Anything to get a vote

He says he has signed permission validation forms for each one. That's plenty good enough.

Elections run on name dropping and hype rhetoric with no substance... negative blackmail this and blackmail that and hope the people don't ask about actual policy specifics....

Seems like a game plan of disingenuous politicians on all sides from what I've seen.

I guess it comes down to having proof.

Will the John Smith who endorsed the use of the name please stand up.

I am sure that Mr. Blake would be happy to show the signed endorsements to anyone who wishes to drop by the Bell/Bond campaign office.

If the people who are claimed to be supporters did not actually give their permission then their names should not be on the list. The obligation is on the candidates involved and their campaign team to absolutely ensure that names used publicly are valid. The onus is on them, not the people who did not know their names were going to be wrongly used.

The candidates should have done their homework.

In spite of all the precautions, this type of thing kind of makes you wonder about whether those who actually will be voting are really who they say they are.

There is the possibility that those who signed did not understand that they were giving permission to use their names publicly.

And, like Blake says, they may have changed their minds after signing and they should have called the campaign office BEFORE the ad was published and withdraw their permission.

And, it could be a case of intentional mischief which would be just another sign of the times.

"The candidates should have done their homework."

This is a statement that assumes that they did NOT, when in fact they may have followed all the rules meticulously.

But, since it involves the other party...may as well shoot first and ask questions later, perhaps.

Make a complaint with the police, obtain the original forms with signatures, (if the liberals will fork them over) have the complainants provide signatures and simply compare them to the forms through handwriting analysis. If the liberals are true to their word and above board then this shouldn't be a problem, right? If they start asking for search warrants etc..then I'm sure the implications will be voiced by public opinion. This is a valid fraud complaint.

Name dropping is nothing, look at all the pandering for votes from stadiums to bridges. Here Rafe Mair on why we must save our rivers from the liberals!

http://ashlu.info/video/bcrivers.html

Lets put some commonsense back in government - vote for STV. See why they chose it and why Christy Clark supports it!

http://www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/public

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhccpzI4lbQ

"I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts."
Mark Twain

Speculative excuse making aside, because we could all come up with numerous possibilities, but the person complaining said, “We were shocked when we saw our names listed. We did not give approval for this ad to include our names”. That statement is in perfectly good English, so I suspect the speaker would understand perfectly well what signing a permission slip would mean.

If he did not, then the person who got him to sign the permission slip was seriously deficient in ethics, is that not so?

Perhaps the campaign manager just gave a bunch of permission slips to people and told them to bring him some names, without bothering to check whether the signatures were from people who actually supported thoase candidates. That, of course, completely negates the point of supporter lists, because it casts doubt on every other name on the list. How many other people are named as supporters when they would prefer their names not to be listed.

"How many other people are named as supporters when they would prefer their names not to be listed."

Aside from that cluster of Indo-Canadian names it does not appear that anyone else has objected or is in shock.

Unless any others come forward now one has to assume - none.

Well, it could be a lot worse. You could be paying your union dues, and the dues collected is contributed to a party that you don't support.

Worse yet, they collect your dues, donate to a party that you don't support, and then they tell you how to vote.

True, it could be much worse. It could be that three lumber companies, who benefited from cutting BC trees for a song and making mega-profits, closed their mills and transferred their focus to another country. All the while, of course, donating to their favourite political party, then issuing press releases instructing their employees and other voters who they should vote for - the party that would benefit the companies and let more mega-profits be made, of course.

Now that would never happen, would it?

This is a response to an e-mail being sent out by the NDP

NDP Are Lying About BC Rivers

We have always known the NDP cannot be trusted but they have reached a new low with the disgusting, irresponsible email they are sending around about BC’s rivers. You deserve to know the truth, so read on!

The NDP and their lobbyist Rafe Mair are asking us to believe that the Government of British Columbia would actually sell our rivers to the United States. The only fantastic conspiracy they haven’t asked us to believe is that aliens have captured the Premier and forced him to sign a secret deal with President Obama.

The TRUE secret is that run of the river power projects were started by the NDP and 17 of the existing 32 projects in BC were approved by the hypocritical NDP.

Under the NDP, companies had water leases forever. It was the BC Liberal Government that changed the legislation to only 40 years maximum. THE NDP ARE LYING.

Four NDP candidates have now disavowed themselves from the NDP campaign position on IPP’s. The Smithers NDP candidate won’t even put up Carole James posters, he’s so embarrassed. All NDP candidates know run of the river electricity is green and safe.

The BC Liberals have committed to making BC electricity self-sufficient, to stop importing dirty electricity and to use green power to do it. The NDP used to be a party that believed in the environment. TODAY THE NDP ARE SELLING WHAT REMAINS OF THEIR PRINCIPLE FOR VOTES.

