David Loukidelis described what he called “an unacceptable pattern of government-wide failure to respond to access requests in as timely a fashion as it should.”

Former Freedom of Information Commisioner David
Loukidelis resigns as BC governments Deputy Attorney General

The BC government today announced that Deputy Attorney General David Loukidelis will be leaving the government.  Loukidelis became the Deputy AG in January 2010 following a position as the Commissioner of the Freedom of Information Office.

A brief story in the Vancouver Sun this afternoon noted:
The announcement was made in an internal note sent Friday by John Dyble, deputy minister to Premier Christy Clark.

It’s in his role as the Freedom of Information Commissioner that David Loukidelis made news that many have likely forgotten.

For example someone made a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to the Royal B.C. Museum for a copy of the draft report, Loukidelis had to beg the government for more money to argue the case in court.

Writer Bill Tieleman, in a Strategic Thoughts piece from May 2004 asked:
What kind of independence does the Freedom of Information Commissioner have when he has to beg the Finance Committee for line item approval for specific investigations and legal opinions? The Campbell government has reduced an independent officer of the legislature to little more than a minor bureaucrat in one of many government ministries.

In another story, this one from Keith Reynolds in Policy Notes he said:

… the Commissioner’s Office faced funding cuts under both NDP and Liberal governments.  Under-staffing has meant getting decisions can take years. Bad interpretations of the legislation whittled away at clauses that should have guaranteed access to government information.  Liberal amendments increased timelines and the burden on applicants.  Whole new areas were declared out of bounds while BC Ferries was reorganized as a private organization and out of reach of FOI.

What is of more interest is the fact the governing BC Liberal Party remains mired at around 25% -- showing a huge lack of support amongst BC voters

The clock is ticking down to the next BC
General Election to be held May 14th, 2013

A Globe and Mail story yesterday was headlined, “B.C. Liberals would face thrashing if election held now, poll shows”

The story was based on a new Forum Research Poll that showed the NDP at 48% … the BC Liberals at 23% … and the BC Conservatives at 19%. 

Okay, so the party I support has dropped a couple of percentage points since their last poll, however that 19% figure is in keeping with other recent polls, by other companies.  Depending on who was polled, and where, it could also simply be ‘just a hick-up’ in the numbers.

Regardless, support for the BC Conservative Party is high, and continues to remain so.

What is of more interest, to me, is the fact the governing BC Liberal Party remains mired at around 25% -- showing a huge lack of support amongst BC voters.   

Oh, and by the way … I am still waiting for a reply from Kevin Krueger on this

Based in Victoria, Tom Fletcher is the legislative reporter, and columnist, for newspapers published across the province by Black Press.

Yesterday (May 2, 2012) he wrote a story, “BC Liberals try election gag law again”, which I posted on my Facebook page.  The story, which follows, was posted by me without comment as information for others:

Should donations to BC's political parties, from
unions and corporations, be banned?   YES!

The B.C. government is attempting to restore limits on third-party election spending that were struck down by a judge before the 2009 vote.

Attorney General Shirley Bond has introduced amendments that would put limits on spending by unions, business groups and other non-party advertisers in the 40 days before the official start of an election campaign. A previous 60-day limit was challenged by seven public sector unions, led by the B.C. Teachers' Federation, and rejected by a B.C. Supreme Court judge as an unjustified restriction on freedom of speech.

Premier Christy Clark said some spending limit on the pre-campaign period is justified, since the province went to scheduled elections in 2005. Current rules restrict party and non-party spending during a formal 28-day election campaign, but contain no limits on spending before that period.

The government intends to submit the proposed 40-day restriction to the B.C. Supreme Court before it takes effect. If a judge approves, the new restrictions would apply for the election set for May of 2013.

NDP justice critic Leonard Krog said the latest effort will likely be challenged again and rejected again. If the B.C. Liberals want to reform election spending, they should ban corporate and union donations to political parties as the NDP and B.C. Conservative parties have advocated, Krog said.

In 2008, the B.C. Liberal government passed amendments to the B.C. Elections Act limiting spending by non-party advocacy groups to no more than $150,000 in the 60 days before the official 28-day election campaign. Registered political parties were restricted to spending $2.2 million during that time.

Interestingly a comment was posted on my Facebook page, regarding this story, by the BC Liberal MLA for Kamloops South, Kevin Krueger; he said:

Do you think that the unions who own the NDP should be free to advertise as much as they'd like in elections, Al?

The BCTF, for example, which is the only union I know that deliberately frightens its members time and again, extracts over $42 million per year from them in union dues. I am told they have 60 full-time political organizers on staff.

You think they should have free rein, no matter what the teachers think?

Remember, the genius Vander Zalm pushed them into the clutches of this weird organization.

Now again remember I posted this story, without comment, just as an interest piece; however I thought, ‘What the heck, I’ll make a quick reply to him', and so I said:

If you decide to read on, make sure you have some Tylenol, and an antacid, handy

The other day I was talking with a media friend, and had mentioned I was thinking of taking a look at how BC's debt has climbed over the years.  Well I did indeed do that, and now I am sorry I did. If you decide to read on, make sure you have some Tylenol, and an antacid, handy.

