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| The year end with news we may now be paying HST, on our bills and purchases, for well into 2013 |
As we go into the last week of the year, we have one more opportunity
to review and look overt the stories that made the news this week. Next week, on Conservative Thoughts, I will
be taking a break so that’s it until 2012 … except for me to take this opportunity
to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas … and a safe and Happy New Year.
Now … here are the stories that made the news this week -- each
headline is linked to the full original story.
… politically embarrassing … the lack-lustre performance can't be
excused by noting that Campbell had nasty little (or maybe not so little)
recessions at the beginning and the end of his term, because so did all the
other provinces that B.C. is being compared to … further such embarrassment is
a key factor in why Clark decided not long after she took over from Campbell to
pull the plug on the board … it's not just one province's performance that is
being measured - it's all the others' as well …
Jordan Bateman, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation,
said du Toit's severance deal defies common sense. "This is another
ridiculous payout from government to senior staff. We've seen these over and over again this
year." … living allowance always
troubled the federation. "I mean,
it's not like she was a pauper in the first place. She was pulling down significant amounts of
money in salary." …
"We're not in this to come second," Cummins said. "We
are in this to win. I think this is a small 'c' conservative neck of the woods,
and I think that given that we really are the only small 'c' conservative party
in British Columbia, our platform will certainly resonate with the folks
here."
… Liberals’ pledge to cancel the HST by March 2013 is at risk of being
delayed, which means the tax could be an election issue in the next provincial
vote, scheduled for May of that year … province announced in August that it
would reinstate the combined 12-per-cent PST and GST tax system following the
referendum decision to extinguish the HST … Falcon said it would take a minimum
of 18 months to make the change, with a goal of cancelling the HST by March
2013 … last month said the transition has been more difficult than he expected
…
… appointed a new bureaucrat responsible for getting the government’s
message out. Athana Mentzelopoulos has
switched jobs with Neil Sweeney … director of communications for the premier’s
office, said Monday that the change did not represent a lack of confidence in
Sweeney’s abilities … said Sweeney’s skills include seeing the “big picture,”
which makes him better suited for corporate priorities.
Hmmmm … just wondering, does that mean the “big picture”, that Christy Clark wants to get out, has not been believed. Perhaps that’s because we have decided we will no longer blindly accept the pabulum we are being fed!
… we don’t want people in politics who we don’t believe and can’t
trust. But politics seems to attract just that kind of person. Why? One of the reasons “good” people (for the
sake of argument, let’s say we mean by this people who try to be truthful and
treat others with respect) don’t want to go into politics is that they have to
pretend to be something that they are not ...
… says the BC Conservative candidate in the by-election can win without
touching the BC Liberals' voter base by drawing support from the 48 percent in
the riding who didn't vote in the last provincial election
… sometimes he says, 'I learned my lesson in the 1990s and I'm different
now.' Sometimes he says, 'It really wasn't that bad.' And sometimes he says,
'It was all good and nothing bad happened at all. He has three different messages and they
can't all be true. People can tell when you're not being genuine ... but I think Glen Clark's surprise appearance on the convention stage
signals something else: Dix will aggressively defend his record from the 1990s,
not try to hide from it …
… required by law to tell their customers the purpose for collecting
personal information … what legal authority they have to do so and to provide
contact information for a BC Hydro employee who can answer any questions that
arise regarding collection … Hydro not currently meeting this requirement …
… if it has to renege on this commitment, it will be the third time in
recent years that the Liberal government has had to undo balanced-budget laws
in order to build up more debt. And build it up it does. Consider this: when the Liberals came into
power in 2001, the provincial debt stood at $33.8-billion. In 2011, it was
estimated to be $45.2-billion. And we know it is only going to keep growing
between now and at least 2013, if not longer…
… report from the Conference Board of Canada says the gaps in
transportation infrastructure in Canada's North need to be addressed. The paper
suggests roads, rails and ports are important for creating community links,
enhancing commercial prospects, and facilitating economic growth …
HERE’S MY THOUGHT … WAC Bennett
realized and understood this. It's a
shame those who have followed have forgotten this. "Carefully plan" and
build the infrastructure, and the jobs will follow…
job-disapproval rating has climbed above 50 per cent for the first time
since the B.C. Liberal leader became premier nine months ago, a new poll has
found … Angus Reid Public Opinion also suggests Clark trails NDP leader Adrian
Dix for the first time in approval ratings … forty per cent of British
Columbians approve of Clark’s performance, 51 per cent disapprove, and nine per
cent are undecided …
… I was reminded of those moments in the B.C. Liberal leadership debate
when Christy Clark was proposing tying health care spending to nominal GDP … George
Abbott and Kevin Falcon both said it was unrealistic to tie it to an artificial
measure like that … saying if you have bad times, you’ll be forced to find
hundreds of millions of dollars in health care cuts … seem to have changed
their position …
… a majority of teachers, at least the ones I talk to, would prefer to
be left alone to get on with their jobs without being bombarded from all sides
with demands on the one hand to support the union’s position and on the other
hand to explain and defend to non-teachers the union’s bargaining proposals …
By Tuesday even Falcon had figured out that BC was being shafted … his
hardline response? He'll ask the federal
government to "adjust" the per capita formula … Falcon and BC Premier
Christy Clark have also thrown in the towel on getting repayment of the federal
Harmonized Sales Tax grant of $1.6 billion reduced to reflect the period of
time the HST will have been in effect …
… Falcon praised Flaherty's move to connect health care budgets to the
economy, to protect Canada's triple-A credit rating. Falcon said B.C. will
press Ottawa for two changes, a formula for population aging and incentive
payments for "provinces that are undertaking innovation and are doing
their bit to ensure that we will have a sustainable health care system."
… finds that Canada's anti-marijuana enforcement strategies are failing
to keep pot out of the hands of teens, who said it is relatively easy to locate
a supplier willing to sell them a bag of the increasingly potent grass ...
geared toward "debunking" the government's argument that current
anti-drug measures are working … the report assesses the effects of both U.S.
and Canadian anti-drug funding on marijuana supply, potency and use…
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