Here is what prominent environmentalists are saying about IPP’s…

“Properly regulated Run of the River projects can be some of the least environmentally obtrusive forms of electricity production. The public discourse has been hijacked through greenwashing by those opposed to the privatization of energy and the potential impact on union jobs.”
Andrew Weaver
Professor, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria
Lead author on the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Times Colonist, Apr 16/09

"Why would a conservation organization do that (establish a new fund to finance independent power projects)? Because we believe the need for renewables is very much among us, and very present. We believe that IPPs are worth doing."
Ian Gill, President
Ecotrust Canada
Vancouver Sun, Apr 8/09

“To say that all run-of-river projects destroy rivers and are not ‘green’ is absurd. I’ve been up to Toba/Montrose with the Klahoose. I’ve seen how Plutonic’s operations are reopening tributaries and cleaning up the mess of crushed culverts and downed bridges that logging left behind”.
Tzeporah Berman
http://www.zerocarboncanada.ca/backlash-against-the-green-economy-in-bc,
Mar 19/09

DON’T LET THE NDP RUIN OUR ECONOMY AGAIN!

There are 1,100 British Columbians earning their living from IPP’s. The incompetent NDP are threatening a moratorium. That’s their response to everything, put a moratorium on it! To hell with jobs and real people.

Every British Columbian deserves to see the desperation and cynicism of Carole James and her band of idiots. They insult us with their ridiculous claims. Remember when those scams from Nigeria first came out a few years back? This is the NDP with another Nigerian scam. Don’t be one of their victims!

Here are the facts:

Of the 290,000 rivers and streams in BC, Independent Power Projects (IPP’s) are proposed for only 0.03% of those rivers.
Of 35 approved Run of the River projects in BC today, 17 were approved by the hypocritical NDP in the 1990’s.
The NDP actively promoted this form of green power when in government.
The Crown owns all rivers and will own them forever.
The BC Liberal government changed legislation to reduce the length of water leases to 40 years. Under the NDP, these leases lasted forever.
When a water lease expires, there are no rights to transfer the permit – it reverts to the Crown.
The BC Liberal government passed legislation preventing the sale or privatization of BC Hydro. The NDP voted against it.
BC Hydro is investing $9 billion in expanding and creating new public power assets.
The NDP considered selling BC Hydro in the 1990’s. The BC Liberal government has never considered it.
Today BC buys dirty power from Alberta and the USA. The NDP supports that.
The BC Liberal government wants BC to be electricity self-sufficient and they want that power to come from green sources.
BC already has some of the lowest electricity prices in North America and that will not change.
The reckless and irresponsible NDP moratorium on green power projects will hurt working families and cost BC thousands of jobs.

Thank you, Free Enterprise! The next item I am posting is in direct response to the usual campaign post of ammonra:

(From the preamble of the BCNDP constitution which is downloadable on the internet as a PDF file):

"The principles of democratic socialism can be defined briefly as follows: a) the production and distribution of goods
and services shall be directed to meeting the social and individual needs of people and not for profit, b) the
modification and control of the operations of monopolistic productive and distributive organizations through economic
and social planning, towards these ends, and c) where necessary, the extension of the principle of social ownership."

Notice where it says "not for profit." It is like the communist workers' states of Eastern Europe used to be.

BTW, ammonra, did you see the news report of teachers in the lower mainland handing out sealed brown paper envelopes to students to give to their parents? Guess whose party agenda those letters were promoting.

Talk about a pot calling a kettle blackl!

How about the PG Firefighters endorsing candidates ?

Now even the firefighters are trying to influence the elections.

What happens if you are a firefighter and do not endorse their chosen candidate ?

Impropriety these days goes as deep as people can think of taking it.

Kash Heed is pictured in his police chief uniform, although he is no longer police chief. (no disrespect to his service intended, I just feel it is inappropriate use of the uniform)

I expect future elections to be held at gunpoint while a scrutineer makes sure you mark the ballot the way you were told to.

Looking for transparency ?

You'll find it under "T" in the dictionary.

Fire fighters, Ambulance, Teachers, Medical/Heathcard etc all rely on being funded by Tax dollars, which comes from profitable successful companies and there employees that only operate under a pro business government.

To the voting students out there. The same government that promises you lower tuition is the same government the eliminates jobs you so disparately need when you graduate. Does not matter how low your schooling costs are if you have nothing to pay it back with. Think longer term.

Click here http://tinyurl.com/dhgn62

Why dont the Liberals hold a big rally to-night at the Prince George Airport. They could use the New Runway Expansion that cost $33 Million. You culd have 50,000 people on the runway for the next 6 months and you would not have to worry about being hit by a Cargo Plane.

Or, maybe they could hold a big rally at the Charles Jago Sports Centre. Built for a cost of $25 Million, and seldom in use. They could offer a prize to the person who was able to spot an athelete training for the Olympics.

Or they could go on a tour of the Homeless Shelter that was built on 17th and Queensway against the wishes of the people living in the area. They could show all their supporters how to build a one bedroom unit for a cost of $234,000.00.

Free Enterprise's comments would appear more reasonable if he stopped tha ad hominem attacks. These are the name calling and insults, which are used to distract the reader from thinking about what has been written.

Perhaps an accurate statement about NDP policy regarding PPP run of river projects would help, but obviously that will never come from Free Enterprise.

In a nutshell it is that the Province, through BC Hydro, should develope run of river projects where thay are appropriate and always while preserving the environment. They should benefit the province, not private companies.

