Campbell has to go..

[NAB]

Another issue here is how union contract negotiations have been handled in the past few years.

Essentially, the objective of this government was to get the lowest settlements possible, with a bit of payola grease to ensure the deals extended beyong the 2010 Olympics so as to ensure labour strife did not disrupt that party time and the preparations for it.

Now I'm not saying that was a bad, or even an unnecessary strategy. In fact, at the time, I even agreed with it.

But considering developments since on the economic front the future beyond the Olympics now looks pretty grim for many to me. Inflation rearing its head, people in growing economic difficulty and overextended with debt, incomes failing to keep pace, jobs being lost in several critical sectors, and runaway growth in Olympic expenditures combined with clear possibility of overestimated Olympic Revenues leading to a major bill to be picked up by the taxpayers in the years beyond.

That evokes in my mind a massive crash possibility complete with high inflation and spiralling wage demands circa 2011/2012, just around the time the next government in power will be entering the downhill time frame into yet another provincial election. Do we have anyone in the wings capable or prepared to address that possibility of substantial increases in taxation along with huge cuts in services to meet the deferred obligations, or even anticipating that we may have to shoulder huge government debt and annual budgetary deficits to dig ourselves out of the deep hole that is potentially being dug by this government?

Of course, should it happen to be the NDP in power if and when that happens, they will take a devastating hit because they will be responsible to try and fix it. And that will not make them very popular. Frankly, I wouldn't want to be an MLA regardless of party affiliation in the next government. And it wouldn't surprise me at all to see a lot of the current crowd decide to "retire" from provincial politics in the months ahead. Maybe all this fuss about MLA pensions and fat raises is a symptom of that. One last deep slurp at the trough as it were ;-)

Nab

[steven lloyd]

You know, Steven, your continued use of the term "criminal" just cheapens your posts on this forum. It is only surpassed by your contempt for anyone who voted Liberal in the last election. Sure, our electoral system is not perfect but it is the one we have and people cast their votes democratically in the last election and Campbell became premiere. To call those people pathetic is just wrong.

Your message is getting lost in the noise of contempt.

Well, you are certainly entitled to your opinion Dave – and I wouldn’t have it any other way. You may find my continued use of the term "criminal" to be cheap, but even more important is that many others may finally have a light bulb go on in their head and say to themselves “Ah-hah”. On the other side of the coin you simply provide evidence that indeed, “There are some people who you can fool all of the time”.

[usquebaugh]

Nab Heehee, thanks for that bit from MacLean's!

WD It doesn't devalue the discourse to refer to Campbell and the Liberals as "criminals," not at all. When a person refers to opponents as "Nazis," then the level of discourse has dropped. (That's why I prefer to use the term fascist!)

[steven lloyd]

WD It doesn't devalue the discourse to refer to Campbell and the Liberals as "criminals," not at all.

Of course not - it's no different than calling the Whitecaps "soccer players".

[usquebaugh]

WD It doesn't devalue the discourse to refer to Campbell and the Liberals as "criminals," not at all.

Of course not - it's no different than calling the Whitecaps "soccer players".

A toast! To keeping the memory of Campbell's screw-ups at the forefront of voters' memories before the election (damn I wish we could just have it in the fall... even if it does conflict with the *potential* federal election!).

[steven lloyd]

WD It doesn't devalue the discourse to refer to Campbell and the Liberals as "criminals," not at all.

Of course not - it's no different than calling the Whitecaps "soccer players".

A toast! To keeping the memory of Campbell's screw-ups at the forefront of voters' memories before the election (damn I wish we could just have it in the fall... even if it does conflict with the *potential* federal election!).

Ah, if only. The one thing I’ll give the right –wing credit for is a sustained and well-organized delivery of mis-information to the electorate. Take Al Cervic, for example (and I sincerely hope he’s doing well). Here’s a poster who has demonstrated a certain level of intelligence, but would still compare the philosophies of the NDP with the political paradigm of communism (“darn it Al, I thought you were smart”). Comparisons to Cuba, China and North Korea are often used by posters who are educationally challenged, but a reference such as this by someone like Al just shows how pervasive social indoctrination can be. In spite of what should be obvious (yes Dave, corruption and criminal activity), I would be surprised if this “pathetic” electorate didn’t vote this government in again.

I’m just grateful I’m at an age where I’m thinking about retiring. In spite of the new challenges facing us all (while we shift economic and taxation policy to further support the banks and big business), at least I am not so naïve as to be wondering when I’m going to benefit from this “new era of hope and prosperity”.

Sorry Dave. Do people you know still believe there’s going to be a new era of hope and prosperity?

[BoyzMommy]

People keep asking for examples of "criminal" activity by this government.

How about Bill 12 for starters? The Bill that turned teachers into criminals for wanting to negotiate a contract according to their rights as Canadian citizens. Even the United Nations deemed that little government law a criminal act. Slippery move on their part. Refuse to negotiate and then create a law which forces a ridiculous contract down teacher's throats and turns them into "criminals" for refusing to accept that treatment. So much for negotiating rights in this province.

