16 months to BC election - or this October?

[Hurtlander]

Therein lies a problem. 2/3 of the reasonable and competent ministers are not running. Without their voices in cabinet the NDP could, as they have done in the past, repeat their history of going all goofy all the time.

Yup, the NDP have a history of going goofy.... and the Liberals have a history of dishonest, unethical, corrupt and questionable behaviour, provincially and federally.... Its up to the electorate to choose their poison. BC needs another option, other than the Greens.
A good number of anti-NDPers will be holding their noses when they vote Liberal, because of the total lack of an alternative.

[Merry]

I voted Liberal last time, but after seeing how well the NDP have governed since then I feel it's only fair to give them another chance, if only to allow them to prove to us that it wasn't just a "blip". The thought of returning the corrupt Liberals to power so soon doesn't appeal to me, because many of the same players that behaved so badly are still involved in the Party.

If the NDP fails to continue to do a good job, my vote will probably swing back to the Libs next time around when, hopefully, enough time will have passed that they'll have weeded out some of their rotten apples. But for now, when forced to choose between two less than perfect options, I choose the option that is the least ethically challenged.

[Urban Cowboy]

The biggest reason the NDP seems to have not been so ethically challenged as you put it, is because they've been in a minority position with the Greens having a huge influence in what the NDP could and couldn't do.

Should the NDP manage to get a majority government you can kiss that fairy tale goodbye.

[cyruslosco66]

The biggest reason the NDP seems to have not been so ethically challenged as you put it, is because they've been in a minority position with the Greens having a huge influence in what the NDP could and couldn't do.

Should the NDP manage to get a majority government you can kiss that fairy tale goodbye.

Merry has a point in that the BCLibs are still corrupt .

[Urban Cowboy]

The biggest reason the NDP seems to have not been so ethically challenged as you put it, is because they've been in a minority position with the Greens having a huge influence in what the NDP could and couldn't do.

Should the NDP manage to get a majority government you can kiss that fairy tale goodbye.

Merry has a point in that the BCLibs are still corrupt .

Perhaps but there are also a number of long time NDP in the mix, whose ethics could be just as easily questioned.

Anyone who thinks that with a majority the NDP would remain squeaky clean is simply kidding themselves.

The Liberal party at least contains members, who actually have some understanding and experience in running a province. Point easily proven by the multiple things the Liberals put in motion, that the NDP didn't bother to change such as the budget as but one biggie. The type of thing I'm far more concerned with given the blatant ineptitude demonstrated within the NDP time and time again.

Another thing to consider is were the Liberals still in power, the people of the lower mainland would have a new bridge about halfway or more built, to replace the Massey Tunnel. The NDP put the kibosh on that and wasted millions of tax payer dollars in the process, meanwhile there's still no plan, let alone work being done, to address this huge issue.

Insofar as ethics go I have yet to see anything by Liberals, or other parties, that even remotely compares to scandals the NDP were front and center in. Among the most vile the exploitation of a Bingo charity to pad NDP coffers.

Several keep bringing up bad decisions made by the Liberal party, which is deserved, while in the process giving the NDP a complete free pass for their indiscretions. If we're going to rake people over the coals let's just keep the playing field level at least.

[Merry]

Response to Urban Cowboy -

The NDP have been running the Province, quite successfully, for the past 3 years, which definitely qualifies them as having the necessary experience for the job.

And as for the bridge to replace the Massey Tunnel, well the Mayors in that area were not in favour of it. So it seems to me that if it didn’t have the support of most of the folks it was intended to benefit, then the Province did right to pause the process while they conduct a review to decide the best way forward. No point spending millions to give people something they don’t want.

Finally, the Bingo scandal you refer to, took place in 1983. That’s 37 years ago! So I think it’s time to move on. Wrong as it was for a few NDP supporters in Nanaimo to use a lottery to raise funds for the Party and then fail to make the required donation to charity out of the proceeds, it’s unreasonable to hold that against those running the Party today, over 3 decades later. And it certainly shouldn’t be used to justify accepting all the Liberals more recent, and much more serious, questionable ethics.

