The Christy Clark government and Clark herself must go!
I am not a socialist but neither are the NDP. Of course, we must have a thriving economy that supports our necessities and has room for earned luxuries. What we can no longer do, if we wish to have a British Columbia useful for enjoyment of life, is let entrepreneurial ambitions and corporate influence on government trump all other values.
Even if you do place the economy above all else, you have to examine the Clark Keystone Kops’ self-proclaimed business acumen, which, even in these good economic times, has doubled the provincial debt and ruined our former crown jewel, BC Hydro, and, having bankrupted it in all but name, committed it to a further $10 billion for Site C for power we don’t need and for which we have no customers.
If you’re thick enough to believe that the Liberals’ declared balanced budgets are remotely honest, leave now – you are beyond salvation and will obviously believe anything.
This is my bottom line: Let’s just say that there were no other issues of consequence than these in this election. Would you reelect any government that had doubled the provincial debt in the past 14 years and had presided over the ruination of the largest and most successful public corporation in the history of the Province?
Remember, the Liberals not only kept this secret – the horrific debacle that has ruined BC Hydro has been exposed entirely by private citizens. The IPP issue, the ruination of rivers, the loss of fish, the outrageous sweetheart deals in favour of private power donor pals of Christy to the huge cost to Hydro ratepayers. The pay-offs to cronies was dealt with in the elections of 2009 and 2013 only by private citizens like Tom Rankin, Damien Gillis, Joe Foy of the Wilderness Committee and others including me, who spoke all over the province and have consistently written about it since and acquired their evidence from public-spirited people like Norman Farrell, Arthur Caldicott, and Erik Andersen, all private citizens. And at the end of the day, nothing from the Liberal party loyalist, Suzanne Anton, the pliant Attorney-General, not a resignation from any of the guilty, just massive incompetence with a load of political pay-offs thrown in.
This wasn’t rocket science – it was obvious, easily understood, oozing with incriminatory evidence from every pore. The Liberal government in a dozen years fucked up (no other term works) BC Hydro financially as well as ruining scores of rivers, without sufficient protest from Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition or a soupçon of help from the Mainstream Media or the Greens. We know that the Green Party leader, Dr. Weaver, who’s about as green as last year’s Christmas tree, supported ruining the environment with so-called “run of river projects” because, without bothering to first look at one like the Ashlu, he proclaimed this outrageous environmental evil “clean, green power!” Here you have a hugely successful Crown Corporation, very popular, with a monopoly, a large customer base, ruined financially by this government, yet if it weren’t for a handful of persistent private citizens, over a decade of never quitting, no one would ever know!
As economist Erik Andersen said very recently:
[quote]I continue to stand by my words of several years ago. The board and management at BC Hydro have been either economic and financial illiterates or dutifully following the orders of those not having the public’s best interests in mind. [emphasis added][/quote]
All this plus, in constant dollars, the government virtually doubled the real provincial debt with Christy Clark, in four years, while pretending to balance budgets.
One has to wonder what else we don’t know!
I’m hard pressed to think of a single accomplishment of this bunch on the fiscal side and on the social services side their incompetence and lack of concern or even elementary decency borders on the cruel.
What about Horgan and the NDP?
I have no doubt that Mr. Horgan is an honest man and that alone makes him my choice as premier. I know many of his backbenchers and have no doubt of their integrity. I tell you straight that I’m very disappointed in some of Horgan’s stated policies, especially in my riding – specifically the proposed Woodfibre LNG at Squamish.
But I have learned some things over the past 8 1/2 decades, one being that you never really know about a new leader until they’ve had a chance. The premier’s office, in Samuel Johnson’s great phrase, “concentrates the mind wonderfully”.
On the other hand, there’s nothing left to know about Christy Clark. There can surely be no doubt that she’s the worst premier with the worst government in living memory. I would rather support someone for whom there is reasonable hope, and who couldn’t possibly be worse, than have the certainty of 4 more years of Christy Clark.