Oh, and don't forget their skill of ripping up contracts that have already been agreed upon...ask the nurses about that one. Oh, and didn't they rip up contracts for court employees as well?

How about what they've done to funding for the mentally ill? Anyone want to take a guess why the numbers of street people and drug addicts just keeps rising? Compare the time line of the homeless problem in Kelowna, and you will find it is very similar to the gov'ts timeline of funding cuts to social programs for those with mental illnesses. Hmmm, mistreatment of sick people...yep, sounds criminal to me.

Oh, and let's not forget their lying to the general public. How about stating publicly that they have raised teacher's wages, but then refusing to give the actual money to the school boards to pay for those raises? Then when boards are forced to cut programs or shut down schools, they make it sound like they have no control over those situations, and that the boards and greedy teachers are to blame. But if you agree to a contract, don't you legally have to pay for it too? Apparently not according to this government. Or how about pulling funding away from boards at the last minute and leaving them scrambling? How much did the Board have to pull from its budget this year? 4 million dollars in gov't shortfalls?

Or ask the local parents of special needs kids how much of a criminal this government is. They have cut funding to special needs kids as well, now determining that an autistic child who is supposed to get full funding for an educational assistant is really only given about 16 hours of assistance a week. Last time I checked, an elementary aged child is in school from 8:30 until 2:30, which means that there should be an aid with him/her for six hours a day, five days a week. Even if you subtract the five lunch hours (because of COURSE it's safe to leave an autistic child alone for an hour according to the Ministry), that still leaves us with 25 hours of class time in a week. So where is this child supposed to go for the other nine hours of time that there isn't a CEA? Ask the criminals in our government. Apparently they have discovered a miraculous cure for special needs kids that renders them "normal" for those other nine hours. No more fear of the child running off when the teacher is busy with twenty other children. Oh no, the government says you can't be a special needs child after your 16 hours of funded assistance is up. The way the funding is now, you will start to see less integration of special needs kids, and more lumping of those kids together into "special" classes again. Tell me that isn't criminal.

And don't even get me started on the lies, misrepresentations, and embellished half-truths that we've been fed about the Olympics. Am I happy we are hosting them? Perhaps. Am I looking forward to paying for them for the rest of my life? Not a chance. Do I believe anything the government or VanOC has to say about them? Not bloody likely. Isn't repeatedly lying to the public and illegal act? Not according to this government.

Get them out before they ruin this province any further!

[usquebaugh]

^^ Well said, BoyzMommy.

I'll add selling off BC Natural Gas to Terasen in 2003!

[grumpydigger]

Gordo did many disgusting things at the start of his first term that a lot of people think started the prosperity in bc. But in truth he was just in the right place at the right time and rode the good north American economy. Like most politicians they did there dirty work first then blew hot air up the skirts of the people when its time to be reelected .....The poor, homeless,the old, the mentally ill are easy targets for him because are less able to protect them selves . And because of the ME,ME,ME, greed thinking of a lot of people he got away with it........This Olympics and all the cost over runs are going to bite Gordo on the a$$ and I dont want to even think what the bill for the RCMP security is going to cost the bc people.......................=====short party,Big hangover=====

[NAB]

^^ Well said, BoyzMommy.

I'll add selling off BC Natural Gas to Terasen in 2003!

Technically ndp, The BC Government, via the BC utilities commission as well as federal regulators "permitted" the sale of Terasen (as approved by Terasen shareholders) to Kinder-Morgan of Houston, Texas. The deal closed in 2005 midst considerable public furor. Teresen (ex BC Natural gas) had evolved out of the combining of Inland Natural Gas and Columbia Natural Gas in the 1970's as Inland Natural Gas, then Inland aquiring the lower mainland gas business developed and operated by BC Hydro and changed to BC Gas to become a province wide gas distribution utility (the pride of BC taxpayers and customers incidentally). (Bennet Socreds era) In 2002 BC gas purchased Centra Gas BC and Centra Gas Whistler to complete the consolidation of natural gas distribution throughout the province.

In 2003 BC Gas changed its name to "Terasen", primarily we were told because it's operations had extended "beyond BC" (Doesn't take much imagination to guess the main direction of that extended business).

Then, around the same time following the name change, Kinder Morgan of Texas announced an agreement under which it would acquire all the shares of Terasen for total consideration of about 5.6 Billion dollars US (6.9 Billion Canadian $ at the time). The deal closed in 2005 (I think following the re-election of the Cambell government in May, 2005, but hat doesn't really matter because the thing was in the works during his first term).

The following year (2006), as now owner of Teresen, Kinder Morgan of Texas, split off Terasen Water and Utility Services and its affiliated companies and sold them to a consortium led by CAI Capital Management Co., a Private Venture Capital Fund headquartered in Toronto. Kinder had only wanted Terasen's core asset base of energy pipelines and terminals.