[The Green Barbarian]

The biggest reason the NDP seems to have not been so ethically challenged as you put it, is because they've been in a minority position with the Greens having a huge influence in what the NDP could and couldn't do.

Should the NDP manage to get a majority government you can kiss that fairy tale goodbye.

Yup 100% correct.

You will also see unions being given similar powers as the 1990's which in turn will hurt the economy. That conflict of interest always comes out when an NDP government is in power. Nothing was worse than the evil backroom deal the NDP did with the BCTF in 1998. And yes, the main perpetrator of that deal, Adrian Dix, is still in power Merry.

[cyruslosco66]

Better the unions get more power as that leads to jobs than ignoring money laundering like BCLibs or hiding info on highway of tears .

[The Green Barbarian]

Better the unions get more power as that leads to jobs

No, it doesn't. This is nonsense.

[Merry]

You will also see unions being given similar powers as the 1990's which in turn will hurt the economy. That conflict of interest always comes out when an NDP government is in power. Nothing was worse than the evil backroom deal the NDP did with the BCTF in 1998. And yes, the main perpetrator of that deal, Adrian Dix, is still in power Merry.

This NDP Government has already shown itself to be different than the NDP Government of the nineties

this government has established an ability to take a bit of heat, which stands in marked contrast to the last NDP government back in the 1990s.

Whether it is staring down the environmental movement, the teachers’ union or a handful of social activists, this version of an NDP government has found an ability to stay the course amid a sea of controversies.

By contrast, the 1990s NDP government (at least during its first mandate) seemed afraid of various interest groups the party had counted on for traditional support, including environmentalists, trade unionists and social service groups.

https://globalnews.ca/news/6524182/bald ... toughness/

So I still say we should give them the opportunity to continue governing as well as they have been doing for the past three years. If they screw it up, they’ll cast themselves into the political wilderness again, possibly forever.

[Urban Cowboy]

^^ Do you keep forgetting the part where they have NOT had a majority and have been under the thumb of the Green Party?

Also for much of that three years they simply kept going with what the Liberals had already put in place. I mean they didn't even come up with their own budget.

[Merry]

Given how quickly, and unexpectedly, they were thrust into Office i don’t think they had enough time to put together a responsible budget. So kudos to them that they were willing to recognize that fact, and accept the work already done by their predecessors.

Many folks would have been reluctant to admit that they didn’t have enough time to prepare such an important document, and it’s to the NDP ‘s credit that they were willing to put the good of the Province ahead of their own ego.

They’ve continued to act just as responsibly ever since, having avoided the temptation to kowtow to special interests they traditionally count on for support. And that’s a good thing, for which they should now be rewarded by giving them another term.

[cyruslosco66]

Bc elections now reporting over 400 thousand mail in ballots requested.

[cyruslosco66]

Got my voting package today. Happy to be voting green by mail

[Veovis]

Given how quickly, and unexpectedly, they were thrust into Office i don’t think they had enough time to put together a responsible budget. So kudos to them that they were willing to recognize that fact, and accept the work already done by their predecessors.

Many folks would have been reluctant to admit that they didn’t have enough time to prepare such an important document, and it’s to the NDP ‘s credit that they were willing to put the good of the Province ahead of their own ego.

They’ve continued to act just as responsibly ever since, having avoided the temptation to kowtow to special interests they traditionally count on for support. And that’s a good thing, for which they should now be rewarded by giving them another term.

Ridiculous, they ran an election in the hopes of taking power, but they forgot to do any of the things like planning a platform and budget when they did get power, so they should be commended for not doing their actual job and just using the other persons homework? They do not get praise for that at all. They should have simply allowed the winning party to govern and use their own budget since the NDP didn't bother to.

Now we have the NDP with no candidates, no platform and still no real budget plan, and people seem to think they are actually prepared and competent enough to have an unchecked majority. Nonsense, utter nonsense. They are just as ill equipped now as ever and called it for themselves, not one tiny bit to be good to the people of BC.