Take that ‘stupid’ voters…
April 27, 2010
Apparently even a former Liberal finance minister know what a bald-face lie looks like when she sees it
“This particular tax takes the tax off businesses – it takes $1.8-billion off of businesses – and puts it on consumers,” Ms. Taylor told a CTV News panel last week. “But I think the bigger issue is that [Premier Gordon Campbell] promised that they would not – they would not – do the harmonization of the sales tax. And then right after the election, decided to do it.”…@
I suppose though that not even she could remain silent any longer considering how blatant the lies & double-talk of her former boss Gordon Campbell have become.
Ms. Taylor’s statements will definitly help the NDP, not that the NDP really needs it…
Seeing as the B.C Liberal Fiberal’s support/popularity was already in free fall,that said sadly not much of that drop can be credited to anything the NDP might have done. Truth be told the NDP’s performance through out Campbell’s two terms has been pretty lackluster if not confusing at times.
Indeed the NDP’s inability to capitalize on Liberal ineptness, in a more effective manner, is definitly a head-scratcher.
Particularly when one considers just how many times the B.C Liberals have screwed-up & or out right lied -two terms worth at that- literally serving the NDP political ammo on a silver platter.
That said though, why quibble… in politics a win’s a win, even if it comes about despite one’s self.
Keep up the good work King Gordo.
And the moral of the story is,that it’s possible to win an election without having to do much of anything,other than turning up that is.
H/T The Gazetteer
Let the games begin ; B.C v First Nation
January 6, 2010
Or should that read ,’let the games resume’….
Environment minister Barry Penner and rural development minister Bill Bennett gave an environmental assessment certificate today to a landfill project run by a well-connected company that has made significant donations to the B.C. Liberal Party. @
Seems like it was only yesterday when the B.C government announced, with much pomp and ceremony, it’s commitment & intent to forge a new relationship with B.C ‘s Indigenous Peoples.
Many Indigenous Peoples & non, greeted the government’s announcement with guarded enthusiasm. Welcoming this seemingly 180 degree policy turn on part of the Liberal government, led by Gordon Campbell. Considering that this was the same arrogant government which launched a referendum back in 2002, asking the majority (settlers) to vote yea or nay on the most basic & inherent rights of Indigenous People ,i.e aboriginal title/ treaty rights.
A skeptical person might can not but point out that this push for a ‘new relationship’. Did not come from some need on part of Gordon Campbell as an individual,nor the government to finally do right by Indigenous Peoples . But rather by the realization,promoted by Supreme Court ruling(s), that no longer will they be able to blatantly ignore aboriginal title, perceptions of democracy/rule of law and all.
The courts ruled that the Crown “must” consult and reach accommodation with “aboriginals”, before any development on lands in dispute or not covered by treaty,can take place. Although the threshold of what exactly ‘consult & accommodate’ entails was/is set very,very low.
The province’s announcement said the Bonaparte Indian Band and the Ashcroft Indian Band participated in the environmental assesment and expressed support for the project. “The B.C. government is satisfied the Crown’s duties to consult and accommodate First Nations interests have been discharged,” it said.
The announcement neglected to mention that the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council’s chief Robert Pasco announced in December that the tribal council is already challenging in court an earlier August, 2009, decision to extend the life of the landfill until 2012. @
The Lower Nicola Band has also said it opposes expanding the landfill.
Or to put it another way,and as the above illustrates,consult and accommodate does not exist in any meaningful sense of the word never mind in law. It along with the proposed Recognition & Reconciliation Act are but toothless exercises in political gamesmanship.
It’s about the perception…stupid.
On one side you have the likes of Gordon Campbell representing the B.C government/settlers/industry and on the other same-side…
Everybody knows what’s really needed,that is, real negotiations that will once and for all settle land-claims and work out jurisdictions and ownership.
But of course, as ordinary band members and others have been stating for years. This can not be accomplished at least not democratically, unless & until Indigenous Peoples elect/appoint their own leaders. Leaders independent of the settler government & it’s institutions, rather deriving their legitimacy & authority solely from the peoples they represent,not in word but in actuality.
