Liberal fear-mongering

[kibbs]

In my opinion the libs should be dealing with pipes and tankers almost the same but different than the ndp . let the cons pollute the world . The libs have bigger fish to fry like popularity. You guys Should turn that blue red and start kissin justins butt to get it back. And for gods sake get the teachers out of your rectum.

[albertabound]

Get yours out of justins

[kibbs]

Get yours out of justins

Get my teacher out of justins rectum ? That doesn't make sense .but coming from a province that teaches the way of the rectum it could.

[albertabound]

Get your head out of justins, it is funny to see a liberal like you.

[kibbs]

Get your head out of justins,

glorious future as leader of Canada . Its hard not to feel excited about a return to a Canada we were once proud of. That is why the provincial Liberls should take opportunity and use his uprising. Hey keep all the refreshing cow pie retort coming Alberta it only makes the liberal brand shine more.

[kibbs]

it is funny to see a liberal like you.

I'm from Ontario and the Liberal perspective is different . It is more in line with the federal liberals .Same with the ndp and cons,
at least they are still progressive there. When you form a coalition at the cost of a party you destroy that unique ability to have a minority and allow it to develop into a stronger one in check. If steve got a majority before he learned the ropes, this country would be dealing with abortion.
I was a con when i lived among hics on a farm but when i moved to a metropolis i was enlightened by millions. This country by its very nature is liberal now.
Bc needs to learn how a good 3 party system can work to their benefit ,then this american style poop flinging would stop.

[hobbyguy]

Rwede, there was a lot happening in the forest industry in the 1990's that had zero to do with the NDP government (even though I hated the Clark NDP years). Although it is indisputable that additional regulation added costs, it is also quite arguable that the industry did need to clean up its act.

At any rate, don't forget our buddy south of the border, Max Baucus, who was really after BC lumber exports and drove that little thing - the softwood lumber dispute.

The industry response to the regulatory changes and dispute from where I was sitting at the time, Prince George, was to amalgamate mills, modernize others, and become dramatically more productive. Annecdotally, one mill was said to have tripled production with 1/2 the staff - although that may be an exageration - and took production that used to take place at two others which were closed. Technological change, with things like laser log scanning etc. dramatically increased the yield per log at the same time. The net result was fewer logs rquired to produce the same amount of lumber - so not only fewer sawmill workers required, but fewer loggers (who were moving to newer highly automated feller-bunchers anyway) and truckers required.

This was also a time period where the efforts to recycle paper products collided with the onslaught of electronic communications improvements and the start of the decline of newspapers to really hammer the pulp and paper industry. To make matters worse, the dramatic improvements in log utlilization by sawmills was starting to make pulp mill fibre supply challenging. Making matters tougher still for the pulp industry was the maturing supply chain of radiata pine plantations for southern US pulp producers.

So there was a collision of factors from all sides that made it tough on the BC forest industry. The more forward thinking companies, like Canfor under David Emerson, survived fairly well with newly modernized mills etc.

For whatever reason, the coastal mills did NOT seem to follow suit and embrace the new technolgies, and were also suffering from the lingering effects of previous "high grading" where the "easy wood" was all gone and they were forced into more mountainous terrain where logging costs were much higher. Many coastal facilities were outdated and barely hanging on before the aforementioned collision of events, and did not have the capital to modernize - and so died.

The Skeena cellulose debacle still sticks in my mind as a perhaps well-intentioned but totally misguided effort by the NDP to keep a dead horse alive. Although I suspect the intentions were partially guided by the fact that Dan Miller had ties to the mill. What a complete waste of taxpayer dollars!

Anyway, the collision of technological change that reduced markets, US political interference, technological changes and consolidation of mills etc. was inevitably going to lead to far fewer jobs in the forest industry. The dramatic increase in log utilization meant that for the same volume of lumber shipped, fewer tress were cut - which equals less stumpage revenue for the government.

My conclusion is that while the NDP under Clark and Miller were pretty inept, the vast majority of the change that hit the forest industry was not within the control of any provincial government.

