Now is the time for the BC Liberals to steal some ideas that members of the Opposition like to raise before an election, and then conveniently forget if and when they form government.

Premier Christy Clark is in the perfect position to act on the kinds of ideas politicians prefer to maintain within the realm of study and discussion - the kinds of things they like to promise before an election, but that tend to slip from their memories after the votes are counted. After all, the BC Liberals can't seriously be thinking they'll still be on the government side of the legislature when the election dust settles this May.

They don't have to worry about instituting important legislation that may be unpalatable to voters because, frankly, an overwhelming number of voters already find the BC Liberals unpalatable anyway. And for the same reason, they don't have to worry about whether they will be boxing themselves in by making rules now they'll regret having to follow later. In fact, they have a rare opportunity to do something that should have been done long ago - and the best part is they could saddle the (probably) incoming NDP government with its own suggestion.

The B.C. NDP is calling for legislation banning any government from using public money on advertising to pat itself on the back - clearly in response to the millions of tax dollars the BC Liberal government is spending to promote its own programs and put a positive spin on some rather questionable labour and general economic statistics. We all know it's mostly a political ploy on the part of the NDP. But if the Clark government were to introduce and pass such legislation before May, the incoming NDP government would be forced to abide by the very restraint they are calling for now, instead of conveniently forgetting about it after they are in charge.

No loss to the BC Liberals - and the real winners would be the taxpaying public.