Rotten to the core

BC premier Christy Clark is not known for honest dealing. She and Harper work out of the same playbook and regularly employ the same people to work the sewers of a political system rife with cronyism and putrefied by secret back-room deals and political corruption.

This time, a judge has just handed Clark her ass. She violated the constitution when she was education minister and then did it again, on the same education issue, as premier. The stench emanating from her overly-expensive waterfront Vancouver office is palpable. Clark is as dishonest as the liar she replaced. Families first? Not yours. (Bold mine)

... a tale of a government secretly wanting to provoke a strike that year for political reasons. There are always cynics who read political motives into big public labour disputes. But it’s startling to see a judge blame months of disruption in schools firmly on the crass political motivations of a government.
Justice Susan Griffin, who has been dealing with the differences between the government and the BCTF for a number of years, concluded “the government did not negotiate in good faith .... Government representatives were preoccupied by another strategy. Their strategy was to put such pressure on the union that it would provoke a strike .... The government representatives thought this would give government the opportunity to gain political support for imposing legislation on the union.”

Summary:

... she was the premier of a government that, according to the B.C. Supreme Court, ran a lengthy con on parents and children to engineer some dim political advantage...

Grifter.

This should make for a an interesting caucus meeting

#BCpoli

BC premier Christy Clark will have some music to face in the coming days and it won't be a pipe band playing Amazing Grace.

B.C.’s New Democratic Party swept two crucial byelections Thursday, taking commanding wins in both ridings and building on its momentum as the party of change in the run-up to next year’s general election.

It wasn't just a sweep. It was a slaughter. 

The NDP’s Joe Trasolini took the Port Moody-Coquitlam byelection with nearly twice as much support as Liberal Dennis Marsden.

(and)

Chilliwack-Hope — a Liberal-friendly riding never before held by the NDP — the results confirmed a clear split in the right-of-centre vote.

New Democratic Party candidate Gwen O’Mahony won the race convincingly with about 41 per cent of the vote.

That sound Christy, is your Harperite communications director snapping chewing gum in your ear.

The punishment budget

Kevin Falcon is pissed. So is Christy Clark.

What has them pissed? Somebody whizzed all over their parade. That's what.

In the hours since the delivering of the BC provincial budget I have tried to rationally analyze what part of the Falcon budget makes sense. I have even taken the dive into fiscal prudence and still, there is no answer which can reconcile the fact that Falcon's budget penalizes British Columbians for their simple existence.

It's all about the Harmonized Sales Tax.

Falcon is a Campbellite. The HST, introduced to the citizens of BC from the blind side, was supposed to be a given. With an unworkable recall legislation, (the only one in the country), the Campbellites were confident that they could dump a change in the provincial tax system on the people of BC without a problem and with enough time until the next election to have it pushed back in the memories of the electorate.

The backlash was swift, ugly and huge.

I don't know many people who would come to the call of  Bill Vanderzalm, but the HST issue got a once reviled provincial premier an unbelievable amount of popular support in the fight to get rid of it. It wasn't so much the tax itself that energized a movement. It was the underhanded methods used to implement it. There are few who could be made to believe that then-premier Gordon Campbell did not lie to the voters when he told reporters that HST was not on the radar just a few months before introducing it.

The forcing of a referendum on the HST cost Campbell his job. Unfortunately what emerged as a premier and ministry turned out to be nothing but the same Campbell water-carriers heaped with the baggage of a corruption investigation tied to another Campbell lie - the sale of BC Rail.

Then there was the attempt to cloud the HST referendum question. Instead of learning from their past dishonesty, the question put to the electorate on the HST was twisted into the negative. Again, people were angry, not so much about the tax, but because the political power elite presumed that voters were stupid enough to fall for a cheap trick.

The political power elite got handed their asses.

The afterglow of the Vancouver Olympics, for the few who actually believed there was one, lasted for all of two minutes. The rejection of the HST and a demand to return to the previous two tax regime had almost nothing to do with the tax itself; it was a response to the behaviour of current provincial government. The lying, the arrogance, the corruption and the gimmicks were put to a direct test. The right-wingers were given a beating their egos still cannot handle.

And that is what the Clark/Falcon budget is all about. It is punishment being meted out to the voters for getting inside the Campbellites private game.

