Political Insider: Insightful Canadian Political Information

Is a Constitutional Scrap on the Horizon? #bcpoli #canpoli

Everybody’s favorite rich Socialist Pauline Marois is cruising for a scrap with the federal government and yes by extension the Rest Of Canada.

The doors are opened in three different areas:

1) senate reform or abolition

2) the secular bill

3) the use of the word banque or bank by the Quebec government to create their new institution.

On their own each would be no big deal,but grouped together is a different story.

The PQ could attempt to created “winning Conditions” as they have so often promised so that they can stage another referendum.

I think this is only the first stage of mayhem in Quebec and that the winning conditions that Marois and company want are the winning conditions for a provincial election.

They want to go to the people of Quebec and say that the minority government is not working and use these arguments to get a majority.

Then and only then will they be able to get tough with the government and yes by extension with the ROC.

In addition they have also helped their Federal friends because they have flushed out Trudeau and Mulcair thereby drawing a line in the sand between those two and the Bloc for the 2015 federal election.

So to call Pauline Marois ignorant of the rest of Canada as the Toronto Star did is wrong.

She knows exactly which buttons to push.

There is never a dull moment in Quebec is there?

No Fall Sitting at the Legislature in Victoria, Renewal Movement Launched in the NDP! #bcpoli #canpoli

There will be no lights on here this fall!

To no ones shock and everyone’s dismay the legislature will remain closed this fall.

The reason : to get prepared for the smoke and mirrors that is known as the Budget. ( does that sound as hollow as the house is closed to allow the new ministers to get familiar with their files?)

Once again the taxpayers get ripped off as the BC Liberal machine avoids discussion and points the spot light squarely on Adrian Dix, Forward BC and the potential mayhem that will come out of the November NDP convention.

Dix will announce his future next week ( He’s done like dinner) while the so-called Forward BC Movement wants renewal but refuses to take a position on anything.

The movement, led by spokesperson Sage Aaron refuse to get into the leadership discussion of not only Dix but also the executive of the party.( See the archives today,Sept. 10,2013 of the Bill Good show for that discussion)

Although well-intentioned, to renew the party any movement will have to get involved in the leadership area, especially with the executive which is led by NDP dinosaur Moe Sihota.

The NDP has more than leadership troubles on the horizon. I would expect fund-raising to become an Achilles heel given all the money they got before they blew thew 20% lead in the polls.

No matter how the BC Liberals implode over the next few years ( they will) the business community will be in no hurry to fill up NDP coiffures again after all the money they wasted in the run up to the May election.

Like I said in my last post silly season is here!

It’s September and Silly Season Is Here! #bcpoli #canpoli

It’s Fall and all is calm but not for long. Silly season is here!

The kids are back at school and the columnists are back at work. So are the bloggers.

News and opinion goes to the forefront as the summer bids us adieu!

Political Insider will be there to follow all the breaking stories and provide opinion as to what is BS and what is not.

We will stay on top of Obama’s ( The US Mr.Dithers) and the war on Syria.

We will cover Pauline Marois as she tries to drive Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative government nuts(banquing anyone?).

Political insider will provide analysis from the BC Conservative AGM and what it means to BC.

We will discuss the fall sitting of the BC Legislature ( if there is one)

We will report from on the implosion of the Ontario Liberal Party.

You want analysis on the Federal Throne speech and what it means to the country? You will find it here.

The new riding boundaries? Look no further than Political Insider as we go inside the campaigns.

The impact of Adrian Dix flying the BCNDP coop and the search for a new leader; it will be here too! ( Christy Clark will have the house all to herself I can hardly wait; for in her heart she will be a ? stay tuned)

Silly season is here.

So kick off your shoes, roll up a joint ( we’ll cover that too) and chill. ( Imagine the boy who would be PM might not be allowed into the US now that he has admitted blunting!)

Political Insider will have all this and more as we speed our way to Christmas and the New Year.

Thanks for reading and have a great fall!

Bike Lanes Across Canada ! #bcpoli #canpoli #election2015

It seems Justin Trudeau and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson have been discussing a potential switch to federal politics.

