Shepard On a Mission to Re-Unite the Right
Thursday, August 30, 2012 @ 2:00 PM
Prince George, B.C. – Uniting the “right”, that is the first priority of the mission of Jim Shepard, the former CEO of Canfor and Finning, and former policy advisor to Premier Christy Clark.Shepard is in Prince George today, meeting with business and community leaders, in an effort to solidify the centre to right wing of the B.C. political scale so the NDP does not form the next government.
It is the first stop in a Province wide tour to spread the word on behalf of his Concerned Citizens for B.C. group. Why Prince George? He says it all goes back to the ‘Have you had enough’ rally that was held in response to the New Democrat Government under Glen Clark, which sparked the support for a change in the provincial government. “We are once again back in Prince George to re-ignite the free enterprise spirit .” Shepard says Prince George was built on the spirit of entrepreneurism, “That’s why we’re here, this is the strongest base, and we are here to build the momentum.”
“Each time the right has been fractured, the NDP were elected in this Province” says Shepard, who adds he has met with top ranked people in the B.C. Conservative Party to reinforce the need to come together.
He says as a former CEO he has had an excellent opportunity to evaluate Christy Clark’s Executive performance. “I observed Christy Clark to be a very strong leader. I observed her to have strong business management skills, I saw that by sitting through numerous meetings with foreign ministers and numerous CEO’s of major corporations, but when I looked at what was going on in the media, there is this different picture being painted of her.” He says that is why he opted to step away from his role as policy advisor ( a job he was being a dollar a year to do) and spread the word.
He says his conversations with people start the same, “Look, we both love British Columbia, we both appreciate the free enterprise government we’ve had in the past ten years. Its made some mistakes along the way sure, but if you look at the way you’re living today, versus the way you were living under the NDP, you can’t help but agree we are a lot better off today.”
He says he has been making headway in rebuilding the right wing coalition which has been fractured by the establishment of the BC Conservative party, in effect splitting the right wing vote and allowing the NDP a path to the Premier’s office.
He says his group will also be focusing on levelling the playing field, as the Premier is constantly under the microscope, and his group will put the same kind of lense on NDP leader Adrian Dix. “He’s very, very quiet, like the new kid on the block, and his plan is to just tip toe quietly into the Premier’s Office”. Shepard says his group, the Concerned Citizens for British Columbia will be working hard to make sure Dix isn’t allowed to do that “He’s going to have to stand up to the same scrutiny that our Premier has been standing up to for the last 17 months. We believe that when the election comes, the question will be, what leader do you want? Adrian Dix? Let’s have a good clear look at him, let’s have a good look at his performance, let’s have a good look at his record. What do you like about him? What don’t you like about him? Just like we’ve been doing with Christy Clark for the last 17 months.”
Shepard says it is time to compare ten years under the NDP and 10 years under the Liberals, “If you are going to put somebody into power, you should not only be looking at the individual, but you should be looking at their performance. As a Chief Executive Officer, I didn’t hire somebody just because they TOLD me they would do a good job, I hired them because their performance record showed they could do a good job.”
The next stop for Shepard is the Kootenays, where he hopes to bring more people on board his free enterprise train “We will do whatever we can to ensure a right wing coalition stays in power, and we believe the best way to do that is supporting Christy Clark and I personally believe that because I had a chance to work with her for a year and I believe in her leadership.”
Comments
They must be getting worried.
Problem is, is that the Liberal coalition of the right had 10 years to do the right thing, however they spent most of their time looking out for their friends in business and screwing the average Joe.
The HST was a huge benefit to Corporations, and a tax grab for the Government, all paid for by the average taxpayer. Joe and Jane citizen got sfa from this tax, and now we have Shepard asking us to vote for the same dudes, so they can take us to the cleaners again.
Not bloody likely. Personally I have no use for any of them NDP, Liberals, or so called Conservatives.
The Liberals are the architechs of their own misfortune. Working hand in hand with their corporate buddies, and screwing Joe/Jane citized was the cause of their demise.
The NDP wins because the Liberals turned into a bunch of losers.
Isnt it rather interesting that during the whole HST debate none of the great CEO,S said a bloody word?? Now that they are facing a change in Government they are trying to convince people that they were out friends. What a hoot.
Let the chips fall where they may. You reap what you sow.
Have a nice day.
‘The HST was a huge benefit to Corporations, and a tax grab for the Government, all paid for by the average taxpayer.’
