Gordon Campbell explains his decision

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Gordon Campbell is explaining why he’s stepping down, after declining to answer questions at yesterday’s announcement.

The Premier says his decision will help the province move forward. Campbell says it’s time for a new leader because there’s been so much negative focus on his role, and it’s taking away from important issues that need to be dealt with.

“When it’s about one person, that’s the wrong issue. It’s time for a change and I felt it was important to put the interest of the province, the government, and the party at the head of the agenda. So, I made the decision [to resign] this week.”

Campbell explains opinion polls didn’t factor into his decision. “You know you’d have to be pretty deep underground to know that the polls have not been my best friends over the last little while. But I have never been driven by polls. I have always been driven by what’s in the best interest of the province.”

He goes on to say, “I think, frankly, any leader that focuses on whatever opinion polls they want to pick is making a mistake in terms of their service to the public.”

Campbell insists he is not stepping down just to shore up the Liberal party for the next election.

“Government is about all of government. It’s about the whole caucus working on behalf of British Columbians. And I think that this is going to be in the best interests of British Columbians. People will, instead of thinking about… whether Gordon Campbell is doing this for his reasons or not… think about whether this is being done for the province, for the best interests of the province. And I think that’s critical.”

Campbell says the cabinet and caucus decided to hold an HST referendum and they will abide by the will of the majority. He insists he’s not trying to save the Liberals for the 2013 election, saying the whole government backed decisions like the HST. “These are decisions that we have confidence in for British Columbians. I think British Columbians were clear, they wanted to have a referendum. We said yes.”

NDP leader Carole James says she agrees the whole government must answer for the tax. “The public just wants an opportunity to tell them what they think of that.  They certainly did during the HST issue when they brought forward the initiative, the number of people who signed that petition.”

But, the Premier says the focus over the next several months will be on a smooth transition in bringing in a new leader. He’s not expecting a new leader to call an election because BC has set voting dates.

Campbell plans to stay on as MLA for Vancouver Point Grey, and says he’ll also take more personal time. “I want to get a chance to see some of the folks that I’ve been missing a lot, like my grandson on Halloween, as he walked around as Peter Pan. I want to have time to do some of [those things] with family and friends.”

Campbell says he feels he has the support of his party and his caucus, but his plummeting popularity with voters is overshadowing the real issues. The party says a mandatory leadership vote showed Campbell had the support of 84 per cent of party members. However, his popularity plunged to nine per cent with the public, according to the most recent polls.

The Liberals have canceled a party convention planned for later this month, but the Liberal caucus is meeting today in Richmond. There’s no word on when the next convention will be held.