POINT / COUNTERPOINT: Elect an MLA who works for you

The following is an editorial piece I was invited to write for Kamloops This Week.  It was published in today's edition (May 29th).

BC’s next provincial election will focus on issues of big government, and its twin big spending … concerns about increasing fees and high taxes … trust … and accountability.   These have been issues which have drawn many to the BC Conservatives … and reinforced our commitment to present a clear and well-defined vision of how to deal with them.

                

Christy Clark BC Liberals proudly boast of being fiscally responsible, and yet they are well on their way to doubling our provincial debt.  By 2014 it will top $60 BILLION dollars!   Is it the hallmark of a fiscally conservative government, to make interest payments of over $6 million dollars a day, on this ever increasing debt?

 

That’s $6 MILLION dollars a day which is NOT available to:

… improve our deteriorating health care system

… go into classrooms and to build new schools

… provide better services for seniors

… provide programs to help our children get a good start in life

… better assist people in BC that face mental and physical challenges

… make making improvements to our highways and ferry system.

Our commitment, as BC Conservatives, is to provide government that lives within its means.

Here is something else you won’t hear from Christy Clark.  Last year more people left BC, for other parts of Canada, than moved here.  Our children, skilled trades’ people, and professionals are leaving because provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan are offering more jobs … and a lower cost of living.

I could list many things which have created concerns in recent years; but you already know what they are.  Each of those concerns has added to an ever increasing number, who have a growing distrust of those who seek elected office.

Other than not being the NDP, what vision, for a better future, have BC Liberals offered us?  What good governance have they provided, which would allow you to say, “This is a government that I can support; a party I can be encouraged to vote for.”

Instead, we hear fear-mongering about vote splitting.  Where is the plan that presents us with a vision for a better future?

Rather than backroom strategists, members of the BC Conservative Party, from all walks of life, are shaping the policies and platform we will take to voters next May.  We have a positive vision for our future.  One based on common sense wisdom, which recognizes that:

1. Government must provide the highest standards of integrity and transparency
2. Government is responsible to serve and respect all individuals, and their families
3. Government has a responsibility to manage the financial resources of our province in the most efficient and accountable manner possible

We will end the Carbon Tax that places an unfair financial burden on those who live outside the Greater Vancouver region … we will address our catch and release justice system … and we will get ‘big money’ out of BC politics -- political parties should be supported by people – not by special interest groups. 

We are also committed to providing responsible environmental and taxation policies, which will give certainty, to the economic drivers best able to help our province grow and prosper.

Finally, the next general election will provide you with the opportunity to elect a BC Conservative MLA who’s first obligation is to represent and be accountable to you … rather than a candidate whose duty and obligation is to the BC Liberal Party.

The BC Liberal Party has already begun a fight for your vote, with a campaign based on fear. 

If our vision of what government should be is resonating in you, join with us to help make it become reality.

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops ... with the thoughts of one conservative.