Everyone has heard, see, read results of the latest political poll
in BC, and as previous polls during the past year and a half have shown, the BC
Liberals are in trouble.
There was more that took place this week however, so let's begin a wrap
up of things political in BC, that began on January 30, 2012.
… looks as if a legislated settlement is inevitable, with soft-spoken
Education Minister George Abbott showing increasing impatience … government,
however, is now so wounded in the opinion polls it may be unwilling to provoke
a political backlash by appearing too draconian … government needs to appoint
an independent "fact finder" to come up with common-sense suggestions
for resolving the current education crisis …
… obtained by The Vancouver Sun
after a 19-month battle under the Freedom of Information Act, draft copies of
the pamphlet contain a large image of the Olympic flame on the cover and bear
the title “Spirit of 2010: Building on BC’s Olympic Advantage.” … government never sent out the pamphlet,
shredding all copies not long after having spent $780,000 to have them designed
and printed …
… we are doing very well in the polls … two outstanding candidates
representing us in the upcoming by-elections … it’s been quite a while since we
have been in such a strong position … much of the credit for that progress, he
said, can be laid at the feet of the governing Liberals … We have momentum
right now … what has changed is the disgust level of the people with the BC
Liberals has risen …
… BC Conservatives don’t even have to prevail in Chilliwack-Hope to
claim success, but the Liberals need to land a huge victory. “Any growth on the
part of the Conservatives, even if they don’t win… could be strategically very
important for the BC Liberals” … incumbent governments typically lose by-elections
… however a BC Conservative win could be interpreted as an expression of “mood
for change” by voters …
… fewer British Columbians were on the job last month, according to new
employment numbers issued today by Statistics Canada … there were 2,200 fewer
jobs in B.C. in January
Langdon Comment: We
need full disclosure on who is getting what and why
… aren’t all these people already compensated? Don’t they have collective agreements that spell out compensation? Why the extra cash?
… aren’t all these people already compensated? Don’t they have collective agreements that spell out compensation? Why the extra cash?
… campaign slogans, like Clark's job plan promises for 2015 after the
next election, are easy to make. It is much more challenging to meet measurable
targets that can be considered before the election. Clark can't punt all of the
difficult issues beyond May 2013; she is required to make some decisions that
will have consequences before the vote ...
… Forseth (Paul) quickly dismisses the notion that the emergence of a
right-wing party in BC will split votes off from the BC Liberals, especially in
New West. "If someone is truly
honest, they know that the Liberal candidate in New Westminster does not have a
chance … they were quite far behind in previous elections … Christy Clark is
not going to get re-elected … if anyone is conservative-minded, they're not
going to vote Liberal this time...
… she knew her fresh-faced appeal had a best-before date. She knew the
BC Conservatives would begin to rise … may have suspected Dix would perform
better than her minions believed he would … she allowed herself to be talked
out of the snap election call she so desperately wanted. And now the Liberals
have lost whatever briefly held edge they had …
… BCPSEA crunched what numbers the union gave them in the new proposal
… first-year cost of nearly $500 million … BCTF, again to the media rather than
at the bargaining table, allowed that its total package would cost $565
million. Again, no calculations were produced … BCPSEA would cost an additional
$880 million over three years … and … $300 million a year to reduce class sizes
and increase special needs support staff …
… the money will go to payroll,
for the 17 (count ‘em!) paid staff who work there … pretty majestic facilities
for a bunch of birds that were abandoned by their owners and thrown onto parrot
pogey for whatever reason. Who cares about girls’ hockey or the many other charities
for people when the mistakes of thoughtless urban pet owners need a public
bailout …
... tale grew in the telling … as a further measure of how far the
Liberals had slipped the bonds of reality, take the pamphleteers' attempt to
rustle up support for the HST by riffing on the overreaching slogan that B.C.
was "the best place on Earth." … top 10 list saw the government
drafting team juggling both the wording and the ranking, an effort as feeble as
it was bizarre …
… first measurement looks at household income and found that BC is
second only to Alberta having the greatest inequality of any province … second
measurement, BC ranked dead last, having the biggest gap between the top and
bottom 20 per cent of income earners … the gap has increased since the early
1990s … other provinces have had more success redistributing income through
taxes and benefits …
… Norman Ruff, political
observer and professor emeritus at the University of Victoria, said shows Clark
and the Liberals are in deep trouble … Wednesday's poll is the third of its
kind showing strong support for the BC Conservative Party, proving the shift is
more than just a statistical anomaly … "We've got a trend from three polls
now, so the swing to the Conservatives is now confirmed. It gives confirmation
that there really is a very significant loss of support to the Conservatives" …
… BC government is relaxing the electricity self-sufficiency policy
that has driven expansion of independent power projects, and put the focus on
new electricity supply for a major expansion of liquefied natural gas exports …
That’s all for this week. I’m
Alan Forseth in Kamloops. Have a good,
and safe, weekend.
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