ROTHENBURGER: Scandals here and in Ottawa overshadow boring B.C. Throne Speech

KAMLOOPS — IN NORMAL TIMES, yesterday’s Speech from the Throne in the B.C. Legislature would have dominated the news for a couple of days.

But these aren’t normal times. Instead of the Throne Speech, everybody was talking about continued fallout from the Plecas Report, including charges supposedly being contemplated against unknown MLAs for unknown reasons, and the resignation of Linda Reid as assistant deputy speaker.

Even that was overshadowed by the news coming out of Ottawa about another resignation — that of former Trudeau cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, who has become the darling of the federal Conservatives.

Wilson-Raybould didn’t explain the reasons for her resignation but it has to do with the flap over legal issues surrounding the Quebec firm SNC-Lavelin.

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Opposition politicians are having a field day. Instead of being a political enemy, Wilson-Raybould is suddenly much-respected by the Tories in particular.

Who says there’s no hypocrisy in politics?

As for that Throne Speech — Kamloops got three mentions, and there was some stuff about cellphone costs and health care and ticket scalping but there was no clear direction to it.

The government pledges to invest more in schools and roads, creating tens of thousands of jobs. One wonders when the Kamloops-Thompson School District will see some of that money, and when the Trans-Canada Highway east of Hoffman’s Bluff will get untracked.

It was nice to hear Angelo Iacobucci mentioned among the journalists we lost in the past year and who — as the Speech said — “informed us and raised our spirits.”

I found Lt-Gov. Janet Austin’s insistence on noisily flipping through page after page incredibly annoying. But, it at least provided some relief from the boredom of the Speech itself.

Now, let’s get back to the scandals.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.