It made me wonder why most journalists refer to the provincial arm of the NDP as the training ground for their federal cousins.

It seems like provincial NDP parties are more like a training ground for the federal liberal party.

Just ask Ujjal Dosanjh, Roy Romanow or BOB Rae.

Those three were all NDP premiers who went on to become federal liberal MPs. ( note to provincial NDP organizers: you may want to consider your new theme song to go something along the lines: mama don’t let you sons grow up to be federal Liberal MPs)

Does that speak to the chances of so called NDP stars winning a cabinet post with the federal NDP or does it speak to how far left the Federal Liberals are?

If Mayor Moonbeam ( if you are reading this outside of BC,that’s what he is called) jumps to the liberal ship after the 2014 municipal election you can bet Trudeau will try to bait him with something significant.

If Vancouver’s experience is any indicator, and Trudeau and team win the 2015 election, you can look for bike lanes on the Trans Canada highway.

They day they open, Robertson will likely peddle a bike with a sidecar upon which Trudeau will sit. They will be passing a reefer back and forth.

Nice country we live in eh!

Political Insiders Coveted Barf Bag of the Summer Goes to? #bcpoli #canpoli #telus #bell #rogers

I turned on my car radio today and the first thing I heard was that stupid commercial that the telco’s are doing to portray the Conservative government as the big bad folks for allowing the potential of Verizon to come to Canada and take away jobs and use the infrastructure for free.

I have a little screw in my brain and those ads are the screw driver that tightrns it to the point of no return.

I am awarding these companies the Political Insider coveted Barf Bag of the Summer award.

These guys just don’t get it and I bet in the long run these commercials will cost them customers like me.

I don’t know about you but I have reached my limit.

As a good friend of mine said today ” if these companies hadn’t of been acting like money grubbing oil sheiks all these years they wouldn’t find themselves in this mess”

Those job losses they keep whining about, does that include the call center jobs those same Telco’s have farmed out to India and the Philippines? Doubt it!

Oh and the money they are using to finance those irritating ads; would it not be better spent investing in that so called infrastructure or better yet reducing our cells bills.

They encourage you to write your MP.

You should; write and say thanks for allowing the competition that will no doubt lower cell costs for both usage and for equipment.

It’s the right thing to do.

Rumour Du Jour Surrey Style #bcpoli #canpoli #cpc

Another attempt at a seat? This time federal?

A fresh Rumor out of yesterday’s early morning Ministerial meet and greet with Chris Alexander has Allison Patton mulling over a potential run at a Federal CPC nomonation.

You remember Dr.Patton.

She was the so-called dissident that led the charge against the BC Conservative Party.

She followed that stroke of genius with a failed attempt to run as an independent and then as a BC Liberal.

I would imagine Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Campaign Director Jenni Byrne would rather drill holes in each others heads than think about the possible mayhem Patton would cause if she ran for a nomination.

For the party’s sake let’s hope it’s not true.

Can a Leopard Change It’s Spots? #bcpoli #canpoli #barfbucket

Disclaimer: This blog post in no way is meant to tarnish the reputation of the leopards of the world!

Can a leopard change it’s spots?

In BC the leopard is the species known as the BC Liberal Party.

As you may know the Christy Clark Today’s BC Liberal’s ( the name pf the party depends upon the polling of Clark’s leadership rating) recruited all-star candidate from Langley Amrik Virk to run on their behalf in the recent provincial election.

It seems that Virk is now carrying on the BC Liberal tradition of scandalistic behavior as word now comes that he was more than likely aware of some harassment going on at Kwantlen College that had one of the employees so stressed out that she kept a barf bucket handy for use after interactions with the President.

I can only imagine the work-out that employee’s barf bucket got when Virk was named Advanced Education Minister in the so called New Christy Clark Cabinet.

Clark, as is par for her course, is no where to be found during this episode and has issued no statement about the affair.

That in itself probably speaks volumes about whether Virk was complicit in this.

Should it turn out that Virk knew about this and did nothing, this would not only be a black mark against the new minister but also against the RCMP who used to employ him as a police officer in a force whose image has already been tarnished by other purported cases of harassment and associated cover ups therein.

