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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.

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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.

BC Conservatives: Brooks Out #bcpoli #bcconservatives #bcelection 2017

As rumored in this blog last week, Dan Brooks is out as leader of the provincial BC Conservative party

What will the party do next? How will it get ready for the election expected early next year?

Or will it?

Stay tuned….

BC Conservatives: We are Confused! #bcpoli #BCelection2017#BCConservatives

Is he the Leader or isn't he? We are confused! — Is he the Leader or isn’t he? We are confused!

Dan Brooks Leadership
Mr. Dan Brooks continues to be the Leader of the
BC Conservative Party.

There is some confusion surrounding the Leadership
and we are sorting the issues out.

If there are any changes in this regard
we will let everyone know.

From Corbin Mitchell, President
British Columbia Conservative Party
bccpletters@gmail.com

That my friends is the official press release from the BC Conservatives regarding the leadership situation with Dan Brooks.

They ( The Board it seems) is confused with the leadership or Not of Dan Brooks.

He is the leader except they are confused about it.

They go on to say that if they ever become unconfused they will tell you about it.

Are you confused? Why not take out a membership in the BC Conservatives and join like minded people.

They would have been better off to say nothing.

Don’t you think?

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

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?

Shortly Before Premier Calls Byelections,BC Conservative Leader Dan Brooks Resigns! #bcpoli #canpoli #byelections

Most likely fearing the byelections that the Premier called moments ago and that have been discussed as recently as last week in the mainstream media , BC Conservative Leader resigned his position yesterday.

Brooks resignation follows his thumping in the previous provincial election, several resignations on the provincial board, lack of funds raised by his team and most notably the recent lawsuit launched against him and certain member’s of his leadership contest team for smear letters written against candidate Rick Peterson.

The allegations have yet to be proven in court and come up for trial in November of 2016.

The board in the announcement of his resignation applauds Brooks for staying on at least until the Party`s February AGM.

There are a lot of us who think he should leave now and the harder the door hits him in the rear on the way out the better.

The party is not dead. Brooks resignation opens the doors for some exciting candidates to step forward.

I have heard a lot of chatter about new leaders in the last 24 hours.

It will be an interesting to see who steps up.

That discussion is for another day.

Today is for Dan Brooks.

Good riddance!

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

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.

Politics 101:Let the Leadership Race Begin ! #bcpoli #canpoli #election2017

Leadership races are always interesting no matter what party you belong to. They present themselves as a time for renewal and a time to attract new people into the process that maybe haven’t been involved before or awhile.

Additionally, the goal should (and must be) to attract the best and the brightest to get involved not only to lead the party from backbenches, or no benches, but to also attract the best and brightest people into a leadership role in their community.

To get the best and brightest fundraising should be in place as should a good set of policies. Then a leadership race can begin with the best person hopefully chosen as Leader.

It seems common sense, but then nothing should ever be taken for grant, and so I also say that a leaders job is to undertake to increase fundraising, further develop policy, and no matter what the party standing is in the house, hold the current government accountable.

If the party has seats in the house ,questions should be asked, and scrums should be held, with the media ensuring that all the people are represented. Should the party not be in the house, they can hold the government accountable by press releases, social media releases,radio interviews, or even traveling to the House and arranging media meetings outside house when a relevant issue arises etc.

The success of this all revolves around leadership, and that means as I said earlier, having the right leader and the right policies in place to get the job done. This is easier said than done.

A recent review the the BC Conservative constitution ( provincial party) shows this:

Section 11.02 The Leader can only be removed from office by resignation, death, incapacitation, or the
vote of sixty percent (60%) of the Party Members in good standing who vote in a
universal mail-in ballot.

Another way of saying this is that once a leader is elected he or she only needs 40 % of the current members to vote in favor of his or her leadership role to stay in the job. That seems to me to be setting the bar awfully low. It means that a leader would only have to get a few people to vote to save his or her job especially if the party or it’s members is disillusioned.

The question to ask my readers is what do you think the correct percentage is in order to attract talent and correct mistakes in the leadership process?

The Transit Referendum-Another Reason to Vote NO! #bcpoli #notranslinktax #enoughisenough#

As if we need another reason to Vote NO in the upcoming transit referendum, rumors are filtering down that if people vote NO in the upcoming referendum the government will step away and do nothing about the transit problem affecting the Lower mainland.

Nothing could be further than the truth unless you think the BC Liberal government is prepared to walk away from a number of seats they hold in the area.

A NO vote will force the government to act before the 2017 election and perhaps rewrite legislation so that they can reorganize the Translink board and get this whole thing done right.

A NO vote will wrap the whole issue like an Albatross around the governments neck and force them to act.

Don’t let the Yes side convince you other wise.

Any organization that tosses their so called top guy aside and keeps him around at a salary of $35,000 per month needs reorganizing. If you weren’t convinced of that before that happened it’s a no brainer now.

So Vote NO and tell your government to get the job done right!

The Disintegration of the Left! #bcpol #canpoli #uspoli

All over North America the left is in Trouble!

