Lights, Camera's, Action - the next moves are now underway for BC Premier Christy Clark

YES ... today is the day, and we will see what the face of the next BC Liberal cabinet looks like.  Most people fully expect that Kamloops North Thompson MLA Terry lake will return to the role of Environment Minister. 

We'll find out soon, and we will get a good idea of the direction she plans to take with the faces that return to cabinet -- and those who are left out.

One thing is almost a sure bet, and I was reminded of it by Kamloops Armchair Mayor, Mel Rothenburger:

Lights, camera's, action - the next moves are
now underway for BC Premier Christy Clark

Ralph Sultan, who won re-election in West Vancouver-Capilano by the biggest margin of any Liberal, was quoted by CBC shortly after election night that he would not voluntarily give up his seat for Clark. It will be interesting to see if Sultan’s name comes up on the list of cabinet ministers that will be announced Friday.

A news story on the CBC also states that:

Veteran politicians Shirley Bond, Rich Coleman and Mike de Jong can expect to remain in cabinet, while newcomers like former RCMP Insp. Amrik Virk and Langley Mayor Peter Fassbender are strong contenders.

Other potential cabinet ministers among the newly elected Liberals are paralympic champion Michelle Stilwell, former deputy minister Andrew Wilkinson and Richmond businesswoman Teresa Wat.

Stay tuned; we'll hear who is in, and who is out, when the new cabinet is announced early this afternoon.

One thing we know for sure, unless Christy Clark wins that by-election (to be held in Westside Kelowna), she won't be joining them in the legislature in July.  There is of course every expectation she will, but there's no guarantee.

One thing that WILL be on the minds, of at least a few voters in Kelowna, will be the fact that the Liberals already have a majority government. 

If the party actually won the May 14th provincial election, in spite of Christy Clark, then voters in Kelowna will certainly have no fear of electing any candidate, on the ballot, who they feel will best represent them.

Interesting times indeed.

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


FOLLOW-UP:
The cabinet announcement from Premier Christy Clark will be live-streamed on the BC government Newsroom website beginning at 2pm today at http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2013/06/webcast-naming-of-british-columbias-new-executive-council.html


FOLLOW-UP TO THE FOLLOW-UP ... here is the new cabinet, as announced today by BC Prenmier Christy Clark.  It includes BOTH Kamloops MLA's with Terry Lake moving into Health ... and Todd Stone into Transportation:

• Deputy Premier / Minister for Natural Gas / Housing ... Rich Coleman
• Finance Minister ... Mike de Jong
• Forests, Lands & Natural Resources Minister ... Steve Thomson
• Health Minister ... Terry Lake
• Aboriginal Relations & Reconciliation Minister ... John Rustad
• Education Minister ... Peter Fassbender
• Advanced Education Minister ... Amrik Virk
• Transportation and Infrastructure Minister ... Todd Stone
• Social Development Minister ... Don McRea
• Technology & Citizen Services Minister ... Andrew Wilkinson
• Children & Families Minister ... Stephanie Cadieux
• Energy & Mines Minister / Minister Responsible for Core Review ... Bill Bennett
• Community Sport & Cultural Development Minister ... Coralee Oakes
• International Trade & Asia Pacific Strategy / Multiculturalism Minister ... Theresa Wats
• Justice Minister & Attorney General ... Suzanne Anton
• Jobs, Tourism, & Skills Training Minister / Minister Responsible for Labour ... Shirley Bond
• Environment Minister ... Mary Polak
• Agriculture Minister ... Pat Pimm
• Small Business & Tourism Minister ... Naomi Yamamoto

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:

Should donations to BC's political parties, from
unions and corporations, be banned?   YES!

The B.C. government is attempting to restore limits on third-party election spending that were struck down by a judge before the 2009 vote.

Attorney General Shirley Bond has introduced amendments that would put limits on spending by unions, business groups and other non-party advertisers in the 40 days before the official start of an election campaign. A previous 60-day limit was challenged by seven public sector unions, led by the B.C. Teachers' Federation, and rejected by a B.C. Supreme Court judge as an unjustified restriction on freedom of speech.

Premier Christy Clark said some spending limit on the pre-campaign period is justified, since the province went to scheduled elections in 2005. Current rules restrict party and non-party spending during a formal 28-day election campaign, but contain no limits on spending before that period.

The government intends to submit the proposed 40-day restriction to the B.C. Supreme Court before it takes effect. If a judge approves, the new restrictions would apply for the election set for May of 2013.

NDP justice critic Leonard Krog said the latest effort will likely be challenged again and rejected again. If the B.C. Liberals want to reform election spending, they should ban corporate and union donations to political parties as the NDP and B.C. Conservative parties have advocated, Krog said.

