BC Politics this Week (Feb 6th to 12th)

This week we had Liberal leadership teams that signed up cats – pretty much the entire Kamloops Blazers hockey team – and entire families – all without any of them knowing it.  I know this is NOT exclusive to the BC Liberal Party, but I am wondering how any of the leadership candidates can call this mischief or shenanigans.  Basically plain and simple this is fraud being perpetrated by the campaign teams to try and get more voters in their court.  Let me repeat that again – it’s FRAUD.

BUT … there was of course more to note this week in BC politics, so if you missed any of these stories, now’s your chance ... including the story about Pattullo Bridge which I had heard nothing about, the Carbon Tax story, as well as the environmental blow-back. 

Click the link in each of the headlines to get the full story.

BC Liberal Leadership Battle Coming Down To Who Has Mass Membership Sign-Ups
Political blogger Alex Tsakumis, who hates Clark for her alleged role in the BC Rail scandal and for employing tainted players from the scandal …

BC Liberals holding Extraordinary Convention this weekend

This Saturday, February 12, 2011, the BC Liberal Party will be holding an Extraordinary Convention at Canada Place in Vancouver. 

This is a one issue convention to determine whether each member of the BC Liberal Party will have a vote to elect their next leader – or if voting will be weighted with each constituency association having an equal number of points (100) no matter how many members.

Health Care, BC Hydro, Run of River Projects, Education, BC Rail, the Carbon Tax, HST and more

For those who drop by on any kind of regular basis, you will know that a couple weeks back I asked people to let me know the most important things that government needs to do.  I was looking for the things that impacted each of us personally, as well as family, friends, and neighbors.

Some that came in will likely strike a strong positive cord, some perhaps not so.  This list of ideas and thoughts however is presented for you to think about and consider in how if implemented they would change the way government operates, and provides services to us.

So that no one thinks I am ranking them, I have prepared this list in alphabetical order – simply grouping the ideas as best I could under headings.

Read on, and then if you care to, give some feedback on these ideas.  Do you agree?? – disagree?? --  and why.

BC’s “nautical” highway system – BC Ferries

By now everyone has heard the news we could be seeing possible increases of ten to fifty percent in rates for passengers and vehicles using the BC Ferry system.

Several years ago the government took steps to try and divorce themselves from direct hands-on control; however they now find themselves back in the thick of things courtesy of BC Ferries President and Chief Executive Officer, David Hahn.

In a story this week in the Victoria Times Colonist, columnist Les Layne stated:

After divorcing B.C. Ferries from government to avoid the horror of "political interference," Liberals must be a bit choked to find the interference is still going on.  Only now it's running in the opposite direction.

The strange hybrid "publicly owned private corporation" was set up in 2003 to keep politicians away from the ferry system. One of the reviews that led to the big makeover found B.C. Ferries "entangled in a web of formal and informal accountability to ministries and politicians."  "Political interference ... pervades every important decision," the report found.

Christy Clark weighs in on Prosperity Mine project

First things first --- I support the Prosperity Mine project, and thought it insane when it was reported the federal government was using the environment as the excuse for not approving the go-ahead of the mine.  

There was no issue with fish and fish habitat -- Fish Lake is a hole in the ground filled with water that supports fish.  The mine said they needed the current lake area for the mine, and would create a new lake.  I personally don’t see that as a big deal.  I believe however that the federal government took the cowards way out on an issue they knew was going to cause huge problems with some in the First Nations community. (Read the Summary of Panel's Conclusions HERE and then tell me why it didn't go ahead)

That said the decision was made several months ago, and now the folks at Taseko Mines are looking at new ways to try and make the Prosperity Mine a reality by coming up with changes to meet the environmental concerns that were raised. 

So with the initial decision in, why would anyone want to go stir up the pot and mess things up, while Taseko / Prosperity are working on new ways to get the mine approved?  Seems to me the logical thing would be to let that play out, and then if the answer is still “no”, then everyone will have a pretty clear indication why.

Liberal Leadership Debates, and soon the NDP

What if one of the provinces largest political parties held leadership debates and the majority of British Columbian's said, “Who Cares”? 

So far there have been three opportunities for Liberal leadership candidates to have a ‘real’ debate (Vancouver, Kamloops, Prince George), and to show us why they should replace Gordon Campbell as leader of the BC Liberal Party, and by extension premier of the province.  The result unfortunately has indeed been a chorus of “who cares”.  

With the top political job on the line, one would think British Columbian's would be far more interested in these debates; however they have become largely non-events.  Non-events because none of the candidates has presented any ideas to electrify us – it’s been one boring pillow fight actually. 

It’s not just the candidates who are to blame though as the Liberal party has ensured that any real discussion of ideas is stifled, so as to avoid controversy.  That leaves voters desperately looking for a leader that will step forward with ideas to show they are actually committed to representing us -- and being accountable to us.

Kash Heed -- BC's former "Top Cop"

The other day I said that a person just can't make up the kinds of stories coming from the BC Liberals – well turns up real-life drama IS better than fiction, at least when it comes to former solicitor general Kash Heed.  Now remember, Kash Head was elected as a Liberal MLA in the 2009 provincial election. He was the first Indo-Canadian police chief – a former chief constable with the West Vancouver police department, and a former superintendent with the Vancouver city police.

One would expect that someone who had graduated from the BC Police Academy, and having these credentials would know the law, or the repercussions of being involved with people that break the law right?  If I remember correctly, and I'm sure you'll let me know if I'm not, whether you commit the crime or not, if you are part of a group – OR – with an individual that breaks the law, you are equally responsible.

So what are the issues and legal problems he is currently facing?