Canadian politics | Political Insider

BC Conservatives: The AGM

7209533.bin — Election Night in Chilliwack; In Happier Times?

Tomorrow is the day Conservatives in BC have been waiting for for a long time.

It is the occasion of the final BC Conservative AGM before the May 2013 election,maybe.

For that to happen John Cummins has to win the leadership handily and the BC Liberals have to keep their word and actually have the election in May and not pull some legislative shenanigans in early 2013 and change the date to the fall.

What will happen at the AGM tomorrow? Will there be winners and losers?

I believe that question is a lot more complicated than you think.

Read on.

John Cummins can win and hold onto his leadership tomorrow but still lose the war.

This would happen if John Van Dongen uses the occasion of the Cummins victory speech to declare that he is running as an independent. Stranger things have happened in politics. ( This is not easy for Van Dongen either)

John Cummins could lose his leadership tomorrow ( I don’t think so) and open the whole party up to more infighting and a nasty leadership vote.

This leadership vote ,should it occur has the potential to be even nastier the the goings on lately because there could be more than 1 other party involved.

If you are reading this and you say that’s right,they could enter negotiations with the BC Liberals to unify the so-called free enterprise vote you are only partially correct.

Partially because if you have been watching the news lately you would have seen the dormant BC First party slowly arising from hibernation in the form of an endorsement from Bill Vander Zalm.

I am not one to believe in coincidences and have read the accounts in the MSM about Vander Zalm friends Ben Besler and John Crocock building a slate to take on the rest of the folks running for the provincial board under the guise of wanted to do politics different.

I have seen and heard motions from one or the other and seconded by one or the other that reek of more old style politics than most other amateur politicians I can think of.

To wit: Besler introduces a motion to give away memberships for free and is seconded by Crocock. This of course is shot down in flames as scandalous by the sane people on the board.

This is old school politics and so is telling potential nomination candidates that certain ridings are unavailable to run in because they are reserved for board members. ( I will let you use your imagination to figure out which one of these guys did that)

Not only is that old school politics but it also is a form of empire building at a time when most political parties, Conservatives included are tying to clean that up.

The instigator slate has not yet registered for the AGM and no that does not mean they have had a change of heart. It just means more of the old school type of politics.

So when they say they stand for something different don’t believe it for a minute.

In the last week and by the latest poll, the BC Conservative Party has gone down about 7% in the polls and a good part of this has been brought on by the instigator slate.

Chris Delaney,Bill Vander Zalm,Sal Vetro and the BC First team must be having a good laugh.

So are the inept Christy Clark led BC Liberals who today siphoned off former by-election candidate and third place finisher John Martin.

At a time when Conservatives should be attacking the opposition, Besler, Crocock and Co. have been busy attacking themselves and shooting their own party in the foot.

What this does is leave the door wide open for the BC Liberals and now the BC First Crew to tussle over the vote.

What do you think. What will happen tomorrow and do you care?

The Only Things Certain in Life: Death and Taxes!

Everybody has been saying all summer that once September rolls around ,politics in BC will get real interesting.

Well what do you know September is here and just look at the past two days.

Yesterday,BCNDP leader Adrian Dix came out of the closet and actually said something. Horror of horrors he said what we all knew all along. He is going to raise taxes!

He was talking about corporate taxes of course.

He says he is going to raise those taxes up to 2008 rates.

You could make the argument they are already there with the tax increases the BC Liberals have levied on business.

You remember the new holiday and the increase in minimum wage tax.

This spelled the death of the video game industry in British Columbia.

What did Christy Clark about all this? Not much really, she was to busy outlining to the electorate what a rotten place Victoria is to spend time in with the lack of real people and all.

Note to Christy: When those people who are not real step behind a voting booth they are just as real as anybody else. I would think anybody that was thinking of voting for you would now be changing their minds.

I would also think those people in other parts of BC, most notably the ones in your riding who sent you to Victoria in the first place, will now be having second thoughts, now that they know how much you hate it.

Meanwhile,over at the BC Conservative Party,John Cummins and Crew were too busy warding of a small group of agitators ( More on this in a future post later this week) to have much time to comment on any of this.

It seems, however a voice of reason and sanity has risen from the ashes in the form of North Cowichan Councillor and BC Conservative Party Presidential Candidate Al Siebring who was quoted as saying “We have to show that we’re a credible force and we have to do that first of all by showing that we know how to conduct and govern ourselves”.

He is right of course and that conduct must show itself at the conclusion of this weeks BC Conservative Party AGM .

Otherwise it’s DEATH ( two political parties) and more TAXES( BCNDP) next May.

