Liberals In BC Like A Marriage Gone Bad
Friday, August 31, 2012 @ 3:44 AM
While Jim Shepard may have come to town with good intentions, that being an attempt to conjure up support for Christy Clark, he quite frankly is the wrong man for the job.
Shepard is viewed as a business leader and when you marry that to the HST the result is a marriage made in hell.
The albatros hanging around the necks of the Liberals in BC has HST painted all over it. Perception is reality and the majority of the population of the province felt that the HST was forced on them, and the tax being a value added tax took more money from the average John Q public.
It is like a marriage gone bad, when it starts to go south no matter what the good intentions are to save it, the old wounds just won’t go away.
That stigma of the Big boys in business got more than their fair share in the HST is the mindset of the day and regardless of whether you wish to argue that point , the rank and file (who by the way are the voters) believe that statement. Shepard may have big business on his side but just as Gaddafi had the army on his side; it was the rank and file who sank him.
The Liberal fortunes are sliding down a hill of no return, in spite of the good work of people like Shirley Bond and Pat Bell . The bailing from the party of heavy weights like Falcon, Abbott, Less, and McNeil indicates that they too see the hand writing on the wall.
The Liberals did some good things in the province, like our roads and our Northern Cancer Centre but those positives have been forgotten.
If Shepard wants to do something on behalf of big business in BC, he might want to collect up a bunch of money and run a major campaign claiming that Clark is the person for the province, it worked in Prince George during the last civic election, and maybe it has one more life left in it.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
Comments
What we have witnessed here in BC is the life of a political ponzi scheme.
The BC liberals ran a political ponzi scheme that utilized half truths, political slogans based on engineering partisan perceptions and not reality, and all the while creating policy in back rooms outside of the light of transparency.
The truth is they ballooned the budget deficit to levels never before imagined, sold off public assets to political insiders, gave unfunded tax cuts to the corporations both domestic and foreign, and broke nearly every major election promise they ever made.
This is the structure of a classic ponzi scheme and the people of BC have wised up to what has happened after the HST fiasco.
The insiders that are now leaving the BC liberal party are the insiders that are smart enough to realize the public is not going to buy their brand of politics anymore. The gig is up for them and their kind and they know it.
IMO the federal conservative are another over ripe political ponzi scheme… they however don’t get it yet that the public is onto them as well.
Time Will Tell
There is a long list HST just one our Forests is another the Government handed over everything to the likes of Mr Shepard and were did it get us? Granted Bell and Bond may have brought things to the North but they are part of the group and supported the HST and sale of BC Rail and handing over our forest to Buddys like Shepard, thanks but no thanks
Lol look back on what the NDP did. Makes what the Liberals did a drop in the bucket. Be careful what you wish for is all I can say. The NDP will be no better if not worse!
P.S. voting back in the NDP will be like marrying the X. You worked things out but in the end she is the same old biotch.
While this province tends to be rather polarized in terms of politics, perhaps we can all agree on the following: let’s pass a law saying that from now on, no one named Clark (with or without the final “e”) should be allowed to be premier. I think we would all be better off.
Pat Bell and th Liberals have created a very business friendly enviroment and their sell job of B.C, lumber to the Chineese borders on one of the greatest marketing and economic achievemnts in the provinces history.
The NDP ideology sounds like it should work for the common worker like myself, however, it has proved over and over again that it is dibiltating to investors and good paying jobs.
All polical parties have baggage and dirty laundry – if your hoping for greener grass you will be very sorry when our job market shrinks and business developers fade away.
Dix has already dropped hints that he’s going to make it hard for industry to function in this province. We can’t say we weren’t warned.
Yes, Christy Clark has not been a good choice for leader, and that seems to draw everyone’s focus away from all the positives. No, I am not saying that Liberals are perfect, but they’re far more fit to govern than the NDP.
Wasn’t Shepard the guy who told us that BC Rail had to be sold to get Canfors lumber to Chicago in one day? What a genius! Why yes of course we will vote Liberal!
it worked in Prince George during the last civic election, and maybe it has one more life left in it.
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Holly cow Ben how could you say something like that. Yeh and look at the mess the City is in from that result.
Cheers
You ought to check the facts there was investgment in BC during the NDP years of government and we had our own rail system, the assets were ownedx by the BC tax payer. Today the province is getting further in to a financial morass than ev er before. when the NDP domake a mistake BCrs jump all over them but when the Lieberals make a mistake nothing is said as if that is expected—go figure?
How does this shepard guy even get attention? Him and his ilk are the reason for everyone to get out and vote to stamp out this kind of system. This guy needs to be DEFEATED. And that is exactly what will happen just as soon as these coward liberals give us the chance at an election. We the people are going to crush this system that this clown is trying to ram down our throats again, just like the HST. Goodbye liberals. You will not have even one seat next year. You and your kind are finnished here in BC. Good riddings. Can I drive you to the airport?
“You ought to check the facts there was investgment in BC during the NDP years of government and we had our own rail system, the assets were ownedx by the BC tax payer. Today the province is getting further in to a financial morass than ev er before. when the NDP domake a mistake BCrs jump all over them but when the Lieberals make a mistake nothing is said as if that is expected—go figure?”
I think we need to invest in an education system that teaches students how to form a coherent sentence.
I get your point Faxman, but the reality is that the Liberal government in BC has been shortchanging and underfunding the educational system since they were first elected. What do you expect from this approach to education?
“I think we need to invest in an education system that teaches students how to form a coherent sentence.”
It is one thing to teach, as in leading a horse to water, but it is another thing to learn, as in getting that horse to drink.
