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.
In a little less than a year another federal election will have happened and the results will have been sliced and diced well before now.
I can almost guarantee the topic once again will be the lousy over all voter turnout .
At some point during the election someone in the media will be shocked at the size of the advance turnout suggesting that change is in the air. ( It’s convenient for people to vote at advanced polls rather than just one certain day, when will the pundits figure that out?)
This theory will once again be kneecapped after election day itself when the pundits will be once again gob-smacked by the low overall turnout.
Why aren’t people voting they will cry? What can we do about it ?
Nothing of course until they address the flaws in the political nomination process.
Perception is everything because in the eyes of the public not only is the process flawed but it might even be corrupt.
It’s a simple process really.
It start’s with a questionnaire the prospective candidate fills out.
It is then sent on to a committee for review. They look to make sure everything is answered etc.
It is either approved or rejected,sent back to redo and then an interview is arranged.
The candidate is interviewed and then ultimate approval is given.
Should be simple enough.
But it’s not.
During the nomination process the prospective candidate has to sell more memberships than the other potential candidates and get them out to vote.
Cue the upcoming nomination battle in Surrey-Newton an Electoral district in the lower mainland of British Columbia.
Two so-called wily political adversaries selling memberships by using prepaid visa cards.
The end result is that people are disgusted and want no part of the process including voting on voting day.
To get people involved where they care,volunteer and vote at the ballot box all parties must stop appointing candidates.
They must evaluate potential candidates early in the process and remove them then not mere days before the vote. At present I believe the parties wait to the last-minute to allow input of extra membership money from the soon to be disposed of candidate.
If they opt to remove them closer to the big day than provide a reason publicly. The candidate should not be in politics if they can’t handle rejection and the reviewers should not be reviewers if they don’t have the moxie to toss a candidate and say why.
Above all the process should be open,accountable and transparent.
Right now it’s not and it’s disgusting, don’t you think?
A book displaying the Liberal party platform used to boost the candidates chances in the Whitby-Oshawa by-election.
Stephen Harper ( the Man who told Putin to get out of the Ukraine) and the Conservative Party of Canada were victorious in both seats in tonight’s two by-elections.
In the riding of Yellowhead in Alberta the CPC won in a romp. The party got about 64% of the vote as of this writing.
In Whitby the race was a little tighter, reminiscent of when Jim Flaherty first won the seat from the Liberals in 2006 for the CPC with 43.86% of the vote. Tonight Pat Perkins got 49.2% of the vote.
But no matter how the mainstream media and the Liberal party try to spin it, the CPC won and the Liberals lost.
The Liberals had a chance to regain a seat they once held and they blew it. Team Trudeau lost .
Make no mistake about it this is a blow to the Trudeau team whose polling numbers have begun to slip a year out from the federal election and a shot of Adrenaline to the Harper team.
There are some tough questions that need to be asked.
Sexual harassment is a terrible thing and should be dealt with swiftly and harshly.
Everybody has the right to a stress free workplace and life.
It is also no small mystery that sexual harassment purports to occur in the house on the hill in Ottawa. The environment is there and it needs to be fixed.
We have all read versions in biographies over the years just as we have all read the stories when the NDP first swept the province of Quebec they did it with Jack’s army of young youthful candidates in their twenties and thirties.
We have also read the stories of all the marriages that have not survived life on the hill.
This blog piece is written to discuss not what happened but what I think is a glaring lack of investigative reporting relating to these cases.
What I can’t figure out in the cases that have been reported on this week is why the NDP MP went to Trudeau.
I get that she was sitting next to him on a bus.I get that this is a personal issue.
I cannot fathom why on earth the MP did not bring it up with the NDP Whip or the Party’s leader before she talked to Trudeau.
This is also a big political issue .
To Wit:
You are fighting tooth and nail for every vote,every piece of ground you can get before the next election in 2015.
Why would you not go to your party’s brass and tell them what happened and get some direction ( Leadership) on what steps to take?
Unless she did and they did nothing about it.
