Tag: politics

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?

What is the Worst Scandal Now? #bcpoli #canpoli #scandal

Is this women in on the largest scandal of the day?

With all the mayhem going in in the political world, the political insider thought it is the appropriate time to ask the question; What exactly is the worst scandal going on now?

We have lots to choose from.

1) Senate Scandal

2) Rob Ford

3) Media Scandal

The first one is obvious and doesn’t need a ton of added discussion although the issue of pension plans will raise it’s ugly head. This one is not over yet.

The Rob Ford Scandal is actually two scandals in one. The first being that he smoked crack will employed as a mayor and the second part might be the who can blame him given how the media has treated him since he was elected mayor scandal.

Then there is the media scandal. You know the one where the media determines just what drugs are actually unlawful enough to smoke will you hold elected office.

Right now it’s fashionable in the media to refer to the drugs Rob Ford Smoked as ” Hard” drugs but according to the media it’s cool to smoke pot while you are an elected MP.

One of these gets you the coveted Walter White award, the other gets you on the media fast track list to the Prime Ministers office.

Scandalous all of them to be sure.

Which one is the worst ?

The Christy Clark BC Liberal Government Reaches a New Low!

We all missed a game changing opportunity!

I am not talking about a flashy new poll being released, I am talking about excluding Amanda Todd’s mother from the conference on bullying. How dumb can you get?

She should have been front and center showing those people the scars of her childs death.

Premier photo-op and crew have dropped the ball once again.In fact we all did.

This was an opportunity to set politics aside and do the real work to make life more bearable for the kids in the province.

Instead a meaningful conference once again becomes a political football and a huge fumble for the Premier of our province.

You would have thought she would have been a little smarter given the vote she wants to recover is the women’s vote.

I recall, when my granddaughter was killed last October and I was in Comox for the funeral, there were a number of stories written in the local papers about kids, girls in particular committing suicide in the area. The deaths were not necessarily attributable to bullying but symptomatic of a larger problem that affects kids in this day and age.

I think there was three in the space of a month.

Something needs to be done and it has to be a lot more than the political hi-jinks of the last week.

Part of the problem is that we all stand back and accept this stuff from our politicians again and again.

We go to the polls like sheep and vote based on party lines. Those that don’t vote are making a statement albeit the wrong one.

All of us need to get involved,get outraged, be it at the next election or even now and ensure everybody knows that the status quo is no longer acceptable.

Folks did over the HST and it made a difference.

Otherwise we will get more of the same under the guise of change.

In the coming weeks I will write a post describing what I think people want and desperately need in their governments today.

We need to make real change and make the Amanda Todd’s of the world’s lives mean something.

We need to do more than what the BC Liberal government has been doing.

It’s time for real change and that time is now!

Rumors Eh! BS more like it. Surrey mayor Watts denies rumour she is gunning for Conservative leadership

It must have been a slow news day at the Surrey Now what with them running a figment of somebody’s imagination about the Mayor of Surrey gunning for BC Conservative leader John Cummins’s job.

Not only that,you would think with all the shootings in Surrey ( as recently as today),the Now would have better choice of words than gunning in the headline.

The rumor this writer hears is that the B.C. Liberals, in an attempt to salvage their party, are said to be reaching out to the Mayor to replace Christy Clark who has lost traction with the voting public.

That would be like asking a different ships captain to hop aboard the Titanic and replace the existing one after the boat has started to take on water and tilt.

Not gonna happen either,not even in the Now’s wildest imagination.

THEY PULLED THE STORY

SURREY – If Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts is planning to bump B.C. Conservative leader John Cummins out of his job, nobody has bothered to tell her about it – or Cummins, for that matter.

Asked about a rumour that she’s seeking Cummins’ job, Watts responded with laughter.

“I haven’t even given it any thought,” she said Tuesday. “If there’s not a rumour started by 10 o’clock, better start one,” she laughed.

The rumour was news to Cummins, too.

“I hadn’t heard the leadership is up for grabs,” he said Tuesday. “As far as I know, there’s no movement afoot to replace me.”

A recent Angus Reid poll indicates that while the B.C. Conservative Party has gained some ground (up one percent, to 19 per cent) in popularity, Cummins’ popularity had dropped by a point.

According to the poll, NDP leader Adrian Dix enjoys 26 per cent of the vote in the “preferred premier” category, up seven per cent since November, while Liberal Premier Christy Clark has dropped three points to 22 per cent, Cummins dropped one point to eight per cent, and Green Party Leader gained one point, to three per cent.

