by Sean Holman on September 18, 2026
I’ll be screening Whipped and taking questions about the documentary in Cranbrook next week - the city represented by one of British Columbia’s most maverick politicians.
Before becoming a Clark administration cabinet minister, Bill Bennett had a public falling out with the BC Liberals - which included giving the public an insider’s take on the lack of power MLAs had when Gordon Campbell was premier.
A clip from that scrum almost made it into Whipped. As such, it seems appropriate that the documentary is now making its way to Bennett’s riding, courtesy of the College of the Rockies and the College of the Rockies Faculty Association.
So, if you live in the area, please join me at the college on Thursday, September 26 at 7:00 in Lecture Theatre Room 250. I look forward to seeing you then.
by Sean Holman on August 15, 2026
BC NDP MLA David Chudnovsky’s final speech included an impassioned criticism of party discipline. But it certainly wasn’t the first time such words had been spoken in the legislature.
In 1991, Social Credit MLA Nick Loenen also took on that subject. I included a clip of that speech in Whipped: the secret world of party discipline.
But here’s the uncut footage, in which Loenen states, “I believe that no leader can go to the people and regain the people’s confidence without addressing - in a very dramatic way - this whole question of the function and role of our governing institutions, namely this provincial legislature.”
Indeed, according to Loenen, “unless a leader is willing to do that, that person does not deserve the trust of the people of this province.”
However, 22 years later, our governing institutions haven’t fundamentally changed, with proposals to reform British Columbia’s voting system having been defeated at the ballot box.