Why it's a good thing that Wally Oppal lost

Wally Oppal is an affable person, with a good pre-politics reputation.
But he's been an ineffectual minister, often appearing poorly informed and out of touch on issues that were his responsibility.
Over at publiceyeonline.com, Sean Holman offers a small, but telling example, based on an FOI request.
And the biggest train wreck of a scrum I've seen in years came during the controversy over the death of Sherry Charlie. Oppal was responsible for the Children and Youth Officer at that point. On a hugely critical issue - the death of a toddler for whom the government had a responsibility - he was slapdash, uninformed about his responsibilities and hadn't read the basic report. It was dismal.
More positively, the result - if it stands up after a judicial recount - means that the voters in Delta South decided they wanted an independent candidate they respected and believed would represent them well.
It's a solidly Liberal riding, or should be. The result indicates how badly the people there feel abused by the government, over health care, a treaty settlement they believe ignored their concerns, unwanted roads and controversial power line forced in the community.
And it shows the price that can be paid if MLAs - like Liberal Val Roddick - are seen as more loyal to the party than the community.
Independent Vicki Huntington will be wooed by the Liberals. It would be better for democracy - or more interesting - if seven Liberal MLAs joined her as independents. That would mean that in any vote, the MLAs voting the party line as ordered wouldn't decide the issue. The independents would.