B.C. NDP race marked by bickering

Delegate selection officially began in British Columbia on Sunday for next month's provincial NDP leadership convention.

The race to become B.C.'s next premier has been a long and bitter one, with high-profile candidates competing to see who can criticize their own party the loudest.

"We need to end aggression in politics," says front-runner Ujjal Dosanjh, the province's Attorney General. "Look where it got us over the last four years: at 17 per cent (in public opinion polls)."

"We wonder why they get mad when you can't process an oyster permit for a year, year and a half ... because there aren't enough staff," complains leadership candidate Gordon Wilson, the province's education minister."That's why they're mad at the government."

Many pundits predict Dosanjh will win the party's leadership, partly because he has spent a lot of time bashing his old boss. Glen Clark resigned last year when his name surfaced in a police investigation into how a casino licence was granted.

Clark, who has not been charged with any criminal act, may have walked out of the premier's office, but he hasn't left politics. In fact, he's officially backed Wilson -- a man who's been with the NDP only one year -- in order to try to stop Dosanjh.

Wilson has distanced himself from Clark, saying it's absurd to call him "a puppet" of the former premier.

Clark is not the only past NDP leader to get directly involved in the campaign. Former premier Dave Barrett supports Wilson; former premier Mike Harcourt has sided with Dosanjh.

Opposition Liberals, who've attacked the NDP for taking so long to pick someone to replace Clark, say it really doesn't matter who takes over because the government doesn't stand a chance of being re-elected.

B.C.'s New Democrats will choose a new leader during a convention in Vancouver Feb. 18-20.