NDP campaign run by USW, $600,000 in cash from USA

[The Green Barbarian]

I kind of like it though, comparing Trump to Horgan.. Let's make BC great again..!!! Has a nice ring..

And just like Trump, Horgan isn't telling us how he would do it.

[Rwede]

The NDP's inability to raise funds should be a warning to voters.

It indicates little support from educated people who are successful and know what it takes to balance their own books and put people to work with innovative thinking.

It indicates poor marketing efforts by the NDP, and in our economy, this province needs to be marketed to the world so we can sell our products and attract people to visit here and support our tourism industries.

It indicates that the NDP has failed to attract anyone other than their union masters to join them, and indicates that the majority of investment in is supporting the status quo for BC, which is a strong economy and low unemployment and high standard of living.

It indicates that the NDP just can't attract support from anyone new - the only ones supporting them now are the same unions that supported them in the 1990s. Same old NDP.

By all accounts, the NDP is a gigantic failure.

[The Green Barbarian]

Horgan's feeling the poop up around his chin on this right now.

And the level's rising, quickly.

Game, set and match Horgan. It's over.

[krocky]

I kind of like it though, comparing Trump to Horgan.. Let's make BC great again..!!! Has a nice ring..

And just like Trump, Horgan isn't telling us how he would do it.

Worked for TRUMP...

[Jx3]

I kind of like it though, comparing Trump to Horgan.. Let's make BC great again..!!! Has a nice ring..

Great again? Like the 1990's? No thanks!

[krocky]

The NDP's inability to raise funds should be a warning to voters.
It indicates little support from educated people who are successful and know what it takes to balance their own books and put people to work with innovative thinking.
It indicates poor marketing efforts by the NDP, and in our economy, this province needs to be marketed to the world so we can sell our products and attract people to visit here and support our tourism industries.
It indicates that the NDP has failed to attract anyone other than their union masters to join them, and indicates that the majority of investment in is supporting the status quo for BC, which is a strong economy and low unemployment and high standard of living. It indicates that the NDP just can't attract support from anyone new - the only ones supporting them now are the same unions that supported them in the 1990s. Same old NDP.
By all accounts, the NDP is a gigantic failure.

It also indicates that the people doing the bribing would rather deal with the Liberals because they know their "donations" will be re-paid in kind.. It's been proven time and time again, so I agree the "smart" BRIBERS know exactly where to put their money..

If you think accepting bribes is a normal part of politics, you might be a Liberal

[Merry]

Here are the main reasons we should care about :deep pocket" campaign financing in BC

1. Large donors have too much influence on government.

2. The current system is coercive.

3. The B.C. Liberals have an unfair funding advantage.

4. The system lacks transparency.

5. “Dark money” is a growing problem.

6. The system is too expensive and wasteful.

7. The conflict of interest regime is ethically blind.

http://www.straight.com/news/873551/mar ... h-columbia

If you follow the link the article goes on to explain each point in detail, and is an interesting read.

[The Green Barbarian]

If you follow the link the article goes on to explain each point in detail, and is an interesting read.

After what they did to John Furlong, I will never read the Straight again.

[Merry]

As I'm sure point #3 will be the most controversial one, here's a couple of excerpts from the author's more detailed explanation of that point:

The Vancouver Sun’s latest analysis on the top 50 donors in each party was especially telling. The B.C. Liberals raised nearly $80 million from the corporate sector between 2005-2015. That represents almost a 6:1 advantage over the $14 million that the NDP managed to collect from the unions in that same period.

As the B.C. Liberals recently disclosed, a few months before they were legally required to do so, they raised $12.4 million last year. Of that, $7.9 million was from corporate donations. In one year. The governing party received almost $10 million in political contributions in 2015—more than three times the $3 million the NDP raised. In 2014, the B.C. Liberals raked in $10.1 million from donors, again, over triple the NDP’s nearly $3.2 million.

Think of that. In corporate donations alone the B.C. Liberals are more than doubling the NDP’s entire take from all donors.

Money is the “M-perative” upon which any party’s strength of message, marketing, membership, and related media coverage all ride, which are so critical to its mission. It takes something truly extraordinary—a seminal event or triumph of leadership—to change that equation that normally dooms distant third parties to ongoing oblivion before they even get out of the gate. The larger the systemic funding disparity between B.C.’s parties grows, the worse it is for our democracy. Not just because of the difficulties it poses for the ability of smaller parties to fairly compete; but also, in how it handicaps the NDP, as B.C.’s only other realistic current option for government.

