If we call it democracy then its a sick democracy at best. A system designed to be defeated with game theory of divisions by hidden policy makers at party central… its not a democracy of the informed people… but it gets the social license of a democracy.

We have factional branding wars of infactual partisan divisions reminiscent of the 6th century Constantinople that ultimately lead to the downfall of one of the worlds greatest and longest lasting empire and civilization. Short of the Nika riots that were the worst in recorded history, our politics of today are no different then the factional color brands that took partisanship to the extreme for the Blues, Greens, Whites, and Reds of a bygone era. Classic politics of division where winning is everything, and the city burns down around them.

The clear majority doesn’t endorse the current system as being a representative democracy where actual issues are discussed and policy debated… issues are moved to the side and blurred while a mandate is claimed based purely on branding politics of showmanship, and a dwindling participation base that inflates the power of the extremes.

Two thirds of British Columbians voted to change the system last time around to the BCSTV, but were denied the change on a technicality and arbitrary standard set by Gordon Campbell. This is something Christy Clark could do tomorrow to address our democratic deficit if she really wanted to. For the insiders its much easier to game the system to remove choice and create an all or nothing winner takes all system that emboldens the enemies of the middle class to control and manipulate the political system… knowing full well they can get away with it.

I think at minimum if we had a preferential transferable ballot, then people could grade the candidates in priority and thus enable strategic voting that ultimately sees every MLA requiring a 50% majority to get elected… thereby making the middle class the focus of elections rather than the partisan fringe that controls the debate now… and likely opening up the system to enable independents. The silent majority would have faith in the system and no one would have an excuse not to come out and vote… a real mandate of the majority would therefor result in a true social license that a democracy gives to a government.

I think the people of BC were robbed of an informed election by both the BC liberals and the ndp and I posted this sentiment prior to the vote as well. Instead of an informed election we were taken for a ride by party insiders, the polling companies, and a simplistic partisan compromised media.

IMHO

Enbridge is already spinning this election as a mandate for the Northern Gateway. That it was not.

Let us not forget that the BC conservative party was tied with the BC liberals when they adopted the policy of full support for the Northern Gateway… and they never recovered from that position getting absolutely decimated.

Let us not forget that in Christy Clarks own riding there was an intelligent debate taking place based on real issues, one of which was tanker traffic… the sitting premier lost her own seat.

The BC liberals were in fact viewed as the least of two bad options based purely on a campaign of fear we would get the ndp of the 1990’s. That campaign worked when up against a fiddler that couldn’t shoot straight and didn’t want to talk about accountability for the party in power. The result was two bad options and a failure of democracy, and not an endorsement for Northern Gateway.

The pro pipeline party got only 5% of the vote in an election that had 50% turnout… so really they had 2.5% support of eligible voters.

No doubt the real flip flopper will be Christy Clark now that she has a mandate to govern and anyone that is informed knows this. Money talks and an actor walks, while real principles takes a back seat.

IMHO

“we would get the ndp of the 1990’s”

I never believed in that. The NDP of the 90’s were far superior to the NDP of today!! They have a lot of mending to do.

Does the H stand for humble, honest, hilarious? ;-)

“The governing party of this province for the next four years attracted just 21.8 per cent of all eligible votes. I repeat, 21.8 per cent. That’s not a mandate. It’s a palace coup.”
Peter McMartin

Instead of moving to reverse the twin risks of low interest rates and rising debt, Canadian policy makers seem intent on keeping the game going for as long as possible

Terence Corcoran: Canada’s policy makers fixed on doing nothing

http://opinion.financialpost.com/2013/05/15/canada-interest-rates-debt-cd-howe/

It looks to me the bell signalling the high point in the Canadian housing market has been rung:

http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCABRE94F11F20130516

It’s nice to know we will continue to have economic stability for the next 4 yrs which is good news for my industry I am so happy the liberals stayed in power.

What in the world are you talking about Eacleone…You are counting those who didn’t bother to cast a vote as voting against the parties?