What do you think?

BC Politics: Legislature won’t be Recalled in the Fall But that’s not what is Important!

Christy Clark: I will say whatever it takes to get elected!

I spent the day listening to news reports and call in shows asking people how they felt about the legislature not being recalled in the fall. Do they care was the question on cutting edge of the ledge ( Bill good show).

I think the question was framed wrong. It shouldn’t be do you care that the legislature is not sitting this fall but rather this: Do you care that your premier campaigned on a promise to hold more sessions in the house once she was elected and then broke that promise?

Quite frankly I think the general public could care less whether the legislature sits given all the nonsense that goes on in that venue.

I do however think that the public cares about whether their Premier lies during a campaign.

This is not the first time she has broken a campaign promise, remember the promise of returning gaming funds to the arts.

This is an important question to debate now especially in the run-up to a general election.

You should ask yourself in light of this how truthful will anything she says during the May 2013 election campaign be?

So I ask you which is more important: holding a fall session or keeping promises during election campaigns?

What do you think?

Mike de Jong: Don’t worry we will find a billion dollars by next spring!

What me Worry? it’s only a billion dollars!

In another moment straight out of Mad Magazine, Finance Minister Alfred E.Neuman AKA Mike de Jong said with his best ‘what me worry’ look that the taxpayers were on the hook for a billion dollars that has gone missing due to decreased natural gas prices.

de Jong still claims that the budget will be balanced next year before the election.

How can you say that given all the variables that make up balancing the budget, natural gas prices being but one.

Unless of course the loss of a billion is yet in another list of BC Liberal lies , smoke and mirrors.

Former Finance Minister Kevin Falcon was more believable in that role than you and I am sure he would have seen that coming and sent up a warning to get people prepared.

Not only that Mike but your replacement over in Health had to have the RCMP pay a visit to investigate some potential criminal action over there. This would have happened right under your nose.

I would also expect you will be busy with the BC Rail mess.That in self should be fun for you given that you will be running back and forth from one side of the court room to the other given that you were the attorney general during the Basi Virk case.

It seems Mike that everywhere you go a mess is sure to follow. You are no more believable now than when you were part of the team that said no to the HST back in election 2009.

The province would be better off with Alfred E. Neuman presenting the next budget, at least we would know it for what it is.

Anybody have anything to add?

Christy Clark’s BC Liberals: The Vote Buying Continues!

Christy Clark: In my Heart I am a Vote Buyer!

Christy Clark, Mary Polak and the BC Liberals continued the vote buying today with a pre-election discount on the yet to be opened Port Mann Bridge.

You recall this all started last February in the run-up to the April by-elections and continued with Clark bribing people with another holiday last May.

Today the giveaways continued with the $1.50 discount day sale over at the Port Mann. It will now only cost you $3 per day to cross instead of $6.

I wonder how the voters that travel the Golden Ears Feel,A might ripped off I would imagine.

Remember to we are privatizing over at the liquor distribution branch to clear up the budget short fall.

How will they buy your votes next?

Lots of ways probably, given that today’s poll showed them picking up 3 points to the NDP. They are still getting hammered ( Down by 20%) so be prepared for more election style give a ways.

Clark and the BC have lots to be concerned about in this poll mind you. With all the recent turmoil the 4 dissidents have caused the BC Conservatives you would have thought they would have attracted Conservative support back. They didn’t.

This just proves that ( over and above the 4 dissidents in the BC Conservative Party), people are smarter than Clark gives them credit for.

The Liberals also picked up their 3 % with Clark out of the picture ( in Asia making deals she will never be around to see consummated) and away from the camera where she usually gets herself in trouble.

Smart Liberals ( if there are any) will be pulling out calculators trying to figure what kind of bounce they would get in the polls if Clark was gone for good!

Will the vote-buying continue or will Clark get the boot?

What do you think?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Statesman of the Year!

Nice job Mr. Prime Minister, Statesman of the Year!

The award, given to those who champion human rights and freedom, is no doubt an honor for the Prime Minister as it is for those of us who worked hard to put him in a position to receive it.

Prime Minister Harper is a principled leader who is not afraid to take strong stands on the issues that matter as evidenced by the recent closing of the embassy in Iran.

With all the economic turmoil and instability in the world, Canada is lucky to have a leader like Stephen Harper.

Well Done sir and thank you for making Canada look good once again on the world stage!

Christy Clark Creates New Liquor Cabinet!

Clark on Her New Cabinet: I won’t bother you with the names because this time next year none of these people will be here anyways!

