That will be the finish, and end, of this tired and worn out government

Today, in the Vancouver Sun, newspaper Vaughn Palmer had an opinion piece entitled, “Liberals unlikely to win seats in newly called by-elections”.  Here’s the Coles Notes from that piece:

… The two seats in the legislature had been vacant for weeks … candidates were already nominated and running.

… Clark had visited both ridings on multiple occasions, making announcements, reaping media cover-age

… all that remained was for her to call the by-elections and make it official.

Still she hesitated. Her answers to questions about timing went from "soon" to "very soon" to "every day we're closer."  … "because I haven't called them yet."

… as to the chances of either one of those seats being re-occupied by a B.C. Liberal, the premier's hesitation provides the strongest evidence of the government's reading of the public mood …

The story goes on to say that;

… in Chilliwack, the Liberals cast about for "name" candidates to replace the departed MLA Barry Penner, before finally settling on Laurie Throness, a long-time political aide with strong connections to one of the evangelical churches.

There, too, they were upstaged in the battle of the political names, when the B.C. Conservatives nominated John Martin, a newspaper columnist (Chilliwack Times, the Province) and outspoken criminologist who takes special delight in baiting his academic colleagues for what he regards as an overwhelmingly small-l "liberal" bias.

Some of you may not know much about John Martin, if you do not live in the Fraser Valley.  If that’s the case, I’d encourage you to drop by his website.  You’ll find a number of media releases regarding various policies and ideas from the BC Conservative Party … and along with his thoughts on policies and plans of the current BC Liberal government. 

By-Election Update

BC Liberal Premier Christy Clark has now officially called by-elections for April 19^th; so that voters in Port Moody-Coquitlam, and in Chilliwack-Hope, can have MLA’s to represent them in the legislature.

The BC Conservative candidate, in Chilliwack – Hope, is John Martin, who has been a criminology professor at the University of the Fraser Valley.   He will be running against Liberal Laurie Throness, and NDP candidate Gwen O’Mahony.

In Port Moody-Coquitlam, Christine Clarke is running for the BC Conservative Party.   Running against her, for the BC Liberals, will be Dennis Marsden, while the NDP candidate is Joe Trasolini.

And we’re off …

Christine Clarke, BC Conservative
candidate for Port Moody - Coquitlam

Since late yesterday, one media outlet after the other has been running stories that British Columbians in the riding's of Port Moody – Coquitlam … and Chilliwack Hope … will be going to the polls soon.  The date of the vote, according to the media, will be April 19^th.

Here’s one of the latest stories, this one from the Vancouver Sun this morning; “Christy Clark to call B.C. by-elections today”:

Premier Christy Clark will today call by-elections in B.C.'s two vacant riding's, meaning voters there will be going to the polls on April 19.

The by-elections will take place in Port Moody-Coquitlam and Chilliwack-Hope, which were made vacant after resignations by Liberal MLA's Iain Black and Barry Penner.

The call will spark a showdown between Liberal candidate Dennis Marsden, New Democratic Party candidate Joe Trasolini and B.C. Conservative Christine Clarke in Port Moody-Coquitlam

In Chilliwack-Hope, Liberal Laurie Throness will face off against NDP candidate Gwen O'Mahony and John Martin of the Conservatives.

Clark had until April 7 to legally call the by-election in Port Moody-Coquitlam, and until July 30 to make the call in Chilliwack-Hope.

Voters in these two riding's have been waiting for Christy Clark to call these by-elections, but understandably, with things not looking good for her government, she has long delayed. 

These are desperate days for the BC Liberals

BC Liberals about to be swept away?

Three interesting stories came out yesterday on politics in BC.  I don’t know if you have seen all three, but they were in the Huffington Post … the Now Newspaper … and the National Post.

All three contained very bad news for the governing BC Liberal Party.  While the NDP continued to maintain little more than there normal hold on their voter block, the three stories acknowledged why there has been a swing to the John Cummins led BC Conservative Party.

Here’s some of the details from the story found in the Huffington Post (Christy Clark: B.C. Premier Poised To Be Swept From Office By Adrian Dix's NDP, According To New Polls)

… Liberals did not have to worry about the Conservatives when voters last went to the polls in 2009 … Clark’s party is a coalition of British Columbia’s centre and right-wing, but its identity is becoming murkier. Clark herself comes from the federal Liberal camp, though she has been trying to prove her true-blue tendencies of late. Nevertheless, 20 per cent of B.C. Liberal voters think the party is closer to the federal Liberals, while 39 per cent think it is closer to Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, according to Forum.

Placing the B.C. Liberals on the political spectrum is in the eye of the beholder: more supporters of the B.C. Conservatives think the governing party is closer to the federal Liberals than the federal Tories, while a large majority of B.C. NDP voters identify the Christy Clark's party with the Harper Conservatives.

This is just further proof that no one, not on the right or the left, can really identify with what the BC Liberal Party is … and what it stands for.  Simply saying, 'we are not the NDP so vote for us' just does NOT cut it anymore.

When John spoke, it was with authority and as a leader ... he was not going to be intimidated!

John Cummins, BC Conservative Party leader

Yesterday evening (March 18^th) John Cummins, leader of the BC Conservative Party, was in Kamloops to speak to the Annual General Meeting of the Wild Sheep Society of BC.

At that meeting Mr. Cummins announced that a new BC Conservative government would create a dedicated anti-poaching squad of Conservation Officers. He said:

“Poachers and those who do not follow hunting rules threaten... our wildlife stocks and a BC Conservative government would give conservation officers the resources to go after poachers,” said Cummins.

“Just as the police have dedicated anti-gang task forces to deal with nothing but organized crime, this is a dedicated team that would do nothing but track and stop poachers. Poachers are organized, so the conservation service needs to be as well.

“The anti-poaching squad would be mobile and be able to travel around the province to hunt poachers of all types of wildlife, from bears, to eagles, to fish

As many of you know, I have been down at the coast the past 10 or 12 days so I was unable to be there, to see how things went, but there are few British Columbian's, especially those who are hunters, that can abide the unlawful, and often times wasteful, activities of poachers.

I was also delighted, this morning, to hear a report back on the “Meet and Greet” that was held with John earlier in the afternoon, yesterday in Kamloops.