We live in a democracy not a dictatorship, thus casting a vote is your right as a citizen and if you chose not to do so – so be it, it is a FREE country. You want BC voting to be mandatory? A guy with a gun sitting on your doorstep waiting for your ballot? Pull yourself together man.

By looking at the vote, even if everyone voted most ridings would not even have a MLA according to your criteria as there are 4 parties which allow for less than 50% of the vote to go to any given candidate, you could have majority vote with 26%.

Liberals garnered 44.4% of the votes cast, 48% of eligible voters didn’t exercise their right, but it is their right to do so if they so wish in a democracy.

If Adrian Dix manages to hang around here is some advice to help with his next election. He should get some little blue Pfizer election helper pills.

They will ensure that Dix has a successful long hard election campaign. One added benefit is that good election will mean a satisfied smile on Rene and you know…happy wife, happy life.

One word of caution, if the election is not over by 8pm he should call a doctor;)

The election was a mossad operation, right eagle? you need serious help.

What we need is a ‘None of the above’ option on the ballot form. I think we’d see some really interesting results then.

As for mandatory voting laws….Australia has had them for a while and I think they’re a pretty decent democracy…..

What exactly does a senator have to do to get the RCMP investigate their criminal activity.

Mike Duffy has falsely claimed $90k in housing allowance and has kept the money as Harper’s chief of staff repaid the government.

Further digging has found that he has been double dipping on expense claims, getting paid by the CPC for campaign appearances while still submitting per diem claims to the senate. He also put in claims while on vacation in Florida(he would look like a big pink manatee that got beached).

As he did not cooperate with the auditors, it is time for the RCMP to get involved and do a full forensic audit and charges filed if fraud is found. Stepping aside to sit as an independent is a ******* joke.

Pamela Walden you’re next and from what I have seen could be even worse….hundreds of thousands in bad travel claims alone.

The Harper Upper Chamber Scandal is growing with every new public exposure. These people seem to think of themselves as Untouchables. Let’s get real! All the government has to do is determine by how much these double-dippers have screwed the taxpayers and deduct the amount from their next fat and bloated paycheques! The story about some friend stepping in and doing a bailout is totally unbelievable. The man doesn’t have the money to repay the amount of the falsely claimed benefits? He is too poor? Give us a break!

“There’s going to be a new code on Parliament Hill. Bend the rules, you will be punished; break the law, you will be charged; abuse the public trust, you will go to prison.” – Stephen Harper 2006 after bringing in the Accountability Act.

I wonder how how much public trust has to be broken before Stephen Harper thinks something wrong has been going on in the Senate?

Here is an interesting story making news in Ontario:

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/05/16/toronto_mayor_rob_ford_in_crack_cocaine_video_scandal.html

I always know when it’s Friday because “poulet petit” Charles is warning again about the financial end of the world. I think from now on I will post about a pending massive asteroid strike against Earth because you know I am bound to be right eventually.

I figure the only person who would worry so much about the cost of other people’s homes, or their debt situation, is somebody who is either jealous that they themselves are not a homeowner…or who has far too precarious a personal debt situation and is hoping that millions of others are in the same boat. Like somehow a worldwide collapse of the free market economy will “reset” things, wipe out their debt and put them on equal footing again with people who were smart enough or worked hard enough to become wealthy.

Pipe dream much, Charles?

Gus all of the above :)

Harper looks at Mike Duffy and see’s a panda bear.

Slinky, you do not understand how a transferable ballot works. The party with the least amount of votes has their second choice on the ballot counted and so on and so fourth until one candidate has a clear majority. No winning elections with partisanship as one might need to count on the second choice of other candidates. Consensus independents stand a good chance of being the second choice of the partisans….

WAC Bennett was first elected in a surprise election here in BC using the transferable ballot. The liberals and conservatives of the time changed the voting ballot to keep the socialists from power… the socreds were not even a party yet. The idea was each would make the other their second choice and thereby deny the socialists power… the reality was with a choice people chose WAC Bennett and his socreds as their second choice for both parties and WAC rode that to the premiers office as the consensus majority party.