Some may point to other elections as proof that the party that spends the most isn’t necessarily the one that wins. Maybe so. The winds of change can be a powerfully leveling force that can throw even the best-funded parties off-balance. But the contenders have to be at least plausibly positioned to fight in the same ring. And in politics, that usually requires equitable pools of funding and related resources.

The B.C. Liberal party’s structurally devastating funding advantage versus its main challenger is the political equivalent of a UFC fight pitting heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic against lightweight champ Conor McGregor.

Sure, it’s possible that the latter may prevail, if he is really crafty, technically proficient, and extremely lucky.

But when the heavyweight is 6’ 4” and 240 pounds, you may not want to bet on the 5’ 9”, 155-pound lightweight. The disparity in firepower is simply overwhelming. So it is with the B.C. Liberals’ massive financial advantage over the New Democrats. The former’s 3:1 advantage over the latter in money raised from all donor sources is corrosive to our democracy. It assaults voters’ range of viable political choice, especially in the absence of an alternative electoral system that encourages and rewards choice. Some variant of proportional representation might help to counter that dangerous reality and growing threat in British Columbia.

The absence of rules and restrictions on party financing that exists in B.C.’s current campaign finance system structurally favours one party over all the rest. And that painfully obvious truth is caustic in its effect on so many tenets of true democracy. It undermines voter choice and fair elections predicated on genuine voter equality. It undermines meaningful multiparty systems. And it frustrates real accountability and transparency that ensure control over the abuse of power.

http://www.straight.com/news/873551/mar ... h-columbia

[Mr_Mrs_Wolf]

It is a matter of objective fairness that information be presented to show those touting USW supporting NDP is bad, so bad, some of the baddest of bad all the while their leader of choice Christy Clark is neck deep in accepting money from U.S.-based forestry giant Weyerhaeuser.

This is particularly hypocritical since Weyerhaeuser is part of the coalition of logging companies pushing for punitive tariffs against B.C. softwood.

The ability to defend Christy Clark BC Liberals, without looking like an complete idiot, is getting harder each and every time her hypocrisy is reaveled

http://theprovince.com/news/bc-politics ... bate-looms

PS it's quite possible these same CC supporters are Trumpetes too. Again very hypocritical then to denounce those he does business with in the name of Making America Great Again.

[alfred2]

who in their right mind give cobs of money to the ndp. Even some unions are smarter then others by not supporting the ndp.

[krocky]

I kind of like it though, comparing Trump to Horgan.. Let's make BC great again..!!! Has a nice ring..

Great again? Like the 1990's? No thanks!

I love this response and I keep hearing it over and over and over, but I guess when that's all you've got then..!!..

Yes everything is "exactly" like it was 27 years ago. The economy is the same, house prices are the same, the whole slate of NDP candidates are the same.. Wakey wakey, it's 2017.. Or should we talk about the years between 1929 and 1939, I hear they were pretty tough too, perhaps the current NDP were responsible for that too..

If you still think it's 1990, you might be a Liberal..

[The Green Barbarian]

I love this response and I keep hearing it over and over and over, but I guess when that's all you've got then..!!..

Yes it's all we've got. Just like the USA has nuclear bombs. That's all they've got.

[The Green Barbarian]

If you still think it's 1990, you might be a Liberal..

if you have changed nothing from the disastrous methodologies that led to your 2001 defeat of 77-2 and think that you should take over government anyway, you ARE an NDP

[Gone_Fishin]

The NDP's inability to raise funds should be a warning to voters.

It indicates little support from educated people who are successful and know what it takes to balance their own books and put people to work with innovative thinking.

It indicates poor marketing efforts by the NDP, and in our economy, this province needs to be marketed to the world so we can sell our products and attract people to visit here and support our tourism industries.

It indicates that the NDP has failed to attract anyone other than their union masters to join them, and indicates that the majority of investment in is supporting the status quo for BC, which is a strong economy and low unemployment and high standard of living.

It indicates that the NDP just can't attract support from anyone new - the only ones supporting them now are the same unions that supported them in the 1990s. Same old NDP.

By all accounts, the NDP is a gigantic failure.

You're right. The NDP is avoided by intelligent, successful people. That's all one really needs to know when contrasting the fundraising successes, or lack thereof, of the parties.