I think the NDP would if elected would like more of my taxes than anything else. It would help their social engineering dreams. (Like 10% of the population on welfare again for a start)

The NDP does what it believes an opposition is supposed to do: Oppose anything and everything that has the name Liberal or Gordon Campbell attached to it.

Debates and question period in the Legislature clearly show that the NDP doesn't sign on to anything that wasn't thought of or introduced by the NDP.

That is the reason why they don't *jump on board.*

Perhaps a Green Party would be more willing to actively support green environment friendly legislation?

The NDP they way it presents itself in B.C. is a one pony circus, in my opinion, Mr. Plett!

Better get used to it.

Any political party thinks the other ones are terrible ideas and votes against them.

What we need to do is get rid of political parties. The system just doesn't work. All they do is blame the previous party for all the bad things at present. Power seems to corrupt all, as well. Every political party has had their turn at ripping off the people of Canada and they all have done it.

Why should the flag on parliament hill only be lowered when an MP dies, versus a solder, versus other notable people ? An MP is just someone elected to represent the people from their riding, till the party whip tells them how to vote !

Exactly lunarbase!
Well said.
A vote for the MAN makes more sense to me, and would likely give us more responsible government.
Right now,if you wanted to vote Liberal,you don't even get a say who the party leader is.
Ultimate power for the government and Premier in power, resulting in BAD government and untouchable politicians!
An that's just what we have now...a Premier and a government that are for the most part,untouchable.
In many ways,thats a very dangerous form of politics.

You need gov. to be accountable and a majority one is not. we have seen what happens with a majority at a federal level before our last election, lots of corruption and stealing. I am not a Carol James fan at or NDP. But we need to vote strategicly to have a minority, which is more accountable to the people. Mr.Campbell does not need permission from anyone for anything.

Have a nice saturday everyone

welcome to gord's world - the forest companies thru bill 30 will have control of large tracts of land, if you want to use the government paid roads by stumpage credits ,you will need to pay a permit to the poor forest company and post a $170,000 bond, yes they will have their own police force to enforce their feifdom which cannot be disputed in any court, sounds like adolf is back. so shell out people to use your own roads to access public lands.no gordy this is as bad as when a previous government was going to let the guide outfitters control the territory they were in, i think that time it failed on constitutional grounds, i hope this is just another of your devious smoke screens like to cover the 2010 winter games debt?

To James Plett. What Mr. Campbell is doing is putting the cart before the horse. Which means right now it is just a tax grab

The following letter to the Times Colonist (Victoria) explains the NDP position.

"Not all biofuels are equal

Friday, April 25, 2008

Re: "NDP biofuel stance looks like paralysis," April 22.
The New Democratic Party supports the use of biofuels that are sustainable, but not all biofuels are the same. As Les Leyne notes, I have been a strong advocate for biodiesel and use it in my car. There is a difference, however, between biodiesel made from waste products and ethanol made from food products. The government doesn't take that difference into account.
That is why I introduced an amendment in the legislature to make the B.C. Liberals' biofuels strategy sustainable. Unfortunately, the B.C. Liberals voted it down."
Maurine Karagianis, MLA
Esquimalt-Metchosin

http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/38th4th/H80414p.htm

The url above is to the BC Hansard page which has a debate about some of this so called green legislation, the Cap and Trade bill. The central objection of the NDP is that everything is done throuhg administrative regulation and the Legislature has no say in anything that happens.

In other words, Cabinet can tailor the Cap and Trade regulations to favour their industrial friends rather than tailor them to reduce emissions.

Now, we all of us know that the present Liberal government in BC has no interest whatsoever in assisting large international Corporate Conglomerates, and would never, ever, under any circumstances set any provision based on what is in their interest. Campbellites always put the best interests of BC citizens first, as Alcan and Hydro costs absolutely prove, isn't that the case? Come on boys, lets trust them!

Yeah, right.

The Legislature should set the regulations, the penalties and everything else. It should not depend on the personal whim of a politician whose party gets regular financial backing from an industry they are regulating.