Oh, and by the way, I still haven't forgiven the NDP of the 1990's for killing the Kemano hydro project.

But maybe I will if they kill the DILBIT pipelines...

[Fritzthecat]

I'm going to make this short and sweet, good old Christy and her clan keep saying the NDP are going to drive the children of this Province to Alberta while they allow raw lumber to be processed elswhere and contracts given to Halliburton up north that came with all their US workers makes me sick!!! If people cannot read through the Liberals there all blind!!!!

I liked their fear mongering tha tthe B CNDP were going to cancel the Penticton Hospital upgrade.

Come on Christy, you were part of the cabinet thatSHUT DOWN how many hospitals and slashed the hell out of the budget.
Who are we to fear agian? Why not talk about YOUR record with the BC Liberals during the first term of the NEw Era?
How many hosptial/health care beds did we lose in 12 years?

Well?

[Gone_Fishin]

New definition: slashing = spending more on healthcare every year for 12 years.

[Fritzthecat]

New definition: slashing = spending more on healthcare every year for 12 years.

Right, and closing hospitals too, is that how you make more beds?
Typical BC Liberal crap. If there is a budget shortfall, it is NOT being funded adequately.

[kibbs]

This election reminds me of being a kid again. My two brothers were always fighten and always trying to sway my opinion by hyping up the bs on each other. The trouble was in the end it didn't matter which side I chose ,they would get together and beat me up instead, because that was their nature.

[Urbane]

Right, and closing hospitals too, is that how you make more beds?
Typical BC Liberal crap. If there is a budget shortfall, it is NOT being funded adequately.

You're doing the same thing that the BCTF always does. They only mention schools that have closed (due to low enrollment) but fail to mention the new schools that have been opened and the existing schools that have been upgraded and/or expanded. And despite steady increases in both health and education spending we're told that budgets have been slashed. Contrary to what some people believe there is a finite amount of money and this government decided to consolidate resources and that makes sense to me. Examples: We have had expansions and upgrading to Royal Jubilee in Victoria, Vernon Jubilee, and KGH. We have a new cardiac department at KGH that is a huge plus for those heart patients who need it. And the government has also opened up two new medical schools as opposed to the last NDP government which actually closed seats in existing medical schools. There are many other accomplishments in health care as well and in fact British Columbia has some of the best health care outcomes in the country.

[flamingfingers]

And Christy cancelled funding to the Therapeutics Initiative in order to cater to PRIVATE drug companies!

http://www.cmaj.ca/site/earlyreleases/1 ... cuts.xhtml

Oh, wait a minute! I wonder if THIS had anything to do with her decision:

http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/6558 ... 11-to-one/

[Urbane]

^^ As you probably know this past October the Ministry of Health suspended funding for the initiative while also referring some matters to the RCMP for further investigation. There are allegations of inappropriate conduct as well as issues surrounding contracting and data-management practices (possibly involving involving former Ministry employees). The government's investigation had already led to the dismissal of four individuals and the suspension of three others. In the meantime UBC has stepped in and is continuing the actual work of the initiative.

[flamingfingers]

From the CMAJ article referenced:

"This [investigation] has focused on personnel both internal and external to the ministry, some of whom also have UBC connections. But it is not the [Therapeutics Initiative] itself that is the focus of the investigation," she says.

The Therapeutics Initiative promotes drug safety and provides substantial benefits to patients and clinicians, McNeill says. The initiative's research has led to changes in the way 95% of physicians and 92% of pharmacists in the province say they prescribe or recommend drugs, according to the research group's own survey.

BC New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Adrian Dix is also championing the Therapeutics Initiative, and has publicly rebuked the Liberal government for stopping its funding. The NDP election platform pledges that, if elected, the party will "restore the Therapeutic Initiative's role as BC's drug watchdog and make its expertise available to private drug plans, clinicians and consumers."

Dix recently praised the initiative for saving lives and more than $100 million annually in pharmaceutical costs for the province. The initiative frequently raised early concerns about the safety of drugs that government regulators later reinforced, Dix says.