Yes sirree, let the games resume…
*(brackets mine)
Wanted a Zocalo,or two
June 11, 2009
One of the things that I loved about Mexico during my travels was the ubiquitous Zocalo.Many Mexican cities and towns are designed around a Zocalo,which can only be described as the living beating heart of Mexican urban life .
The heart analogy is not only fitting but perfectly describes the vital role central squares play in the vitality and life of Mexican cities & towns. All roads lead to the center,and not just of the tarmac kind,but also the political,cultural,& sense of community. To get a feel for a particular city/town & it’s people a good place to start is always the Zocalo.
The love of central square is one of those things in life that seems to cross all cultures and social boundaries. It might be built with stone & mortar,but in reality the central square is a very much a living thing. Albeit more about the things in life that one can not physically put one’s hands on ,i.e democracy,sense of community and of place & time.
Vancouver’s planning and design community has long bemoaned the lack of a major public open space in the center of the city, like those great squares that so many other cities are identified with. Meanwhile, critics have noted the city’s eccentric emphasis on public life at the periphery. Vancouver has always had more intense public spaces at its edges than at the center: Centrifugal City.
Read: Where’s Vancouvers Next Public Square ?
And …Where’s the Square ?
Walk 4 Justice
June 7, 2009
On May 29 a group of aboriginal women set out on a 28 day Walk 4 Justice to Prince Rupert B.C from Vancouver’s DTES(downtown east-side) a distance of 1,502 km/ 933 miles,the women are demanding a public inquiry into the cases of 3000+missing and murdered women & children that have taken place & gone unsolved over the past ten years,80% of whom are aboriginal.
The walk will also raise more public awareness of the infamous 722km/449 mile stretch of highway 16 between Prince George & the port city of Prince Rupert(my home town),often referred to as the Highway of Tears due to the number of women who were murdered or have gone missing since 1988 in the vicinity of the highway. At least 32 of these women were aboriginal.
As the result of a symposium held in Prince George in March 2006, aboriginal Canadians along the route are advocating better rural bus service that would help reduce the number of young native women hitchhiking. In addition, spurred on by native leaders, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is officially investigating the unsolved murder or disappearance of nine women between the ages of 14 and 25 since 1974, most of whom were hitchhiking along Highway 16…@
The walk is of particular interest to me,as one of my closest friend’s mom is participating in the walk and my having personally known a couple of the girls who have gone missing or were murdered in the DTES,may they rest in peace.
Also read ;Walk 4 Justice demands answers to missing women cases
The Day After Electoral Blues
May 14, 2009
With the re-election of Gordon Campbell,for a third term,the only thought that comes to mind is why did I even bother voting.
Notice I did not say Liberals or Gordon Campbell & his Liberals. After all in our system,i.e parliamentary democracy one vote’s for the party rather than a particular -member of the legislative assembly-(MLA).The leader of said party holds all the cards,basically he or she is a dictator.
MLA’s otherwise known as backbencher’s serve one purpose. In fact they are but a body attached to a hand that goes up or down signifying yea or nay,depending on the wishes of King Gordo.
Read David Schreck’s latest blog post for the details as a former insider & MLA I imagine he knows of what he speaks.
Now for the meat & potatoes.
Rafe Mair points out why King Gordo’s re-election hurts ,indeed it’s akin to a knee-capping.
1. Fish farms win,this will have huge consequences for the very survivability of wild salmon stocks.Being that B.C is a province built on salmon/fishing ,this is particularly galling.
Last night was a terrible one for the environment. Alex Morton, who has laboured so hard to save our salmon from the predation of fish farms must be bitterly disappointed, as am I.
2. Our rivers & the very notion of public input/stewardship.When I think of this one,I am reminded of Suzuki et al who helped tout King Gordo as some kind of green/environmental warrior while accusing the NDP of being lacks on the environmental…lol.
Private power generators will increase dramatically. The Bute Inlet project, larger in environmental impact than Site “C,” will be approved shortly. When that happens, there will be no turning back. The message I tried to get out and failed in was getting people to understand that BC Hydro is compelled to buy that power at hugely inflated prices that it cannot come close to getting on the market. At present, Hydro has given out contracts amounting to $31 BILLION dollars, rising with each new private power licence and, here’s the rub, for energy we can’t use because it comes with the spring run-off when BC Hydro has full reservoirs thus lots of power. The private power will go to the U.S. and the process, unless reversed, will spell the end of BC Hydro.