The NDP want everything laid out in black and white on paper. They are not going to condone carte blanche to anyone who can use that authority to help their friends.

Andyfreeze: "An that's just what we have now...a Premier and a government that are for the most part,untouchable.
In many ways,thats a very dangerous form of politics."

This is not an entirely new phenomenon!

We had that for a decade under the NDP as well! They flopped around, mismanaged and changed premiers 4 times! But they were untouchable and not one NDP MLA dared to step out of line publicly and do some constructive criticism!

Ammonra: "In other words, Cabinet can tailor the Cap and Trade regulations to favour their industrial friends rather than tailor them to reduce emissions."

And to whose demands did the NDP tailor its decisions?

"What we need to do is get rid of political parties."

O.k. explain how you are going to do that!

Our whole so-called democracy is based on the right of the citizenry to found, promote and support political parties.

If prices for everything DON'T go up.
How will the governments of the world pay for War and winter olympics?

lostfaith, great observation! The Winter Olympics are a drop of water in a bucket compared to the expense of global warmongering!

Let's hope that wars will become so expensive that even the wealthiest nations in the world, including our southern neighbour, simply can't afford to wage them anymore!

That would be as good a reason as any to have peace prevail instead of war!

So far all appeals to ethics, morals, compassion, justice, law, and conscience have failed miserably, that is plain to see.

I'm sorry Diplomat I do not understand the relevance of referring back about the NDP ten years or more ago in relation to something that is being discussed in the Legislature right now.

Regardless of what you contend, in your usual completely neutral and unbiased way, happened then the item was actually about the NDP's attitude towards Liberal legislation right now. I merely pointed out what that attitude is and why it is reasonable. Obviously you don't like it. After all it is the NDP catching the Liberals with their pants down.

By the way, since you refer back to supposed stuff from before the Liberals were in power, does that mean I can refer to everything the Liberals have done since then. You got irate when I referred to Campbell's drunkenness on a previous occasion. Is it alright for me to do the same as you now, and dredge that up, or is there a double standard?

"Regardless of what you contend happened then, in your usual completely neutral and unbiased way, the item was actually about the NDP's attitude towards Liberal legislation right now."

I rewrote the badly structured first sentence in the second paragraph. It might be more readable now. Sorry.

Ammonra, this is the place where people can express their opinion and they don't have to ask any other poster whether it is o.k. to do so or not.

Let her rip, anything you wish to say about anybody, any politician, it doesn't hurt my feelings!

The BCNDP doesn't want anything mentioned in Victoria about their dismal decade, so all the NDP MLAs have been instructed to ridicule those who remind them about by saying that it doesn't make any sense to go back to the *previous century.*

I am no special friend of the Liberals or Gordon Campbell. I don't like the social engineering shenanigans of the NDP. I have no love or hatred for any of them.

You are not going to prevent me from bringing up facts from the past just because you don't like it and I might add that you don't show any bias or partisanship in your opinions either.

I don't think the fathers that created our parliamentary system did so with the intention that no matter who we elect,one is supposed to make our laws better, the other (opposition) opposes everything.

They're so busy opposing that they don't even debate much less support any initiative that is tabled.

They were elected to represent their constituents no matter who sits on the elected side.

As is stands with the present system, if you don't have MLA's or MP's that are in the governing party, you get nothing accomplished in your riding.

That's not right. It's become too adversarial.

The party in opposition has a free ride. All they have to do is oppose everything that the sitting government tables.

Sadly they do If you don't have sitting Liberals in your riding, the NDP won't do a thing for you except oppose.

They don't have to think, research or examine any proposal, they automatically oppose. In other words, if you're in a riding with an NDP member representing you, you may as well have a ghost. And don't forget, their pensions are gold plated.

One more comment we all have to remember:

"Governments don't have money, people have money".

