BC Budget 2017

[Rwede]

Doug Parton, the business manager for the ironworkers union, explained today why the union was endorsing Clark and the Liberals. Here's an excerpt and a link to the whole article.

by Tom Fletcher - BC Local News
Victoria BC posted Mar 1, 2017 at 2:00 PM
Premier Christy Clark took her lunch break with workers on a Victoria construction project Wednesday, receiving the endorsement of the Ironworkers International and its B.C. local.

"We may not agree with Premier Clark on every issue, or the BC Liberals, but we believe their plan for economic growth, for apprenticeship training and all the lunch bucket and kitchen table issues that affect our members is the right one for us," said Doug Parton, Ironworkers Local 97 business manager, surrounded by union members on the site of a new downtown building.
http://www.pqbnews.com/news/415145874.html

In a related story, there's been a leak from the NDP's yet to be released platform and here are some excerpts:

No no no no no no no no no.

LOL!

And now Horgan's stupidity is losing the all-important union vote.

That's terrific news though for the future of BC politics.

Losing the union vote leaves the NDP scrapping with the Greens over a handful of hippies, and relegating the NDP to the trash bin of political history. At least we'll be able to vote the Liberals out in 2021 with no threat of an NDP poopshow if we ensure utter destruction of the NDP in 2017.

[maryjane48]

oh yea just who you suppose the nurses union will back or teachers ? lol *removed*

[alfred2]

oh yea just who you suppose the nurses union will back or teachers ? lol *removed*

the nurses are too smart to vite ndp. most teachers are also too smart to vote ndp, how does any union boss know how a member voted.

[maryjane48]

*removed*

[Urbane]

If Horgan and the NDP win the May election you'll see a very different budget from the one that the Liberals introduced. In an open letter in the Vancouver Sun to NDP leader John Horgan Jim Shepard, former CEO of Canfor and Finning, asks Horgan to reconsider his support for the NDP's Leap Manifesto. Here's an excerpt:

A simple review of the B.C. Budget shows how devastating the plan to abandon the non-renewable resource sector would be for our province. The NDP's Leap Manifesto will:

Eliminate 29,800 jobs in the non-renewable resource sector
Eliminate another 60,000 indirect jobs that rely on the existence of the non-renewable resource sector.
Wipe out more than $5 billion in annual salaries paid to workers whose jobs are directly or indirectly linked to the non-renewable resource sector. Simply put, tens of thousands of British Columbians and their families would feel great pain if you implement the NDP's Leap Manifesto. Further, billions of dollars in additional tax revenue would be lost, eroding our ability to pay for the schools, hospitals, and other services every British Columbian expects and deserves.

So even if you're not thrilled with the BC Liberals, and even if there are things in the Liberal budget that you don't like, think long and hard before voting for John Horgan and NDP because the Leap Manifesto is bad news. Very bad news.

[w84u2]

As of today, looks like the liberals are still ahead of all others.

[flamingfingers]

^^What do you expect here in the Okanagan - Christy has only ONE candidate to oppose - a Green Party nomination. In a riding that would vote for a fencepost with hair if they named it 'Christy'....
snerk

[Urbane]

^^What do you expect here in the Okanagan - Christy has only ONE candidate to oppose - a Green Party nomination. In a riding that would vote for a fencepost with hair if they named it 'Christy'....

I don't think that insulting people who choose not to vote for your party is the the way to go. We should be talking about the BC budget. That budget is reflective of a strong economy, the strongest in Canada, and given the lack of a viable alternative I certainly understand those who are voting Liberal. I'll likely vote that way myself, especially since it looks like there may not be an independent running in my riding.

[flamingfingers]

^^And it doesn't bother you to vote for more corruption, less transparency, and huge increases in 'user fees' to ensure Christy can brag about 'lowest income tax'?? What about forcing Hydro, ICBC to borrow money so her government can 'raid' their coffers in order to 'balance the budget' and raising insurance rates, BC hydro rates (wait for the rate increases when it's time to pay for Site C).

[Urbane]

^^ I'm thankful that we have the strongest economy in Canada and thankful that we don't have a Leap Manifesto budget.

[flamingfingers]

^^ I'm thankful that we have the strongest economy in Canada and thankful that we don't have a Leap Manifesto budget.

Who is advocating a LEAP MANIFESTO budget??? Maybe Weaver? Although i don't really trust the Greens any more - they have allowed the ChristyLiberals to run ads for them - despite their avid and well-advertised disdain to accept corporate/ union/special interest donations.

[Urbane]

Who is advocating a LEAP MANIFESTO budget??? Maybe Weaver? Although i don't really trust the Greens any more - they have allowed the ChristyLiberals to run ads for them - despite their avid and well-advertised disdain to accept corporate/ union/special interest donations.

In his open letter to John Horgan in the Sun today, Jim Shepard quoted Horgan (on January 27, 2017):

"I don't even disagree with the bulk of what's in the Leap Manifesto. I'll put forward my Leap Manifesto in the next election . . ."

[flamingfingers]

Link??

[Urbane]

Link??

Buy a copy of today's Vancouver Sun if you don't believe me. I gave you the quote and it was because of that quote that Jim Shepard's open letter was printed in the paper. The open letter takes up all of page A7.

[hobbyguy]

It actually doesn't matter what John Horgan says about the Leap Manifesto. As I have pointed out before, every time the BC NDP present a reasonable set of policies and a move toward the center leader, they gain popularity, and potential votes - but as soon as the reasonable center left gains them a power base, the far left People stab them in the back and take over.

The Leap Manifesto has traction among NDP diehards. It is, on its face, a tyrannical document. It says "our way or the highway". http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ndp-leap-manifesto-policy-1.3538439

It is unrealistic enough, and dangerous enough in its simplistic thinking, to be an unmitigated disaster. Sorry twits: most miners and loggers and oil workers don't want to be artists or care-givers and most likely don't have those talents. There is a real smack of academic snobbery about it.

So I personally won't go near a party associated with such garbage. Horgan could disavow the whole thing and be genuine about that disavowal, but given BC NDP history and modus operandii, Horgan would be out very shortly if the BC NDP get elected to power. Ask Mike Harcourt, or Carol James...

The NDP are so far off the rails with the Leap Manifesto that I can not understand why anyone would vote for them.

And that's coming from someone who believes that we should transition away from fossil fuels etc.