After waxing poetic earlier in the week about all the talent in the BC Liberal back bench,Premier Christy Clark slapped all but two of them in the face when she played the shell game with 13 recycled and former cabinet ministers.She only added 2 MLAs who were not previously in cabinet.

This is Clark’s idea of renewal?

Clark had a real chance to put fresh faces in the cabinet and quite frankly she blew it.

You have to think that some of this so-called “talent” will take the snub and leave.

All this does is to have new managers available to “court” Exel through the rest of the process to their inevitable take over of liquor distribution branch.

To add further insult to injury Clark attempted once again to ‘bait’ voters with their own money by hinting about tax breaks for families around election time.

Premier Clark seems to repeatedly confuse leadership with bullshit.

We already know the only family she cares about is the BC Liberal family.

When will it stop?

How many more MLA’s will either resign,cross the floor or just plain head for the hills of the heartland?

What are your thoughts?

Quebec Election: It’s a Minority for the PQ

So the results are in and the PQ under Pauline Marois has won. ( Currently PQ-56 LIB-48 CAV-19 QS-2

Sure they have replaced Jean Charest and his government but only by the slimmest of margins ( Charest himself lost his seat)

Marois becomes the first female Premier of Quebec.

However the numbers of tonight are no resounding endorsement of the PQ, nor are they a mandate for a referendum.

That idea is pretty much dead.

With the CAQ winning 18 seats and pledging not to discuss referendums or federalism for 10 years coupled with the Liberal Party snapping at her heels, Marois’s wings have been clipped.

Tonight’s result is simply a statement by the people of Quebec that it’s time for a change.

With the two opposition parties in a position to topple the new government, Marois will have to stay in line.

I think the CAQ are the big winners and actually hold the balance of power with their 18-20 seats depending upon final numbers.

They have the most to gain from any Marois shenanigans if the folks in Quebec choose to dial-up real change the next time. They will have to be at the top of their game to look like a government in waiting.

By my count ( I have history watching over me) the PQ government should last about 2.5 years giving the Liberal Party a short time to find a new leader. Given Charest’s loss of his seat and the hunt for his replacement, I would expect no BS from them either. ( This is a tough assignment for the Liberals given that there seems to be no heir apparent waiting in the wings.

Unless..is this where the savior Trudeau will step up to the plate?

Rumors are that he will run federally but will this give him cause for thought and a graceful way to bow out of federal politics?

What do you think of the results out of Quebec tonight?

Quebec: Polls Close in a little over 2 Hours!

The summer election that nobody wanted except maybe for Jean Charest will come to an end when the polls close around 8pm Eastern time.

It should be an interesting evening. Last minute polling shows either a PQ minority or a PQ majority.

Keep in mind that lat minute Alberta polling showed a Wild Rose Victory and we all know how that turned out.

Things to watch tonight:

How will the leaders do, especially Jean Charest.

Will the federalist vote split allow the PQ to win ridings they shouldn’t.

How will the Francophone people vote?

If the PQ wins, will the margin of victory be close enough so that Marois will not talk about a referendum in her Victory speech?

Who will be the official opposition?

If the Liberals get throttled will this be the continuation of a country-wide trend sending the party the way of the Dodo bird?

What about the CAQ, are they for real?

If a PQ majority will the markets crater tomorrow?

We know already that the voter turnout is higher than the last provincial election,what does this mean? Traditional in Canada it means that change is in the air, however maybe not in Quebec.

It should be an interesting night. What do you think the answers to those questions will be?

Marois is Not even Elected yet and She is already Threatening Harper!

Marois: Get your dukes up Harper I am coming to get you!

Recent polls the weekend before the Quebec election show the Pauline Marois led PQ on their way to a slim majority. We can hope upon hope that like Alberta ( No Christy you are toasts,nothing can save you or the Liberal brand) that they are wrong like they were in Alberta.

We can also hope that Quebecers waken from the nightmare that is their summer election and vote a little common sense rather than an expensive referendum.

There has been no beating around the bush in this campaign from Marois, if she gets elected she is taking the fight to Ottawa immediately.

Marois and her party will do anything to create the dreaded “winning conditions” that will send her province and the country into the great separatist divide.

At a time when the whole world is not only reporting economic turmoil but the potential for war, Canada can ill afford to get side tracked by this nonsense.

I hope though that Prime Minister Harper is ready with his dukes up should the need arise.

Canada cannot give into any separatist demands. This is not the time.

But it’s not too late and hopefully “money and the ethnic vote” are standing by ready to send the separatists packing again.

What do you think will be the outcome of the Quebec election?