All I can say is, "This should be interesting"

Yesterday I received a message from the Editor of Kamloops This Week, Christopher Foulds.  Actually it was a message to me, and Kamloops South Thompson MLA Kevin Krueger:

To: Kevin Krueger and Alan Forseth:

OK. I think it's time for a point/counterpoint feature in Kamloops This Week.  Here is my proposal:

I will clear an entire page and we will run a column from each of you addressing this topic: "Why the B.C. Liberals / B.C. Conservatives" should receive the right-of-centre vote in the next election".

….  this will run in Thursday, May 24, edition of KTW … What do you say, guys?

This gives you an unfiltered avenue to readers / voters and would likely elicit a good response from readers.

Let me know if you are in. Cheers

Christopher Foulds

Editor

Kamloops This Week

I’m in … and so is Kevin.  Not wanting to give my head a chance to start over thinking this, I went ahead and wrote a draft yesterday … did some edits last night … and a few final tweaks this morning.

I’m going to leave it for a few days now, and come back for a final look on Monday.  All I can say is, “This should be interesting”.

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

A poisoned atmosphere, created on both sides of the bargaining table, is not going to lead to our children being the number one concern

John Rustad is the BC Liberal MLA for Nechako Lake, and he makes good use of social media to find out what people are thinking, and asking for their thoughts. 

A post he made the other day on Facebook caught my attention; this is what he asked:

"Many teachers volunteer for extracurricular activities making an enormous difference in student's lives. Here's the interesting question: if it's voluntary, why does the union have the ability to intimidate and force teachers to not participate? If it's not voluntary, then should it be classified as an illegal strike?"

I often will post comments to the queries and so I replied to him with the following:

I do not mean to be critical, but as I understand it, teachers have a pay scale for the roughly 200 days a year that they work.

Taking their pay over those 200 days, they make far more than most workers in the province. As I understand it, that pay also takes into account a day that is longer than regular classroom time (ie: prep), and I think it’s fair to say it would also cover some time outside the classroom for student activities.

The BCTF themselves have said the average maximum salary for a teacher is $74,353 ... based on 200 days, that works out to over $370 a day.

BC Liberal MLA Kevin Krueger should read these words; “Vitriol” … extreme bitterness and hatred toward somebody or something

Kamloops South Thompson Liberal
MLA Kevin Krueger

Today in the BC Legislature, BC Liberal MLA Kevin Krueger decided to show once again that he simply does not know when to muzzle his comments. 

Given the fireworks during media scrums with Krueger, it sounds like perhaps the impact of revelations, coming from BC Conservative MLA John van Dongen, are hitting a little too close to the target … which led news media people to set Twitter ablaze with some of it.

Here is just one exchange that took place earlier this afternoon on Twitter … however there were plenty more comments from those in the news media:

Comment from Keith Baldrey‏@keithbaldrey

Stream of consciousness rant from Krueger attacks integrity of Van Dongen, Dix, and Cummins. Takes a shot at media for good measure. #bcpoli

Response from David Schreck‏@StrategicThghts

@keithbaldrey Is the Krueger rant on record; couldn't he have saved it 4 Hansard recording? :)

Rep;ly from Keith Baldrey‏@keithbaldrey

@StrategicThghts   two scrums.

Response again from David Schreck‏@StrategicThghts

@keithbaldrey    Two! Wasn't he able to get it all off his chest in the first one? :) Verifies what Justine wrote about dumping Campbell.

Sean Leslie, from CKNW also ran the following news story;  “Liberal MLA blasts political opponents”

A frustrated Liberal MLA felt the need to vent today.  Kamloops South Thompson MLA Kevin Krueger approached reporters to rant about former colleauge John van Dongen and NDP leader Adrian Dix saying both are getting far too much positive coverage in the media.

Can the word ‘progressive’ be used in context with being a conservative?

Yesterday, a friend messaged me to say, “I wish people of our political stripe would quit using the term "progressive" because in political parlance it means ultra-left wing.”

He then went on to provide the following description of “progressive” as:

… (of taxation or a tax) increasing as a proportion of the sum taxed as that sum increases : steeply progressive income taxes.

… (of a card game or dance) involving a series of sections for which participants successively change place or relative position.

… archaic engaging in or constituting forward motion.

… (of a group, person, or idea) favoring or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas : a relatively progressive governor.

Leadership means putting the best ideas to work

YES … putting the word ‘progressive’ together WITH ‘conservative’ generally is NOT a good plan, and in fact one could end up with an "Oxymoron" … and as he said, heavy emphasis on ‘moron’.

That said however, in context, and with a comma after the word ‘progressive’, and before ‘conservative’, it can also mean being open-minded (that's good), as well as making use of (or interested in) new ideas, findings, or opportunities.

Just taking a look back at the past 30 days

As the title says, I thought I would take a quick look back at stories that have generated the most number of page views.   

Several have a number of comments, and if you have an opinion one way or the other, it’s never too late to have a say and add your opinion.

In at number five:

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.

In at number four:

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 …

The third most read article was:

Not much has changed in 16 years

Last night I was going through a box of campaign material from the 1996 provincial election in BC.  For those not aware, I ran as a candidate for the BC Reform Party in the riding of Kamloops North Thompson.

While going through the box, I came upon opening remarks I made at an All-Candidates Forum that had been held in Barriere, a small rural community about half an hour north of Kamloops, in the North Thompson.   

In at number two was:

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.”

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.

And here is the story that has generated the most page views during the past month:

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.

I appreciate those of you who take the time to read these thoughts – no matter what your political beliefs or background.  In fact, “Thank You” for doing so!

Tomorrows post … “Can the word ‘Progressive’ be used in context with being a conservative?” … has been written; I hope you’ll drop by and have a look once it goes online in the morning.

Take care my friends!

I told you to deal with the problem … not to make it worse

Margaret Thatcher - British Prime Minister
from 1979 to 1990 -- "The Iron Lady"

Let me start off today with a quote from former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher:

“If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”

These are words, which when we read them all these years later, still ring true! 

Now compare the above to the words of Christy Clark following her win as the new leader of the BC Liberal Party just over a year ago:

"I want you to be my partners in change in Victoria. I want you to be my partners in bringing open government. You can count on me to listen, you can count on me to engage, and you can count on me to make sure government really does include you. I have specific ideas on how to do these things but I also need to hear from you.”

How many would agree that this change has indeed taken place in British Columbia since she became Premier of the province?

I know there are many people, well not as many as a year ago, who think that Christy Clark is one of the best leaders the so-called free enterprise coalition has ever seen. 

I do not share that opinion.

One who does however, for reasons many cannot fathom, is Preston Manning … the leader of Canada’s Reform movement, which went through a variety of transformations to finally become today's Conservative Party.

Recently, he went so far as to call Christy Clark Canada’s “Iron Snowbird”.  In a news story from earlier this spring (B.C. Premier Christy Clark lauded as 'iron snowbird') he had this rationale behind the name: