BOB SIMPSON: “These are not hypothetical dollars going to hypothetical projects”

Here is just one brief exchange from the BC Legislature this afternoon (February 20, 2012), which you can read for yourself in Hansard

Independent MLA Bob Simpson:

Contrary to the Minister of Education's characterization of this, these are not hypothetical dollars going to hypothetical projects. These are real dollars from operating budgets within the public sector that could go to other things — to classrooms, to surgeries, to seniors care. The government has had a long time to look that at this. The Minister of Education is indicating that the firewall has to be built. My question to the Minister of Environment is: will school districts and public authorities have to contribute to the Pacific Carbon Trust at $25 a ton this year — yes or no?

And the response from the Environment Minister, Terry Lake?

Well, as I mentioned, we have been engaging school boards, health authorities, public sector organizations. We have had some very good meetings. As we move through, as a leader on this file, we expect to improve our policies as we move forward. We intend to continue to improve all of our policies, and this is one that we will see, I think, an improved result moving forward.

It seems fairly obvious, given the waffled answer of the Environment Minister, that the 'unwaffled' answer to this question is, "yes".  

Yes, the government will continue to raid the Education Ministry to pay into Pacific Carbon Trust, which in turn gives that money to profitable business such as Encana.

What does that tell you about how important children and families are to this government?

Allowing that to happen is indeed insane … it is wrong and it distorts the whole process

Route of the Northern Gateway pipeline

The Northern Gateway oil pipeline, proposed to run from the oil sands of Alberta, to Kitimat in British Columbia, has many opponents – and champions.  

On one hand, thousands of jobs, along with millions in much needed tax revenues, are in limbo waiting approval. On the other hand however are environmental concerns that are also very much on the minds of Western Canadians.  

Some though, from outside of Canada, are trying to disrupt and stall the review of this project for their own self-interests, and personal glorification in the media.

Today’s edition of the Globe and Mail has a story entitled, “‘Radical groups’ spur Tories to speed pipeline review process”.  Here is the beginning of this news story;

The Conservative government will bring forward new rules to greatly shorten environmental reviews of pipelines and other major projects, arguing that “radical groups” are exploiting the reviews to block proposals vital to Canada’s economic future.

I would like to say thanks to two MLA's who have I believe worked hard to 'represent' their constituents

As we head towards what I believe to be one of the one of the greatest celebrations of the year ... Christmas ... things are getting a little more hectic on the home front ... with the regular everyday meetings and activities ... holiday get-togethers ... and with practices and rehearsals for the Christmas eve service at the church our family attends.

Holiday lights of the BC Legislature -- November 2011

That means the blog will take a bit of a hit over the next two weeks at least ... and it means I'll be posting bits and pieces of things that catch my eye, and maybe with a brief comment our two.

I have now been writing and posting the Conservative Thoughts blog for over a year.  

It has most time been a labour of love, but truthfully at other times it has frustrated me as I have looked at how our political system operates, and the blind loyalty it often demands.

As you all know I am a member of the BC Conservative party ... and I am also a representative for the riding's in the Kamloops area.  That does not mean however I cannot see the good in others (and the bright spots) within BC political system.  

A tale of two billion five hundred and fifty five million misspent dollars

For the past few days now I have been trying to find out what the average cost would be to staff, provide equipment, and maintain, etc the average hospital operating room in British Columbia.   I haven't been able to get an answer, but I have spent a few hours on Google Search trying.

So why, you ask, was I trying to find this out??  Well I happen to be one of those people in BC who is concerned with the debt being racked up by successive Liberal governments in our province.  Most people, I believe, have no idea what our debt is, but that information is actually quite easy to find. 

For example, there is the BC governments Fiscal Plan (2011/12 to 2013/14), which was presented to the legislature on May 3^rd, 2011.  At that time, here is what Christy Clark and our BC Liberal government estimated the provincial debt will be this year ... and over the next 2 budget years.

                                                    Budget Estimates

Provincial debt:                        2011/12                  2012/13            2012/14

Direct operating debt …………         8,763                      9,267                  8,599

Taxpayer-supported debt …        36,816                    39,162                 40,500

Self-supported debt ……………      16,271                    18,060                 19,505

Total debt (in billions)          $53,437 (billion)    57,572                 60,355

Nearly 53 and a half billion in debt this year ... 57 and a half billion next year ... and an estimated total debt of 60 billion two years from now.  That's a lot of money, and trying to get a concept of what billions of dollars are, is not that easy.  We can make it easier to comprehend however, by looking at what it costs to service those billions of dollars of debt.  That is, the cost of the interest payment being made on those BILLIONS of dollars. 

Question from Independent MLA Bob Simpson -- is BC's Forest sector back??

Cariboo North Independent MLA, Bob Simpson, had quite a thoughtful post today on BC's forest sector. 

I grew up in the Cariboo (Williams Lake) and know what it was like in the 60s, 70s, and even the early 80's. Mills are running a great capacity again, and more shifts -- BUT less workers and mills in smaller communities are generally a thing of the past. 

I agree with his comment that there needs to be, "... a rethinking how we manage our forests and what products we create from forest biomass ..."

Click HERE to read Bob's Blog

Results of the Carbon Tax??? Well to date NO response has been received

As you will note below, on June 13th I requested information regarding BC's Carbon Tax to ...

Terry Lake (MLA); Bob Simpson (MLA); Kevin Kruger (MLA); Adrian Dix NDP Leader; and Bill Bennett (MLA).  Not receiving a response, I resent the email on June 22nd.

Basically I was simply questioning, and asking, what the actual results have been from BC enacting this tax.  To date NO response has been received from anyone that I contacted regarding this.

Dear Sirs ...

The following email was sent approximately a week and a half ago, however I have not yet had a response. 

The provinces best hope for legislative reform, and accountability, would come about through a John Cummins led BC Conservative government

Oh be still my beating heart – I don't know if I can take all the excitement of the current legislative assembly.

One of the few successes however, at least in my opinion, would be Bob Simpson, an independent MLA from my old neck of the woods ... the Cariboo. I suspect that if Bill Bennett could be welcomed back to the Liberal caucus, then the door would have been open as well for Bob to return to the NDP.

He has stated however, “I believe that as an Independent MLA I'm better able to serve my constituents, as my time is 100% dedicated to serving the people of Cariboo North. I'm also able to advocate for policies and programs which will benefit all British Columbian's, free from the constraints of affiliation with a political party or ideology.”

Conspiracies abound ... I think not :)

It is unfortunate and regrettable that some people have to see conspiracies and plots every where.  Such is the case this weekend at BC Blue, a blog by former member of the BC Conservative Party,  Dean Skoreyko.  This blog is much like another one written by someone that appears to stay in the dark and be unnamed in their blog at http://www.bcconservatives.ca/.

This Week in BC Politics

It’s the weekend, and I'm off to Vancouver at 4:30 Saturday morning to attend a meeting of the BC Conservative Party … sure hope the rest of you got to sleep in.  As always, another interesting week in BC politics, including this first letter / comment from the Williams Lake Tribune, written by Independent MLA Bob Simpson:

Your next premier is brought to you by …
Recent events in BC should give us pause to consider if it's now past time we put a stop to the influence corporations have on our political process by ...

Also this week we saw the resignation of Alberta Premier Stelmach, and you will find a story on that further below.  So read on and refresh your self on some of the stories that made the news this week.  Just click on the title to go to the full story:

Plenty left for both leaderships
... it's going to be fascinating to watch …..