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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?

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?

What if they had an election and nobody came?

Martyn Brown has a point and I will help him make it!

In the last provincial election according to both statistics and the mainstream media, 50% of the people did not vote.

I have said for a long time that is not true. I believe most people are voting when they don’t show up at the polls. I think they are voting in a way most people are not accustomed to. They are voting with their feet!

That means by not showing up at the polls and voting with a pencil they are voting in a different way saying that politics doesn’t matter because the way politicians and people in the backrooms conduct business and themselves is not relevant and is a waste of their time.

Martyn Browns new book reaffirms what I have felt for a while.

Brown’s excellent book, Towards a New Government in British Columbia, could just as easily be entitled Towards a New Government in any Province. To wit: just look at the gong show that is known as an election in Quebec.

There are no platforms revealed and it is basically 3 parties at war with each other while 1 of those parties is also taking on the country.

I am surprised the polls show anybody will vote.

In our province,BC, the Conservatives and the Liberals are at war with each other while the BC NDP hasn’t said much of anything other than they will have something to say when the election is on relative to their platform.

I am also surprised the polls show anybody will vote.

I have been involved in backroom discussion at municipal, provincial, federal and the board level. I can tell you the discussion revolves around 3 questions. They are: How do we get young people involved, how do we get women involved and how do we reach the 50% of the people who don’t vote.

I can also tell you from discussions with friends in all parties they are the same questions they all ask.

The answer, as Brown clearly says and he is right is this: If you keep going the way you are you can’t and won’t.

Why would they?

Elections and governments always go the same way. One side wins,hangs on for a few terms and gets booted out either by scandal or for not doing the few things they pledged to do during the election.

What about the favorite expression coined in the media around North America. That would be ” It’s the first year of their mandate, they are doing the hard things now so they don’t have to do them near election time” or some similar coined phrase.

What about politicians who run on this’ we are here to do politics differently’ and then they don’t.

We elect politicians and governments for 4 year terms and expect them to carry out the work for the whole four years not one and buy my vote for the other three.

I have argued for term limits on these pages and that would be a start but even with a limited term there would still be time for shenanigans.

We, the voting public, need to hold governments and wanna be governments to account.

It is no longer good enough to wait until the election to reveal a platform.

It is no longer good enough to vote for faux change.

We need term limits and tough recall laws.

What we need most, however, are politicians who are not afraid to lay it on the line. People who will talk out loud about what they will do,why they will do it and then stick to the course and not break our hearts.

We need the backrooms and the parties to stop going to war.

It’s no longer good enough to go to the polls and vote for more of the same.

Something drastic has to happen.

For until it does, this former backroom guy, will join the 50 % and vote with my feet.

I don’t see that I have much choice!

Denise Savoie Resigns for Health Reasons!

Thank you Denise for your years of service.

Obviously this is a Conservative blog as those who have read it know.

Today I want to change it up a bit and say thank you to Denise Savoie a politician who always represented her profession and her party well.

I met Denise in the offices of Shaw cable back when she was a city councilor in Victoria in the days when Victoria city politics was more rough and tumble than it is now.

We were both at the TV studios for the filming of the candidate bios that Shaw does so well in the run up to the municipal elections. She was a candidate and I was a campaign manager with a nervous candidate.

We were in the waiting room waiting our turn and had time for a small chat. Denise knew her issues and was very nice to me, something that wasn’t common amongst all people politic in Victoria at the time.

She has represented Victoria well and I wanted to say thanks and good luck in the future.

Tom Mulcair will have a hard time recruiting somebody to ably fill your shoes.

All the best!

Romney Adds Ryan: Now the U.S. Election Gets Interesting!

A fiscal Conservative: Now things will get interesting!

Mitt Romney adds running mate Paul Ryan and now the US Presidential race gets interesting.

It gets interesting because not only do we finally have a real Conservative to choose from ( Romney and Obama are both Liberals) but also because Romney and Ryan are polar opposites.

Moments ago Romney after hearing Ryan”s plan to cut medicare, he said that would never happen as long as it was his campaign.

Romney of course is campaigning on restoring cuts that Obama made to seniors Medicare.

Ryan’s plan would not restore them.

Ryan has been blunt and to the point on what cuts and what direction the country would have to go to clean up its fiscal house.

The discussions over the next few months will make the run up to the US election very interesting.

Our neighbors to the south are going to have a discussion they have been putting off for some time.

What path do you think they should take: Stimulus or Cut? Romney or Ryan?

Will the two of them last through the election or will there be a dust-up?

Clark and Marois: Two Extortionist Peas in a Pod!

With talk of a Quebec election the talk of the never-ending referendum has started up again.

This time Quebec MNA and nutcase Bernard Drainville, in anticipation of an election victory ( read: taking the Quebec electorate for granted) unveiled extortion plans to get the referendum happening when the PQ get to power.

Why shouldn’t Marois and her team get into the act?

It comes on the heels of last weeks hijacking of the Premiers meeting by dimwitted BC Premier Christy Clark who stood on her soap box in what will no doubt be a vain attempt to extort money from Alberta and buy votes from the good citizens of BC.

This is obviously a case of monkey see monkey do as Clark looks in the mirror and sees Marois and vice versa!

Stuck in the middle? Some say Prime Minister Harper.

The real answer is the taxpayer who will no doubt foot the bill for these shenanigans.

Had enough yet?

Who do you think will do the Extortion Shuffle next?

Christy Clark Loses Another One!

Speculation has been mounting in the press in recent weeks whether Murray Coell, Saanich North and the Islands MLA would leave politics.

Today he confirmed that we would not run again and joins the growing list of MLAs bailing on Clark!

I did a lot of volunteer work in the old days ( 2001-2004) in Coell’s riding and wish him every success!

Coell is a good guy who works very hard for his constituents and the BC Liberal Caucus will miss him.

( I know you guys will probably comment that I should wash my mouth out with soap for saying nice things about a BC Liberal)

Who will give Clark the high hard one next? Falcon? Coleman?

At this rate one of these guys could leave before the weekend!

What are your thoughts?

Another Poll Another nail in Christy Clark’s Coffin!

The Liberal Vancouver sun continues to run the picture used for affair l’farebeat forgetting that most people would prefer to throw Clark under that train rather than hold Dix accountable for his actions.

Angus Reid released the most damning poll of all for the future on the Clark BC Liberals and for Premier Christy Clark herself!

Not only does the poll show that the BC Conservatives are on the rise ( up 3%) but it also tells the tale of the women voter.

You would think that Clark would have the market cornered on that segment of the population but not so, she has lost that too!

The worst news for Clark and crew to come out of the Angus Reid research?

That would be the numbers that say people feel Dix and the socialists are better able to manage the economy.

I will say that again so there is no mistake: Polled Voters think a bunch of socialists are better able to manage the economy than the supposed Free enterprise Chumpion Clark.

Not only that, the poll goes on to say that 55% of those folk’s opinion of Clark has worsened!

Furthermore 64% of those people disapprove of the way she does the job.

No wonder Dave Hayer didn’t say thanks!

How bad is that?

If the BC Liberal Executive has pulled themselves up off the floor and are paying attention: this poll spells the end of Christina Joan Clark.

You cannot and will not form government in the next election.

In fact the momentum is now with the BC Conservatives!

This poll also sends a message to Peter Brown and it would be : Mr.Brown you are backing the wrong horse!

What do you think?