Its Friday November the 4th, and that means its time to take a look at some of
the stories of BC politics that made news this week.
This has been a week that had bad news for the BC Liberals with the release of
the latest Angus Reid Poll … smart meters and hidden debt at BC Hydro … differing
opinions on the value of trade missions … and more. Let’s start off news on the poll released yesterday
by Angus Reid …
… it obscures what’s really going on in BC politics ... numbers
reported by Angus Reid … show is that John Cummins and the Conservatives are
taking votes from both the Liberals and the NDP. For every two-and-a-half votes
the Conservatives get from the Liberals they get one from the NDP. Take the
Conservatives out of the equation, reassign those votes from whence they came
and you still get an NDP victory... the real question is why have the BC
Liberals lost a third of their voters since the last election ...
… post-Campbell Liberals are struggling … the Liberals trailing the
NDP, having dropped 12 points under new premier Christy Clark ... the lost
support isn’t going to the NDP, it’s going to the B.C. Conservative Party ...
NDP gained just two points, while the Conservatives rose by 13, to 18 per cent …
results suggest voters feel Clark is moving the Liberals too far to the left of
centre, and are abandoning it for the right-wing Tories ... bad news for the
Liberals, whether federal or provincial. They really need to do something if they
hope to survive, much less prosper....
John Cummins … “Everyone knows that no actual business is conducted on
these trips – just the pre-arranged announcements of existing deals. If Premier
Clark wants to bring business to BC she should skip the expensive photo-ops and
focus on economic fundamentals – lower taxes, reduce transportation costs and
scrap the HST in the next four months.”
… auditor general said Hydro was only able to report a profit in the
2009-2011 fiscal year by deferring $696 million in expenses, adding to a total
of $2.2 billion in deferred expenses in recent years … bookkeeping manoeuvre
enabled the Crown corporation to claim a profit of $447 million last year,
rather than a deficit of $249 million. Doyle called it "the appearance of
profitability where none exists," saying while the deferrals may be an
accepted accounting practice, they are creating a burden on ratepayers in the
future…
… BC. shed nearly 11,000 jobs in October, despite the fact that the
unemployment rate dropped to 6.6 per cent from 6.7 in September, according to
new data from Statistics Canada …
… the figures represent a 12-point
drop for Clark's Liberals, a two-point increase for Dix's NDP and a 13-percent
increase (to 18 per cent) for John Cummins' Conservatives when compared with a
similar Angus Reid poll in March. More
troubling for the Liberals, however, is proof that the party is bleeding
support to the Tories. Poll results show
that 21 per cent of Liberal voters in the 2009 election (one in five) now
intend on voting for Cummins …
“Premier Clark talks the talk on crime – but she isn’t fooling British
Columbians – she doesn’t walk the walk,” said John Cummins, Leader of BC’s
Conservatives. “… I have always been
consistent on my approach to criminal justice – but from the Premier we have
had two different positions in less than 24 hours.” …
… the legislature committee reviewing the province's child-protection
legislation heard Thursday from arguably the most important witness of all, Ted
Hughes … whose landmark recommendations back in 2006 led to the legislation,
the office of the representative for children and youth, and to the creation of
the committee itself. He began, as he usually does, by going right to the point
…
... independent investigative reporter Sean Holman is suspending
publication of the British Columbia politics website Public Eye ...
… Ms. Clark travelled to a small native village on B.C.’s north coast
to mark the grand reopening of the Kitwanga sawmill. It was celebrated as a
success story of her government’s efforts to market wood products in China. Three months later, the mill is shuttered
once more…
... government-imposed deadline, BC Hydro is already well into
what it is touting as the fastest smart meter installation program in the
world. … if there is a lesson in the backlash to the HST, British
Columbians don’t care to have change forced upon them … first were told the new meters were coming, but details wouldn’t follow until the
installation contract was signed … meantime, British Columbians have no choice in the matter, the meter program was exempt
from review by its regulator, the BC Utilities Commission …
… Liberal’s demise seems to stem
from the resurgence of John Cummins’ Conservatives, who pulled in their
highest-ever recorded level of support. Eighteen
per cent of respondents said they’d vote Conservative, up a whopping 13 points. “People have been telling us they’re looking
for an alternative (to the Liberals),” Cummins said … “People will recognize
we’re not a flash in the pan,” he said. “To have that reinforced by a respected
pollster, that’s what people want to hear.” …
… her trip may not mean much for the B.C. economy. An academic study on
whether trade missions increase trade … concluded that trade missions have
“small, negative and mainly insignificant effects.” Researchers … reviewed eight Team
Canada trade missions to 17 different countries … the missions, often led by
the prime minister, generated $33.2-billion in new business … several business
deals would have happened regardless of whether the politicians made the trips…
did not find any reliable evidence that the missions generated tens of billions
of dollars in new business deals.
... it's known as "take out the trash" time - Friday afternoon in
Victoria is the tradition time for bad news from the BC Liberal government -
hoping to reduce news coverage as the weekend starts and reporters disappear. Will Friday November 4 become "Take out
the Kash" time too? …
I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops … and I hope you have a great weekend.
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