3. STV.In that there will be no talk of electoral reform, proportional representation for at least a decade. Rather we will continue to play the FPTP game,even though we all know the deck is stacked.
Read Rafe Mair’s ,It Hurts,and Here’s Why
For the definitive list of everything that King Gordo has slashed and burn, read Geoff Olsen’s column in the Courier…
Who shut down or reduced funding for independent offices like the provincial Ombudsman, the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and Elections B.C.? Who cut air and water quality protection, gutted the Forest Practices Code, lowered standards for wildlife protection, presided over the expansion of industrial fish farms resulting in the decline and possible extinction of wild west coast salmon, and plans to reduce B.C. park rangers to a skeleton crew? Who downloaded costs onto municipalities, eliminated the Independent Office of the Child, Youth and Family Advocate, and did a 23-page review of all persons receiving disability benefits? Who attempted a 60-day, pre-election gag law? Who continues to champion the small business community, but has turned a deaf ear to merchants destroyed by the Canada Line? Who hiked his own salary by 54 per cent?
Wait there’s more…
Liberals’ dodgy megaprojects, from Gateway to the proposed $40-million clamshell over Robson Square. As for the new, $900-million convention centre, that leaky boondoggle alone is twice the price of the former NDP government’s three fast ferries, a nautical scandal from the reign of Glen Clark. Remember that one? It wasn’t the fast ferry scandal that forced Clark out of office, however. What did the trick was a media-led witch-hunt over Clark’s deck, and a conspiracy theory involving his neighbour who built it.
Yep, a damned deck.
Still not done the list just goes on and on,like that damn bunny…
Who is it that engaged in the secretive privatization of public assets? Who restructured B.C. Ferries and brought in U.S. CEO to head the company? Who presided over the dismantling of B.C. Rail? Who has given up our greatest crown jewel of all, B.C. Hydro, allowing private operators to take a crack at power generation? Who gave over the administration of our public electric utility to Accenture, a U.S.-branded company located in an offshore tax haven in the Bahamas?
Read Gordon Campbell’s Liberals privatize,capitalize,destroy
And who can’t remember King Gordo’s sustained attacks on the basic rights of working people that ended in a supreme court ruling.Then there was the so called training period that let business get around the minimum wage laws. After all it takes hundreds of hours to learn how to flip burgers.500 hundred to be exact,or the entire summer school break,the self serving nature of that piece of slave legislation was about as subtle as a bull in a china shop.
And of course one can not forget the infamous Bill 42 ,rammed through by King Gordo.The list of King Gordo’s failings and lies just goes on and on.
Last but not least the truth of the big lie...i.e that worn-out, thread bare talking point about how the NDP is supposedly fiscally irresponsible…
Indeed the Liberal’s build their campaign on that house of cards year after year.With nar a peep from the corporate media,gee what a surprise.
Surprisingly, they revealed that the defeated New Democrats had recorded what was then the biggest-ever surplus — $1.6 billion in the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and $1.5 billion in the summary accounts — in B.C. history.
But the public accounts received little attention from the news media because a few days earlier, on July 23, Campbell had made a pre-emptive strike by releasing the report from his fiscal review panel. And that report, written by Thomson and others hand-picked by the newly elected premier, stated that the New Democrats had left a potential deficit of almost $5.3 billion that could appear three years’ hence.
Read more @ The Tyee
Update ; Alarm bells go off:Elections chief on on low B.C voter turnout.
Chief electoral officer Harry Neufeld said he is disappointed and alarmed by the low turnout of voters for British Columbia’s May 12 election. “Quite frankly the 50 percent mark to me is where the alarm bells go off,” he said.
Only 48 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the election, the lowest turnout in decades…Read @
Well I sure as hell hope the alarm bells are ringing…indeed when the numbers are added up we find that Campbell’s “majority government” was in fact,supported by only 23% of all eligible voters.
Yep you read that correctly 23% !