NDP elected in 1991

Total provincial debt … $9.82 billion

NDP re-elected in 1996

Total provincial debt … $19.53 billion

During the 5 year period of 1991 to 1996, the provincial debt increased by $9.71 billion ($1.95 / year)

BC Liberals elected in 2001

Total provincial debt … $33.9 billion

BC Liberals re-elected in 2005

Total provincial debt … $35.9 billion

BC Liberals re-elected in 2009

Total provincial debt … $37.5 billion

BC Liberal Budget for 2011 … provincial debt of $45,154 Billion

And from the official Budget and Fiscal Plan of February 21^st, 2012 … for the years 2012 / 2013 to 2014 / 2015 comes the following figures:

What they believe, and stand for, are the things that will guide them in government

If you go to the BC Liberal Party you’ll find a section entitled “What We Believe” … the BC Conservative Party website also has a page that gives an overview on what the party stands for, it is entitled “What We Stand For”.

Some in the media and public believe that the BC Conservative Party has viewpoints that would be opposed by the majority of British Columbians, and has no clearly defined plans and ideas.  Given that, I thought that I would do a side by side comparison.

This was an interesting exercise to do, given talk that the BC Liberal Party is willing to take a look at a name change.  That possible name change however would still be over a party that has the same guiding principles and beliefs.

Granted these are not the ‘policies’ of the party; however what they believe and stand for, are the things that will guide them in government.

BC Conservatives:

A belief in the rights and responsibilities of all British Columbians and that Governments at all levels are responsible to serve and respect all individuals and their families, including freedom from unnecessary laws and regulations and excessive government

BC Liberals … not covered

BC Conservatives:

A belief that Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) are primarily responsible to represent the interests of their Constituents

BC Liberals … not covered

BC Conservatives:

Protection of the rights and freedoms of individual British Columbians

BC Liberals … not covered

BC Conservatives:

A belief in smaller government resulting in more liberty and personal property rights, the encouragement of new enterprise and individual achievement striving towards excellence and prosperity

BC Liberals … not covered

BC Conservatives:

A belief in the principle of equality of opportunity for all British Columbians, with special privileges for none. This principle includes the protection of private property, the freedom of the individual, and freedom of speech, worship and lawful assembly

BC Liberals … not covered

In essence they were saying my democratic right, to choose the party I support, is irrelevant

A comment was made on social media yesterday (April 24) that because I and thousands of others like me, do not support the BC Christy Clark Party, then somehow we do not care about BC.  They went on to say that if did support her, then BC and the people would come first not the party (meaning our support for the BC Conservatives)

In essence, they were saying that MY democratic right to choose the party I support, and that best fits with my beliefs, is irrelevant.

This is the same talk as we hear from the BC Christy Clark Party. It is arrogance to the extreme and just one more example of why I personally cannot vote Liberal. I would spoil my ballot first, to show my disgust at the options presented, if I did not have a BC Conservative option.

That kind of arrogance doesn’t just come from supporters of the BC Liberals however … it that comes from the top down.  Here are the words of Christy Clark herself

"I am the leader of the free-enterprise coalition in this province and I'm going to lead us into the next election."

Chilliwack Liberal MLA John Les … lashed out at the Conservatives calling them spoilers.  “All parties on the centre right have to carefully consider the greater provincial good ahead of the specific good of any individual or party.”

Sorry John … but this is not a dictatorship, and in a democracy we have a right to choose the political party, and candidates, that best meet with our beliefs.

Meantime, in another interview, Christy Clark went on to say that she is not prepared to merge with the BC Conservatives. "I don't think British Columbians respond very well to back door deals.”

Well that’s an interesting comment to make, given calls that were made by BC Liberals right after the by-election, to some within the BC Conservative Party, as reported by the Victoria Times Colonist:

Nothing else can, or will, save them before defeat in 2013 … even with a Leadership change

Steve Forseth, former BC Liberal
Policy Chair / Riding Secretary
for the Cariboo - Chilcotin

My nephew Steve, has been a blogger for several years now, and has been active in support of the BC Liberal Party – it makes for some interesting discussion on politics for sure. 

The other day I asked if he would be interested in providing a Guest Opinion for the Conservative Thoughts blog, which after consideration, he agreed to do.  Here then, is that guest editorial.

Over the last year or so, much has been made about the so-called vote split for the ‘Conservative’ voter in BC. 

In times past, most conservative voters (small-c, ‘Blue’ and ‘Red’ Tories) provincially have aligned themselves behind the ‘BC Liberal’ brand,  Recently however, small-c conservatives have become rapidly disillusioned with the Christy Clark BC Liberals’, and a fair number of them have decided to back the John Cummins BC Conservatives’. 

It should be noted that the split of small ‘c’ conservatives in Alberta has led to the formation of two conservative political parties in Alberta consisting of the Wildrose Party and the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta

Political history in BC during the 1952, 1972, 1991, and 1996 BC General Elections shows that a split on the centre-right in BC generally elects a NDP government

Much has been made recently of the two by-elections in Port Moody and Chilliwack, including what would have occurred if the centre-right vote had been behind one party. 

Let’s be clear – one conservative party in the Port Moody – Coquitlam by-election would have made no difference, given the strength of the NDP candidate, former Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini ... but it could have prevented the election of an NDP MLA in Chilliwack – Hope.

So what does the future of conservatives in BC hold?