Wouldn't you agree? Is this a legitimate expectation we should have?

Once upon a time a popular opposition firebrand named Christy Clark, stood up in the BC Legislature, to rip the NDP government for spending tax dollars on shameless, self-promoting advertising. 

“People don't want the government to spend 700 grand of their money so they can find out how to access services; people want this government to spend their money so that those services are there for them to access. That's what British Columbians want,” Clark railed. “How many firefighters, how many police officers will not be on the street because [the Finance Minister] is spending… on her advertising campaign?” 

The above is from an opinion / editorial piece by BC Taxpayers Federation Director Jordan Bateman (November 2012) entitled, "Government Ads Use and Abuse Taxpayers’ Money".  

For month prior to the May 14th provincial election campaign, the BC Liberals took hits from all quarters, on this clearly wasteful and partisan adverting campaign.  

Sadly, during the four week election campaign, it was all but forgotten ... even by former radio co-worker Bill Good who on November 16th, over the airwaves of CKNW had stated:  "Those are very partisan ads. They should be bought and paid for by the Liberal Party of BC." 

The election is of course ended a week ago, but perhaps the major political commentators such as Keith Baldrey, Vaughn Palmer,  Bill Tieleman, Michael Smyth, etc, will now ask this question which I now pose: 

"Will the Premier comment to ending this kind of self-promotion and stick to truly informative ads providing BC residents with 'needed' information?"  

I believe if she does this, it really will help to put her on a more solid footing with a large number of British Columbians who still sit in two distinct camps; those who didn't vote for her ( over 55%) ... and those who again for a number of reasons(including a belief it doesn't make any difference) didn't cast a vote at all (approximately 48%).  

By the way, this is equally a fair question to ask of Adrian Dix and the NDP, as he himself had also pushed for a ban on partisan information being presented in government advertising being paid for by taxpayers, and had indicated that if elected he would put forward legislation to stop this from happening again.

So I put the question forward to both leaders then; are you against partisan political advertising which is paid for by taxpayers, and will you put forward legislation / support legislation, that would see this in place and enforced?

It's fair question to ask this, and the taxpayers of BC should have every right to know the answer ... wouldn't you agree? 

Is this a legitimate expectation we should have of government?

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops, with the thoughts of one conservative.  The floor is now being turned over to you ... and I welcome your thoughts on this.

Those four things stand out to me, as having clear direction … a vision so to speak … of what government should do, and the role it should play in our society

I woke up on Sunday evening with the word “Vision” going through my mind.  Of course it was attached to something that is often on my mind, which is politics.  I believe that in BC we have suffered from a lack of elected officials, and leaders, that have had a real sense of vision on what our province can be for us, and the future it can hold for our children and grandchildren.

But first … what does the word ‘vision’ actually mean?  Here are just a few descriptions:

• a thought, concept, or object formed by the imagination
• the act or power of imagination
• mode of seeing or conceiving
• unusual discernment or foresight (a person of vision)

Each of the three main political parties in BC has a vision of how they would govern – and if you are interested you can see what they have to say by visiting their websites.  The one that has resonated for me has been the direction, and vision, presented by the BC Conservative Party.

The first four guiding principles of the BC Conservative Party say it will be guided by the following principles:

1. A belief in clearly defined public policies and programs that are affordable and effective and for which delivery is accountable to all the people of British Columbia.
2. A belief in managing the government to the highest standards of integrity and transparency and British Columbians are entitled to full knowledge of services rendered and their costs.
3. A belief in the rights and responsibilities of all British Columbians and that Governments at all levels are responsible to serve and respect all individuals and their families, including freedom from unnecessary laws and regulations and excessive government.
4. A belief that Members of the Legislative Assembly are primarily responsible to represent the interests of their Constituents.

Those four things stand out to me, as having clear direction … a vision so to speak … of what government should do, and the role it should play in our society.

Voice of BC - BC Conservatives

BC Conservative Party leader John Cummins

An interview between editorialist and Vancouver Sun news columnist Vaughn Palmer, and BC Conservative Party Leader John Cummins, aired live on the Voice of BC on Thursday May 17th.  For those who do not have SHAW as their internet provider, the link noted below will take you to this 60 minute video interview.

The following is the promo for that interview:

While the BC Liberals and BC NDP battle it our in the legislature, the BC Conservatives are growing their support throughout the province. 

Whether their support will hold until the provincial election in May 2013 is unknown, but it appears the 'coalition of the right' is splintering and most political observers believe that there is little hope of a united right going into the next election.

BC Conservative leader John Cummins provides some insight into his party's policies when he speaks with Vancouver Sun columnist and host of Voice of BC, Vaughn Palmer.

CLICK HERE for the interview

John Cummins on the "Voice of BC"

BC Conservative Party leader, John Cummins will be featured on the "Voice of BC".  The program airs at 8pm this Thursday (May 17th) at 8pm.

A number of topics, important to the people of BC, will be discussed on the program.  

For a preview of tomorrow nights show, several 30 second clips covering Aboriginal Title, People leaving BC, the race between the NDP and the BC Conservatives, and high taxation can be found at http://www.facebook.com/#!/shawtvvobc.

NOTE:

Voice of BC, Shaw TV’s weekly public affairs program, has been produced for the past 15 years. The program gives British Columbians the opportunity to hear from top politicians in B.C. and across Canada, as well as leaders in the academic and business communities, in a balanced and thoughtful forum.

Voice of BC is hosted by respected Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer. One of BC’s foremost political commentators, Palmer brings his unique style and perspective on B.C. politics to this series.

That will be the finish, and end, of this tired and worn out government

Today, in the Vancouver Sun, newspaper Vaughn Palmer had an opinion piece entitled, “Liberals unlikely to win seats in newly called by-elections”.  Here’s the Coles Notes from that piece:

… The two seats in the legislature had been vacant for weeks … candidates were already nominated and running.

… Clark had visited both ridings on multiple occasions, making announcements, reaping media cover-age

… all that remained was for her to call the by-elections and make it official.

Still she hesitated. Her answers to questions about timing went from "soon" to "very soon" to "every day we're closer."  … "because I haven't called them yet."

… as to the chances of either one of those seats being re-occupied by a B.C. Liberal, the premier's hesitation provides the strongest evidence of the government's reading of the public mood …

The story goes on to say that;

… in Chilliwack, the Liberals cast about for "name" candidates to replace the departed MLA Barry Penner, before finally settling on Laurie Throness, a long-time political aide with strong connections to one of the evangelical churches.

There, too, they were upstaged in the battle of the political names, when the B.C. Conservatives nominated John Martin, a newspaper columnist (Chilliwack Times, the Province) and outspoken criminologist who takes special delight in baiting his academic colleagues for what he regards as an overwhelmingly small-l "liberal" bias.

Some of you may not know much about John Martin, if you do not live in the Fraser Valley.  If that’s the case, I’d encourage you to drop by his website.  You’ll find a number of media releases regarding various policies and ideas from the BC Conservative Party … and along with his thoughts on policies and plans of the current BC Liberal government. 

Given where party membership is now, and where they are polling, it looks like I am not alone

It’s Friday and the end of the week is approaching.  Later this afternoon I’ll have a wrap-up of news stories, but for now here’s a couple of things I’d like to mention and look at.  First, here’s the start to a story (Full hospital postpones surgeries; worse than it has been in a year) that I saw today in the Kamloops Daily News:

Royal Inland Hospital is so full of patients, administrator Marg Brown had to postpone a total of 16 surgeries Wednesday, Thursday and today.  “The staff are working flat out right now,” she said Thursday.

The 16 patients who will be rescheduled were all getting elective procedures and required admission to the hospital. None involved cancer, pediatrics or hip/knee operations, and additional day operations were slotted into cancelled surgery times.  Emergency surgeries continue to get done. Still, Brown said she regretted having to take the step of postponing surgeries — she hasn’t had to do it for a year.

