HERE’S THE QUESTION … “WHO, put our province where it is now"?

On the weekend, Chantal Hebert had an op / ed in the Toronto Star entitled, “PM could use premiers like Christy Clark”.  That lead me to question her ‘opinion’ and to share some of my own (what a surprise eh?).  Part of that led to an exchange of comments between me, and a recent Facebook friend, who is a member of the BC Liberal party. 

ME … as an easterner (Chantal Hebert) you make no sense -- given the beginnings and rise of the reform movement in western Canada, and why the reform movement led by Preston Manning came about. And it shows you still have not learned, that the west doesn’t appreciate, being lectured and dictated to by the east ...

FB Friend: Isn't Preston Manning supporting the BC Liberals?

ME … unfortunately it appears he too has forgotten what he once believed was MOST important --- and a steadily declining number of BC voters, at all levels of government, also attests to a lack of belief that anyone running for office has anything in mind other than themselves. BC Reform tried to make inroads in bottom up grassroots democracy in the mid-90's. It wasn't successful then, but my hope is that people are now ready for truth in politics

FB Friend … It certainly appears to me that all the BC Conservatives are is the BC Reform Party trying to raise its head with the same platforms and philosophies as they had in the 1990’s when they split the vote and allowed the NDP to continuously win and put our province in the position it was in. They didn’t learn then and they are going to do it again. You have to remember that you didn’t have Preston's support then either.

ME … No, BC Conservatives ARE NOT the Reform Party trying to raises its head again ... any more than the BC Liberals were Social Credit trying to raise its head. Reform was then ... BC Conservatives are now. And whether or not someone from the past (Preston Manning) supports the party now is not relevant --- it can however in some situations be disappointing, and questionable.  ME … I have appreciated our recent friendship ... however I do have to make comment on your reference … 'put our province where it is now’. 

Here is what I then went on to say:

My BC Reform Briefing Book (yes, I still have it) shows that in 1991, when the NDP came to power, the debt stood at $17 billion -- in 1996 taxpayer supported debt under the NDP had risen to $18.8 billion.  When the Liberals took over in 2001 it was $33.6 billion ... the debt under the Liberals had climbed to $35.6 billion by 2006 ... and in 2011 the debt has continued to rise to now be $47.3 billion.  By the governments own budget figures that debt will increase steadily to $60.3 billion in two more years.

Our province is NO BETTER off under 10 years of Liberal financial (mis-)management, than we were under 10 years of mismanagement the NDP!  

We have the NDP ... and we have NDP Light (the Liberals) ... and under the leadership of Christy Clark, she is busily taking one thing after the other from the NDP campaign book.

They are the coalition?  Of what, one would have to ask?  It certainly IS not a coalition of those looking for government to be fiscally responsible -- and to have a social conscience.

According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the provincial government spends $7 to $8 million EACH DAY just to pay the services costs (interest) on debt -- that is equal to $2.55 BILLION DOLLARS a year. 

To put that in context … children and family development gets $1.33 billion a year … the Environment Ministry gets $130 million a year (equal to about 5% of the annual cost of debt servicing) …  the cost of debt servicing costs is 2 and a ½ times what government devotes to the Attorney General, Public Safety, and the Solicitor General … and advanced education gets $1.9 billion a year (.65 Billion a year less than what is paid by government to pay the interest charges on the debt) … and Community, Sport,  and Cultural development gets one-tenth (10%) the budget government spends to service the debt.

By NOT being fiscally responsible, this government has allowed for less to be available for children and family development … for the protection of the environment … to be used to have better universities, colleges, and technical schools … for public libraries … parks … social services … for health care … and much more.

Sadly, it appears that BC Liberals have done about as good a job as the NDP ever did to … “put our province where it is now”.

Today, I wish to add these words to my comments of yesterday, as I conclude this piece:

The BC Conservatives, led by John Cummins, are not a rising from the dead of the BC Reform Party … Social Credit … or anything else.

BC Conservative are the new face of grassroots democracy … BC Conservatives are the new face of fiscal responsibility … and BC Conservatives are the new face of ideas and polices that reflect the common sense of British Columbians.

Those are just three of the reasons, for the continued growth of the BC Conservative Party, right across the entire province.

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