In 2008, the B.C. Liberal government passed amendments to the B.C. Elections Act limiting spending by non-party advocacy groups to no more than $150,000 in the 60 days before the official 28-day election campaign. Registered political parties were restricted to spending $2.2 million during that time.

Interestingly a comment was posted on my Facebook page, regarding this story, by the BC Liberal MLA for Kamloops South, Kevin Krueger; he said:

Do you think that the unions who own the NDP should be free to advertise as much as they'd like in elections, Al?

The BCTF, for example, which is the only union I know that deliberately frightens its members time and again, extracts over $42 million per year from them in union dues. I am told they have 60 full-time political organizers on staff.

You think they should have free rein, no matter what the teachers think?

Remember, the genius Vander Zalm pushed them into the clutches of this weird organization.

Now again remember I posted this story, without comment, just as an interest piece; however I thought, ‘What the heck, I’ll make a quick reply to him', and so I said:

THIS WEEK … BC political news

Cost savings measures for BC Ferries … a new political poll … unemployment … balancing the budget … John Martin nominated for the BC Conservatives … the garbage wars … Christy Clark trying to change political stripes … negotiations on the teachers’ contract. 

All this and more took center stage this week in BC political news.  Here’s a round-up of some of the stories in case you missed them …

BC Liberals Going Right? Riiiight.

... the remarkable thing about the steady decline of the BC Liberals is that the party remains stubbornly unable to distinguish a branding problem from a content problem ... the province's ruling party has been steadily hemorrhaging center-right votes ... to the long-dormant provincial Tories ... the response from Premier Christy Clark and her supporters has simply been to double-down on superficial right-wing marketing gimmicks while remaining blissfully oblivious to the idea that conservative voters might actually be motivated by anything more substantial ...

EDITORIAL: Latest poll confirms the obvious

… we need yet another poll to state the obvious?  From the moment former premier Gordon Campbell signed his political death warrant by foisting the hated HST upon voters mere weeks after winning an election, the BC Liberals have been bound for the afterlife now inhabited by the Social Credit, Progressive Conservative and Progressive Democratic Alliance parties … does not appear anything will change the party’s fate in time to avoid an unpleasant reckoning when voters go to the polls  …

Martin acclaimed, comes out swinging

… it didn’t take long for John Martin to be assigned duties in the BC Conservative’s shadow cabinet …the party’s candidate in the upcoming Chilliwack-Hope by-election, was named justice critic … “This Liberal government has failed British Columbians on the justice file. They have starved the justice system and now thousands of criminal prosecutions could be thrown out.”

YOU'RE RIGHT CHRISTY … those are things most British Columbians support

How serious is the Christy Clark government about ensuring the safety of the people of BC?

When she was running to replace Gordon Campbell, as leader of the BC Liberal Party, she told News 1130 that the courts needed to hand down harsher sentences to high-profile criminals.

"When we find criminals that are out there selling drugs, we should put them in jail and we should keep them in jail. I think this revolving door of justice is an absolute disgrace."

Now let’s fast forward 9 months (September 2011) ... we have one story after the other coming out in the news media about Joseph William Hammer (a cocaine dealer in Prince George), who had his case thrown out by Provincial Court Judge Michael Brecknell.   

And why was that?

His (Judge Brecknell) interpretation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was that a person had the right to be tried within a reasonable time … and that should be within 18months.  A lack of resources were the reason it had taken over three and a half years to get a verdict in the case of cocaine dealer Joseph Hammer, and because of that, Hammer was to be released. 

He went on to say an "unrepentant drug dealer" should "now be able to be free of the consequences of this very serious offense... should alarm and concern the community.”

The actions being prepared by the BC Conservative Party, are what the BC government should be doing.

Brian Peckford (L) & John Cummins (R)

A news story in the Vancouver Sun, "Feds threaten to withdraw B.C. RCMP services as contract talks break down", mentioned a comment from BC Solicitor General Shirley Bond that indicated if … the province can't get Ottawa back to the table it may look at a "Plan B" scenario of reconstituting the former provincial police force.

I hope you noted the wording of that comment … BC Solicitor general Shirley Bond, and the government of Christy Clark, “MAY look at plan B scenario”. 

So where do BC Conservatives stand on this?  BC Conservative Party leader John Cummins stated the following in a media release which went out earlier today:

"Let's have a real debate over a BC Provincial Police Force. We should not lock into another 20 year contract without understanding the potential costs and benefits that a BC Provincial Police force would bring to British Columbians."