That’s simply wrong. Harmonized sales taxes are in place in almost every other jurisdiction on the planet, and provide real, measurable economic benefits for everyone.
To say otherwise is simply misinformed, politicized fear mongering.
Thank You Jim Sheppard.
I think we need to be united on the right of center. I agree, Christy may have the brains, but she does not have the “panash” to pull it off.
Conservative Party of BC, is too far too the right, and can be bringing personal agenda’s to the table. While on the otherside, the NDP is too far left with Dix in power. A lot further left than ten years ago, meaning we will drive out business and we will become CBC, Communist British Columbia.
I just know we are better off because we can afford to pay carbon taxes, if the NDP get in they might take that privilege away from us. :-). If the right stays in the tax will rise for sure.
We need less ‘business’ people in politics and more normal folks. It always seems to me that once you get business people involved in political parties they just go to serve their own interests rather than what is best for the average British Columbian.
I find this pretty funny. I too want a centre right option in the vacuum that will be created soon when the BC Liberal Party finally implodes, but Jim better do some homework before he starts making declarations about comparing 10 years of the BC Liberals to 10 years of the NDP, because contrary to all the snivelling that goes on about the NDP, we did very well financially under their leadership. This is something most hard-line right wingers don’t like to talk about, if they know about it at all.
Couldn’t have said it better “Rocky” ! Oh, and lets try and remember the NDP balancing the books based on a “forecasted” economy and lay away plans!
balanced books on “forcasted” economy????
Right checkitout, the BC Liberals ran a campaign based on a “forecasted” economy of a $400 million deficit. Only to come clean right after the 2009 election and present British Columbians with the largest ever deficit budget in BC history of $2.4 BILLION!
I would think a $2.4 Billion deficit IS a layaway plan!
Who checks your facts for you checitout, Paul Ryan?
Once Dix opens his mouth, his true colors will show! His undies aren’t pink ,they are red! You go Jim!
“Shepard says Prince George was built on the spirit of entrepreneurism”
And for the most part, it is surviving because it is now a government service centre for a considerable part of the Province. Take away UNBC, PGRH (or whatever the heck they are calling it now) and other government services and the population of PG is probably 40,000 people.
Palopu is right. IMHO, the BC Liberals basically had the ability to stay in power for 100 years had they governed in a way that was respectable. Over time, they fell in love with themselves and started doing stupid things. The BC Rail scandal was one, the HST debacle was another, their inability to have any foresight into how to manage the crumbling forestry industry was yet another, etc.
People will generally let you get away with one stupid decision or idea, a couple and they’ll start thinking about other option. Three or four and they will skewer you the next time the polls come around. The BC Libs fell in love with themselves and IMHO, they became too aligned with corporate interests. Having a climate that is investor friendly is one thing, doing it at the expense of everyone else in the Province is quite another.
I hate to say it, but I see desperation and fear in that picture of Shepard. Why is that? Is he THAT convinced that the right wing is the only political faction that can actually govern effectively? To me, that is the scary part about him and others with his philosophy, not the fact that the big evil NDP will likely get into power again.
Your on a role, NMG!
Rocky wrote: “Harmonized sales taxes are in place in almost every other jurisdiction on the planet, and provide real, measurable economic benefits for everyone.”
Did you realize that there is no federal sales tax in the US? That is quite a sizeable federal jurisdiction which has no federal sales tax, would you not say?
Canada and Japan have 5% (Canada’s dropped from 7%, remember?).
Switzerland’s is 7.6%
Then we have some of the big ones
Spain 16%
UK 17.5%
Germany 19%
France 19.6%
Italy 20%
Denmark 25%
Sweden 25%
So, to solve OUR “problems” in the US and Canada (and we do not really share all of them) should we be looking forward to harmonizing our sales taxes to those European levels and then face the European problems instead?
So go and measure the costs and benefits and show cause and effect please. I defy anyone on here or anywhere else to do that!!! ;-)
I sure hope the election comes before the lieberals sell off all of the assets we have left in this province. You’re right sine o mine the NDP is my first choice as well and hopefully we will have protection against child poverty!!
“‘The HST was a huge benefit to Corporations, and a tax grab for the Government, all paid for by the average taxpayer.’
That’s simply wrong. Harmonized sales taxes are in place in almost every other jurisdiction on the planet, and provide real, measurable economic benefits for everyone.