I don’t know about you but I often look at what’s seen as a minor thing in making my judgment on a person’s character. As we learn here from Mike Smyth, Christy Clark has cost taxpayers, not the Liberal Party, folks, for “photography: $923,374 to be precise, for the salaries and massive travel expenses of two full-time photographers to take still photos and videos for the government.
“The pictures and videos provide positive content for the government’s social-media channels on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.”
With typical raw, blatant hypocrisy, here’s what Premier Clark says in her latest Liberal Party election pledge:
[quote]Controlling government spending is the foundation, it’s the bedrock, of what we’re trying to do.[/quote]
This woman is not only vain and incompetent beyond description, she’s incapable of telling the truth as she makes us look like fools to the rest of the country and beyond.
Again, Cromwell’a words in dismissing the Rump Parliament seem so apt: “You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
Amen.
Glen Clark was our best Premier. The province at the time improved job wise, environmentally, and lowered the provincial debt 7 years in a row!
BC is a beautiful province which became a expensive poorhouse. To many different rules from a same government office just to keep the government bussy and ruin the small businesses. The food, the power, gas, cellphone costs are 3-4 times more expensive than other places……even Germany and Switzerland is much cheaper!!
Ummm, some simple fact checking will prove most of what you say is wrong.
Gee, thanks Walter. Why don’t you start the ball rolling by pointing out some facts that are incorrect. How about just one? Oh, right, you can’t, hence the empty, lazy critique.
The sad thing is, Clark is just following the footsteps of Gordon Campbell.
The Glen Clark/NDP government was not a happy one and Clark himself was not a good Premier and as a result of NDP hubris and arrogance, they only managed to win two seats.
This massive win by Campbell, set the stage for imperial government in BC, where the Premier played the role of a god and not even a nasty drunk driving charge (mitigated by the mainstream media) could not dislodge him.
What finally demoted the Campbell god to a false idol, was the Clark “Goddess” who could say no wrong and with help by her friends in “Dead Dog 98” radio; Global; and the two fish wraps that pretend they are newspapers, the “Goddess” beat the lackluster Dix.
For the past two four years we have had a “Goddess” rule over us, but the faithful are restless and again one hears the chant of a false idol.
The NDP, still mired in hubris, must put the wooden stake through the heart of this false idol, or BC, as we know it, will be gone forever, sold off to the highest bidder.
Glen Clark was a great premier. Problems came up and he handled them. He was so good that when the MSM attacked him, he was hired to run Jim Patterson”s business. Gordon Campbell, on the other hand is our something to Britain where he eats and drinks on the public purse.
Where will Christy Clark go after the next election?
i totally agree with you Astro . Glen Clark has been constantly promoted by Jim Patterson and he is a savvy Businessman
I’ll just leave these here for the BC Liberal loyalists and the undecided; though why anyone would consider a party being criminally investigated in an election year is beyond me. Has Christy normalizing wrongdoing dulled your sixth sense?
98 BC Liberal Falsehoods, Boondoggles and Scandals: The Clark Era 53
Part two of 15 years of public messes, sourced and explained.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/04/04/BC-Liberal-Falsehoods-Scandals-Clark/
Stop claiming they are liberal:
24 connections linking Christy Clark’s BC Liberals to Stephen Harper’s Conservatives
https://www.pressprogress.ca/24_connections_linking_christy_clark_bc_liberals_to_stephen_harper_conservatives
Christy Clark’s BC Liberals received over $1.2 million from corporations outside BC since 2015
https://www.pressprogress.ca/christy_clark_bc_liberals_received_over_1_2_million_from_corporations_outside_bc_since_2015
Associate at Stephen Harper’s consulting firm behind shadowy new group linked to BC Liberals
https://www.pressprogress.ca/associate_at_stephen_harper_consulting_firm_behind_shadowy_new_group_linked_to_bc_liberals
Liberal voters can no longer hide from the corruption of the BC Liberal Party. A vote for Christy and any of her clowns is a vote for more of it. I just laugh when liberal loyalist – they are either on the take or as stupid as the Trump voters – yell “Glenn Clark’s porch” or “fast ferries” – the latter is particularly ironic considering the offshoring of ferry building work the Liberals are doing and the championing of temporary foreign workers Christy does. They lie lie lie continuously. So, fellow residents, if you’re voting for Christy you have no excuses anymore. You’re thumbing up the worst, most corrupt government possibly in Canadian history. That’s on you.