Australia uses the transferable ballot for their senate and it works great there. They adopted it after the WAC Bennett example. We did it before in BC without a referendum and we could do it again. It would be good for politics. A vote would really count and people would chose to mark their preference without laws forcing them to vote.

Lonesome and Dow really have no class as shown above. Talking blue pills is simply nonsense… the two of you really need to get some help.

I for one agreed with what Charles posts. In due time we are sure to find out for sure. Really ExPat you could afford to pay 8% interest on the average home price these days? Prices will have to come down when interest rates go back to normal. Places like Vancouver will be devastated… and the liberals will be in power for that now.

Australias government is actually an abject failure. One of the things Gillard did before election is say no carbon tax then imposed one and the economy is suffering for it.

About twenty minutes ago I thought there was some heavy equipment working outside my house here in Ottawa. Nope, I was feeling the 5.1 magnitude earthquake that just hit. It felt and sounded like the subwoofers in my home theatre when they are pumping out low bass except MUCH stronger. It seemed to last for 10-20 seconds or so, but that’s just going from memory.

Or Mike Duffy running for the elevator to get away from a reporter.

Eagleone,.

Why do I get the feeling that if the NDP were elected we wouldn’t be seeing your rants?

Mayor Ford is in the spot light again. This time its about someone got Ford on video doing crack. What the heck is happening with all the politicians in Canada? They all gone mad?

This just in :

The BC government has just leased the BC Hydro corp. to Puget Sound Power for 999 years.

(If you haven’t heard a good rumour by 8:00 am…..)

What do the NDP and the Leafs have in common? They both can’t hang on to a @#$!% lead.

It was great to see Christy Clark evlove into a leader in the last month.Or her confidence level rise to where it needs to be.

The news media bringing the information to us, was so biased towards the NDP, it was sickening, even when they knew the NDP were not going to win they still voiced them selves to the NDP. “Global BC”

Where is Matty?

Christy will do just fine, the real issue here is the people of B.C. Just dont want the ndp in, The NDP is a socialist party, They
didnt have a platform, no experience in businesse. Union backing. Answers for everything. More services and less taxes.
They pretty much hit the dirt. Clearly not
good enough for the job. Congrats to the Librals.

The STV system would be no improvement whatsoever over what we currently have. Countries that have this system, or the other choice for changing from the FPP system we have, Mixed Member Proportional, (like New Zealand uses), are no better governed in regards to what their citizens really want than we are.

“None of the Above” at the bottom of every ballot would be a great improvement, since it would force those who say they are running to ‘represent’ you to actually find out what most of us really want from ‘our’ government.

Which, if anyone ever took the time to think about it, is really a standard of living that always increases faster than our cost of living does. Something that ALL of the current Parties seeking our votes in this last election, or any recent election, consistently avoid mentioning. And so we are treated once again to the exact reverse of that, since we unwittingly voted for it in a process that only gives us a highly predictable outcome overall, no matter who we select to impose it on us.

Tin Foil Hats for sale! Order early and get your free economy crash kit, includes a calculator with no addition or multiplacation keys so you will always get the answer you want. New models of hat arriving daily including the new “bushman” model which is hidden inside of a camoflage coloured John Deere ballcap! First one hundred callers can decide if they want thier foil shiny side in or shiny side out. Be the envy of your neighborhood. Call Tinfoil Joy today because “sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you dont”

Half-baked? Hokum? Hazy? Hyperbolical? Horrid? but definitely not Hebrew:P

Those who don’t like what goes on in the Senate with Duffy and others, and want to blame Harper for all of it, might remember that it was Harper and the Conservatives who’ve long sought a “Triple-E” Senate. Dating back to the Reform Party days. But the NDP and the Liberals and the Bloc would have none of it.

“Stephen Harper 2006 after bringing in the Accountability Act.”

Otherwise known as the *Cone of Silence, or else!*

It`s amazing how this country motors on bravely in spite of most of the present day dysfunctional politicians!

