John Cummins | Political Insider

BC Conservatives: Not Spoilers; Here for BC!

As the signs flew out the door and Premier Christy Clark said the BC Conservatives were here to play the spoiler role, I couldn’t help but laugh!

In 2009 when I was on the campaign team of Mary Polak in the role of Fundraising chair, I had occasion to go to the nomination meeting of Gordon Campbell.

Mr.Campbell came out on the stage and in the beginning of his speech waxed eloquent about wanting to be Premier because he owed it to British Columbia to get the province economically sound enough so that his grandchildren could live here, graduate here and get a good job here.

The problem with that speech was that he gave nearly the same one in the late ’90s in Vernon British Columbia. The only difference in the two speeches was that night in Vernon he said he wanted to be Premier so that his Children could live here, graduate here and get a good job here.

As you can see,the only thing that changed in the whole time that Campbell was Premier was that his kids grew up , had kids and the place still wasn’t good enough for them.

Ship ahead to 2011 and say Hello to Christy Clark and her families first agenda. Still the same old,I want to do good for families speech without anything ever happening.

Premier Clark has undertaken to review almost everything, a roll and task that should have been done when she first was a minister back in the early 2000’s.

The B.C Liberals have worn out their welcome with me and a lot of people. Like me those folks went through the motions in the last election because they did not want the NDP to form government.

We have suffered the nineties ( Known as the decade of destruction) under the NDP and continued the suffering in the 2000’S ( known as the decade of deceit) under the BC Liberals.

With the calling of the By-election today we begin ( for some of us continue) the process of restoring our illustrious province to one of respect and dignity. We want to return British Columbia to all those families who have been taxed and gauged over the last 20 years.

It’s time for real change in British Columbia, it’s time to correct the problems that the true spoilers of the wealth in BC Have caused, it’s time for the BC Conservatives !

Potentially on the eve before the by-elections are called the Globe and Mail reminds us how stupid Premier Clark is!

The uniform of choice for anybody that runs on the Premier's record!

Potentially as the CBC is reporting, Premier Christy Clark will finally get around to it and call the by-elections tomorrow..

At the same time Robert Matas writes an excellent piece in the Globe and Mail relating to the mess that Christy Clark caused over the building of the Evergreen Line.

Without rehashing all the furor the Premier caused over her incompetence on this file, it is astounding that the B.C.Liberal Party and in particular our stunned Premier would turn around and publish a flyer listing her goof up as an accomplishment.

Even more incredible is the fact that The B.C. Liberal candidate is proud to run on her record.

While I go out for a barf bag,could somebody run out and grab a couple of straight jackets for the Premier and her prospective underling.

Anybody that runs on her record should be locked away and committed.

Should the by-elections be called tomorrow, this will be the first opportunity for British Columbians in any riding to show the Premier that she is not the right person for the job.

Do the right thing, vote, tell the Premier we get it , and start the process of giving her the boot.

Your family will be glad you did!

Premier Christy Clark’s promises mean nothing;London Ontario makes riot arrests; Clark’s team pulls a Rip Van Winkle!

So whatever happened to all those people who were going to be charged,arrested and made examples of in the great Vancouver Hockey riots?

Remember Premier Christy Clark on her post riot Photo Op soapbox?

She made a promise.She promised to expose these people as the cretins that they are.

What has Christy Clark accomplished? More or less nothing.

Almost a year later, 1 guy is doing hard time. What about the rest ?

Over in London Ontario where they had a riot this past weekend ( Not a football game,just St.Paddy’s day) 13 knuckleheads have been arrested and countless others have been suspended from school.

So rather than refer to our Premier Christy Clark as the Iron Lady , you should ask yourself what the real Iron Lady would have done.

More than likely she would have rounded them up and sent them to some quaint outpost like the Falkland Islands.

Our Premier ,on the other hand,is as Preston Manning said she was, A Snowbird.

We would all be better off if she did what most Snowbirds do; go south and retire!

You have been hosed Part 2

Premier Christy Clark:You don't invite me to you job announcement,I cancel your deal.

I had planned for this to be about the government hosing of the taxpayer during the teacher lockout out.

You know,Minister Abbott says we will not speed up the process the bill needs to be discussed hosing while the Premier says “Teachers get back to school your little strike won’t make a difference anyways.”

