The Iced Tea Maker and the Overwaitea Man

Bob commented below on the announcement that Jimmy Pattison will chair a public accountability committee for the revenues raised if authorized by the referendum: “Really, the Yes side saviour is someone whose fortune was built on selling cars? Am I the only one who appreciates the irony?”

There’s a lot more to appreciate than that.

Jordan Bateman, de facto leader of the No side, is on a roll – close to a career-making victory that will make his name known internationally in the world of neoliberal foundations (hate that confusing term since they’re often backed by super-wealthy conservatives) and the institutes, think-tanks, university chairs and lobbyists which they fund.  As SFU prof Donald Gutstein has documented, it’s a global network of linked organizations that has shifted the political centre to the right, dramatically in the U.S. and increasingly in Canada.  For an example of their inter-connectedness, check out the Board of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation , for which Jordan is the public face.

Bateman, if there is a No victory, would be credited with almost single-handedly defeating the leadership of this region – or the ‘elites’ as he’d say.  He’d be the Tim Eyman of British Columbia – the guy in Washington State who, backed by conservative money, built an activist machine that collected signatures to put initiatives on the state ballot and then mounted the campaigns to pass them, in particular to lower taxes, even when it meant that the people who voted for them would see their own services cut.  There’s a particular satisfaction that comes with that.

Given our limited experience with such voter-passed mandates, the impact would be all the greater.  Bateman might even be the position to create his own political movement: an Iced Tea Party for British Columbia, if you will.

The referendum was the perfect opportunity to mount this kind of campaign, and TransLink was the  perfect agency to vilify – an organization without a face and few defenders.   And the Yes side, holding back until the final weeks before the ballots went out, gave him a head start with no obstacles.  He was able to set the memes, as they say, with a practiced ability to heap scorn and smarm on a campaign without a respected figure in the community to establish credibility and confidence, or even to respond effectively.  It was just a case of piling up the missteps.

And then the Overwaitea Man showed up. *

Jimmy Pattison, our homegrown billionaire, was the man who Premier Bill Bennett called up when he needed someone to make Expo ’86 a success: “the expediter – the one more than anyone else who made it happen.” (I’d love to know who called him up and convinced that he was needed again, or whether he called them.)

Importantly, he agreed to be the man who will oversee funds if #Yesfortransit wins.  More importantly, he confirmed that he will vote Yes – and put his credibility on the line.

So Bateman or Pattison, the Iced-Tea Party Maker or the Overwaitea Man.  No or Yes.  Now it’s a real choice.

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* Overwaitea Foods is one of the companies owned by Pattison.