The so-called dirty power is presumably the thermal plants, which run whether BC buys the excess power or not since they take a long time to power down and power up. Note that the Liberal government buys this excess power as well, but that point is somehow overlooked. If not purchased by someone it goes to waste while the environmental effect remains the same.

In case anyone is not aware of it we have a secret ballot in Canada. Nobody knows how you voted unless you tell them. All the messages telling you how to vote can be ignored without any repercussions to anybody.

My point was not to slam the three companies, it was to respond to the anti-union rant by pointing out that both sides do it. I recall that in some previous elections some religions have told their members how to vote as well. In all cases such advice can be ignored if you choose.

Palopu, Wake up and smell the real world.
Saying the Charles Jago centre is never in use is just plain stupid. Its a fantastic facility and a incredible asset to the community. Maybe you could get out from under your rock and have a look. You might want to consider moving to Hixon, you won't have to deal with any projects like these there.

Palopu: "Why don't the Liberals hold a big rally to-night at the Prince George Airport. They could use the New Runway Expansion that cost $33 Million."

Sure, why not? Some people actually have some confidence in the future, meaning that they think that this recession (like all the recessions before) will be turned around by business and trade into much better times soon!

The runway extension will be a great asset then and in the meantime it provided a lot of workers with much needed jobs, paid for partly by the Federal government.

Diplomat. You know and I know that the recession is the EXCUSE that the Airport is using because they have no business for this runway.

Do you want me to beleive that they actually had airlines lined up to start landing and refueling in Prince George, but due to the recession, they changed thier minds??? Not bloody likely. They had nothing, and they have nothing. It is much to convenient to blame the recession for every failed project in Canada.

Dow7500. I said seldom in use. You can be gauranteed that it will have little use from now until November, and then a limited use from November to March.

I have been a member and have used this facility since it opened up. Which is more than can be said for most residents of Prince George. The facility gets little use in relation to its size, the various uses that are available.

1. A little soccer during the Winter

2. Some students and elderly using the walking facilities, and equipment upstairs. (Some WCB use)

3. Very little action in the Weight Rooms

4. Fairly good use of the Basketball Facilities

5. Very little action in the raquet ball courts.

This facility apparently brought in $600,000.00 in 2008, however the cost to run the facility was $1,200,000.00. Without the contributions of $300,000.00 from the City of Prince George, and UNBC the facility would have to shut down.

My point is that the facility is there. It is available for residents of the City to use at a reasonable price, however it is not happening, and as a result it is another drain on our tax dollars.

Another example of build it and they will come. Well its built, where are THEY.

I was writing a response for Polpdo but decided that you are far to set in your ways. I guess anything we build had better have a 400% return in the first year or its a waste of your tax dollars? Its a good thing the world wasnt built on the short-sightedness you display on here or we would still be wondering if the wheel is usefull or a drain on society...

Diplomat wrote:- "(From the preamble of the BCNDP constitution which is downloadable on the internet as a PDF file):

"The principles of democratic socialism can be defined briefly as follows: a) the production and distribution of goods
and services shall be directed to meeting the social and individual needs of people and not for profit, b) the
modification and control of the operations of monopolistic productive and distributive organizations through economic
and social planning, towards these ends, and c) where necessary, the extension of the principle of social ownership."

Notice where it says "not for profit." It is like the communist workers' states of Eastern Europe used to be."

------------------------------------------

Yes, that's definitely how it appears to me, too, Diplomat, the way it's presently worded. I wonder if Ammonra and other NDPers would be amenable to adding one word to article (a) above?

Suppose the word "primarily" were added between "shall be" and "directed". When that's done, then it appears more like they are recognizing that the proper 'primary' function of any economic system is the production and delivery of goods and services, first as needed, and then as desired, to all of us as consumers. Rather than just an attack on 'profit'.

I don't really see any problem with article (b). Monopolies should most certainly be regulated. Nor really with article (c), though "social ownership" is somewhat ambiguous.

palopu, the airport runway has just been completed, as has the sports center. My daughter is at the center 3 times a week and it seems to be buzzing when i'm there. UNBC is developing a strong basketball program and anybody that expected 747's and a industrial park the day the runway opened is a compulsive complainer. Bitching about these projets is just bizaar.

Would you guys like a private chat room ?

...and don't forget to vote for who your

firefighter, doctor, kids' teacher, pastor, police chief, garbage collector, special interest group, unknown blogger,

told you to vote for !

...and don't forget to vote for one so the other won't get in !

Dow7500. Go in behind Summit Lake (North) and you will find some old Railway ties in the bush.

These ties were the beginning of the Railway North to Alaska, through the Rocky Mountain Trench. This whole area was going to be opened up by the great finiancier Wenner Grenn, in the 1960's.

After the election the work stopped, never to be started again. The Railway ties were grown over, and the project lost in the memory of time.

Dont beleive every BS story that you hear from Politicians, because very few of them every come to fruition.

The Airport Authoritys year end report will be out to-day. Lets see if they have anything specific to say in regards to this project, or if they will continue to deal in generalities, using words like, maybe, could happen, its possible, were hoping for, within the realm of possibility, etc; etc; etc;