This is a hosing on a grand government scheme because the Premier could care less whether the teachers work or your kids go back to school.

This is all about optics and the longer the teachers stay out the more the government thinks they will recover a bit in the polls.This is true especially if the BCTF screws up again and pickets in front of government buildings.

This is what today’s blog was supposed to be about but this hosing was interrupted to allow the government to hose you again.

How? Cancelling the Telus arena name deal.

This no doubt happened because the premier had her shorts in a knot over being snubbed by Telus and not getting an invite to last weeks Telus announcement.( Who can blame them,Telus is a family friendly company,she on the other hand has budget speeches read in front of gangsters.)

The government now has to make up $40 million dollars they had counted on and you the taxpayer will undoubtedly be asked to pony up.

You can add that to all the other times you have been hosed by Christy,Kevin and George in the last month alone.( Think MSP,ICBC,BC Hydro and gas and carbon taxes)

So the question I leave you with today is this: Got a spare $40 million we can borrow?

87% of Teachers vote to get sucked into the governments plan to recover in the polls.

Premier Christy Clark: I swear I didn't create this whole mess to recover in the polls!

Coming on the heels of their original list of stupid demands, teachers have voted 87% in favor of striking on Monday.

If you have a small business or any business for that matter, expect a call from a parent asking to reschedule or for time off. Have your kids in day care? Expect them to be more overcrowded than usual.

Can’t find anywhere to put your children? The teachers union doesn’t care,they are off for 3 days beginning Monday.

Are you a pot dealer? Stock up it’s going to be a busy week!

This action is in response to bill 22 introduced yesterday by Education Minister Abbott.

The bill is far from flawless and it’s release holds the government complicit in this whole mess.

If the Education Minister believes strongly in this bill,then he should order the legislature in session over the weekend so that proceedings can be hurried along and the strike prevented.( Before anybody argues cost,consider what it will cost in late August to recall the legislature to prevent a full on strike)

Working over the weekend would be counter to the governments plan to use this as a stepping stone to recover in the polls.

What will happen?

Well it’s only 10am on Thursday,plenty of time for Premier Christy Clark to come out, contradict and throw the Education Minister under the bus.

The result? The government will come out looking just as stupid as the original demands made by the teachers and nothing will be solved.

Their standing on the polls? Worse than it is now!

Family Day; It’s coming sooner than you think!

Family day: Phone calls from the Unemployment Line

This week,apart from the budget,all the talk has been about next years family day. The newspapers are full of interviews from ecstatic parents detailing how they can hardly wait to spend an extra day off with their families.

Turns out a lot of them might not have to wait until next February to achieve that goal.

It will cost a small business a small business with 5 employees $1135 if they stay open and pay those employees to work that day.( Time and a half on a statutory holiday accounts for that) .

If they close, the cost will vary dependent upon what those employees normally get paid but it is still a significant increase to the bottom line.

What is a business to do? Apparently a lot!

I have had several calls from clients in the last week advising their full-time hours have been cut back to part-time hours. Those same people advise at the same time their places of work have added new part-time employees.

I broached this topic at this weeks Chamber of Commerce meeting with several business owners I converse on a regular basis with and the consensus was that a lot of business are streamlining and doing just that.Changing full time jobs to part-time jobs and having employees work less regularly and in a lot of cases not qualifying for statutory holidays at all.

Increased turnover? Maybe? But there are a not many places to find a new job.

This is actually nothing new. if you can afford it,go to a restaurant of your choice 3 times in the next few weeks and see if you get the same waitress. Probably not and this trend would be why.

In 2009 The Ontario government shouted that their economy was strong enough to handle another holiday.

Three years and one Drummond report later their economy is in tatters.The job losses are staggering. Obviously they were wrong.

Bottom line is their provincial government introduced a frivolous way of getting your vote at a time when other costs are going up.

The B.C. Liberal government has now followed suit.

The end result, as in the Ontario example, is that this day will probably end up costing you more than you thought! Maybe even your job.

How does that make you feel?

As always your comments are appreciated!

Geoff Plant Speaks” If you grow it it should be legal”!

Hey Martha another day and these suckers will be ready for picking!

