Revolutionary Moderation

Campbell lives in interesting times...



At yesterday's Lunar New Year Parade, Gordo was brave enough to put in a appearance, wearing a gold two-piece suit that made him look like, for lack of a better description, Ed Begley Jr. as Dr. Evil. By contrast, Kam Bo Yee (Mayor Larry Campbell) was resplendent in traditional dress, a cross between an imperial warlord and the God of Fortune.



My vantage point at the parade was just off Abbot and Pender, in front of the Sun Yat-Sen Gardens. I was about 20 feet away when Campbell came by, and he looked bewildered, if not frightened by the booing and jeering coming from the crowd. Picking up on the hostility in the crowd, the Premier's bodyguards hurried him along to the point where this reporter could no long surpress the cry of "Faster, Gordo, Faster!!"



While the BC Liberals have been favourites of the stridently pro-business Chinese community in Vancouver, the legislature raids and The Premier's drunk driving conviction and the scandal stemming from recent RCMP raids on the Legislature have deeply offended many whose culture revolves around propriety and the value of saving face.



Electing progressive, Left-leaning candidates such as Raymond Louis or Jenny Kwan is the overwhelming exception to the political rule in B.C.'s Chinese community. However, as the 'monkey business' continues, the BC Liberals leave themselves vulnerable to hidden dragons on the right.