Given that Virk, Clark and Company still have over four years left on their new mandate, we should all join that employee and purchase barf buckets.

With the scandal potential of this government and its leader, I am sure they will get lots of use!

Will the Summer Sun Set on Adrian Dix? #bcpoli #canpoli

Adrian Dix and I Clowning Around before Coast Guard Speeches.

So as the summer of 2013 races by and fall encroaches on our good times,what will become of Adrian Dix?

Will he stay,will he go or will he be pushed out?

Who Knows? For one thing the BCNDP has a habit of cannibalizing their own, just ask Carol James.

Already there are sounds he will be pushed out.

I spent a bit of time with Adrian when the BC Conservatives were working on the Coast Guard file back last spring.

I left with the impression he was too nice a guy for the role that was before him.

The election itself bore that out.

They should have attacked the BC Liberals rotten record of government and scandals.

They didn’t and it cost them an election they should have won.

My take: If they want to get anywhere four years hence they need to move swiftly to change their leadership without a public head-chopping.

Dix should do the right thing and go of his own free will.. This will keep the party united and allow them to change leaders quickly.

Another head chopping ala James will be nasty and I think mortally wound the party.

Why the short time frame for a change?

1) Four years goes by fast and they need to rebuild more than just the political leadership. Their executive must go as well.

2) The Greens will not sit idly by while the NDP drags their feet and will pick up support on the left.

3) The federal riding changes will be announced in a few short months and if you believe as I do that the BCNDP are merely the West-coast wing of the Federal NDP than you have to know that the next two years will preoccupy them with federal nomination battles. This will eat into their provincial rebuilding in a big way.

4) The provincial party could lose potential leadership candidates to those aforementioned nomination battles.

Failure to act now means they will limp into the 2017 BC Provincial election with nothing new to offer.

They would open their flank to the Greens and the BC Conservatives, with the possibility that not only would they lose the 2017 election but might not even form the opposition.

This would be a disaster they would probably not recover from.

Anti-Pipeline Gang Should Rethink Their Priorities ! #bcpoli #canpoli #pipline

In the last month we have had at least four terrible accidents involving either rail or trucks that transport oil in this country.

We have has rail oil spills in Saskatchewan and in Quebec.

We have had a jet fuel spill in the Slocan Valley and most recently a life ending collision in Lloydminster Saskatchewan that resulted in a number of deaths.

You would expect that by now the environmentalists and the anti-pipeline gang would be either chaining themselves to railroad tracks or lying across roads in an effort to stop this .

But no, they are lining up against Enbridge trying to kill the pipeline.

Seems to me their priorities are a little out of whack, don’t you think?

BC Liberals Miss Their Budget Target; Let the BS Begin! #bcpoli #canpoli

Mary Polak : Do you ever know how to BS Mike you even had me going for a moment!

Back in the day (2009) Gordon Campbell misrepresented ( goofed,screwed up,lied your choice) about the deficit during the 2009 election.

That was the election that brought us the HST and cost Carol James her job as NDP leader.

Eventually that error, lie or goof-up cost Campbell his job as well.

Move ahead now 4 years to today when the New (lol) Christy Clark government presented a financial update and reported they missed their target by more than $175 million.

It could have been worse they said but for the new spending controls introduced halfway through the year.

This speaks volumes for the likelihood that their budget that they sailed on during the election will actually balance.

In the business world the executive and CEO who reported that would have been sent on their merry way but in the government world this crew was rewarded with a new 4 year term. ( likely 4.5 year term in the election is moved to the fall to allow for budget debate.

The most hilarious statement out of all of this comes from NDPer Mike Farnworth who went on the record and said he was concerned about rising debt.

Where were you during the election Mike? Why didn’t you and Adrian bring that little tidbit up then?

Once again this gaffe will cause an NDP leader to lose his job simply because it illustrates that glaring hole in their election campaign, namely they didn’t hammer the Christy Clark Today’s BC Liberals over their record.

Only in B.C can one party lie,err, mislead, or goof up ( your choice) and the leader of the other party get fired over it.