“I have always had a problem with the idea that the state should criminalize an act which is essentially no more complex than putting a couple of seeds in your back yard, waiting a while and then, when something grows, you put it in your pocket, you chew it or you smoke it,” Mr. Plant said.

So says Geoff Plant in a recent story in the Globe and Mail.

Problem with that quote is there are a lot of things easily grown.Opium is one. Pick it boil it and hammer back a cup of tea.

By former B.C. Attorney General Geoff Plant’s logic that should be legal too!

What do you think?

Ontario’s Drummond report is a cautionary tale for B.C.voters

BC's Economic D-Day should be now,not after Election 2013

This week in Ontario Don Drummond,chair of commission on public service reform , released a 688 page report that should serve as a cautionary tale to voters here at home in B.C.

We have a little over a year until we have our own provincial election and we have plenty of time to ask those who are running what they are planning and what will it cost.

We should not have to wait for the writ to drop do know exactly where we stand fiscally and where the parties will take us.

All during the last election we heard that the deficit was in the area of 495 million only to be told right after that it was in the billions. The B.C. Liberals told us no HST and then brought it in right after the election.

Today,Adrian Dix and the NDP have a number of promises and plans so how much? What is your plan to get us to where you want the province to go.

Adrian says he doesn’t want to be in the limelight. Guess what Adrian ? You are applying for the top job in the province and a formal interview is in order!

Every politician should now and always be in the limelight.They want to spend your money!

An independent economist should be appointed and have to release a no B.S state of affairs. Both the opposition and government should have to read it and tell us well in advance of any election what they want to do and how much it will cost.( Not just now but before every election)

This report is not to be confused with the upcoming smoke and mirrors budget. This week the government will say and do anything to try and boost their standing in the polls.

Rather we need to know exactly where we stand financially right now. Ontario found out after their election,a little to late to do anything.

People held the government’s feet to the fire on the HST,why not on this?

People and politicians alike always say what they do now will help generations to come.

As the Drummond report shows nothing could be further than the truth.

If we don’t do this, we vote and will get more of the same and have nobody to blame but ourselves.

Why would you want to vote and place your trust in somebody who will not stand in front of you and tell you the truth,tell you their plan?

Do you want 4 more years of that?

Hasn’t this gone on long enough?

BC Liberals Continue trend,Throw Seniors under the bus!

The busiest person in the BC Liberal Party lately has been the Proverbial Bus Driver.

To Recap:

The Taxpayers were thrown under the bus with the sleazy introduction of the HST.

Then Finance Minister Kevin Falcon was tossed under the bus by the Premier over the resultant fallout from the aforementioned HST.

Christy Clark has thrown Gordon Campbell under the bus time and time again, when she blames his government for all the mistakes caused by the Liberals.( It’s a given that since Clark has had her fingerprints over a large part of what the Campbell government did,she threw herself under the bus too! She just doesn’t realize it)

Next on the list: New Minister of Justice Shirley Bond. She no sooner said the issue before the courts with the TV cameras was over, then Premier Clark promptly tossed her under the bus with a statement about soldiering on and finding a way to get them in there.

Now comes word, the BC Liberal Government for the last 11 years has collectively thrown the Senior population under that same bus. The BC Ombudsman put together a scathing 400 page report on the inadequacies of the system and presented it yesterday. Worse news is that the Liberals have had it in their hands for some time ( they have had part of the plan since 2009) and have done nothing with it.

Admittedly people like Clark,Campbell,Falcon and Bond belong where they were thrown. But the Taxpayers and Seniors?

It kinda makes you wonder who’s next,doesn’t it?

While the Premier dithers on,the court rules against her TV broadcasts!

Come On Caller,I might be doing a Faux Throne Speech,but call by-elections?

In a ruling that was not shocking,given the judges comments last week,Provincial Court Judge Malcolm MacLean tossed out the application to televise the riot trials today.

This following a morning of listening to the Premier on the radio telling the world she is going to review this and review that.

She has been on the job for 11 months and she is just getting around to reviewing the processes that most people have been complaining about for some time.

She had a great chance to show leadership on the issue of by-elections,but of course she didn’t. She said she would get around to calling them soon.

If you live in Chilliwack or Port Moody,the Premier just “Whatever’d ” you. How did that make you feel?

Nope, Her interview this morning was classic Paul Martin,lots of dithering,little substance.