All Nominations No matter what the Party Should be open! #bcpol #canpoli #election2019

To get your name on one of these signs each of these people had to first be elected by the members of their party to represent them.
.
I have been fortunate enough to live in 5 provinces full time and others on business part time.

I have seen a lot in politics and especially nomination contests and the excuse and reasons why they should be open, whether the politicians should be protected etc.

My take is that all nominations and the entire process should be transparent.

The process to become a party’s candidate is a long one and can last two years or more.

It usual starts with a dream and a prospective candidate with a close circle of friends deciding whether he or she should invest the time and the money in making that dream a reality.

If they decide yes the start to build a team usually on the qt while listening to see who else is thinking of running.

Factors that enter into the decision are amount of potential support, chances of fundraising, whether this is a safe seat for the party and whether if it’s a bellwether or close seat whether the chosen party and it’s leader has a chance to win the upcoming election.

The process can’t start officially until the party declares the nomination open. Hopefully candidates sell memberships and prepare for the party to declare. ( as part of the process (a game within a game)some people hold back their memberships and submit them at a later date so that they are not on the first release of the membership lists to vetted candidates)

In Canada there are 338 Electoral Districts so the nominations are opened ( by the party) a bunch at a time so that the party can manage them.

As a rule sitting Members of parliament are opened first on the theory that once theirs is done they can get back to the business at hand or help out in other ridings.

When the processed is declared open the candidate fills out the requires questionnaire and submits it to the party together with the required amount of signatures of party members in the EDA he or she wants to represent.

From there it is vetted and an in person interview takes place to further access the candidate.

Once the candidate is given the green light, memberships continue to be sold in the run up to the cutoff date ( party tells them that when its opened so they can prepare fund raise and sell memberships etc).

This whole process can get off track when the party parachutes in their own candidate, protects an MP or boots out a nomination candidate they never should have allowed on the first place.

Some MP’s think due to working with their constituents and the big work load they should be protected from a lengthy nomination contest because they are either doing a good job or their nomination foes will have an unfair advantage because they can sell memberships will the MP is in Ottawa working.

My Take:

1) All politicians know if they win their first nomination and get elected that they are going to have to stand for nomination again if they want to get reelected. This is not a shock. In fact if they haven’t thought the demands of the job and the electoral process through they have no business being there in the first place.

2) If an MP is doing a good job he or she should have no trouble selling memberships locally because they should have both a strong volunteer base to help with this task and yes members should want to help you if they like you.They should also have a strong name recognition given all the previous advertising and mail outs sent to the homes etc.

3) Who decides if an MP is doing a good job anyway? Some people say if they are not the voters will throw them out. The problem with that theory if the MP is in a so called safe seat they will win just because they are that party’s representative. The party members on the other hand get first crack at removing them via the nomination contest and should be allowed to. After all why should we permit an MP who is not good to continue and collect a taxpayer funded pension just because he or she is in a so-called safe seat.

4) Leadership of all parties should realize that the average elector hates news stories about parachuted candidates and rigged or fixed nominations. This needs to stop. All nominations need to be open and transparent.

5) Candidates need to be vetted and tossed earlier in the process. They also need to be given a clear public reason for why they are dumped. All candidates that get dumped say the same thing ” they dumped me but never gave a reason” Perhaps if the candidates that had a questionable past knew the party would release a reason for discharge into the public domain some of them might think twice before running.

6) Parties need to clearly broadcast the date of the nominations to the constituency. Far to often I have heard people feeling ripped off because a nomination was opened with little or no fanfare to help out a sitting MP get it over with without a challenge.

Politics needs to be cleaned up and people need to have restored faith in the process. Having open, transparent nominations is the best place to start.

Nathan Cullen Can’t do Math! #bcpoli #canpoli #election2019 #ndp #leadership

Methinks Nathan Cullen has cold feet!

In an interview with the CBC today NDP MP says that he is not prepared to announce whether he will run for the leadership of the NDP so quickly because it’s a 15-20 year commitment and that it the thought process leading up to his decision would take more than 24 hours.

Mr Cullen’s name has been bandied about for years regarding leadership aspirations and succession in the party. I can’t imagine he is just starting to think about it now.

Even more shocking is that he thinks it’s a 15-20 year commitment.

To Wit:

Enter the race now and run for leadership( fight off the leap manifesto) for the next 2 years

Win and fight for the next year in the run up to the 2019 election ( So far 2+1 =3)

Go to the polls and have your head handed to you ( including losing the NDP Edmonton seat) and resign ( What Mulcair should have done) and remain interim leader for a bit ;1 year tops.

Total = 4 years, a far cry from 15-20 ( I can only imagine what his first budget might look like if he somehow won)

So I give up, where do the other 11-16 years come from?

Can anybody tell me?

Why Conservatives Want Brad Wall to Run for CPC Leadership #CPC #bcpol #canpoli #saskpoli

Why is this man so Happy?

It seems everybody has an opinion as to whether Brad Wall should run and also why Conservatives want to draft him to run.