In regards to the low voter turnout, if you as a citizen don’t care enough to get the facts and participate in the selection of your government, I don’t want you to vote. If you can’t be bothered because of cynisism or lack of faith in the party or politicians, I don’t want you to vote. The important fact is that you have the right to or not to vote.

The majority of the people who looked at the information, watched debates, read blogs and columns etc. voted for the coalition of free enterprisers and their collective ideas of how to run the province.

The special interest run NDP screwed up the second they let their choice of leader open his mouth and try to change voters by coming across as a nice guy in order to woo the disenfranchised masses who don’t like politicians in general. The problem is that they may like you better than the other person but it’s not enough to pull your ass off the couch and into a voting booth.

There is one good thing about the election. The next time they call, you can tell them what ever you want. In fact remind them of how wrong they got this election. Rub it into their faces.

A lot of people that works in the sawmills and pulpmills voted Liberals, why, because they want to work. The NDP screwed up the forestry industry for a long time because of their policy, and people don’t forget that.

A lot of young people voted Liberals as well, because they want to work. The ones who are not sitting in classrooms in UNBC or CNC voted Liberals, they just want a economy that will grow and keep them employed.

Seniors voted likely more Liberals, because they lived thru the 90’s, and saw how the NDP managed to make BC an Have not province.

Mirror mirror on the wall, what should we do with our party called NDP…. there going to have to do some deep soul searchign.

HEY, get out there and take down the roadside litter–i.e. political signs!
Yes, this is my pet peeve. You’re in a hurry to put them up, and 2 years later they are still up! Not nice.

I hope the NDP does not dissolve into oblivian. There idealism is perfect.

Perfect for the people of BC, to keep voting against them.

Interest rates are unlikely to go back to ‘normal’ anytime soon, Eagle. The problem is one of ‘profitability’ ~ most businesses simply don’t generate enough profit (as a percentage of their sales) to maintain their existing credit with the banks. Raise the interest rate, and this accentuates the problem.

Those few that do are investing in more technology that will further displace ‘labor’, and the incomes paid as wages and salaries, which in turn reduces overall ‘spending’ from incomes in general.

So the overall costs incurred in achieving greater efficiency have to be recovered from overall incomes which are declining in ratio to those costs.

We pin our hopes on capturing export markets. They’ll likely turn out to be false hopes. The prospective buyers of LNG in Asia will do what they’ve done with every other commodity they were supposed to provide limitless outlets for.

They’ll convince every supplier to invest in ramping up production, everywhere in the world, and then, when they’ve got all those places, including us, in debt for it, shrink their market. We’ll be giving our stuff away, again, just to have ‘jobs’. Even if they won’t scarcely pay the interest on those debts at current ‘sub-normal’ levels.

Now that the Liberals have been re-elected, maybe they can bring the HST back at 10%?

What? Too soon?

did anyone notice the libs hid their constitution leading up to the election.
there is a version buried in bcliberals.com but no link to it that i can find.
why would they do that?
why would anyone vote for a party that would do that?

Changing the topic… what was going on at Super Store last night what with all the cops there??

Beg to differ.. but Target is not much different from other stores.. did a bit of browsing and prices seem similar. Even their grocery department had higher prices on a lot of items that was cheaper at WalMart. And Target trying to keep same hours as WalMart??? Maybe Mall will stay open late too, like all those stores surrounding WalMart presently do..

“why would they do that?”
Probably because they know that .0001% of the population would actually go and read their constitution and change thier vote because of it?

so in answer to your question “did anybody notice” I would say the answer is “no” ;)

or maybe their constitution is unconstitutional :)
i found the a version from 2007, give it a read :)

Will answer your question with a question.

Why would you vote for a party when the best they can come up with as leader are the likes of Bob Skelly(remember him?), Carol James and Adrian Dix?

Socredible, Harper (when still Reform) touted the urgent necessity of a Triple E senate. As soon as he became head honcho he went on an all out spree to APPOINT as many Conservative senators as he possibly could!

He ignored the Triple E and did the opposite of what he had preached…so I would blame him for continuing the old boys (and girls) club practice.

