There's nothing wishy-washy, or fence sitting in these words ... that's because we believe British Columbian's deserve nothing less!

We've certainly had no end of swerving from side to side, by the BC Liberals and NDP, when it comes to job creation in resource development, and other major development projects.

 

So where do the BC Conservatives stand on things.  Unlike Christy Clark and Adrian Dix, BC Conservative party leader John Cummins has been crystal clear;

Can anyone explain what NEW jobs, and
the development needed for them to occur,
the BC Liberals actually do support?

 

The BC Liberals say that they want to encourage investment and job creation, but do they, really? When a controversial project is proposed, does Christy Clark show leadership? Or does she sit on the fence, waiting to see which way the wind blows? 

Does anybody think this will change under an NDP government led by Adrian Dix? They seem to believe it’s okay to reject every new proposal of capital investment that comes along. The NDP of course, are not opposed to new jobs … they just believe that all new jobs should be created in the public sector ... government jobs in other words.

 

 The BC Conservatives are not afraid to take tough positions … and we are not afraid of straight talk either.  We believe that policies to encourage new investment must be a top priority for BC's next government.  And, we know and have stated that a major component of new investment must be the creation of high-paying jobs. 

 

That led a friend of mine from social media to ask;

Al, what are some examples? I am not meaning to be a smart ass, but was curious which projects this would encompass.  Does this mean the BCCP is in favour of all of them? Some of them? This interests because much of my work relates to this sort of stuff and I wonder what the process would look like under the BC Conservatives.

Under both NDP & Liberal led governments,
wages and salaries for good well-paying
resource and industrial sector jobs (as a % of
GDP in BC), has shrunk by 5%.  Meantime
CEO's / management, in government ministries
and agencies, have been busy awarding themselves
a number of pay raises and bonuses.  This while
the number of front line workers, who actually
deliver services, has been reduced.

Well ... both NDP and BC Liberals talk out of both sides of their mouths when it comes to development --- BUT one thing you will NOT hear them say is that they are in favor of moving forward on resource development and large scale projects. 

That's because they fear what MIGHT be coming at them from environmental groups.

BC Conservatives on the other hand have said we WELCOME development -- and the well-paying union, and spin-off jobs (family supporting jobs) that will come from it.

When Mike Harcourt led the NDP to power in 1991, wages and salaries accounted for 56.6% of our provinces gross domestic product. Now, after two decades of NDP incompetence and BC Liberal mismanagement, that has dropped to 51.7% of GDP.

YES ... we will ensure tough environmental guidelines are in place, but OUR starting point is in having a renewed priority, and belief, in economic development – and especially on the creation of high-paying jobs.

This is how we differ from NDP and BC Liberals ... We believe in carrying out responsible, FACT-BASED stewardship of the environment. A BC Conservative government will base its decisions on the best available SCIENTIFIC data ... not emotional rhetoric.

Thanks to my friend Scott Anderson, a few additional words were added to the conversation as he stated:

... it seems to me we need a see a change in the way we do business here.  In other words, we should start looking at problems, including environmental problems, as issues to solve rather than as reasons to sit down and give up. 

As it stands now, we're emphasizing skills training rather than the jobs those skills apply to. As a result, we're training people here on the BC taxpayers' dime, to go to Alberta.  We need training AND high-pay, high skill jobs.

Where do those jobs come from?

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development recently pegged Canada among the world’s leading economic lights over the next 50 years - in large part because of our natural resources. That means we quite simply have to develop our resources. Industry and subsidiary development will follow...it always does. 

Equally important is ensuring that Canadian workers have first dibs on the jobs.   Importing Chinese workers at $10 per hour is quite simply outrageous.  

It also means we have to use stringent environmental guidelines; not as an afterthought, but as a guiding light.  

But that doesn't mean we have to be poll-driven in what and where we choose to undertake resource development. Right now the usual suspects - those groups who specialize in saying "no" to everything - are tossing out the usual alarmist rhetoric and posing false choices, like 'either the pipeline or the tourist industry'. It's a measure of the weakness of their case that they have to resort to this kind of thing, though. 

There's nothing wishy-washy, or fence sitting in these words.  BC Conservatives, unlike the NDP and BC Liberals, will let the people of BC know exactly where they stand on issues of importance. 

That's why BC Conservative candidates, led by leader John Cummins, are  putting a common sense focus and approach to the major issues facing us today ...  and into the future.

That's because we believe British Columbian's deserve nothing less!

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops ... with the words of one conservative.  The floors open to you now if you'd care to share your thoughts!