The polling company interviewed 800 British Columbian men and women between Jan. 27 to 29. The poll results have a margin error of plus/minus 3.5 per cent.

tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com

Read more: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/Surrey+mayor+Watts+denies+rumour+gunning+Conservative+leadership/6115223/story.html#ixzz1lkARWAt0

Federal By-Election called for March12

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has today called the by=election to file the vacancy left by the death of Jack Layton in the EDA of Toronto-Danforth for March 12,2012.

Voters in this EDA have a history of voting for the two socialist parties the NDP and the Marijuana Liberal Party of Canada.

Even Marijuana Liberal interim Leader Bob Rae held this riding when he was a Federal Dipper back in the late 70’S.

Traditionally governments don’t win by-elections but Layton is probably looking down with more than a passing interest from heaven.

After all,having just been laid to rest,it is a little soon for him to roll over the grave, should the lefties split the vote and the governing Conservatives come up through the middle and win the seat!

BC Conservative John Martin Says ” It’s time for a Full Time Attorney General!

BC Conservative John Martin hits the nail on the head by declaring this province needs a full-time Attorney General.

Lets take a look.

Firstly ,Minister Bond,probably still has her hands full cleaning up the mess(es) left behind by disgraced former Ministers Heed and Les over at the Solicitor Generals office,her other part-time job!.

If that isn’t enough to keep any two people busy,the Attorney General’s qualifications are now being investigated by an outside law firm appointed by the law society.

I would also expect Minister Shirley also has her fingers and toes crossed with this weeks visit to Ottawa by Minister Polak in her meeting with National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo. ( You remember how Minister Polak was taken to court over problems in the Ministry of Children and Family Development)

That is if she has any fingers and toes left to cross after all the problems with the Basi Virk File.

Makes you wonder,when the Minister takes her next call on the Hockey Riot file,if she will remember which hat to wear.

There must be days when Minister Bond feels like she is a at the PNE bashing the rubber gophers over the head with a mallet.

John Martin is bang on,the Province needs a full time Attorney General.

What do you think?

Come on Madam Premier Call those by-elections!

Come on Madam Premier show some leadership and call those by-elections.The folks in those two Provincial Electoral Districts deserve to be represented and it would be great to get those two future MLA’s in the house while the Spring session is on.

The NDP selected their candidate this afternoon in front of 32 voting members in attendance says the Agassiz Harrison Observer.See their story here.

Of course the BC Conservatives have not only selected John Martin their candidate but named him their Justice Critic.

Martin has also put the government on notice that both he and his party won’t tolerate garbage incineration finding its way into the region. This topic has the ability to split the BC Liberals down the middle.

The B.C. Liberals are already on their second candidate when the first one realized she was too Liberal to get elected!That nomination meeting will take place on February 4th. It is fitting that they would nominate their candidate last, because in all likelihood that would be the same place as that nominee will finish in the yet to be called by-election.

Meanwhile in Port Moody-Coquitlam we will have to wait until Feb.17 to see who the B.C. Liberal candidate is.Like everything this government does,it takes its time to do a simple thing like nominate a candidate and call a couple of by-elections.

Conservative Christine Clarke ( not to be confused with our week kneed Premier)and NDPer and former Clark buddy Trasolini are already in place and waiting.

Given the track records of sitting governments in by-elections ,and that last time their star candidate ,Premier Christy Clark,only won her seat be the hem of her skirt,I can understand why the Libs are taking their time calling these two.

When all is said and done,they will likely be up the Chilliwack River without a paddle.!

If you are a B.C.Liberal, You gotta be worried!

Coming on the heels of a lousy week in the polls for the B.C. Liberals, was yet another gaffe by Premier Christy Clark. This one happened on Twitter and was reported on-line in the Globe and Mail.You can see the article and Tweets here.

The Premier has a history of speaking before she thinks as evidenced back in the summer by Vaughn Palmer of the Vancouver Sun in his excellent piece of August 30,2011.
The Premier and her staff would be well advised to reread this.

So don’t laugh off her Twitter goof up so fast. This just pads her resume of ill-timed,quick talking mistakes.

Scary as it might be ( If you are a B.C. Liberal or a B.C.Taxpayer) ,this tweet might not have been a gaffe,your Premier might have thought going from 229 mining permits to 80 was a good thing.

How does that make you feel?