Quality time needed with premier on future of Royal Inland Hospital

Either it’s a sudden case of media shyness, or Premier Christy Clark is being very careful with her message these days.

After about five questions from reporters on Tuesday at her “creating and protecting jobs” announcement at TRU, she was given the cue by handlers and off she went.

“Handlers” are those in charge of politicians at media or public events whose job it is to keep an eye on the clock or the situation, and move in when appropriate to provide the politician with an excuse to leave.

Typically, in the midst of an editorial board meeting, for example, a handler will make a show of pointing at his or her watch, then the politician will apologize and explain he or she is late for another engagement.

When Clark was going after the leadership of the B.C. Liberal party, she was available for individual sessions with the media, giving them lots of time for in-depth interviews.

Since becoming premier, her visits have become much more orchestrated. Attempts by this newspaper to arrange for an interview were unsuccessful. Requests from radio NL for an appearance on the Jim Harrison show — normally a must-do for visiting politicians in this town — also went unheeded.

To be fair, there’s a difference between running for a party leadership and being a serving premier in terms of demands on a politician’s time. But Clark’s predecessor, Gordon Campbell, was Mr. Accessibility in comparison — always ready to talk on radio (back in my days doing a talk show for CFJC, the ease with which one could communicate with his office or those of his ministers was a delight) or take time for an interview.

A local TV reporter remarked a couple of weeks ago that Clark seems surprised at the depth of questions coming from Kamloops media as opposed to other Interior media outlets.

Whatever, it’s too bad local media didn’t have some one-on-one time with the premier this week or, at least, a more productive scrum.

One of the issues requiring follow-up with Clark is the status of the Royal Inland Hospital master site plan. Back in mid-July during her first visit here since being sworn in as premier, Clark was questioned by reporters about financing for the ambitious plan.

“We want to make sure Royal Inland Hospital is functioning as well as it can and Kamloops is getting the best service it possibly can,” she said.

But, she added, “Part of the issue we have with managing financial request is we don’t even know where our budget’s going to be at in a few months because if the HST fails, it will be a $3-billion bite out of the bottom line.”

In other words, Kamloops residents would be well advised to support the HST.

As we know, Kamloops and the rest of the province voted to turf the tax.

So the question now is, will Clark and her Liberals re-commit to improvements to our hospital, or is rejection of the HST going to be used as a rationale for letting the master site plan gather dust on the shelf?

Maybe the answer to that question is one of the reasons Clark isn’t anxious to be grilled on issues in Kamloops.