I was pretty young when my family lived in Victoria in the 1990s... I wasn't an astute follower of politics at the time. But I recall that there was an ethics issue with Glen Clark, and I recall that the Fast Ferries program was quite a boondoggle.
As well, I recall the general sense that while the rest of the country was growing, BC wasn't keeping up. I recall hearing some businessman talk-- and this might have been on Angry Old People talk radio, so it might not have been an unbiased account-- but he was talking to an interviewer about why he located his new facility in Alberta instead of BC. He said he spent a couple of days in BC and met with a bunch of minor-league officials from government agencies. Someone from the labor department came and told him about diversity targets he'd be expected to meet. Someone from the environment office came and told him about environmental regulations he'd be required to meet. Someone from municipal affairs came and told him about taxes and utility and infrastructure costs he'd be expected to pay. And so on. It was all about what they expected from him. When he went to Alberta he got the exact opposite. Everybody talked about what they could do for him. So of course he picked Alberta instead of BC. This was an ongoing concern, if I recall-- "thousands of jobs every week are moving from BC to Alberta". I don't know how much of that was real and how much was hype, but it certainly seemed to be a concern that was being talked about.
But that was 20 years ago... Glen Clark and Usual Dosage are long gone.
-k