Last year (2007) Kinder- Morgan of Texas flipped Terasen Inc. and sold it to Fortis Inc. of Newfoundland. From its website Fortis Inc. is the largest investor-owned distribution utility in Canada, serving almost 2,000,000 gas and electricity customers. Its regulated holdings include a natural gas utility in British Columbia and electric utilities in 5 Canadian provinces and 3 Caribbean countries. It owns non-regulated hydroelectric generation assets across Canada and in Belize and upper New York State. It also owns hotels & commercial real estate in Canada."

...I just needed to show how our BC developed (with taxpayer help over the years) natural gas and water distribution distribution utilities got gutted and sold off by this government in an engineered (IMO) way since they came to power in 2001, and with control of those utilities largely outside any influence by the electors of this province any more.

IMO privatization is not ALWAYS a bad thing, but with the history of Terasen I cannot help but wonder what is quietly in the works with this government concerning similar happening to BC Hydro should they win another term in office. Yes we have a BC Utilities Commission who is the last authority in the chain of potential protection for BC taxpayers and consumers before Federal regulators get to look at such things. But Like the BC Securities Commission, they both operate under the legislation and influence of the Provincial Government (as amended from time to time ;-)

Then of course we have that little Railway issue of recent years, as well as the fact that no one wants our value added lumber and pulp and paper any more, but we are seemingly willing to let "them" pillage our forests for the raw materials to ship south so the related jobs and value added can accrue to US investors and enterprise.

In looking around, there seems little more of our province we can sell off and/or exercise any substantial control over any more. I have little doubt either that many "in the know" would have had ample opportunity to "adjust" their investment portfolio's if they wished before the BC Utilities Commission introduces the new rules legislated in 2004 (but not implemented to date so "industry would have time adjust")

Edit to add: How many investment portfolio's got sweetened by all this I have no way of knowing, but I have absolute faith that politicians and bureaucrats would in no way knowingly invest in such things ;-)

Nab

[NAB]

As a bit of an aside... Here goes another one! Of course, a NAFTA clause effectively inhibits taxpayers, via their provincial government, from interfering in any substantial way.

""TransAlta Corp. [TA-T] said Monday its major shareholder, New York-based Luminus Management LLC, has formed a partnership with another firm to make a takeover bid for the Calgary-based power generator.

TransAlta said it has received a letter about a possible takeover for $39 per share in cash, valuing the company at about $7.8-billion. Luminus, a New York-based money manager, currently owns 9 per cent of TransAlta's outstanding shares and was involved in a proxy fight with TransAlta earlier this year.

TransAlta is a nearly 100-year-old wholesale power generator whose customers include utilities and corporations in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. It had revenue of $2.77-billion (U.S.) last year and earnings of $308.9-million.

It has 50 power plants that can generate 9,000 megawatts of power, enough to run 7.3 million homes. Besides wind power, it has plants powered by coal, natural gas, hydro and geothermal......""

Full article: http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet ... iness/home

Edit to add: A list of its plants can be found here:

http://www.transalta.com/transalta/webc ... enDocument

And a map of operations here:

http://www.transalta.com/transalta/webc ... enDocument

[steven lloyd]

It’s actually hard to keep up with the corruption and criminal activity undertaken by this regime over the past (almost) eight years. Thanks BoyzMommy and Nabs for bringing that all back again. No government has ever struck me as honest, but no government - in this part of the world anyway - has ever done such a complete job of gutting our resources and economy and setting us up for inevitable collapse like this criminal regime. As Nabs points out, by then these criminals will all be retired out of politics, sucking from the public trough and receiving their well-earned corporate kickbacks leaving the sheeple to claw on and eat grass. What else can be said? This electorate bought the lies and elected this regime not only once, but twice, and as I’ve said I would not be surprised to see them do it a third time. Oh well, we will get what we deserve.

[usquebaugh]

Gordo did many disgusting things at the start of his first term that a lot of people think started the prosperity in bc. But in truth he was just in the right place at the right time and rode the good north American economy. Like most politicians they did there dirty work first then blew hot air up the skirts of the people when its time to be reelected .....The poor, homeless,the old, the mentally ill are easy targets for him because are less able to protect them selves . And because of the ME,ME,ME, greed thinking of a lot of people he got away with it........This Olympics and all the cost over runs are going to bite Gordo on the a$$ and I dont want to even think what the bill for the RCMP security is going to cost the bc people.......................=====short party,Big hangover=====

I feel like I've had a hangover since the Campbell Libs were first elected! Post-Olympics my head might just explode.

I just hope there are enough *bleep* off people going to the polls in the spring.

[Nebula]

I feel like I've had a hangover since the Campbell Libs were first elected! Post-Olympics my head might just explode.

Call me. I'll take pictures.

[usquebaugh]

I feel like I've had a hangover since the Campbell Libs were first elected! Post-Olympics my head might just explode.

Call me. I'll take pictures.

Hey, I used the conditional "might." Should the Liberals be out of power prior to the Olympics, that ought to be enough of a temporary analgesic.

Also, if Sverige wins gold again in hockey, I'll have a happy hangover!