B.C Provincial Elections,did anyone really win…
May 13, 2009
Yesterday’s provincial election saw voter turnout drop to approx 50%…
Voter turnout in the British Columbia election dropped to around 50 percent, despite efforts by elections officials to encourage voting and predictions the figure would rise.…@ The Hook
Which means that once again we are being governed by a political party that most people did not vote for.
Yikes I wouldn’t want to be declared the so called “winner”,I would be blushing & radiating every shade of discomfort known.The phrase ”a hollow victory” jumps to mind.
Rather the Liberal Party,indeed all the political stakeholders, should be asking themselves some very hard questions.
For example, does this really qualify as a win/mandate ,how does one govern with such a low turnout,can the electoral process be simplified,did new ID requirements impair voters ability to vote,what about voting on-line…?
But they won’t it’s much easier to cast blame rather than ask one’s self some very fundamental & uncomfortable questions.
Indeed Gordon Campbell called his, 45% of 50% “victory”, a clear mandate,lol. Receiving 23% support of the people who could have voted,is not a mandate King Gordo no matter how you cut it.
And so it goes… the game is played.
Also check out; Reading the entrails of B.C’s election
And Jody Paterson @ A Closer Look
A voter arises from his slumber
May 10, 2009
Kinda like a Rip Van Winkle moment…
As you probably all ready know the B.C provincial election is but 2 days away (May 12).
Usually I don’t even bother to vote,indeed I think I have only voted 2-3 times,and that’s everything,provincial,federal local.
And I just turned 50 March 14,yikes…not the not voting part,the turning 50 part.
Anyway to make a long story shorter I have decided to shake off the moss my doubts and vote.
My reasoning excuse…
I really can’t stand Gordon Campbell,2 terms is quite enough. 4 more years of that clown might just push me over the edge.
Indeed I might never again manage to shake of these “periodic” bout’s of apathy doubt long enough to vote.Hell I might still change my mind 1/2 way to the poll and it’s just 3km down the road.
But the number one factor which might see the door hitting my mostly non-voting ass on my way out, to the polls come May 12. Is the accompanying referendum on electoral reform,B.C’s second kick at the proportional representation can.
Sure the STV (Single Transferable Vote) might not be perfect,but in my opinion it is much preferable to the present system,FPTP (first past the post).I would love to see a proportional representation system in action,warts and all.
Ever the optimist,maybe it really is possible to make this so called democracy work, well at least a bit better. I might be an optimist but I am definitly not naive,the cold slap of reality slapped that out of me way back when.
Either that,or it might be true what they say, i.e the older the wiser…nawww maybe not, but then perhaps Gordon Campbell is just an exception to the rule, but then again there’s Harper and before him…
Anyway I am voting yes on STV and while I am at it I will be casting my lot with the NDP. I hear it might be a squeaker so in fact my itsy bitsy tiny once every 4 lousy years “contribution to democracy” might just make a difference,so what the hell…
Anyway that’s my story, I might have it all wrong but hell no one’s perfect not even me.Yep I figured that one out to,although I am having some difficulties accepting the “fact”.
“Indians” and “Chinamen”
March 6, 2009
“You guys should treat the natives good”….
These were some of the last words spoken by an old Chinese restaurateur and former B.C railroad worker/builder as he lay on his death bed surrounded by his children.
Not only does the Chinese immigrant community share many historical connections with B.C’s First Nations peoples,it is bred in the bone.
These bonds were forged during a time in B.C history when racism & segregation were not only the norm but in-coded in the very laws of the land. This at a time when the 20% of the B.C population was of Chinese extraction.
These are some of the many stories told by Bill Chu,as he recounts the moments in his life that led him to explore the early history of Chinese immigrants in B.C.
Ultimately his journey led him to found ‘Canadians for Reconciliation‘ ,a Chinese community initiative aimed at saving Chinese-Canadian historic sites. Part of Bill Chu’s efforts also involve reconnecting the Chinese and First Nations peoples with their shared history.
Like the non-indigenous population many Chinese-Canadians have not only forgotten their own history,but have little appreciation for First Nations peoples in general.
“Native Chiefs in support of Chinese-Canadian quest to protect B.C historic sites”
“Recognition for Chinese need,organization says;Group says contribution of Chinese pioneers neglected“
