"Victoria In Your Hands"; Does it indeed show the people of our province that BC Conservatives are serious about being responsive and accountable?

BC Conservative Party
candidate Tom Birch

BC Conservatives have long held the belief that Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are elected to "Represent" their constituents.  Its easy to say that, as both the NDP and the Liberals have done, BC Conservatives however are showing they have at least one way to make that work.

Today, I am pleased to present a guest commentary from BC Conservative Shuswap candidate Tom Birch.

As part of our plan to bring in transparent government that truly partners with the people, the BC Conservative Party is piloting a smart phone app. This app will allow an honest 2-way conversation detailing what government is doing for the people and inviting input from the people as to what they expect from their government.

I had the privilege of releasing this on Friday (Jan 18, 2013) during a press conference that was also live streamed to the internet.  The following links will take you to the content of that conference where you can judge its value for yourself.

Victoria In Your Hands - Part 1 (presentation)

This is about 6 minutes long and gives the context into which we are releasing this app.
http://youtu.be/aDkZwI-dT-s

Victoria In Your Hands - Part 2 (demo)
This is about 13 minutes long and shows how the app will bring transparent government and will open up an ongoing 2-way dialogue between the voters and their representatives. This is how government should work in the 21st century.
http://youtu.be/nWayw88jRYA

Victoria In Your Hands - Part 3 (questions/answers)
This is about 8 minutes long and just covers questions that were asked after the presentation.
http://youtu.be/4G5BzGbxCtY

The BC Conservative Party is committed to using all the tools at our disposal to shine a light on our government and to hold them to account for the people of BC.

We challenge every other party and candidate to show their constituents how they will do the same. 

Voter confidence is at a shameful low in our province due to 2 decades of scandals and breach of trust. Right now, our current government is increasing tax payer debt just to fight the Auditor General in court so that they will not have to submit to public scrutiny.

THIS MUST STOP!

So Madame Premier ... given the facts ... would you now apologize for misrepresenting the true state of finances in our province?

Why people would ever try to accuse me of fudging and miss-representing figures, regarding the ACTUAL DEBT being racked up by this BC Liberal government, is beyond me. I have said, and will continue to say -- the BC Liberal government, being led by Premier Christy Clark, is LYING to us.

Despite spending millions of taxpayer dollars on partisan advertising, trying to convince us otherwise, the facts speak for themselves.  These are NOT numbers I have made up -- these figures that follow are directly from the BC Ministry of Finance.

Budget and Fiscal Plan ... for the years 2006 / 2007 through to 2008 / 2009

February 21, 2006 -- Ministry of Finance (http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2006/bfp/Summary2.htm)  

Budget Estimate of debt (in billions) for the year:
2006 - 07  ... $36,590
2007 - 08 ... $38,175
2008 - 09 ... $39,800

 

Budget and Fiscal Plan ... for the years 2009 / 2010 through to 2011 / 2012

February 17th, 2009 -- Ministry of Finance (http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2009/bfp/2009_Budget_Fiscal_Plan.pdf)

Budget Estimate of debt (in billions) for the year:

2009 - 10  ... $40,471
2010 -  11 ...  $44,203
2011 - 12  ... $47,215

 

Budget and Fiscal Plan ... for the years 2012 / 2013 through to 2014 / 2015

February 21st, 2012 -- Ministry of Finance
(http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2012/bfp/2012_Budget_Fiscal_Plan.pdf )

Budget Estimate of debt (in billions) for the year:
2012 - 13 ... $57,603
2013 - 14 ... $62,714
2014 - 15 ... $66,354

So Madame Premier ... given the facts ... would you now apologize for misrepresenting the true state of finances in our province? Will you also now STOP running highly partisan ads cheering the obviously questionable financial management of our province by your government -- given the fact it is NOT the truth?

Finally --- given past performance, what on earth would ever convince us that there is any hope you will be able to present a balanced budget for the coming year --- any more than the BC NDP were able to do in the past?

Only one party stands for common sense government, and smarter government spending -- that's the BC Conservatives.

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops ... with the thoughts, and questions, of one conservative.

This government continues to stagger to the finish line of this electoral term --- and only a miracle will see them win re-election for another term

On February 26th, 2011, Christy Clark was elected leader of the BC Liberal Party, making her Premier of the province ... she was then sworn in as British Columbia's 35th Premier on March 14th, 2011 ...

On May 12th, 2011 she was elected MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey MLA in a by-election ... and on May 30th, 2011 Christy Clark then took her legislative seat as MLA ...

SO ... how many days has the government she leads conducted the people business in the legislature since then?

Dome of the BC Legislature in Victoria

Between April 27th, 2011 and June 2nd, 2011 Christy Clark had the government in session for 20 days ... between October 4th, 2011 and November 24th, 2011 the legislature was in session for 23 days ... and ... between February 14th, 2012 and May 31st, 2012 the government was in session for another 48 days.

Since Christy Clark was elected as the leader of the BC Liberal Party -- and therefore the Premier of the province of British Columbia -- the legislature has been in session a total of 91 days. 

That's just three months.

Christy Clark has been premier for 21 and a half months; government has been in the legislature, doing the peoples business, for just 3 of them.

Given events of the past few weeks with controversy over whether Auditor General John Doyle would be given a second term ... the erratic spending of 10's of thousand of dollars on a constituency office by BC Liberal MLA Eric Foster in Vernon - Monashee ... and the complete mishandling, by the Liberals, of whether BC Liberal MLA John Slater was to have the opportunity to run again for the party ... I'm not surprised its only been 90 days.

This government continues to stagger to the finish line of this electoral term --- and only a miracle will see them win re-election for another term.

A decade of government under the NDP saw reckless spending and numerous scandals. And a decade of government under the BC Liberals has really seen much the same.

Now the question is; will the people of BC turn to, and consider, the option of electing a BC Conservative government led by John Cummins?

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops ... with the thoughts, and questions, of one conservative.