To say otherwise is simply misinformed, politicized fear mongering.”
And the load of crap from Shepard isn’t? He mentions all the times the right-wing parties “has become fractured” as if they were victims of insidious outside forces when they only have themselves to blame for incompetence and ethically questionable behavior. I’m not trying to defend the NDPs track record, but if you want to talk about a “level playing field” let’s not blame the fiscal difficulties we had in the ’90’s solely on the NDP without noting the implosion of the Asian markets and a general downturn in the economies of the rest Canada at the same time.
No, the Liberals are on their way out because, as others have noted, they became bogged down in the ideology that only free enterprise (like they has ever truly existed) can supply answers to the issues governments face. Enmeshed in this obsessive adherance to corporate philosophy, they were deaf to any message that did not come from those of like opinion. As diversity of opinions shrank, they simply ran out of ideas.
And Rocky, when you make statements like you have about harmonized consumption taxes, please back it up with data. Otherwise, trying to convince us folks that shifting billions of dollars in taxes from corporation to the citizenry just sounds like misinformed, politicized BS.
So, for those same countries, here are the approximate federal corporate tax rates. By that I mean that some figures are presented as an average by the source and others are presented as a range. If they are a range, I have chosen the highest of the range.
Canada15.0%
UK24.0%
Denmark25.0%
Switzerland25.0%
Sweden26.3%
Germany29.8%
Spain30.0%
Italy31.4%
France33.3%
USA38.0%
Japan40.7%
Hopefully that is not too much of a surprise to anyone. The feds in the USA have no sales tax, a relatively low upper marginal personal tax rate, and, next to Japan, the highest corporate tax rate …. and Canada has the lowest corporate tax rate and one of the lowest sales tax rates.
To be fair, some of the countries with high sales taxes have no local sales taxes as there are in the USA (state and municipalities) and Canada (Provincial only)
“without noting the implosion of the Asian markets and a general downturn in the economies of the rest Canada at the same time”
What a bunch of BS!!! That was child’s play compared to the last 3 years!!!!
Who cares about the Asian markets before 2000? Things were going great with the USA under Clinton and his relationship with Canada and BC and its lumber industry with the out of control housing market in the USA. The USA was, and in many ways still is the major trading partner of Canada’s.
The Canuck dollar was low compared to the USA and Canada’s manufacturers had a great olde time as a result.
When you use excuses … plesase be objective and use them equally otherwise your colours show … :-)
People are leaving their posts in the liberal Party. They can see the writing on the wall. Might as well get one of those Severance packages before they change the rules or all the money is gone.
Opportunities are huge for anyone considering providing an alternative to Liberals and NDP. Don’t kid yourself, there are lots of people who are having difficulty voting for either party.
As far as uniting the right or uniting the left or uniting the centre …. there is no one in the USA and Canada that can even touch some of the successful coalitions in some of the European countries.
We mad a farce of that on the federal scene during the Conservative minority governments. I simply do not understand why people need to “unite” under one party hat when in reality they are of differents colours. Show your colours. Believe in them. Be proud of them. Then face the reality that there are simply not enough of you who will get elected unless you form a coalition. A real coalition with party affiliations intact.
Lets see how many big Corps jump on the Shepard band wagen,they also want to protect themselfs and the billions in tax dollers handed out every year.They used the Libs and now their worthless so switch and butter up the new guy its not new. Shepard walking around with millions and not talking to us just CEO’s hoping we will follow like sheep baaaaa
wagen
themselfs
dollers
their
its
An indication of the intelligence of the average NDP supporter.
Seriously rocky? Is that the best a right-wing dinosaur can come up with.
Spelling your own name starting with a lower case r instead of a capital.
An indication of the intelligence of the average non NDP supporter.
Climb back into your rocking chair Shepard. Your days helping your Liberal pals mismanage taxpayer dollars are history.
Every one has to vote for what ever will get rid of this ilk of millionaires. This guy wants to keep milking the people of BC who voted to EXTINGUISH THE HST and soon will be voting for anything other then those that will keep this system going. This dinasour needs to be defeated. And I am sure that will happen just as soon as we get a chance at the ballot box. We can’t afford this ilk of millionaire trying to manipulate the election. Either vote independant or NDP. Get rid of these crooks. It’s time to make THEM pay the bills in this province.
Shepard, with his money, should be doing something to help the people of this province out of poverty and starvation if he is so damned concerned. He’s just another retired millioaire who should be at home or fishing with his grandchildren. I can hardly wait until we see the end result because I can assure you that BC will be in the toilet again, be it NDP, Liberal or Whatever Party. Christy’s babbling about how much more BC wants from a pipeline — did she ask us?? We own this province; not the Liberals or Christy. Ask us what we want before you shoot your mouth off. Where’s the referendum on these huge decisions? A referendum could be done online using your voter number and it would only cost the mailing out of voter cards, like they used to. Can be done fast. Pretty well fool proof with a voter number. They are afraid of us — just like the City of PG is since our last “alternate approval” turnout. The city found out they can’t ram big projects through without our participation. We really did it wrong on that police station; we had a chance to overturn that and we sat on our hands. Let’s not do that any more.
voting for the zombie Liberals is a wasted vote. If you want a say in this province’s future, vote NDP or Conservative. Face facts.
Now that was a zinger.
gus
f-150
mattyc
supertech
More NDP brilliance:
what ever
dinasour
independant
milloaire
fool proof
I agree with supertech.
Wait, there’s more:
architechs
citized
Your on a role
adherance
mad
Do you really wants these guys driving the bus?
Just for the record I will be voting independand. Hopefully this will help defeat the trash implied in this article. This guy featured today is not going to get much support from joe public and jane doe. The people aont going to forget this time Jim. You and your kind are going to be DEFEATED. Just wait and see.
Hee hee hee:
independand
aont
Why don’t you go to school mattyc (on your own dime) and acquire enough education to become a responsible elected official?
Put up, or shut up.
Where was the right when the Liberals were driving us so far into debt?
Constant mega projects for Vancouver developers.
Perhaps they should of spoke out against the building of the retractable roof on BC Place. Are they are going to warn us (again) of how the NDP are going to be fiscally irresponsible. Please.
Opinion 250 or spelling 101. Really folks. It is the content of different writer’s opinions rather than a few errors in spelling that creates reader interest.
“Do you really (wants) these guys driving the bus?”
Better them than someone that spells their name starting with a lowercase r.
When I joined the military in /59 I voted NDP because I didn’t know any other party and i was 18 yrs. old and that was the first time I voted. In all of the subsequent elections I voted NDP as I found them to be the most honest of all of the other parties.—You should join the military rocky, I mean if you are smart enough and start voting NDP.
mattyc is still here ? Geez Revenue Canada works slow in the summer.
I feel embarrassed just being middle finger as opposed to Middle Finger.
matty will always be here. LOL LOL LOL. Until I decide to move outa this lousy expensive province. In the meantime >catch me if ya can.
Soon the HST will be extinguished along with every liberal politician in BC. Then we will have the NDP and I can not wait. But I won’t vote for the NDP.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling! We must save the Queen!
Its made some mistakes along the way sure, but if you look at the way youâre living today, versus the way you were living under the NDP, you canât help but agree we are a lot better off today.â
BULLSHITE!
I had a good paying job, with benefits like dental, I could see a chiropractor for 10 bucks, I had a GOOD doctor, I could afford to go camping and fishing. Bread was not 5 bucks a loaf and gas well I’ll not even go there. You’ll call it inflation, I call it theft! May all you Liberal’s suffer a great disease. That’s what I think of you!
This Shepard guy is off his rocker. he doesn’t even know what free enterprise is. The man just wants to hijack the notion of free enterprise to try and win an election.
Free enterprise is about building up a middle class of diverse economic interests adding value and equalizing opportunity based on merit.
He talks about merging parties in the words of a monopoly capitalist… not opening up opportunities for more voices.
IMO its political fraud for any BC liberal to be talking about free enterprise values.
Hammy: “I had a good paying job, with benefits like dental, I could see a chiropractor for 10 bucks, I had a GOOD doctor, I could afford to go camping and fishing. Bread was not 5 bucks a loaf and gas well I’ll not even go there. You’ll call it inflation, I call it theft! May all you Liberal’s suffer a great disease. That’s what I think of you!”
Uh huh… and Glen Clark’s biggest crime was that he built a deck.
You’re probably too young or forgetful to remember the “Have You Had Enough Yet” really at the CN Centre to protest the NDP and how they were mis-handling the medical system at the time. It packed the house. Don’t worry, apparently you’re not the only one suffering from NDP amnesia.
Right wing, left wing. One side wants to use everyone’s money to advance trickle-down economics works even though all it does is eliminate the middle class, the other wants to use everyone’s money to advance political correctness and the rights of minorities. Neither wing really want to do anything for the working class after the votes are cast. Working class people are strong because all their hard work keep them lean and muscular, but both sides think we’re not lean enough.
This Jim Sheppard looks alot like Clint!
His better days are behind him, maybe Mr Sheppard has an empty chair that he hauls around to talk to as well?
JohnnyBelt JohnnyBelt JohnnyBelt That was then this is now and for the people in the know the lieberals should have been put in the ditch or under the bus a long time ago but the people of BC are either very apathetic or just slow to react—you tell me??
Shepard, with his money, should be doing something to help the people of this province out of poverty and starvation if he is so damned concerned
———————————————
Hey thats a good point. If all our big corporation started to help those that needed it they would win the election hands down.
Cheers
Is this ShepARD ever getting a lot of milage on this site.
Cheers
“JohnnyBelt JohnnyBelt JohnnyBelt That was then this is now “
Yeah, NDP’ers typically don’t like their history or bringing up the past. The big players in the party now were around back then. Dix was Glen Clark’s right hand man.
Hey, Gus, gear down a little will you please? My statement was a retort to rocky who seemed to imply that the NDP were the sole cause of the global economic downturn in the ’90’s. You want my colours? Here they are: NDP orange since the first election I was old enough to vote in.
Hard to read some of this stupidity! Most carry a lunch bucket and rely on the people that they are criticizing! Don’t want any risk , but want the reward!
Krusty: “My statement was a retort to rocky who seemed to imply that the NDP were the sole cause of the global economic downturn in the ’90’s.”
There was no global economic downturn in the 90’s. Maybe you’re thinking of 2008. No wonder you vote NDP.
The 90’s had the Asian Economic Crisis.
Krusty wrote: “My statement was a retort to rocky who seemed to imply that the NDP were the sole cause of the global economic downturn in the ’90’s”
And my statement was a response to your words: “let’s not blame the fiscal difficulties we had in the ’90’s solely on the NDP without noting the implosion of the Asian markets and a general downturn in the economies of the rest Canada at the same time.”
I responded that the Asian market was not all that important to us in those days.
1.We were starting to ship lumber in record amounts, even before the MPB, to our USA market, which was our traditional lumber destination.
2.The Canadian manufacturing and resource based economy was doing quite well due to the low dollar which ranged in the mid 60 to 70 cents during that decade.
Remember, Black Monday was not in the 1990s. It was in October 1987. The countries which were hit hardest were not those linked to the Asian economy, but the US economy. Energy and real estate slumped. There was a recovery, and then a return to a slumping economy till about 1995. By that time the NDP majority win of 1991 was reduced from 51 to 39 seats with the liberals moving up from 17 (that was the Wilson Liberals which is different than the current BCLiberals) to 33 in 1996.
By 2001, the group of 39 NDP had managed to fall out of favour, even though the economy had picked up helped the USA expanding economy and the low value of our dollar. So, 2001 the BCLiberals got an unprecedented 77 seats compared to 2 for the NDP.
In the world of politics, quick to rise, and quick to fall. True for all parties, in my opinion.
So I am not sure why I should gear down a little when you are gearing up on a very slippery road and dangerous drivers need to slow down a bit and make sure they are still on the road instead of in lala land.
BTW, during the time that the USA economy and those countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK that were tied closely to it were having economic problems, Germany and Japan (China was not very much in the picture yet) grew rapidly.
The Asian financial crisis did not begin until 1997. By that time the NDP already had fewer seats in parliament.
As I understand it, the crisis happened in many of those countries which were receiving international aid. It was over within 2 years.
So, I am looking for someone who might be teaching international trade as it relates to the cycles of economic peaks and valleys and provide a better background to the importance of outside influences during the two terms of the NDP government in the 1990s.
I think it is simply the luck of the draw.
So, if we look at outside influences on provincial governments and provide that as a partial excuse for their failures or difficulties in governing, then we must surely look at the influence of the crash of the USA housing industry and the almost world-wide economic crisis of the last 4 years.
Hey. Krusty …. do you still want me to gear down? ;-)
Oh, and while I am at it, during those two external influences on the BC economy, there have been no equalization payments made to BC.
Not that I actually believe that is a good measure of anything related to good fiscal management.
Comments for this article are closed.