Since we live here, we have seen a big change. BC is a beautiful province which became a expensive poorhouse. To many different rules from a same government office just to keep the government bussy and ruin the small businesses. The food, the power, gas, cellphone costs are 3-4 times more expensive than other places……even Germany and Switzerland is much cheaper!!!! Would love to stay here and pay my tax, but not with this conditions!!!
Governments come and go, good and bad often being a judgment of taste more than anything else. Integrity and honesty are not matters of taste, but fact. Of course there’s a grey area between true and false for political bullshit but in this case it’s badly overflowed. With the Clark outfit, exaggeration is the default position and outright lying basic policy. In fact, I worry that many voters, busy earning a living and saving to fill the huge holes this lot have left in care for seniors, will not examine every statement even superficially on the basis that Premiers and Cabinet Ministers can be trusted to be truthful. This trust is aggravated by a media which either doesn’t really care or has been lulled to sleep by the steady drone of untruth pouring out of government. Mistakes bring anger, big mistakes repeated bring loss of political strength, massive mistakes covered up (silent lying) or outright lying and, in this case both, deserves banishment.
Rafe: The one you were in was the worst with second place going to Glen Clark’s NDP.
Actually Gordon Campbell started the rot in this province.
interesting comments from a former Minister and long time MLA in Bill Bennett’s Government that almost brought this province to a general strike. Sorry Rafe, Clark has nothing on the underhanded backroom deals and law changes made in backrooms during the Bennett years. As a cabinet member of Bennett’s government, you failed the environment of this Province when you had the ability to do something.
To the majority of BC’ers this is going to come as a shock (yourself included Rafe) and I am hoping John and the rest of the party are aware of this situation and are going to be able to convey the message effectively with their leap manifesto.. You have no idea how much trouble our economy is going to be in within the next 10 years. Almost 30% of Canadians rely on the transportation and logistics industry for jobs in this country. All those jobs and at least another 20% of the retail job market is all going BYE BYE!! Autonomous vehicles are no longer sci-fi my friends. Collectively the various test beds on public roads have logged 1.8 million miles with only 5 major incidences of malfuntion none of which caused any deaths. There are autonomous buses and trucks running on hydrogen in final public testing in europe and Volvo has a test bed roaming the us and canada now as well. Tesla is on track to be capable of 100% autonomy within 2 years. Google is introducing its first fleet of autonomous taxi’s and they already have similiar things in other countries. History is full of workers who fought to save their jobs from mechanization and lost and automation is already decimating both blue collar and white collar jobs. Over 90% of jobs that disappeared since the year 2000 are directly attributed to the spread of automation. Welcome to the third industrial revolution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBlWEOHqdOU
Well, if I was a cabdriver, warehouse forklift driver or long haul trucker….maybe I’d be worried.
But I’m not.
As for the pertinence of your comment to the subject at hand………?
Very simple automation will kill resource industries and many of the linkages that are associated with them. Jobs in mining are down and yet the industry has grown substantially. The point is supply side thinking is dead everywhere except in Victoria with the Liberals fiddling while the province burns.
“supply side thinking is dead”……..?????
Tell that to the companies that are cranking up marijuana grow ops on a mega scale…..
http://www.google.ca/url?url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/maple-ridge-proposed-grow-op-facility-concerns-residents-1.3006608&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiD5-SXt5vTAhVN7GMKHb17D1MQFggUMAA&usg=AFQjCNHNNkaAqyaxFKOVdTUhMqAoZzLi0g
Cant remember the last time I met a logger or a miner…..maybe 30 years ago in Port Hardy at the beer store.