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.

To wit: Monday 5 ministers resigned from the NDP Manitoba cabinet.

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?

Surrey Refusal to fly Pride Flag denies local business hundreds of thousands in economic benefit. #holycow #missedchance #ferriswheel #surrey #bcpoli #canpoli #pride #itsrasodetime

What’s the Cost to Surrey of not Flying this Flag?

Today we have an excellent piece written by special guest blogger,Martin Rooney,detailing the economic impact of not flying the Pride Flag in Surrey.

So we have had the conversation about the social impact of raising and flying the Pride Flag at Surrey City Hall; (the statement that Surrey is open to the GLBT business community, that Surrey is embracing of the GLBT community by offering space that might facilitate an ever-growing youth population that is intolerant of labels and so on..) that has apparently fallen on deaf ears.
So now let us take a look at the potential economic positives of embracing flying the Pride Flag and fully embracing the Pride Festival and see if this was to be weekend of events how it could potentially have a positive impact on the city, its businesses and taxpayers…….
New West raised and flew the Pride Flag during the Olympic and Paralympic games on a city flag pole in unison with the National outpouring of support for the GLBT Athletes in Sochi .New Westminster has a fourth flag pole referred to as a friendship pole which is located just east of City Hall in Friendship Park. The City Council has totally embraced NW Pride, closed off Columbia Street for the Festival Day and many local businesses are sponsors/partners of this years Festival. Anticipated economic impact to New West is expected to be north of $500k according the President of Royal City Pride.
Prince George Annual Gay Pride Celebrations across North America are used as major tools to generate economic activity while promoting a right culture and a safe and inclusive community for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Two-Spirited, Queer and Questioning citizens. While in major city centres like Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto etc. are much more likely to see more tourism and local economic activities based on size and location, places like Prince George are in a uniquely different situation and often have to work smarter to create more activity. The Prince George Pride Society has worked very hard to bridge the gap between local businesses and local government as a means to move forward plans to use the Gay Pride Celebrations to generate more economic activity. The positive relationships that have been formed with local business such as Topaz Bead Gallery, SHAGG Romance Enhancement Centres, the Ramada Hotel, etc. have all benefited directly from the ongoing support of our Mayor and Council. ” Due to the nature of our local economic industry drivers and the diversity that exists within a smaller centre like Prince George we recognize that the economic and social success aspects of the Gay Pride Celebration are not mutually exclusive to one relationship or another. In fact it is only from the successful and positive relationships between local government, businesses, labour unions, and other service agencies that the Pride Celebrations in Prince George has survived and flourished over the last 18 years. While the actual economic impact has not been analyzed at this point, we know that these relationships would not have been continued if the economic relationship was not successful”. (Valentine Crawford – PG Pride)
Victoria and other cities hosting Pride have not surveyed the record of economic impact known at time of writing; there was no need to, it is however apparent that positive economic impact occurred as these cities continue to host Pride events. Trina Mousseau (Tourism Victoria) reports that there is a huge positive economic impact to embracing Pride in Victoria. People frequent local bars, stores and spend money, as they are having fun. The Legislature flies the Pride Flag as does the city and down by the inner harbour. Quote “The Pride Parade has significant economic impact to Victoria. It is a day where thousands of people fill our streets, restaurants and shops, spending money while showing their support for our vibrant LGBTQ community.”
Vancouver flew the Pride Flag in support of the Sochi Athletes and flies the Pride Flag at City Hall, has banners throughout the west end, has side walks painted in the rainbow colours, and this year on the “flag island” at the foot of Davie and Denman, is flying 6 trans pride flags and 6 rainbow pride flags. This is the first year that Vancouver Pride Parade has become an official civic event and the estimated economic impact to the Vancouver economy is $30 M according to the VPS General Manager Ray Lam – yes MILLION generated over week-long celebrations. Attendance at the Parade in 2013 was some 500,000 people line the route.(source Global TV). Vancouver is also advertised worldwide as a tourist destination for GLBT Travel.
A historic first for North America with Toronto having just hosted the first ever World Pride in North America. Despite the lack of support both visible and apparent from Mayor Rob Ford. the scenes of Canada’s largest city embracing millions or people from across the Globe proud of who they are, was amazing. There was also a human rights conference attached to the World Pride events,
The economic impact of the willingness to fly the Pride flag on municipal flag poles and embrace Pride Parades and/or festivals has served many Canadian cities well. Imagine the potential economic impact of Surrey Pride if the city was to embrace the Flag and look at placing the festival to “open” Fusion Festival week. Holland Park would be full two weekends in a row, and the economic impact could be astounding to the local businesses.
So what is the city of Surrey doing to embrace a potentially large positive economic impact of Pride to its residents?
Refusing to fly the Pride Flag and “sponsoring” the Pride Festival to the tune of $1,000! yes $1,000 does not send a positive message to the Pride and business communities in Surrey or around the world for that matter.
Whether it be a 4th flag pole or amend the recent flag Protocol it might be advisable to take a proactive approach and live the motto – “The Future Lives Here”.