Vancouver Province | 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!

Do not believe the B.C.Liberals claim to be good economic managers!

Question to either of you: What is more substantial $20 million or $40 million?

Think back to 2008 when the economy started to deteriorate and governments around the world started to put plans in place to survive economic recessions.

Think a little further ahead to May of 2009 when the provincial election was on and then Premier Gordon Campbell tried to make you believe in light of the turmoil his party was the only one to lead you through tough economic times.

He told you that his government managed to hold the deficit to 495 million and that alone should be enough to garner your support.

Then a few short months after the election the same Party with a reelected Premier told you that no; the budget had ballooned to $2.8 million but that it could be kept under control by a 1.6 billion payment from the Federal government if we implemented a thing called the HST.

Remember the feeling you had as you thought through all of this and wondered to yourself ” I am not an economic manager, I am just a regular person sitting at home who knew they economy was worse than they said, why didn’t the B.C.Liberals know this and be more on top of it than they were?”

I mean after all,they are the ones with the Finance department who is paid to research these kind of things,not you or me.

Remember you also asked yourself ” Why on earth did I vote for these people?”

I throw this out there because as I read Vaughn Palmer’s excellent column in the Vancouver Sun today, I was reminded of the Liberals economic mismanagement.

In particular a couple of quotes stood out: in 2011 Minister Pat Bell said that 20 million dollars was a substantial sum of money for the naming rights to BC Place.Then one year later the same Minister said 40 million was not good value for the taxpayers for the same rights.

Without discussing all the cost overruns and deficits in the BC Place project,one thing is abundantly clear: if a Minister in the BC Liberal Government thinks $20 million is substantial and $40 million is not, how can they lay claim to being good economic managers for the province?

They can’t and never will be able to again.

Don’t you agree?

Laurie Throness:Cheating is no big deal!

Laurie Throness: I learned everything I know about how to run elections from Premier Christy Clark!

As hard as it it to believe B.C. Liberal Laurie Throness said in an interview in the Chilliwack Times that having election signs up before the by-election is called is no big deal.

Of course that is against the rules and is therefore cheating.

So to Mr. Throness cheating is no big deal.

In another act of ,well stupidity,members of his campaign team went to city hall today to pay the $500 permit to place signs during an election. They were of course refused because there is no election on.

A good politician knows the rules and also surrounds himself with people that know them as well.

These cheaters sound like rank amateurs? Do they not take the potential by-election seriously enough to at least read the rules?

Can you imagine them as handlers of the public trust?

Are you as dumbfounded as I am that Mr.Throness thinks cheating is no big deal?

Are you as blown away as I am that he openly states that on the public record?

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?

Clark to teachers: It’s important the children don’t miss a day during this dispute. Important to who Christy?

Christy Clark: closer to the point of no return!

In another move that reeks of more flagrant self serving BS, the Premier asked the teachers not to strike.

She said it is most important that the children not miss a single day during the dispute.

Important for who Madam Premier?

Surely not for the children because if you really felt that way you could do something about it.

You could keep the legislature open for business over the weekend and get the bill through the house earlier.

You could also invoke closure.This would get the bill through the house even faster

No Madam premier what you mean is it’s important for you that the kids don’t miss any school.

Important for you because if they do,you and your government will be blamed for how you handled this.

Your poll results will continue to slide as will your tenuous grasp of your unelected Premiership.

So now that that’s on the table, What are you going to do?

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!

In this day and age of air tight security Our Premier managed to get that wrong too!

Premiers Office"We only had 1 day to check the guest list for known felons and murderers!"

The classic tradition of BC Liberal gaffes goes on and on.

In the latest embarrassment to the province and taxpayers,the Premiers office did not properly vet the guest list and allowed a gangster,terrorist,murderer ( your choice) to sit in the house and watch budget 2012.

Their excuse? They only had one day. ( Cue Frank Sinatra and Send in the Clowns)

Uh people,right at the top of the list in the A’s ATWAL that should jumped right out at ya!

I would imagine along with the rest of us, sitting BC Liberal MLA’s must be shaking their heads and asking what next?

What do you think Christy’s next goof up will be?

Teachers instructed to only work bell to bell today!

We are working Bell to Bell today! This is entirely seamless and you won't notice anything ,given that's all we have been doing this year anyway!

This morning it was reported that the teachers were instructed to only work bell to bell today.

I wonder how that is different from what they have been doing all year?

Lets face it,they have been refusing those picky little administrative duties like report cards since day one.

Really, how can you take them seriously when they have not been doing their jobs since school started.

A recent Environics poll shows the province to be evenly split. It,is I think is important to note that the teachers commissioned the poll.

When you listen to the radio call in shows,about 90% of the callers want their teacher burned at the stake. Where were these people when Environics called.

I think,the teachers are in for a rude awakening if they vote for a general strike,so is the Labor Board.

The petition for approval for that strike goes before the labor board tonight.According to the Vancouver Sun, the board has already “signaled a strike lasting a few weeks is not a big distraction“.

Cue the Xfiles music in the elevators at the Labor Board.

Unbelievable; a general strike a few short weeks before spring break is no big deal.

Just what the kids need: a few weeks off followed by a few more weeks off!

The only people to benefit from that will be the liquor stores and pot dealers.

The fact that it got to this point is a black mark not only on the teachers but the BC Liberal government as well!

It should have been dealt with back in the fall.The legislature should have been called back to solve this. Any negotiations and legislation should have been done months ago!

Instead, we have been treated to photo-ops and faux throne speeches by the BC Liberal government.

We have had the usual round of ludicrous demands by the union.

Further proof that this government and frankly the teachers are stale and void of creative ideas.

What would you have done?