Facts, Sir!

Mixed Member Proportional, (like New Zealand uses), are no better governed in regards to what their citizens really want than we are.
=============================================
socredible .. Is this statement your opinion (in which case, enough said) or do you have facts to back this statement up?

From my personal experience of living in New Zealand, it was the consensus of my colleagues that they felt their wishes and opinions were better represented in their government processes .. that may not be perfect but it is sure a lot engaging than the BC process

It is really doesn’t matter how they managed to get in the senate if they act like Duffy et al when they get there.

Now there are allegations that Duffy tried to influence the CRTC hearing where Sun news(Faux News North) is trying to get mandatory carriage from the cable companies in order to stay afloat.

Dear Rednecks,
Your Dodge Cummins diesel pickup is NOT a race car. It will not become a race car no matter how noisy you make it or how much black isht you can get to come out of it. And granny in a Camry is NOT challenging you to a drag race at every intersection.

kthx

I would like to see the Hart Highway get some sidewalks or at the very least, bike lanes put in so that people who want to walk/run/bike down and up the Hart Highway do not have to put their lives in jeopardy to do so.

I would love to ride my bike with my son to his school but I am wary of doing so because we would have to ride down the merge lane towards the Cameron Street Bridge. That route is the least dangerous and that would have us riding against traffic.

Eagleone, while your posts have been intelligent this morning, they do come across as a bit sour. Lonesome, in that delightfully funny post about blue pills, was just being funny.

I see the BCTF is going back to the bargaining table next week after expecting to deal with an NDP government. I bet Susan Lambert is just a ball of sunshine this week.

red2B: “Where is Matty?”

He and criminalthoughts likely imploded as a result of the Liberals win. It’s unlikely we’ll ever see them again.

JohnnyBelt, no, it is not too soon to bring back the HST and make it 10%. :)

bornandbred:

Perhaps he does not see the humor because he is afflicted with the condition and even the little blue pills do not help anymore. All that bouncing up and down behind the wheel of a truck has done irreparable damage to the circulation in that area.

I think he has a pet iguana that is not feeling too well as his wife keeps talking about a reptile dysfunction….but I could have misheard:0

badda-boom…

anotherside, if the standard of living in New Zealand is increasing faster than the cost of living there, I’m certainly not aware of it.

None of the numerous Kiwi friends I have, and communicate regularly with on line and through the mail seem to be aware of it either.

One of them thinks somewhat like Eagleone, (in regards to the STV, that is, not the Zionist conspiracy of banksters out to enslave all the peoples of the world to rule by the ‘Chosen’ ones), and told me that STV would’ve been a better system, and even FPP was better than what they’ve got now. His opinion, of course. Others may see it differently.

I personally can’t see either of those systems being an improvement over what we have here. Simply because we’re still being asked to choose from a list of choices that have been carefully prepared for us to choose from. It’s akin to asking someone to name five great things about Canada, and giving them a choice of five things they can choose from only, and nothing else. Put “none of the above” on the bottom of the ballot, and you then get a far better indication of just how relevant those five things are to many of us.

Prince George, every time Stephen Harper has sought co-operation with the other Parties on making meaningful reforms to the Senate, the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc wanted none of it.

They clearly do not want an “elected, effective and equal” Senate, based on representation of the various political regions of the country.

So what would you have Harper do?

Not appoint anyone to the Senate? Hope that attrition will clean it out before he’s defeated by one of the other Parties, and they’ll carry on like he has, and refuse to appoint anyone to it too?

History indicates that’s highly unlikely with the Liberals ~ they’d pack the place with their cronies the minute they got the chance.

And if the NDP was government and moved to abolish it, what check do we then have on the more populous Provinces completely imposing their will on the less populous ones?

See that the traditional Victoria Day gas gouging has begun. Several gas stations at $142.9, 13cents/litre over last weekend. Enjoy your trips people, big oil wants to make sure that they enjoy them as well

“We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and and take away their right to strike.”

Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

yes the liberals won the election, the union leaders are now going to prison. Have you heard about the great deals on tinfoil hats?

@ interceptor

Jim Iker was elected to replace Susan Lambert as the President of the BCTF at the end of this school year… just saying is all.

interesting – the CBC story today calls her the president but I do remember that, my mistake with the excuse that I was mislead by the media lol

“We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and and take away their right to strike.”

Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

Dang it, I came home all excited to read mattyc’s views on the world and guess what, he is missing in action.

Is he in a padded room or on suicide watch?

People#1, I take it you didn’t like the election results. I am pretty sure the above quote won’t happen. Time to stop worrying so much and live.

People#1, are you aware that Hitler got his first audience and first support from the NSDAP, the National Socialist German Workers Party?

“Prince George, every time Stephen Harper has sought co-operation with the other Parties on making meaningful reforms to the Senate, the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc wanted none of it.”

He chickened out because it was politically more astute to load up the senate with his friends, imho. He did whatever he wanted even to the point of prorogation of parliament. Shouldn’t have promoted and promised something that he KNEW all along would be politically unwise for him.

bornandbred; No, I don’t mind the election results, occasionally I just like to provide a left of centre view for balance. But I think we can agree that some of the above quote is happening.

“We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike.” The Harper Conservatives have introduced back to work legislation proactively before a strike could even be called… any reasonable person would define that as “taking away their right to strike.”

The massive exploitation and misuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, has the core purpose of reducing workers salaries.

HD Mining, operating in Tumbler Ridge, is a Chinese owned Coal Mining Company, that hires cheap chinese foreign workers, to extract canadian coal for export to China. Is there something wrong with this picture in a 1930’s Germany kind of way?

There should a rule, no using Nazi propaganda to describe the BC Government, it is disrespectful for those who fought and died.

@ PrinceGeorge

You are aware that Hitler got his audience and support from the Catholic Church as well… where are you going with this?

“Posted by: Albus Antiquus Vir on May 17 2013 7:16 AM Eagleone,. Why do I get the feeling that if the NDP were elected we wouldn’t be seeing your rants?”

Exactly. Why get involved in donkey voting, voting at random and votes for sale? So Eagleone and PeopleFirst can have a better shot at getting the NDP in?

The SVT failed the referendum but you want the transferable vote now because it is believed the Green vote would have transfered to the NDP

@ a_britishcolumbian if the NDP would have been voted in with even LESS than 21.8% (which is wrong BTW) of all eligible votes (or 44.4% of actual votes) they would have taken that as a mandate to follow their election policies would they not?

(52/100)*(44.4)=23.088

So Porter maybe we should just burn all history books if too many feelings are being hurt?

A Fress Press article that one reason the NDP did not get in is that it is beholding to unions, isn’t the Lib & Con beholding to big companies? Why is one considered worse? I would like a party beholding to the general taxpayers.

You know a discussion is going nowhere when someone brings up Hitler or Nazi Germany.

NDP have never been there for the union membership, only the heads of unions. They put me on strike leading me to believe they have never been there for the working guy.

JonnyBelt, the irony of commenting on a discussion thread, stating it is going nowhere, yet propagating the subject through your own comment, which in turn has lead to this, my own response, which further propagates the subject… and you said this discussion was going no where:)

@ hammy, totally agree! If there were more of us in a 1930’s Germany, would world war II have happened? Ironic that Porter would want to take away our freedom of speech, suggesting that we not be allowed to talk about certain subjects. Just turn his suggestion into law, and we will be taking another step towards goose stepping right wing fascism.

I nay not agree with everyone’s opinions, but I will lay down my life, like the men and women before me, for them to have the right to freely express their opinions!

People#1 wrote: “I nay not agree with everyone’s opinions, but I will lay down my life, like the men and women before me, for them to have the right to freely express their opinions!’

I would too …. well, let me take that back. I am just thinking about some of the things written in blogs such as this, on twitter, on other blogs …..