I am a Conservative who has lived and networked in most places in Canada ( including Regina) and I will tell you unequivocally why people like me want him to run.

It has nothing to do with keeping the party united ( although he would do that with ease). I have spoken to many Conservatives and none of them have raised this as an issue no matter who wins.

We want him to run because Brad Wall would make a great Prime Minister!

He has proven time and time again he is a great leader who knows how to win elections because he listens to people.

He is a fighter who sticks up for his province as he would no doubt do for the country when he becomes Prime Minister.

Encouraging Brad Wall to run for the leadership is simply the right thing to do!

I mean heck even Warren Kinsella likes him.

Why wouldn’t we?

Toronto Star and NDPer Cheri DiNovo a bit on the Daffy Side ! #canpoli #bcpoli

These two are killing my reputation!

After reading the column in the Toronto Star relating Cheri DiNovo rant on her own party ( She’s right, leadership blew the last election and has to look in the mirror) I was taken for a loop at the following paragraph ” Although she applauds Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for accepting Syrian refugees, ending airstrikes in the Middle East, and legalizing marijuana, she nevertheless warns that the new administration “will be an austerity government, with better hair.”

Last time I looked the air strikes were still happening, the refugees (were always accepted) haven’t got here yet and Marijuana has not been legalized.

But if you’d been sleeping or hiding under a rock and read the Toronto Star you would have thought it all fait accompli.

The pot law alone will take time to change, let alone require the house to be in session.

Beside the new government has their hands full with expensive brooches and tax payer funded nannies.

The Toronto Star on the other hand has no excuse and should have in the very least fact checked before this column went to press don’t you think?

BC Conservative Leader ? Dan Brooks-Hiding Under a Rock? #bcpoli #canpoli #bcconservatives

Is that you Dan?

There is a total vacuum at the top of the BC Conservative Party.

The Leader, Dan Brooks, is AWOL. No media presence. No visits to Party members. No profile.

Only two news releases in the past six months.

Almost every director elected to the Party board last November, including the president, resigned only weeks into their mandate.

There is no fundraising, no money, no momentum. What’s up?

Here’s maybe a clue as to why Brooks has walked away from the Party.

One year from now, in November of 2016, he’s scheduled to be in BC Supreme Court along with his former leadership campaign manager, Barry Sikora. Sikora is listed on the Party website as a regional director from Surrey.

In the 2014 BC Conservative leadership campaign, two anonymous smear letters against Brook’s leadership rival, Rick Peterson, were sent out to all 4,000 members of the BC Conservative Party across the province.

Following a Vancouver Police Department investigation and an internal Party report, Peterson filed a defamation claim against Brooks, Sikora and Sikora’s printing company, Classic Impressions Inc., alleging that the three parties were responsible for the production and dissemination of the anonymous letters, which attacked Peterson’s personal, political and professional reputation.

A November 2016 court date before a judge and 12-member jury is locked into place. Sources tell me that Kristy Fredericks, elected Party president in November of last year, abruptly resigned her post weeks after assuming her duties, along with every member of the board that she brought with her on the “Dan Brooks youth slate” at the November AGM, when she learned about the extent of the allegations.

Nothing has been proven yet, and it is only in court that the full details will be released.

It could get ugly. How ugly? Check out the current political defamation case playing out right now in BC Supreme Court, involving former Liberal MP Blair Wilson, who claims that anonymous claims against him amounted to “character assassination” . Here’s the link:

And here’s a quote from that story – bold italics are mine:

“The named defendants in the case include Bill Lougheed, former MLA Judi Tyabji, political strategist Mark Marissen, who is the former husband of Premier Christy Clark and political blogger Steve Janke, who published an anonymous letter detailing allegations against Wilson and forwarded to Elections Canada. Tyabji, who had conversations with Lougheed and O’Connor and was allegedly motivated by an ambition to remove Wilson from his MP’s job, was in court Wednesday representing herself.”

Sound familiar? I’m no legal expert, but part of this Blair Wilson case seems very similar to charges currently levied against Brooks and Sikora.

It’s clear to me that the fortunes of the BC Conservative Party under Dan Brooks’ leadership are on hold until this gets cleared up. If Brooks or his campaign manager were found to have a role in the anonymous smear letters against Peterson, it’s lights out for the Party in 2017.

And maybe this is why the Party Leader has decided to hide under a rock, hoping this all blows over.

Good luck with that.

Michelle Rempel Would be a Great Interim Leader for the Conservative Party of Canada #canpoli #bcpoli #cpc #conservativeparty

There is no other choice!

If you are part of the so called parliamentary caucus and your reading this, do the right thing and ensure that Michelle Rempel becomes interim leader.

If you are a volunteer or party member persuade or turn the screws to your “parliamentary caucus rep” to get behind Michelle.

If you just said what’s a parliamentary caucus rep. its your newly elected Conservative MP or sitting Conservative Senator.

Why Michelle?

SHE is young ( younger than Trudeau in fact) and that will ensure the new electorate will take notice.