For what it’s worth I find it hard to believe that Mulcair and company would sweep it under the carpet.
It is also just as unbelievable that they would counsel her to speak to Trudeau at the first available opportunity.
More likely had the upper echelon of the NDP been involved there would have been a meeting involving the whips and the complainants dealing with the issue with the added instruction of not going public being expressed clearly.
The matter could have been dealt with in a less public forum through to conclusion saving the complainants from as we have heard been harassed twice.
That doesn’t appear to be what happened.
It seems that the complainant went straight to Trudeau.
If that is in fact what happened I think we have a right to know why?
If she did approach her own party brass and they did nothing we also have the right to know why not.
After all in less than a year you will be asked to vote on leadership and isn’t this what this is about?
Unless something shocking happens in the US Mid Terms the Republicans will get the required number of seats ( 5) and control the Senate and we can get on with the last of Lame duck Obama’s lame duck mandate.
This will make for a woeful week for left-wing parties and government in this continent.
This says either the Premier of Manitoba is a lousy leader or they think their current tax and grab policy will not work or both.
In Ontario the name calling has already stared and if I were a betting man I would say no way to Andrea Horwath being leader of the Ontario NDP going into the next election 4 years hence.
In my province of BC most people would be hard pressed to name the Leader of the NDP even though our current BC Liberal Government has given them ample opportunity to make hay on various issues. ( I love my LNG sung to the beat of I love my MTV)
The answer if you are wondering is John Horgan who is a smart guy who for some reason doesn’t seem to be resonating with the voting public.
Federally in this country the NDP is doing a bit of a death spiral of its own not gaining any traction with the public in recent polls.
In fact if an election were held right now ( It won’t) they would most likely be sha na na’d right out of their so-called Quebec strong hold.
Soon there will be more or less no left leaning governments nor will there be a left leaning NDP opposition.
Can it get any worse for those on the left of the political spectrum?
On Occasion I hand out the Political Insider coveted Bonehead of the Month Award and well it’s Thanksgiving weekend so why not hand out a brand spanking new Political Insider Thanksgiving Turkey award.
I know most readers think that this is a slam dunk and that Justin Trudeau will win because he had a lousy week and he is in way over his head.
I have to admit he had his hand on the trophy and just when I thought the award was his he was beaten by a nose by Monica Hargrove.
I can hear it now ;what ,who is Monica what party does she belong to?
Just because I write a political blog doesn’t mean all the awards have to go to politicians.
Monica, bless her heart lives in Columbus Ohio , and wins the award on a number of fronts.
The local police as do police in many locations post on Facebook and newspapers outstanding warrants in hope the public will call and help them apprehend these fugitives.
In this case dear Monica was wanted for armed robbery.
Did the police get a call on Monica?
Yes ,Monica herself called because she was upset at the picture the police used because it wasn’t very flattering.
( if you are thinking smart police,they traced her cell phone and arrested her read on)
The police person who answered the call listened and said that if she didn’t like the picture ” she should come down to the station and we can talk about changing it.”
I had occasion to chat with a few folks from the PMO following the recent summer barbecue here in Langley.
After the Prime Minister’s speech we chatted about the stuff worth taking home from that oration.
For my two cents I told the folks that I think most people know that Trudeau is in over his head and when push comes to shove they won’t vote for him as long as we promote our good record.
Today,Prime Minister Harper made a speech and did just that.
By no means an I saying he did that because I said so.
He did that because it’s the right thing to do.
Prime Minister Harper has always been Here for Canada.
Will Tako van Popta’s entry into the Cloverdale-Langley City Conservative Eda wipe the smile off of Mike Garisto”s Face?
Rumor on the street today is that Tako van Popta is getting ready to announce he is adding his name to the growing list of candidates running in Cloverdale-Langley City Electoral District.
That would be interesting in that as recently as Thursday night it appeared to many eyes at a Surrey Fundraiser that van Popta was part of the Mike Garisto team.
For those that don’t know, Garisto is also a candidate running for the federal nomination in that very same riding.
Could this spell trouble in the Mike Garisto Camp?