-----------

For what it's worth, Falcon's budget, peppered with Thatcherist moves, has raised another issue. These people are still trying to run a private game.

CKNW was never on the ballot

BC Premier Christy Clark needs to be sat down by the Lieutenant-Governor and lectured on the propriety of leaving this bit floating about.

"In place of a formal Throne Speech, the Premier will be appearing on CKNW’s Bill Good Show to outline the government’s agenda for the spring session," said an email to press gallery members from Clark's deputy press secretary and communications officer Rebecca Scott.

So ... the Gordon Campbell model of selling off everything to corporate interests has now penetrated the offices of government, 100 percent of which are funded by provincial taxpayers.

The people who elect the members of the legislative assembly which will either support or demand the end of any given government regime have the right to know what the government's agenda is, in formal terms, and then have it debated in an open session of the legislature.

To do less, and this dangerous idea is much less than the people of the province deserve, is to violate the privilege of power granted by electors and hand it over to unelected corporate insiders. It is no less corruption and an abuse of power than to deny an elector access to a ballot box.

To answer The Vancouver Sun's Jonathan Fowlie, no, Bill Good will not be the next lieutenant-governor. He will remain a flack for the Clark/Campbell "thing". Some people would call it a government, but they're dropping that distinction faster than a BC Liberal smart phone can speed-dial Keith Baldry.

It's time the Honourable Steven L. Point, OBC, exercises the reserve powers of his office and forces Christy Clark to meet the obligations of her office.

Over to The Gazetteer.

"An important Message from Elections BC".

Laila

The train wreck that keeps on wrecking

The sale (OK 99 year lease) of BC Rail is still fresh in everybody's minds. Truthfully, it's smelly and the sudden turn of Basi and Virk to a guilty plea will never be something easily swallowed.

Somewhere, somehow, a deal was made, involving taxpayers money, at the eleventh hour, which kept Gary Collins from having to testify and becoming the subject of an intense cross-examination.

There will be head on a plate. If it's not Campbell's, then the next leader of the BC Liberals (not to be confused with real liberals) will be sufficient.

So, no, Ms. Clark. It isn't over and it hasn't been dealt with. It isn't and never was within your province to make that proclamation in any case.

"Acting" Chief Electoral Officer of BC demands absolute perfection ... UPDATED

Even though he himself has never been properly appointed by the required all-party committee of the BC legislature. From the Times-Colonist:
(Emphasis mine)

In a letter sent Wednesday, acting chief electoral officer Craig James said the application for recall in Oak Bay - Gordon Head was rejected because it "exceeded the 200 word limit."

"Elections BC cannot accept an application that does not meet the legislated requirements of the Act," wrote James, adding it was the acronyms - such as MLA and HST - that pushed it over.

Right. We live in a political Star Wars environment in BC. We don't need the Evil Empire spelled out for us. We know what the HST is.
I don't agree with former BC premier Bill Vander Zalm on much, but he's right on this one:

"We call on Craig James to admit he has lost the confidence of the people of BC and done irreparable damage to the independent reputation of Elections BC, and resign," Vander Zalm said in a statement.

"Failing that, we call on the premier to remove him and we call on the entire BC Liberal caucus and all of the potential leadership candidates to immediately denounce this charade," he added.

And seeing James to the door is gaining popularity.

Very important update: This requires an investigation.

Laila's on a Roll . . . .

And gordo campbell may be the one getting rolled.



Check out her latest . . . .

HST, BC and the horsehit that falls out of Campbell's yap

Mygod, this is amazing.

If British Columbians vote against the HST in a referendum, the province will dump the controversial tax, says B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

Because he says so?! Jesus Christ! It's not within his authority to make such a pronouncement. He has no law to support that and we already know that Campbell is a seasoned liar. This is the same guy who ripped up signed union agreements.

Worse though, is that he wants British Columbians to pay additional taxes until the Fall of next year and then decide.

I have a better idea.

Lets toast this bunch of Chicago School Harperites right now. Fuck 'em. Starting with Campbell let's exercise a franchise exclusive to BC and take them down. Rip away at their guts and leave a bloody mess. Even if Campbell can withstand the ridiculously one-sided requirements of a recall campaign, it will destroy him.

