."
Clark was peppered with questions on the remarks during a visit to the B.C. Institute of Technology in Burnaby Wednesday to unveil a major provincial government investment in skills training.
"I think most people recognize what I meant by that," Clark said in reference to her comments on Victoria, which were made to a National Post columnist in the spring and were republished Tuesday.
"It's the grounds of the legislative precincts. It could become an enclosed bubble and some politicians like to spend all their time there listening to pundits and talking to each other. That's not why I ran to become premier."
Clark also was asked about the government announcement that there would be no fall sitting of the legislature, which has sat for a total of 71 days all year.
Clark said she’d sooner spend the next few months listening to the people of B.C.
Critics call her scant presence in the house undemocratic, and two independent MLAs say they will hold a Twitter town hall this week to discuss democratic reform in B.C.
New Democrat leader Adrian Dix says it's embarrassing that B.C. will not have a fall session.
Clark wouldn't say how many days the legislature will sit before British Columbians go to the polls in an election scheduled for next May.
