BC Politics This Week

The end of the week is approaching, and as I mentioned in an earlier post … I am back again after being lazy and taking the summer off (hey there has to be some time available so I can ride my motorcycle and have that family vacation time.

It has been an interesting week in BC politics as another high profile former Reform / Conservative MP has indicated he plans to seek a nomination for the BC Conservative Party … Christy Clark has finally indicated that she is not going to call an early election … there was news on the global warming front … and BC Ferries under the leadership of highly paid and highly pensioned David Hahn continue to bleed red ink.

Speaking of the highly paid executive at BC Hydro, you may wish to take a few minutes to look at the two following charts.  The first chart is from BC Stats and shows salaries for workers in BC across the main economic sectors … the second shows what is being earned by Public Sector CEO’s and top management people at BC Hydro, BC Ferries, ICBC, Powerex, etc).  Like me, I doubt if you will be pleased by what you see

Meantime … here are some of the stories that made political news in BC this week:

Premier campaigning too much, governing too little

… the halfway completion of a government project is rarely going to make headlines … still there was Premier Christy Clark on Saturday, surrounded by bridge builders and a politician or three, proclaiming herself "absolutely delighted" at the news that construction of "this magnificent structure" had passed the 50-per-cent mark.

An evening with Ezra Levant

The Nanaimo North Cowichan BC Conservatives have arranged for Ezra Levant to be a guest speaker at the Vancouver Island Convention Centre in Nanaimo on September 23rd, 2011. For more details click here

About Ezra Levant:

Ezra Levant is a TV anchor, newspaper columnist, and author. After graduating from law school, he went to Ottawa as a parliamentary assistant to Preston Manning. 

Levant joined the editorial board of The National Post newspaper, shortly after its founding. His beat included national politics, the Supreme Court and the Middle East.

In 2004, Levant became the founding publisher of the Western Standard magazine, the only Canadian media outlet to publish the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. That led to two charges of “hate speech” before the Alberta government’s human rights commission.

Levant wrote a book about the experience, called Shakedown, which exposed the illiberal nature of Canadian human rights commissions. His new book called, Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oilsands, was published in September 2010.

This Spring, Levant joined the new Sun TV all-news channel as the host of a daily talk show called The Source.

"2013 election no surprise to BC Conservatives"

CBC News (Sept 1, 2011): The leader of the BC Conservative Party says he's not surprised the premier has decided not to call a fall election.

After dodging questions on a possible fall election as recently as a week ago, Premier Christy Clark ruled out an early trip to the polls on Wednesday, saying there is too much economic instability in the world to call an election.

BC Conservatives Leader John Cummins says his party is picking up support from disillusioned Liberal voters.

"I think it's an upset with the way the Liberals have conducted themselves while in office," he said."It goes right back to BC Rail and the way they've mishandled that whole file. It has to do with the dishonesty surrounding the HST. This gas tax that they've proposed in the Lower Mainland to pay for the Evergreen Line, again, was a misstep by the government."

Read the full story... click HERE

Does anyone know the mind of Christy Clark --- even Christy herself??

Since the BC Liberals leadership campaign, right up to recent weeks, Christy Clark has appeared to second guess, or re-assess, almost every decision and statement she has made.

The biggest ongoing assessment and decision she had to make was whether or not to call an early Fall election despite legation she helped craft and pass on having a fixed election date in BC.  Well that speculation is now over, and so perhaps the BC Liberals can get on with the business of governing.

Meantime here are just a few snippets from an email Christy Clark sent to BC Liberal members and supporters yesterday:

·         Clark indicated that they needed to … “keep our eye on the ball with the provincial economy, especially in these globally uncertain times”

Government announces 10-lane Port Mann Bridge is now more than 50% complete --- SO WHAT!!

Earlier today on Facebook Kevin Falcon was proudly crowing that ... "The new 10-lane Port Mann Bridge is now more than 50% complete. This new bridge will cut commute times, reduce congestion and ease the move of goods across the province."

That post now seems to have been removed after I had proposed the following upcoming announcements the government might want to make:

It's been a great Summer --- but now it's time to get back to work!!

For starters, I'd like to pass along a news story of another very experienced MP who will be seeking the nomination to run in the next provincial election under the BC Conservative banner --- it's Paul Forseth from New Westminster.  He sat as an MP for the Reform Party, Canadian Alliance, and Conservative in Ottawa between 1993 and 2006.

He joins another former Reform MP, Jim Hart who has also declared that he plans to seek a BC Conservative nomination --- and of course our party leader John Cummins.  From municipal ranks, provincial ranks, and federal ranks, we are assembling a great team of people that will be running as candidates-- and who will help guide us in the next provincial election.