B.C. Premier Christy Clark offers ‘gifts’ to electorate including a holiday

The B.C. government added some gimmickry to its Speech from the Throne Monday, promising a new mid-winter holiday and cameras in the courtroom for trials relating to the Stanley Cup riots.

One can't help but wonder if the new goodies are an attempt to soothe some lingering political wounds.

Nine months into her premiership, Christy Clark has had a tough ride.

She's had to deal with bulging deficits, the fallout from the riots and an HST referendum gone bad with voters rejecting the tax harmonization.

So, like a grovelling husband to a wife scorned, Clark has offered her electorate some party favours.

She is promising a "Family Day", a mid-winter holiday already enjoyed by those in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Conveniently, as Ian Austin of the Vancouver Province points out, the first Family Day, Feb. 18, 2013, falls just 12 weeks ahead of the next B.C. election.

"The premier - who had precious little money in reserve for feel-good throne speech announcements - chose a crowd-pleaser that costs the government little," he wrote.

Clark also wants to give British Columbians the gift of watching Stanley Cup rioters squirm in court.

The B.C. government has requested that Crown counsel advocate for TV and radio access to the court proceedings for those charged in relation to the June 15 riot.

"Those guys had no problem doing their crimes quite in public, with all kinds of people taking pictures and video all around them," Clark said Monday. "So I think that they should have no problem being tried in public either.

Nevertheless, cameras in the courtroom are a moot point.

So far no one has even been charged in direct relation to the riots. It could be months or even years before the rioters are brought to trial.

Here's a great gift for the electorate, Premier Clark - help the police and the courts expeditiously charge and prosecute the rioters like you had promised back in June.

(Reuters Photo)