Tourism is #1 now.
But I guess we cant all be waiters and waitresses
( sorry….waitpersons) supplying customers a service……..
Thanks for this, Rafe!!! I hope you’ll spread the message of encouraging people to vote strategically to defeat the BC Liberals.
I’ve been a fan of your stand on environmental issues and articles in the Common Sense Canadian for some time, but I have to admit, I’ve been a life-long NDP supporter…
I honestly believe, as you do, that Clark has to be defeated soundly on May 9. There can be no chance of a Liberal minority where she can strike a side deal with Weaver, such as Ministry of Environment for support in a Liberal / Green coalition!
I’m not looking for followers or social media glory, simply an end to the worst government in BC’s history! I’m only asking people to vote for the candidate in their riding who stands the best chance of defeating the Liberals on May 9.
This includes five Greens – Weaver in Oak Bay-Gordon Head, Adam Olsen in Saanich North and The Islands, Sonia Furstenau in Cowichan Valley, Andy MacKinnon in Esquimalt-Metchosin, and Kalen Harris in Victoria-Beacon Hill.
The carrot for both NDP and Greens will be, hopefully, some form of proportional representation in 2021. I’m not sure what your thoughts are on this, but I firmly believe that FPTP only works for a two party system, and right now in BC, we have three front-running parties.
Anyways, my very very small Twitter site is @VoteStrategicBC, but a few people are beginning to use #votestrategicbc in their posts on Twitter. I’m also on Facebook @VoteStrategicBC
You care about BC, as do I, but we have a government that has totally f%&#ed the province, in your words. Time is crucial to get BC back on course!
Please keep up your passionate work!
I understand most of you guys here support the ndp and I am fine with that but just remember that the ndp don’t have a flawless past either. Also how do we now that Horgan will be honest once he takes office himself if the ndp did happen to win. How many of you that say he is trust worthy know him personally. And don’t forget it was the ndp that started us in this dept
While the NDP arent angels I believe the focus of the article was on the Liberal Party’s past “performance”…..
Apparently your reading and comprehension skills aren’t quite up to snuff.
Please reread what Rafe has written ( moving your lips while reading is an acceptable practice when reading alone) and come back and comment about the Liberals track record over the past decade and a half.
Sure, vote for “Pay to Play” Christy, where she has turned graft into an art form.
“As ye sows, so shall ye reap”, was sound advice 4,000 years ago and today.
The Liberals have lied and cheated BCers for years. The 90’s were a long time ago and it is now time to change government and give the NDP a chance. Horgan seems to have very good morals. He has been happily married for years . He has lived in Langford BC for a very long time and people their really like him a lot .He attends local markets and anyone can approach or talk to him. He come on very friendly and good natured. Give the guy a chance please as the Liberals are corrupt as they come.
Well said!
I will not vote for the Liberals ever again…Christy Clark has destroyed any faith I ever had in the Libs to do what was best for the people of this province.
Would love to vote Green but not with Weaver at the wheel. NDP is a better bet. If nothing else, we stop this greedy group of thieves.
I’ve got a way to fix BC Hydro; Let’s reinstate BC Provincial Bonds for the public and payout the institutions. If we have to have a big debt at BC Hydro, then let it be a chance for public investment and get the institutions out of it.
Now sitting at 66 billion dollars of debt and 102 billion in deferred debt. Add to that 102 billion in deferred debt and contractual obligations. (so much for crooked Christy’s promise of a “Debt Free BC) Then add in ICBC and Hydro rates skyrocketing as well as the only province with a Medical Services Premium. As for jobs, the interior of BC has an 8.8 % unemployment rate. The Libs have failed. Time to retire the corrupt BC LIberals.
Rafe Mair continues to be a prudent, and intelligent journalist with keen observations that will concern most citizens of BC. Read this before May 9.