And nothing would give British Columbians a greater pleasure than to see Campbell destroyed. Nobody really liked him in the first place. Aside from his big business buddies, anyone who ever voted for them seems to have done so with their fingers on their noses.

Make them squirm. Make them defend themselves.

We are owed that for the lies they tried to feed us.

BC's finance minister doesn't read tax briefings

At least, that's what he's trying to tell us.

Hansen insists he never read most of those documents, revealing though they were. "This is not something that was particularly important at the time. If it had been part of our plan -- when we get through the election we're going to harmonize the sales tax -- I would have read every bloody word and studied it."

Didn't study his own briefing notes. Didn't pay attention to the game-changing developments in Ontario. Didn't have a clue really.

Not much of a defence for his own qualifications to serve as minister of finance. But considering that the alternative explanation would be systematic lies and coverup, I guess it was the best he could do.

Palmer is being rather generous there. Rafe Mair is a little less guarded and calls out both Hansen and Campbell for what they are: lying cowards.

Folks, the plain truth is this: Colin Hansen asked for the briefing note more than two months before the election and the issue was not only "on the radar screen", it was well on its way to becoming government policy - a policy that Campbell and Hansen hid from the people during the election.

And why would Campbell and Hansen try to hang on to that increasingly slippery rung on the ladder to the bottom? Well, it would appear that Campbell isn't done shafting British Columbians quite yet. Before he uproots and moves his lying carcass to Maui he has one final move guaranteed to leave a bad taste in the mouths of BC ratepayers.

Shot........... Splash. Out.

Gee, Gordo. Looks like the little back room shenanigans you organized with your big business buddies didn't quite pan out.

I'm pretty sure that in 90 days you'll be telling us all to get stuffed anyway.

No problem. I smell a recall campaign with your name on it.

100 Reasons NOT To Vote For Gordo Ever Again

On BC election night last May, blogger Laila Yuile decided to throw her hat into the ring in her riding of Surrey-Panorama come the next chance we get to throw Gordo's gang out on their sorry asses. This morning she's looking for 100 reader-based reasons and stories why BC can't afford another go-round with this bunch. Here's one from her comments :

Because he doesn’t care about eldery people like me. I am in that care home on tv and my daughter is helping me with this on her laptop. She was laid off two months ago and lives in a small apartment, but I need more help than she can do while she is looking for a new job.
Where will we go? There is no where else to go, and I think his mother would not be proud to have a son who has been so cruel to so many people in need.
Thank you.

Vera.

I don't have a personal story like Vera - yet - so I'm contributing Gordo's Energy Plan - fabricating an 'energy crisis' in BC to be solved by forcing the public utility BC Hydro to buy power at twice the market value from Liberal-stocked independent power producers and then reselling it at a loss to owners of air-conditioners in California .

.

Go. Add your own. Grow that list.

And while you're there, check out the vid on how many riot police it takes to help the Owelympic torch cross the road ...

The HST will create thousands of elephants in BC

That's right. Elephants. Or, if you've been listening to Gordon Campbell's homeboy, Colin Hansen, it will be jobs.

Same thing.

You see, Hansen is ready at a moment's notice to don his body armour and jump out in front of a microphone to tell you that introducing a 12 percent HST in British Columbia will create thousands of .... (oh hell, just fill in the blank with anything you like)... jobs.

That, however, is his end game. What he never tells you is how he expects all that fresh new employment to be created or even if, after his closed door meetings with the movers and shakers in the anti-PST business world, if he has even the slightest hint of a guarantee that such a thing will happen.

Reason? He doesn't have a clue. He's hoping that the economic crash, (brought about by the very people who are telling him that HST is a job creation formula), will ease and that a slow recovery in the US house construction market will see forestry and mill jobs start to increase in BC. He'll then point to the nexus of unemployment in BC and tell you how his wizardry created jobs. (Never mind that they were the very same jobs which were lost because conservatives of his ilk refused to acknowledge that the financial world had gone south with everyone's life savings.)

So, I take pleasure in pointing out a few things which lead out of Bob's posting.

After protest sprung up around the province Hansen once again took his position in front of the microphone. (Emphasis mine)

Finance Minister Colin Hansen was quick to respond, holding a news conference with business leaders to talk about why B.C. should implement the HST.