Nah, it’s not worth mine or anyone elses’ life for much of that …. :-(

The three big enemies of the average citizen.Big Government, Big Business, and Big Unions. They all live off the avails of those who work.

A business cannot run without workers, so its time for people to realize this fact,. Without workers there is no business. Get it??

Without a Union business would run rough shod over the average Joe/Jane. So we need Unions.

Big Government is a bane on society. Government and Government workers suck the life blood out of a Country.

When you have the Government and the Government workers union negotiating a contract, the loser is always the taxpayer.

Small Government, Small efficient unions, and smaller business (rather than global conglomerates) would go a long way to making this a better planet.

In the last election Big Government and Big business won the day. Had the Liberals lost, then the big Unions would have won. Either way the average citizen of BC lost.

There is no point in waxing philosophically about the affairs of other Countries, and the world, when we cannot solve the local problems in Prince George.

There was no discussion in the last election about gas prices. Hospital emergency line-up. Income loss for the average citizen, Government waste, etc; etc; etc;

All we got was a never ending diatribe of BS, and Walla, we ran out and voted in the very people that have been screwing us for the past four years.

Absolutely unbelievable. If the rest of the Country and World were interested in BC or Prince George (which they are not), we would be the laughing stock of the Country,for being so stupid.

Have a nice day.

Prince George:-“He chickened out because it was politically more astute to load up the senate with his friends, imho.”
——————————————-
How better to move the case for reform of the Senate forward when none of the other Parties even wanted to consider it? The public in Ontario and Quebec and the Maritimes have never had much incentive to call for reform of the Senate, because the way it was set up it continually gives them an advantage in the number of seats they hold.

So it is not effective in protection of western Canadian or British Columbia provincial sovereignty in those areas assigned the Provinces under the Constitution because we are not equal. Trudeau’s ill fated National Energy Program was proof of that.

All Harper did was play by the rules as they exist, ones no one in the east wanted to change. But now there’s some problems with the way that set-up works, people back there begin to take notice of the flaws, and have more interest in Harper’s Conservatives original ideas to change to a “triple- E” Senate. It’s either that or perpetuate the current system, where any PM can appoint whoever he wants to the Senate, and we’re stuck with them.

“I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my NDP friends… that if they will stop telling lies about the Liberals, we will stop telling the truth about them.”

“I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my NDP friends… that if they will stop telling lies about the Liberals, we will stop telling the truth about them.”

He spoke: I know a lot of seniors who voted NDP.

I’m surprised 250 news haven’t deleted my two earlier posts (as of yet).

Socredible:”Harper’s Conservatives original ideas to change to a “triple- E” Senate.”

The idea wasn’t Harper’s although he heartily endorsed it (to get votes?). He expressed his support for it on many occasions. It was a Reform Party idea or should I say ideal. People should have supported the Reform Party if they wanted a reformed senate instead of the same old patronage club! Canadians still have zero input into who should be there and who should not.

You keep saying that he couldn’t do anything because the other parties wouldn’t let him. How come he did a whole lot of other things which the other parties were against and got away with it until the contempt of parliament issue?

The goings on about the sale of Pine Valley Golf Course lands, the upgrade and renovation of the PG Golf and Curling/Tennis Club, the sale of the Playhouse Theatre, and the building of a new Performing Arts Center, gives on food for thought. What the hell is going on?? Why can we never get the truth from the City until it is to late, to take any action?

Donald Rumsfeld’s quote basically sums it up.

**There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.**

Its the unknown unknowns that bothers me.

People#1: “@ PrinceGeorge – You are aware that Hitler got his audience and support from the Catholic Church as well… where are you going with this?”

I am wondering why you inject Hitler into the conversation. My advice is not to get sucked in by any dogma or doctrine including the political variety! This one who got his foot in the door with the support of (largely jobless) workers later turns on them! Beware of wolves in sheep closing and don’t revive memories of them by quoting them and their evil deeds lest you give them the attention they don’t deserve.

sheep clothing, of course! Baaaah…..

ha ha ha

Come on NDP next time you’ll make it and then what the poor get richer that’s what

Speaking of performing arts centres…. on the news today, Vancouver has sold its big beautiful performing arts theatre to a Evangelical church. There must be a lesson to learn here.