SHE is highly energetic and will hit the ground running. The party can’t afford to sit around and wait to get things going,it gotta happen now and that includes fundraising and area that Michelle will be of great help.

SHE has sharp elbows and will not be afraid to hold the new government accountable.

SHE is a team builder and more than ever we need that skill now.

Did I mention she is a female? That will send an amazing message to another part of the electorate that needs to hear our message.

Michelle is the right choice, Make her the interim leader now and without delay.

Election 42- Death of the NDP #Elxn42 #bcpoli #canpoli

Tom Mulcair and the NDP are toast!

This was the election that was the referendum on Stephen Harper.

It was dubbed as the Anybody but Harper campaign.

It ended badly for Mr.Harper we know that now.

The Conservatives, on the other hand will live another day.

The NDP might not be so fortunate.

Before the election was dubbed the “Anybody but Harper Campaign” the discussion centered around whether the left could exist as two bodies and defeat the Conservatives without splitting the vote.

That was put to the test in this election and from where I sat and watched only one survived.

As soon as Tom Mulcair said the NDP stood for balanced budgets they became Harper lite.

Justin Trudeau and the Liberals pounced and said they would run deficits creating a clear choice in the voting public’s mind. Would they vote for Harper and the Conservatives ( Which the NDP was now lumped) or would they vote for Liberal deficits and spending.

While the voters where mulling that over, Thomas Mulcair put what I think was the final nail in his and the NDP coffin.

It wasn’t the niqab ( although that didn’t help him ).

At the September 28 debate Thomes Mulcair shot him and his party squarely in the foot.

Mulcair invoked the death of Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

Trudeau made a passionate defense of his father as would I of mine.

Trudeau took full control from that moment on and made the voters choice easy, a compassionate party with a left leaning economic vision versus two balanced budget parties that were mean.

In my mind the election was over that night.

At the same time the Trudeau Liberals swallowed up the NDP and gave those progressive voters a home they could win on.

And win they did.

Next election the economy will still be the topic ( It always is) but the NDP wont have much to say in the outcome.

It will be tax and spend of the Liberals versus the Conservatives fiscal economic planning.

The Conservatives will have a new leader who will have gotten the message from last night.

There will be no Anybody But Harper Campaign. The fight will be for those new voters who came out this time.

The NDP? There is no longer room for them, they had their chance.

They blew it.

They will not recover.

Jack Layton must be rolling in his grave!

The Return of Freddy Krueger! #canpoli #qcpoli #bcpoli

He’s back!

The return of the Hair Net!

Gilles Duceppe is returning to lead the Bloc Quebecois into the becoming federal election and they waited until after Jacques Parizeau died to announce it.

Duceppe, who all but had his party wiped out in the 2011 election is considered to be the so-called savior of the federal sovereignty movement.

Pundits and pollsters say (Read Those that still work at the CBC) that Duceppe will get the Bloc back into the political game

Please.

Bringing back the Hair Net proves that the Bloc is devoid of new ideas and that they are no longer relevant.

Jacques Parizeau must be sputtering in his grave.

Even Lucien Bouchard will be uttering “cela ne peut continuer” 🙂

The Bloc will not be a factor in October.

You heard it here first!

Step Right Up and Get Your No Tanslink Tax Lawn Sign! #notranslinktax # nomoretaxes #enoughisenough

This is a lawn sign, cool eh!
This is a lawn sign, cool eh!

How cool would it be to have one of those brand spanking new lawn signs on your front lawn just in time for the good weather!

It can be yours for a mere $6.30.

The good guys ( the would be the Notranslinktax guys) don’t have the resources that the yes folks do.

You can help.

As I said above “each lawn sign costs about $6.30 when the cost of the plastic, the wire frame and the taxes are included. And we need lots of them – can you help us buy a few lawn signs? Just click here to buy lawns signs using our secure online form.

Only $63.00 will buy us 10 signs – think of the impact that ten signs will make in your neighborhood or along your commute home. Help us buy 10 .”

It’s time we said enough is enough.

It time we said FIX TRANSLINK first and then ask for our money!

It’s time to Buy a Lawn Sign and Vote No!

Thank you for your support,

No TransLink Tax
http://www.notranslinktax.ca/

No TransLink Tax Please! #vancouver #surrey #bcpoli #notax

Reach out to Translink and say No Thanks!
Reach out to Translink and say No Thanks!

Here we go again.

Once again somebody has their hand in your pocket asking for an additional $258.

I get that taxes pay for essential services.

But TransLink with all their mismanagement?

Please gimme a break.

There is enough fluff in their budget to make a few cuts and make up the money there with once again gauging the good citizens of BC.

This need to be stopped and you can do your part by signing the NoTranslinkTax and sending a message to your government to think twice before they take you for granted.

If you are not incensed yet, read the news release issued by the Canadian Tax Payers federation. Pay particular attention to the part that says:there is a rumored $4 million dollar spending plan to get a yes vote.

So join me and say NoTranslinktax today!

Feel free to share this post with your friends and enemies . We need to say Notranslinktax now.

Later will be too late!