You know what --- I don’t care if they were elective surgeries or not.  These were things that people had planned for --- perhaps made special arrangements for --- some may have traveled for --- and others may have booked time of at work for.

We should NEVER hear, “There’s no room at the Inn” when it comes to hospitals.  Perhaps if they weren't paying thousands of dollars, for fictitious carbon credits, they would have the money they need for beds at the hospitals.   

I guess Christy Clark’s BC Liberal government is just giving us one more example of how this is a government that puts families first!

Meantime, in the Province newspaper today, Michael Smyth had a story entitled, “Clark could roll the dice on spring election”.  He asked some interesting questions of where Christy is going and what she is trying to do … here is part of what he asked and had to say:

… why would you want to "renew" one of your best MLAs, in one of your party's safest seats?  The comment must have other Liberal MLAs wondering just what the premier was getting at … rumours some of them might be encouraged to retire, so Clark can move those new people and new ideas into position in by-elections.  It's a risky strategy … the governing Social Credit Party lost six by-elections in a row … same thing happened to the governing NDP in the 1990s … losing streaks reinforced public perceptions that those doomed governments had to go…

BC Conservatives are beginning to acquire the trappings of a credible force

"... BC Conservatives are beginning to acquire the trappings of a credible force ... ", so says Vancouver Sun commentator Vaughn Palmer.  And what else did Vaughn have to say about the party?

"Money ... the party has raised $115,000 this year with almost $90,000 socked away in the bank."

He told readers of a quote spoken on Saturday from fomer Newfoundland Premier, and now BC resident, Brian Peckford who said, "John Cummins is "the best thing that happened to this party ... "

I hope Christy Clark doesn't think the drop has anything to do with her!

In a story today (May 21st) in the Vancouver Sun, Vaughn Palmer wrote about the upcoming HST referendum.  In the story he mentioned that Ipsos-Reid had just completed a study where a little over one third (36%) of taxpayers plan to vote yes to retaining the tax … while just over half the people (52%) will be voting to return to the old GST / PST combination.  That vote will be taking place next month in a mail in referendum.

Now given how the hated tax was conceived in secrecy prior to being announced ... and that only a mere year and a half ago there was near unanimous disapproval of the tax (including thousands upon thousands of Liberal voters) ... the fact they have the disapproval rating down to just over 50% now is pretty remarkable.

I hope that Christy Clark doesn't think the drop has anything to do with her however! 

The HST makes for great news if nothing else

It's election day in Vancouver Point Grey, and BC Premier Christy Clark is hoping to have success in the polls with a by-election victory.

We'll be having another vote soon with the HST, which has been in the news now for two years.  With that in mind, here are the words of Christy Clark regarding the HST ... along with many others well know in BC politics. 

Christy Clark (Leadership bid announcement – December 2010) … describing the HST as "fatally flawed from the outset" and saying the Liberals could "put the HST behind us" with a free vote on the floor of the legislature by the March 31 end of the current financial year.

Christy Clark (CBC News  - August 2009) … it was "sneaky" of the Campbell government to announce the HST after the May provincial election … it seems impossible the tax wasn't contemplated before the spring ballot.  "I just don't think it's possible that that could be the case"

The only “rats” are one that deliberately and maliciously spread poison.

Given the fact that British Columbians overwhelming indicated, late last Fall, that they were tired of politics as usual, I have to say I am amazed that anyone else (or numerous others) would continue on the same track just months later.  Have those who aspire to lead us not learned anything from how the Liberal Party has failed to provide accountability and honesty?

This is why over the weekend I was appalled to see a story posted in a blog that I believe was intentionally misleading and inaccurate.

As in most blogs, the opportunity to post a response was provided, which I did (see my comment below the following story).  Regrettably, the blogs author chose to not post my reply, and so I would like to let you know what I had to say in response.  Please note my comment was posted at 7:28am on February 19^th.  I will leave up to you to decide why the comments I had to make were not get posted as of this going online two days later at 4:30am (Monday).