The environment has a lot to do with whether an individual has the desire to learn. A teacher might have some level of control of a students environment for a few hours a week in the upper grades and a bit longer in the lower grades.
We have to change the attitude about learning outside of the school – at home, at work, at community activities. We are the ones who need to determine whether it is acceptable to have poor basic skills.
It takes a community to raise a child.
“I get your point Faxman, but the reality is that the Liberal government in BC has been shortchanging and underfunding the educational system since they were first elected. What do you expect from this approach to education?”
The education system is well funded; the problem is that the funding is not going towards the children.
Take your pick in this election, frying pan or fire. As disgusted as many are with the Campbell/Christie era there are at least as many scared to death of what the Dix era will bring and they should be.
The party system is the culprit where dictatorships are run by a premier and their party spin doctors and cabinet is nothing but a group of puppets.
Electing a different party wonât change that or how your elected MLA will have to follow a leader who you had nothing to do with how was selected. If I donât miss my guess there isnât a chance in heck that Dix will ever present an original thought of his own and it will be his spin doctors who run this party, the elected NDP MLAs and the province once he is elected.
If we do not agree with things like the sale of the BCR or the wealth transfer of the HST, we blame the premier and the party. It should be our MLAs who we hold accountable and if they were truly held accountable then these things shouldnât keep happening or in such a non transparent manner.
If each person votes for the most qualified candidate (and hold them accountable to their role of representing their riding) rather than voting for a candidate who is a member of a specific party, then democracy has a chance not just on voting day but for the entire term.
At this point when we are sick of the polarised cat vrs dog, party vrs party promises and deceptions, it is time to change the way this system works. The parties wonât change themselves but voters can change the outcomes by changing from being focussed with their party allegiances. Electing a new party for the reasons of simply ousting an existing one is a cycle which has undermined the potential of this province more than anything else.
We need capable persons running as candidates who are engaged with their constituents needs and will put those interests ahead of anything else. Whether it be business minds or social or labour minds that the constituents of a particular riding prefers and elects, it is of the utmost importance that as an individual MLA that they in fact do their job by representing their riding.
The central party spin doctoring and the dictatorship by a premier must be changed to be a system which is directed from ridings associations that actually correspond directly between the constituents and the MLAs. The riding association would then have the ability to ensure their MLA is both transparent and accountable.
“We have to change the attitude about learning outside of the school – at home, at work, at community activities. We are the ones who need to determine whether it is acceptable to have poor basic skills.”
Parents are the single most important factor in a child’s development. You won’t get an argument on that from me. Have we failed the parents or have we failed the children?
Let’s not forget that it was Gordon Campbell who was the first BC Liberal to jump ship after the HST fiasco.
I see that the legend lives on.
That is, that Pat Bell, or the Liberal Government were responsible for the huge increase in lumber sales to China.
The fact of the matter is there were a number of reasons why we sold more lumber to China.
1. The collapse of the US Housing Market in 2006/7, which seriously reduced sales to the USA and created a surplus of lumber in Canada.
2. The millions of board feet of beetle killed lumber that was available for 25 cent a sq metre
3. The fact that China buys unplaned 4th grade lumber to be used for concrete forms meant that this lumber could be produced even cheaper.
4. The fact the Russia (Putin) put on a 25% export tax on lumber from Russia to China. This tax created a shortage of lumber in China, and forced them to look elsewhere for lumber.
If one cares to do a little research they would see that export sales of lumber to China from the USA, Austrailia, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, etc; etc; all increased at the same time that Canada’s sales increased. Was Pat Bell and the Liberals responsible for the increase in these other Countries, or did they manage to do it on their own??
Lumber company executives, and cheap lumber, and cheap stumpage fee;s, and the Russians, were responsible, not Politicians.
Well said foresight. I couldn’t agree with what you said more. We need to find a way to have independents holding the balance of power and make MLA’s accountable to their constituents and not the party powers behind the curtain.
I cannot vote for NDP. My opinion of labour unions have bene soured over the past few years. I hear my friends complaining about not having a raise which is guarenteed every year, job security, cost of living etc. When my other friends are working their asses off to keep their jobs, have a remote shot at a raise, and definately do not have job security. Sounds harsh but when the world competes that’s what happens when the global stage is exploited for our benefit as a country. We get the good with the bad, the pretty with the ugly.
Govt. Revenues around the globe are hurting, Canada is no exception. When bread isn’t abundant. Don’t ask for cake in my oppinion.
In a shakey, on-the-brink, unstable, chaotic global marketplace. We cannot stay insulated. An Extreamely cut-throat global business environment is needed. NOT TO BE THE BEST, but to be better off than everyon else during these times..
We don’t need to outrun the Economic bear to live, we just have to run faster than enough other counties till it gets full and tired.
I also remember the Fast ferry scandal, the Casino scandal, Bingogate. This takes a sceptical view, and nudges it to the No-Vote area. I know I should learn to forgive, but I don’t see that happening by election time.
Palopu:
The Liberal government sent task force to educate and help in changing China building codes…
B.C. is now China’s largest lumber supplier.
Misinformed?
Honestly even some of the most cynical left wing politicians recognize the efforts of the liberal government have made.
I find it ironic that you point out the poor business decision of the left wing Russian government that certainly helped in B.C. in usurping the Chinese lumber business.
Our construction lumber is being used for concrete forms only??…you need to do more research on this subject…however, the most important fact ; everyone is profiting from this deal and it is creating good B.C. jobs.
You inferred that we didn’t need to do anything and that the Chinese would just come naturally…tells me that you have no business experience and a kid with a lemonade stand has more marketing experience than you.
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