Ahh, enough of politics! Here’s hoping for all of you an enjoyable, happy and safe weekend!

Thanks for the info middle finger. I understand that the Performing Arts Center in Nanaimo costs the City over $400,000.00 per year to operate.

This is just what we need another building, under utilized, and costing us huge dollars to run.

So the question is. Are we nuts???

All the new tax dollars from developing the Pine Valley property would eventually go to offset the operating costs of a PAC. Not exactly a smart move, when you consider that with a small increase in usage at Pine Valley and putting in a driving range would generate revenue for the City

We really need to think hard on whats taking place here.

I know the mayor of Kamloops is pushing hard to get a performing arts theatre built there. I don’t imagine Kamloops has to spend $5 million a year on snow removal or other “northern” issues.

Socred the transferable ballot is like a ‘none of the above’ option.

If one selects their first choice as conservatives, knowing that they won’t win, so the second choice is the one that eventually counts and goes to the liberals… then in effect the party that gets your vote only got it on a second choice on the ballot and therefore this is reflected in official results. It can be interpreted to read as tepid support for the eventual winner, with stronger support for an issue candidate first and a governing candidate second. A reprimand of sorts with some political direction to it. It can only help the political process in allowing recognition of a voters true intent… valuable information in a democracy and a strong motivator to get out and vote.

Once elected politicians are politicians and its still a Westminster style legislature. Corruption and accountability will always be an issue.

As for Australia their Prime Minister comes from the House of Representatives and they are not elected with the Single Transferable Ballot. Only the Senate is elected in that fashion. The Australian Senate is much like the American Senate in power and regional representation, other than the Single Transferable Ballot they use to elect their members.

PAC = CN Center. We get artist there all the time. We don’t need another one.

Palopu: “All we got was a never ending diatribe of BS, and Walla, we ran out and voted in the very people that have been screwing us for the past four years.

Absolutely unbelievable. If the rest of the Country and World were interested in BC or Prince George (which they are not), we would be the laughing stock of the Country,for being so stupid.”

Aww… Would you like some cheese with your whine? If I could post a picture, I would post a picture of a two year old crying kid.

All you NDP supporters can look at the bright side. In a while after everything has settled down, you can go back to dominating the comments section of this and other websites.

My closing thought of the day is in regards to the Wood Innovation and Design Center… it will do a lot to change the look of George Street.

We have City Hall book ending one end of the street, and the Court House book ending the other end. Ramada and the WIDC will be on the block between 4th and 5th… but what about the eye sore of a Barkerville like block between 3rd and 4th avenues?

My suggestion in keeping with the wood innovation theme… how about a building designed like a giant spruce tree that straddles both sides of George between 3rd and 4th with George Street running through the center of the building tree trunk. It would be iconic for a city like PG.

Or at minimum using the same kinds of trees planted at city hall go with a tree lined road tunnel theme?

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/05/15/the-ten-most-beautiful-tunnels-in-the-world-and-where-you-can-find-them/

Johnny are you saying that your work here is done? And why do always assume if someone doesn’t support the liberals that they must support the ndp? Is your world that black and white? Is it possible for some one to not support either party because they hold principle over partisanship?

middlo finger and Palopu, speaking of the Performing Arts Centre and our ability or inability to pay for it, I must say that I am quite shocked by our new downtown Police Station. I haven’t been downtown in a long time. This week I was downtown and happened to drive by this “palace”. OMG! Pretty fancy building if I do say so! A police station? What the heck is this place costing us and how on earth did we allow such an expensive and fancy building be approved for a freaking Police Station??

I can already hear the rumblings at City Hall. I’m sure that the powers that be are saying to one another…”We can’t let a Police Station be the fanciest building downtown. We MUST build a new City Hall, one that makes the Police Station look stark in comparison. The cost? To heck with the cost! We’ll just raise taxes!

Un-freaking-believable!