"There's no question that the HST is the most effective form of … consumer tax that a country or a jurisdiction can implement," he said, adding the tax will create jobs.

Bully!! Aside from the standard "it will create jobs" bullshit, it raises another small question: The Campbell corporate government has been in power since 2001. How is it that every overture from the feds to implement HST was dismissed by this mob until now? If it's the most effective form of consumer taxation, as Hansen describes it, why did it take eight full years to buy into the idea? Were they just too stupid to realize how cool a system it was?

So, they're either very dumb or they're lying. Either way, they shouldn't be allowed to represent anybody.

The kicker however is the continuing line that Hansen and Campbell had not formulated a plan to implement the HST before the last provincial election (May 2009). By their account, the idea was latched onto after they retook government. (Which would make it a hastily adopted plan without public consultation.)

So, along comes the Victoria Times-Colonist asking for information. They wanted to see the government correspondence related to the HST from January to September 2009. Surprise!

The Times Colonist, like dozens of other media outlets, is requesting the documents to see whether the Liberal government is telling the truth when it says it never considered implementing the HST before the May election. It introduced the tax less than two months after winning a new majority government.

Diligent little devils down there on Douglas Street and what did they get?

A Freedom of Information Request by the Times Colonist for government records about the HST came back with a hefty fee estimate this week: $3,500.

$3,500 for photocopying and vetting?! Yet Hansen says they weren't even considering it before the middle of this summer.

That's a lot of correspondence that piled up in a few weeks.

I wouldn't even bother asking any further. The estimate for the FOI request alone tells the story. There is a ton of documents. And the bill the Time-Colonist would have to pay is either an intentional intervention by a minister to make them go away or the pile is so huge that it stretches back to 2008.

It doesn't matter. It just means the Campbell government is moulded around the things it has always found attractive: corruption, liars and drunks.

"No HST" Rally in Vancouver . . . .

Today was the initial rally in BC for those opposing the HST or Harmonized Sales Tax. There were about 15 rallies taking place today across the province and I attended the Vancouver affair held outside the new convention centre.

Premier gordo campbell and his LINO* party has seen fit to initiate this program next year in the province without having the integrity to advise the voters prior to his re-election in May of this year.

Good job, gordo.

If your're not familiar with the program, you can check the chief economist of TD Bank's review here and here. Here is an anti-HST site of interest, also.

All in all, it was a beautiful day for a protest rally and the organizers put the Vancouver attendance at between 4 - 5,000. It will be interesting to see the MSM's estimates.

One of the great things about this gathering was the "harmony" of opposing viewpoints. Political parties from the Communist Party to the Libertarian Party, and organizations representing senior citizens and students.

I guess gordo has unified something in BC, anyway.

Opposition.

Beautiful day for a protest rally

The crowd

Typical sign

Bill Vander Zalm, former Socred premier

Carole James, NDP Leader

Vicki Huntington, Independent MLA

Our West End MLA, Spencer Herbert

Ellen Woodsworth, COPE City Councillor

Chris Delaney, Deputy Leader, BC Conservatives

My favourite sign:

Don't ya' just love it ? ? ? ?

* Liberal in name only

UPDATE on gordo's popularity.

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Someone's Happy 'Bout the Results in BC . . . .

Per The Tyee:

Campbell and cabinet win third term
By Monte Paulsen May 12, 2009 11:08 pm

VANCOUVER – Premier Gordon Campbell and his entire B.C. Liberal Party cabinet have been re-elected, giving the Vancouver native who led the centre-right party from opposition to government an historic third term in office.

The Liberals had won 45 seats to the NDP’s 32 as of 11 p.m., with an additional eight ridings remaining too close to call. Among those re-elected were John van Dongen, the solicitor general who resigned in the wake of several speeding tickets, John Les, the former solicitor general who resigned over suspicious land deal, and Attorney General Wally Oppal, who ducked questions about the BC Rail sale controversy throughout the campaign.

Campbell bound triumphantly up the stairs of the gleaming new Vancouver Convention Centre – itself a controversial legacy of his party’s profligate spending in advance of the 2010 Winter Games – and pressed through an adoring crowd waiting in a glass-walled conference room.

Well, I guess Iggy's happy . . . .


(Normally, photo images are included in my posts. I could not bring myself to post one of gordo. Sorry.)

