Did Christy Clark cancel fall session because of Victoria’s ’sick culture’?

B.C Premier Christy Clark’s decision to cancel the fall session of parliament in the B.C. legislature has brought to light comments she made earlier this year about the culture of Victoria, which she characterized as "sick."

“When the House rises at the end of [May], you’re never going to find me in Victoria," she told a reporter with the National Post last spring. “I try never to go over there. Because it’s sick. It’s a sick culture. All they can think about is government and there are no real people in Victoria."

Clark later clarified that she was not referring to the almost 350,000 people who make the provincial capital their home, but simply the mindset within the legislature. Her decision to cancel the fall session was she said, so MPs could spend more time with "real people."

As many polls show, Clark’s Liberals are running far behind the opposition New Democrats, and some have speculated that Clark cancelled the session in order to make campaign-style funding announcements across the province. Others have suggested that, since she recently shuffled her cabinet, Clark is scrambling to give new ministers time to learn their portfolios.