Fox, meet henhouse; hens, meet David Emerson

I see the Premier announced a sweeping review of energy policy in BC, just what, 7 years since the last, ahem, sweeping review of energy policy in BC, to be completed in January.

Anyone who's ever worked anywhere near government knows the fix is in when "reviews" are given extremely short timelines. All four (4, yes, quatre) task forces have been mandated to report out in less than 3 months, with Christmas and New Years in the middle. And, if any further evidence is required to show the outcome is already pre-determined, I give you the newest apparent member of cabinet, one David Emerson. (Granted, the news release specifies he's "ex officio." Not an actual un-elected member of Cabinet or anything, just one voice in the room, I get it. Whew. That's a relief. I was worried he'd have influence.)

You may remember Mr. Emerson from such earlier works as "Oops, I Privatized BC Ferries" (chair of the board during the BC Liberals' first term), or his amusing foray into federal electoral politics and identity crisis. Prior to that, he was paid millions to run a forest company while tens of thousands of jobs were lost and entire forest-dependent communities practically disappeared. (Good for him, of course. I get that he was paid to deliver to his shareholders, not workers or towns, and that changing international market conditions and the failure of the industry to adapt and evolve were totally not his fault.)

I don't mean to bash David Emerson here. What did Kurtz say to Willard near the end of Apocalypse Now? "You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill."

I think Mr. Emerson is a little higher up the food chain than "errand boy," but, as he has throughout his career, he's just doing what the boss asks for.

But, in this case, the boss in question is the Premier, who was just re-elected with a third straight majority, meaning there is no question at all that whatever policy Mr. Emerson comes up with (or, more likely, cuts and pastes from Plutonic Power's shareholder prospectus) will be implemented. The Liberals have been looking like the wheels had come completely off, but it's looking like someone's waking up over there.