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

One More Reason to Dislike iggy . . . .

If BC Voters need yet another reason to dislike/distrust iggy, check out this morning's "Early Edition" with Rick Cluff at the 2:11:30 mark.* (Requires Real Player, which I took pains to download, but that's a whole 'nuther story.)

If you don't want to bother, here's the verbatim transcript as per moi:

Pluffmaster: "Do you support the BC Liberal's carbon tax idea?"

iggy: "I'm not gonna wade into provincial politics. That's for the BC voter to decide."

Pluffmaster: "Aw, come on. It's just you and me." (chuckling)

iggy: "Look, I don't think it's any secret that a federal Liberal wants Gordon Campbell to win re-election. I think I can go that far, but I won't be drawn further."

'Nuff said, ya'll** ? ? ? ?


*Note to RossK: See, I wasn't listening to the Goodship Watercarrier and his "Illegible Boys" - were you?
**sorry, my Southern roots slipped out.

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

There must be an election in BC...

Political party leaders have discovered a new place in the province.

That would be anywhere in Canada's third-largest province that isn't Greater Vancouver or Greater Victoria.

Lo and behold, BC Liberal leader (and incumbent premier) Gordon Campbell and BC NDP leader Carole James both parachuted into the same southern BC interior city... on the same day. The only time Kamloops sees that much concentration of political power, outside an election, is when a political party times an annual strategy planning and massage retreat to coincide with the greening up of golf courses dotting the South Thompson River.

What's so important about Kamloops? Bellwether ridings. The members elected from Kamloops usually take their seats on the government benches of the legislature.

So, Gordo reaches into his pocket and pulls out a reminder of the "gift" he gave to the BC southern interior last fall.

At a rally in Kamloops Thursday night, Campbell used his government's recent move to cancel tolls on the Coquihalla highway as a way to garner support.

"There are truckers, there are families, there are communities that are really pleased we have taken the toll off the Coquihalla," Campbell said to a cheering crowd.

The cheering crowd would be the party faithful, such as they are. Kamloopsians in general, however, probably view the removal of tolls on the Coquihalla highway (one of two super-highways in BC) somewhat differently.

The highway is a legacy of Expo 86 and had tolls slapped on it by the government of Bill Bennett. The tolls were never intended to finance ordinary construction of the highway, nor were they levied to recover the cost of ordinary maintenance. The promise associated with the construction and accompanying tolls was that once the cost of accelerated construction was recovered, the tolls would be removed.

Thanks to Campbell, however, that never happened.

At about the same time the Coquihalla was removed from the province's list of contingent liabilities, instead of removing the tolls, Campbell offered the highway up for lease to the private sector in a convoluted private-public partnership. The deal was that any private operator would invest in the necessary rehabilitation to upgrade the highway and in return receive the revenue - from perpetual tolls. Worse, the private operator would be permitted to set the rate for tolls and conduct its operations removed from government oversight. In true conservative "the market will sort everything out" fashion, Campbell was actually intending to sell the primary link to the southern interior leaving residents and commercial traffic at the mercy of a for-profit private operator.

That caused an outroar from Tete Jaune Cache to Sicamous. When polled, an overwhelming 97 percent of respondents viewed the sale/lease of the Coquihalla as a betrayal by the Campbell government and rejected the plan with loud protests.

Proving just how out of touch he was with the population outside the Vancouver-area lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island, Campbell pressed ahead with his plan espousing all kinds of future benefits for southern interior residents to be gained by continuing to pay the only road tax in the province - at increased private rates.

Kamloopsians weren't buying it. In fact, Kamloopsians won't buy anything without a guarantee. It has been called one of the toughest markets in Canada, something Campbell was about to find out.

As the Campbell "Privatize it!" plan continued so too did the protests, and something became quite clear to BC Liberal Kamloops MLAs Claude Richmond and Kevin Kruger: The sell-off of the Coquihalla would cost them their seats in the next election. It wasn't just a possibility; it was fully assured. And more often than not, where goes Kamloops goes the fortunes of a provincial political party.

Campbell, very begrudgingly, backed-off claiming he had "listened" to the people, but not without firing a shot of sour grapes along with the announcement.

