Friday, January 27, 2012

THIS WEEK … BC political news


Cost savings measures for BC Ferries … a new political poll … unemployment … balancing the budget … John Martin nominated for the BC Conservatives … the garbage wars … Christy Clark trying to change political stripes … negotiations on the teachers’ contract. 

All this and more took center stage this week in BC political news.  Here’s a round-up of some of the stories in case you missed them …

... the remarkable thing about the steady decline of the BC Liberals is that the party remains stubbornly unable to distinguish a branding problem from a content problem ... the province's ruling party has been steadily hemorrhaging center-right votes ... to the long-dormant provincial Tories ... the response from Premier Christy Clark and her supporters has simply been to double-down on superficial right-wing marketing gimmicks while remaining blissfully oblivious to the idea that conservative voters might actually be motivated by anything more substantial ...

… we need yet another poll to state the obvious?  From the moment former premier Gordon Campbell signed his political death warrant by foisting the hated HST upon voters mere weeks after winning an election, the BC Liberals have been bound for the afterlife now inhabited by the Social Credit, Progressive Conservative and Progressive Democratic Alliance parties … does not appear anything will change the party’s fate in time to avoid an unpleasant reckoning when voters go to the polls  …

… it didn’t take long for John Martin to be assigned duties in the BC Conservative’s shadow cabinet …the party’s candidate in the upcoming Chilliwack-Hope by-election, was named justice critic … “This Liberal government has failed British Columbians on the justice file. They have starved the justice system and now thousands of criminal prosecutions could be thrown out.”


… economists say a flat labour market throughout much of 2011 and a mismatch of worker skills with available jobs are key factors behind British Columbia’s less-than-encouraging showing in a new job vacancy report by Statistics Canada …

... final “game-day” decision won’t be made until this year’s budget, which will be tabled Feb. 21, is locked down later this month. But Mr. Falcon said he is seeing enough positive economic news that he now believes he can wipe out the $700-million deficit that is currently pencilled in for the 2013 fiscal year.  This year’s budget is expected to be in the red but, by law, the B.C. Liberal government must balance the 2013 budget – which is due to be introduced just weeks before the next provincial election ...

The current teachers' dispute shows us one thing: Our public school system suffers from a serious lack of financial literacy … many BC students, though more financially savvy than the national average, leave high school with little knowledge of economic realities … our students learn from unionized teachers, many of whom also appear to suffer from an alarming degree of financial blindness

... the man who has singlehandedly changed the Liberal Party’s game plan quietly snickers when asked to discuss Ms. Clark’s efforts to reframe herself through a conservative lens. But as he speaks, former Conservative MP and now BC Conservative Party Leader John Cummins seems less amused by the degree to which the Premier – whose history with the federal Liberal Party runs deep – appears to be trying to change stripes ...

... every election cycle, in every campaign from school board to prime minister, two sets of vows are made: incumbent politicians promise to continue listening to the public, while their opponents promise to change government by throwing open its doors….

… BC Liberals in Port Moody-Coquitlam will choose their candidate next month to run in the upcoming provincial by-election …

"I am delighted to appoint John Martin as the BC Conservative Party's justice critic and Christine Clarke as our critic for municipal affairs and transit," said Cummins  …  John and Christine are excellent candidates and will be holding the Liberal government to account in their new roles."  Martin's justice critic role means he will shadow the ministries of the solicitor general and attorney general …

… coach in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is calling for an investigation into why  the Provincial Health Services Authority blew a chance to pocket a $3-million donation. The money—promised by Harley-Davidson Canada CEO Don James … was originally earmarked for B.C. Children’s Hospital’s ADHD program…

… users need to have a more realistic expectation for service, especially on under-utilized routes … in the end, it's most likely the government will have to boost its $125-million annual subsidy to the quasi-private corporation, though Macatee did not specify by how much.  A proposal by B.C. Ferries to cut service by four per cent, or roughly 400 sailings a year, is reasonable and could save $5.4 million …

Ontario and BC lose out because it’s much more expensive to operate in those provinces … Quebec and the Maritimes, where the cost of living is cheaper, reap disproportionate benefits … British Columbia has the highest expenditure need per capita and Quebec the lowest … cost matters as much or more than work load. Ontario and BC, typically regarded as ‘rich,’ are invariably the high-cost provinces. As a result, they are more often than not the most needy …

... could Vancouver's garbage wars decide the outcome of a crucial Fraser Valley byelection -- could the fight over the plan to burn garbage even decide the ultimate fate of the governing Liberal Party … questions being pondered by political insiders as byelection candidates get ready to rumble in Chilliwack … Conservative candidate John Martin has shrewdly seized on the garbage-incineration battle …

... in the face of stiff opposition from parents, the board reluctantly agreed to the proposal to deal with problems caused by the ongoing dispute between the BC government and teachers … move is expected to ease the strain on managers and other senior staff who have taken over the job of supervising playgrounds  when teachers began withholding duties in order to press their contract demands …

… Shirley Bond looks at sea trying to explain why access to justice is now so problematic, why so many accused crooks are getting off, and why the Liberals seem to be going soft on crime … People facing charges of drunk driving, attempted murder, cocaine trafficking and other serious counts have escaped justice … BC Conservative candidate in Chilliwack-Hope, John Martin, on Thursday unloaded on Bond for plea-bargaining policies that resulted in a Nanaimo child molester being given house arrest …

Take care and have a great weekend … I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops

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