I didn't intend to stop you from bringing up the past, Diplomat, I was merely drawing attention to your hypocritical double standard when you rant at me for mentioning Campbell's drunkenness in Hawaii, but take every opportunity to attack the NDP under the guise of free speech for yourself.

I agree with free speech, so I expect you will not criticise me again should I talk about Campbell's deplorable behavior.

As for your claim about instructions given to NDP MLAs, do you have any evidence for that or is it just another unsupported assumption and accusation from an anti-NDP pro-Liberal.

To Faithfulreader, your statements are commonly believed but actually not true. The stuff you see in the Legislature is only a small part of an MLA's duties. They do a lot more than argue in the house.

MLAs of all parties work as advocates for their constituents as a regular part of their duties. In many cases this work is non-partisan and members from both parties cooperate to get things done. Sometimes it takes a lot of lobbying but it does work.

The purpose in opposing government legislation is to expose its weaknesses, not to stop it being passed. You should look at the Hansard debates in the Committee of the Whole if you want to see another side of the Legislature than presented during Question Period. It is completely different.

Dig up the past.
Vander zam
Mulroney
Chretian
Martin
I also remeber Campbell critizing everything the NDP did when he was trying to get in

Paying for 'war' and the Winter Olympics are two of the things that cause prices TO GO UP!

Both distribute money incomes in the present which will have to be recovered in the future through taxes.

That's bad enough in itself, but that money distributed becomes effective demand against CONSUMER goods in the present. And since the upper limit of Price is governed by the quantity of money available, and more money has just become available, the prices of existing CONSUMER goods and services rise.

We then get to pay for the 'war' and the Winter Olympics twice. Once through the rise in prices of all that we need to live, and once again through the taxes that will be levied against future incomes. (And probably at least once more, through interest on the debt having a 'war' or a Winter Olympics has engendered.)

Gordon Campbell is making the same mistake that's ended many other governments, and more than a few Empires and entire civilizations. He doesn't know the difference between 'inflation' and 'prosperity'.

And what he's wrought on this Province in his misguided efforts to make us (so-called) "Number One" again is pure 'inflation'. And nothing more.

The NDP demonstrated a continuing, though albeit possibly a lessening, ineptitude during their entire term of office. But that's somewhat understandable. They were not, for the most part, a Party composed of people experienced in business.

But what about Gordo's Liberals? To exhibit an even greater ineptness coming from a group who have many business people within their caucus, and a Premier who has a MBA degree, is a sure sign that they are either all stupid, or corrupt to the point of criminality in attempting personal gain at public expense.

NDP ? Who is that ?

Ammonra: "I agree with free speech, so I expect you will not criticise me again should I talk about Campbell's deplorable behavior."

How can you be for *free speech* and at the same time suggest restricting me from voicing criticism when I have an opinion different from yours?

I said it before: People should not drink and drive, including Mr. Campbell. He did, he paid a fine. He rightfully suffered the shame and embarrassment for his deplorable behavior. That is how it happened. Keep bringing it up, it is your choice. Those who care, care. Those who don't, don't. I fail to see how it has anything to do with the economical and political past, present or future of B.C.

The above *Submitted Letter to the Editor* invited a contribution of opinions. I submitted mine.

"We had that for a decade under the NDP as well! They flopped around, mismanaged and changed premiers 4 times! But they were untouchable and not one NDP MLA dared to step out of line publicly and do some constructive criticism!"

The Liberals are *untouchable* (according to another contributor's opinion) and I chose to express MY own opinion in response!

You don't like it? Freedom of speech.

Cheers!

diplomat:

"We had that for a decade under the NDP as well! They flopped around, mismanaged and changed premiers 4 times!"

I kinda think that Stats Can's article, regarding BC, entitled "The 1990's - A Lost Decade" just about sums it up!

http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/11-010-XIB/00506/feature.htm

enviro:

That's a great website! Thanks! Our recovery since the dismal decade has been steady and the impacts of Sars, the pine beetle, Okanagan forest fires and so forth have been dealt with in a pretty good fashion.

NDP - RIP