Campbell said British Columbians have made it clear that they do not see the benefits of this particular partnership. While there was a strong business case for the proposal, evident in the 28 expressions of interest received from the private sector, the public did not see or accept the new improvements that the proposed partnership would provide in this case.

[...]

The public request to maintain the status quo on the Coquihalla means that taxpayers will not receive the resources for new infrastructure that the partnership would have provided.

In short, you people are too stupid to understand how good this is and now you're not getting any dessert.

Most southern interior residents ignored the petulance, satisfied that they had won more of the fight than they had lost. The fact that there were still tolls on the Coquihalla, in violation of the compact which had been reached with a previous government, survived as an undercurrent of discontent. The Campbell government gave every indication that it was intransigent. The tolls would remain... indefinitely.

When the southern interior MLAs complained to Campbell that the lingering effects of the assault were still giving them the election willies the BC Liberals came up with a corny slogan borrowed from a Chevy commercial and started calling the interior of BC "The Heartland". Most southern BC interior residents saw that for what it was: lipstick on a pig. In fact, the "Heartland" moniker became a symbol of the remoteness of a Vancouver-centric government.

So, when Campbell made a sudden announcement in September, 2008, that the tolls would be removed from the Coquihalla people may have indeed been pleased, but they weren't cheering. In fact, most southern interior residents felt the removal of tolls was more than long overdue. It wasn't that Campbell had just provided a surprize gift to the southern BC interior; it was that Campbell had continued to milk cash out of the southern interior highway link, and taxed the people who lived in the interior, far beyond what was considered fair or equitable. There are a good many people who feel they are owed a rebate for five years of tolls they should never have been paying.

And everyone who was willing to look at a calendar knew what brought it about: An election date now risen above the horizon.

Now that it's here, sure enough, Campbell is trying to capitalize on his supposed generosity. If his candidates are returned to Victoria however, it won't be because of him; it will be despite him.

-------

Now, as a matter of interest, the Times-Colonist article to which I linked stated that both Campbell and James were in Kamloops. Strangely, James got one line of text while Campbell got spotlit.

Perhaps James' activities weren't quite as exciting as the crowd of business people Campbell gathered but the TC's coverage in such critical ridings is rather - skewed.

I disagree with James' on a couple of issues, no less than I do with Campbell, but we may never know what she's saying given the coverage by the BC capital city's Canwest-owned newspaper.

Follow the Harperites to Victoria

This poster, which dates back to 1937, contains a slogan which most coastal British Columbians would remember well into the 1980s. Oddly, it had something of a foundation as anyone travelling from the mainland to Vancouver Island could note the perpetual flocks of gulls following the ferries on their scheduled runs. There was a good reason they were there - easy pickings from the garbage tossed over the side.

Today, there is a different breed flying into Victoria - Larus harperus. And this bunch is shovelling money off the back of trucks all over Conservative ridings in BC. (Emphasis mine)

Against a backdrop of precipitous job losses in British Columbia, Premier Gordon Campbell will launch the provincial election campaign Tuesday.

If he wins his third term on May 12, he may take a few moments to compose a nice thank-you note to Stephen Harper's federal Conservative government – in the three weeks leading up to the campaign, his B.C. Liberal government members have shared the podium with Tory MPs and cabinet ministers to hand out money at least 46 times.

That's just the in-person appearances. Funding announcements have flooded in at a much faster rate.

Together, the two levels of government have distributed roughly $1-billion in “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects designed to backstop job losses that have hit the province's construction industry the hardest.

There's a good reason for that: Of the 36 federal House of Commons seats occupied by British Columbians, the Harper party holds 22.

In the perpetual election campaign that is the Harper Party of Canada, British Columbia is an inexplicable landfill of votes.

To anyone from outside BC, the politics of the province would look more than a little strange. The BC Liberals, just to start off, aren't. It's just a name and they have no affiliation whatsoever with the federal political party of the same taxonomic name. In fact, the BC Liberal Party is a coalition of the former Bennett/Vanderzalm Social Credit, social conservatives and a further assortment of right-wingers. They are political conservatives. The name is mere camouflage. It is a government known for deliberate union busting, privatization of anything that isn't nailed down, and excessive salary increases to deputy ministers accompanied by the worn excuse that you have to pay big bucks to get and keep good people. (Not that there is anywhere else for them to go.)

