Political junkies will probably be a little bored with BC politics for the first few weeks of 2008, and may have to turn to watching the US presidential primaries for their fix. It's often said that US presidential candidates hire the best political advisors money can buy, and hence it is worthwhile to watch their campaigns for lessons on how to do politics. Canadian politicos frequently attend US campaign schools and cross paths with the same folks who are now engaged on both sides of the presidential contest. Both John Edwards and Barack Obama have criticized the role of lobbyists in politics. In BC, as well as in the US, lobbyists play a central role in campaigns and then return to lobbying after their party is in power. That is not healthy for democracy. The Campbell government needs to strengthen its lobbyist registration legislation and to prohibit MLAs and senior public servants, including order-in-council appointments, from lobbying the government for at least two years after leaving office.

Don't hold your breath waiting for reform from the Campbell government. It broke its promise on open cabinet meetings and on the Parliamentary Calendar. The spring 2008 session of the legislature will likely be the last full session before the May 12, 2009 election. As was the case in 2006, a fall session will probably be skipped, and as was the case in 2005, the spring session before the election will likely be "recessed" as soon as interim spending authority is passed. That makes the session that will be held between February 12, 2008 and May 29, 2008 particularly important. February 12th is the date for the Throne Speech, and February 19th is the provincial budget day. The Throne Speech can be taken with a grain of salt; at best it will introduce another Campbell flavour of the month, to be forgotten within a few weeks. The budget is far more important. With the US heading into, if not already in, recession, BC's prospects of assured billion dollar surpluses are no longer certain. All eyes will be watching to see whether the Campbell government introduces a carbon tax, and if not, exactly what of substance it does announce in order to give credibility to its ambitious target of reducing greenhouse gases by at least 33 per cent below February 2007 levels by 2020.

BC's Electoral Boundaries Commission is scheduled to produce its final recommendations by February 15th. On November 28th, government house leader Mike de Jong announced in the Legislature that the government would not support recommendations from the Commission that reduced rural representation. If the government follows through on that threat, BC may be taken into an election in 2009 that is conducted on the basis of boundaries that would not withstand a court challenge.

2008 is not only the US presidential election year; it is also municipal election year in British Columbia, with elections scheduled for Saturday, November 15th. Since the media has a limited amount of space between advertisements, competition from the US campaigns and the municipal campaigns will probably mean a later than usual start for the lengthy fixed-election-date BC campaign. We can hope that the 2004 experience, when millions were spent on provincial government advertising that tied into the BC Liberal campaign in early 2005, won't be repeated; that might be too much to expect.

Governments of all stripes in all jurisdictions try to set the political agenda, but stuff happens. Fallout from the yet-to-be-held trial following the raid on the legislature is but one example of something that could derail the best laid plans in the Premier's Office. Dozens of surprises may make 2008 increasingly interesting as the days lengthen.