No accountability --- No integrity -- NO THANKS Christy!

The BC Liberal Abbotsford South riding association board resigned a few weeks back, saying the democratic selection for a candidate has been circumvented due to manipulation by those in the backrooms of the BC Liberal Party.

Former BC Liberal candidate hoperful Moe Gill

The BC Liberal party had wanted to have Darryl Plecas acclaimed as the parties candidate, despite the fact the Moe Gill had been seeking the nomination. The party won out and the democratic process, of riding members selecting their own candidate, was circumvented.

Now I see, via Vaughn Palmer, that we will be enjoying a sequel to the original story ... stayed tuned for "Moe Gill's revenge". 

Gill has announced he plans to run as independent against Mike de Jong, his former political mentor, in Abbotsford West. Again according to Vaughn Palmer, Mike De Jong had encouraged Gill to run against John van Dongen, but then didn't help Gill when party brass blocked him for getting the Abbotsford South nomination. 

You can read more here if you like in this November 23rd story from the Globe and Mail; "Dirty game of politics gets dirtier with BC nomination"  CLICK HERE
 
This isn't the first time the backrooms of the BC Liberal Party have manipulated things ... or will it be the last ... as this story from the Richmond Review shows: "Gary Law upset Liberals cancelled nomination meeting"  CLICK HERE



Former BC Liberal vandidate hopeful Gary Law

Law said he was upset and shocked by the Liberal Party's announcement on Wednesday that it was cancelling an upcoming nomination meeting, and instead bringing an outside candidate into Richmond to vie to become the next MLA for Richmond Centre, and replace the soon-to-retire Rob Howard. 

"Most of the people in the community know that I have a heart to serve individual groups and also organizations within the community," Law said, adding he hoped to devote himself fully to serve the community by running for office. 

Right now at least, it seems the Christy Clark BC Liberals are not a party that believes in anything but desperately attempting to cling to power.  It certainly does not believe in upholding the democratic process; instead they have shown themselves to be heavy handed (as shown by over-ruling their own constituency associations). 

No accountability --- No integrity -- NO THANKS Christy!  Of course I am partisan ... but honestly, can you say this is a party worthy of receiving the support of British Columbians?  

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

Justin Trottier shows disrespect ... he insults the very foundations of our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

NO ONE would ever accuse me of supporting Premier Christy Clark; HOWEVER ... Center For Inquiry National Communications Director Justin Trottier is full of crap and showing blatant discrimination by saying:

"The Premier should explain to her constituents which of the many varied Biblical values she follows, how they shape her political views, and whether she is committed to upholding the separation of church and state and the primacy of evidence-based public policy should evidence conflict with her worldview."

Perhaps he, and other like minded people, should be reminded of Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ... everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.

Now, just to be clear, here is how the Centre for Inquiry describes itself:
The Centre for Inquiry is an educational charity with a legal mandate to educate and provide training to the public in the application of skeptical, secular, rational, and humanistic enquiry through conferences, symposia, lectures, published works and the maintenance of a library, and to develop communities where like-minded individuals can meet and share their experiences.  We focus on three broad areas:  1. Religion, Ethics and Society, 2. Pseudoscience, Paranormal and Fringe-science claims, 3. Medicine and Health

They have also been quoted, and commented on, by the Canadian Atheist organization, which is:
" ... a collection of atheists from across Canada. Some of us have been involved in the freethought movement longer than we’d like to remember and others are quite new. We range from the East coast to the West coast. Some are members of national or provincial organizations. A few come from very religious backgrounds, others have never had to deal with religion at all while growing up.  While we all come from different areas and backgrounds we all have one thing in common – we think the Canadian atheist movement is important ..."

I for one have a personal religious belief, I am free to have it, and no one can deny me that right.  Premier Christy Clark enjoys that same right. 

Things that BC Liberal MLA Terry Lake hopes you won't become aware of --- BC Liberals backroom manipulators remain hopeful as well

Today Kamloops North Thompson  BC Liberal MLA Terry Lake is quoted as saying; "What we do see is, as we get closer to election, is that people are understanding what the BC Conservatives are all about ... "

MY hope is that people do indeed fully understand what the BC Conservatives are all about ... what we stand for ... and what we hope to bring to the political stage in British Columbia.  They are the things that Terry Lake hopes you won't become aware of --- and BC Liberals backroom manipulators hope that remains the same.          

That's because BC Conservative beliefs, principles and policies are totally opposite to how the BC Liberals have in reality governed:

BC Conservatives believe 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.  We are entitled to full knowledge of services rendered and their costs

BC Conservatives believe in managing the government to the highest standards of integrity and transparency

BC Conservatives believe that governments at all levels are responsible to serve and respect all individuals and their families

BC Conservatives believe that Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA's) are primarily responsible to represent the interests of their Constituents

BC Conservatives believe in a rigorous system of law and order focusing on the rights of victims and the protection of the public

And BC Conservatives believe in smaller government resulting in more liberty and personal property rights, the encouragement of new enterprise and individual achievement striving towards excellence and prosperity

MEANTIME ... what would be our "understanding" of how BC Liberals do things?

With BC Liberals we have had cost over-runs on a number of projects ... the BC Liberal government has raised rates on the Medical Services Plan ... while managers and CEO's of government agencies and crown corporation have given themselves raises and bonuses, rates for ICBC, BC Ferries, and BC Hydro have all been jacked up.  WHY?

Remember that the BC government was going to will allow for naming rights to BC Place Stadium; Telus put in a bid for tens of millions of dollars and then the government rejected it.  WHY? 

Auditor General John Doyle holds the BC Liberals to account for spending waste -- then all of a sudden he is not going to have his contract renewed -- then he is -- then maybe he will be.  WHY? 

Will BC Liberal MLA Eric Foster confirm taxpayers of BC will be sinking over a quarter of a million dollars into a building that cost the owners $189,000 to buy?

BC Liberal MLA Eric Foster seems to have no concerns as to questionable spending of taxpayer dollars to renovate a constituency office he had JUST leased.  I am not surprised -- but all British Columbian's should be --- and they should know this is okay with BC Liberal Party hacks and elected officials.

Regardless ... the people should however have answers.

Why on earth would Eric Fosters lease a building, to be used as his Vernon- Monashee Constituency Association office, when tens of thousand of dollars were going to be needed to renovate that same building?

Why were the costs for this renovation submitted to the government with no paperwork accounting for what the money was spent on?

Why would he have leased a building requiring that kind of expensive renovation when office space was available that did not require anywhere near this kind of expense?

Can or will Eric Foster (or the BC Liberal government) confirm they approved renovations of $78,000 to be made on a building that had only been purchased for $189,000 -- just 4 days before the 2009 provincial election?

Will Eric Foster and his BC Liberal government confirm that the taxpayers of BC will indeed be sinking over a quarter of a million dollars (including the much higher costs of a new 4 year lease) in to a building that cost the owners $189,000 to buy?

Will Eric Foster confirm the owners of the building are indeed BC Liberal supporters?

NO HE WILL NOT ... instead, Eric Foster dismisses legitimate questions saying; "I think [the BC Conservatives would be well served to find out who owns buildings of other MLA's around the province, on both sides of the House."

"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.