Then there is the BC NDP which does have a loose affiliation with it's federal cousin. Good or bad, right or wrong, the behaviour of the federal NDP has an effect on the electability of the provincial party. That aside, the party has its own ghosts which crawl out of the muck and an unenviable record of disasterous fiscal management. If you want to start a British Columbian's eye's rolling you only have to mention the name Glen Clark, who, after maneouvering himself into a position to oust premier (and fellow NDPer) Mike Harcourt became the 31st premier of BC and led a government responsible for the fast ferry fiasco, the infamous fudge-it budget and a scandal known as casinogate.

Unfortunately, it tends to end there. The political spectrum is polarized to each extreme with little, if anything, being offered from anywhere close to the political centre. There are other parties, but they have such minimal impact on the provincial political carpet that they qualify as nothing more than an irritating stain.

That brings us back to the Harperites finding their way back to BC just in time for a provincial election.

“Yes, the Conservative government is being helpful,” said B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen.

That would be more than a small understatement. The Harper government is slobbering all over themselves to get in there and help buy votes for Campbell's Liberals. And it's not like there won't be a price to pay. Harper will expect Campbell to deliver British Columbia at the next federal election - and if Campbell wins on May 12, he will be forced to follow through for Harper.

All of the spending promised British Columbians during those joint photo ops depends on not just one election, but two: For most of the "promises" to actually come to fruition the BC Liberals will have to form the next government. Worse though, is that virtually all of the money offered by the Harperites has not yet been allocated. It will take another federal budget to see any of the promised funding and even Harper isn't arrogant enough to believe his minority government will survive long enough to make such a delivery.

The message: You need to re-elect us, both of us, or this could all go in the crapper.

The obvious: The BC Liberals and the Harper conservatives are now in bed together.

It should be interesting to watch and see if the Harperites withdraw to Ottawa after April 14 or if they continue to mix paste and meddle in BC provincial politics. In any case, as most coastal British Columbians are aware, whether the bird is Larus pacificus or Larus harperus, they will eventually steal your food and shit on you.

Former Green Party guy hearts Gordo; Gordo hearts Harper

Campbell urges support for Harper government
Blaming Quebec separatists for election results, Premier says it's time to work together

"The Liberal Premier of British Columbia blames Quebec separatists for the country's third minority government in a row.
"Everyone should understand that the only thing that prohibited Mr. Harper from getting the majority he was seeking was the separatists in Quebec," Gordon Campbell said yesterday"

Can I get a lolcat to go with that, please?
We have all already given our collective thanks to the Bloc, Gordo.

"He added that Mr. Harper is clearly the man most Canadians want as prime minister."

Yo! Gordo! Steve won less of the popular vote than last time!
But I can see where you might be hoping to hitch your little rightwing wagon to Steve's in time for your election campaign next year.


In other fabulous cross-party wankfests:
"The former Interim Leader of the BC Green Party endorsed Premier Gordon Campbell’s leadership and joined the BC Liberal Party team today."

"Over the past year I’ve been impressed with Premier Campbell’s leadership," said Christopher Ian Bennett. "It was time for me to move over and be part of a party that was making a difference and truly leading Canada blah blah blah..."

For his part, Gordo said he "respected [Bennett's] ability regardless of party label to stand up for what was right for British Columbia blah blah blah..."
Previously, Bennett was Elizabeth May's communications director in her successful bid for GP leadership.

Ok, are we done with this nonsense of referring to all Greens as "left wing" now?
Anyone else looking to "make a difference" today?

Cross-posted at Creekside

Vancouver Centre Results Disappointing for Moi . . . .

Well, you probably were aware that I was doing some campaign volunteering for our local Vancouver Centre NDP candidate, Michael Byers. Unfortunately, my efforts and the efforts of a strong crew of volunteers weren't enough to unseat Hedy Fry from her 15 year grasp on our riding. Hey, at least the con candidate, aka, Lorne "Freak Out at the Queer Debate" didn't make it in! The Tyee has the results here. (This link marks my initial goal of only linking to independent news sources when available. We need to reduce the corporate media's influence whenever we can.)

On a lighter note, Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" did a short recap of our recent federal election. Pay particular attention to his characterization of the Canadian conservative party.

Enjoy . . . .





(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)