I’ve got an NDP sign in my front yard… I think at this point I’d vote for my Pug rather than in any way support the current pack of pizmires. They have allowed and encouraged the forestry conglomerates to almost obliterate old growth on Vancouver Island. If that wasn’t enough, they opened the gates to IPP so they could ruin the spawning channels. And what they’ve done to the most vulnerable in the province really ought to be deemed a crime against humanity.
As a person with pwd status I am fed up with scaping by and stress that comes with it. If MLA’s get raises yearly to inflation and after 10 years with no raises I’m completely fed up! This gov’t continues to erode the social services at the cost of lives of lived ones…these deaths in foster care system and even the continuation of the fentanyl crisis land squarely at Clark’s feet. John is the only candidate forget sacrificing your vote for the Greens we need a majority gov’t under the NDP!
Be careful what you ask for ! Every time the NDP has been in they have totally destroyed the economy. We loose a whole generation of kids as there is no work for them. You only have to look at Alberta to see what NDP policy can do to an already weak economy.
We have by far the strongest economy in Canada and now to elect the NDP is like cutting your nose off to spite your face.
I am curious about your response here….how much is really “factual” of what you say? My concern for your points is the “heresay” that accompanies the real facts. The Liberals in this case (under Campbell and Clark) have taken the BC debt from $12 Billion in 2002 to present day $65Billion. This is undisputed and done by the LIberals. BC Hydro went from about $200 Million in 2002 to a whopping contractual and deferred debt of now $76 Billion……. you cannot argue the “facts” unless you choose to ignore them or “alter” them.
Chenn, Puh-leeze! The NDP was last in power 16 years ago! The thing that got them kicked out – the fast ferries – ran $250 million over budget (all of which stayed int he local economy as opposed to going to German or Polish shipyards, mind you) compared with some $5 BILLION over budget on just the top five capital projects under Liberal “management”. And that’s before Site C. Re-elect this bunch and you ain’t seen nothing yet! These guys talk about job creation but most of their new jobs are short-term, part-time and low-wage. They keep picking out pockets with ever-increasing power bills, ICBC rates, MSP. It is impossible to imagine a government doing any worse than the Christy Clark Liberals. It’s high time for a change! https://commonsensecanadian.ca/liberals-big-projects-often-double-cost-site-c-dam-different/
Chenn, you might want to check with those raving socialists over at the Business Council of BC. The 1990s under the NDP were easily as prosperous as the 2000s under the Liberals, and job growth was higher in the 90’s.
http://www.bcbc.com/publications/2012/a-decade-by-decade-review-of-british-columbias-economic-performance
chenn, I invite you to do a little research on that statement. you have no proof of that because there isn’t any. so, you’re listening to what other right wingers have told you. as for alberta, the bottom fell out of that economy fell out before the NDP got in. they’re doing a commendable job with what they have to work with.
I agree with Raif. Once we get a real look at the books, our great grand children will be stuck paying off the debt that Christie Clark has amassed building monuments to herself. Site C is not needed. We all know there are no customers. All they had to do is upgrade the turbines on the existing Williston Dam. A 10 lane bridge over the Fraser still feeds into 2 lanes to the Oak Street Bridge. Not to mention that the Fraser River is the largest wild salmon bearing river in the world. It would have to be dredged every year to accommodate the huge ships she wants to get up to Fraser Docks in New West because of the amount of silt that washes down. Have a look at the water line from the Fraser and the ocean when you’re on a ferry from Tsawwassen to Duke Point. We have to get rid of her in order to get a real look at the books. It’s going to be a disaster.
I’ve always said, she will be remembered as the stupidest premier we ever had. Also remember, the people did not elect her. She was appointed by the party. She lost her seat to David Eby and had to parachute into a safe riding. That has to stop too.
Well said,she was on the Campbell team,she was well schooled.
We lived in Manitoba in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s and the NDP Govt worked hard for the people and moved the province forward. Here people seem hung up on some ferry misjudgements of the NDP. Since we have been here we have seen
huge new ferries where many floors are never opened to the public, or the ferries sit in dock while the smaller more size friendly ones run regularly. Was the choice of these ferries just as stupid as the NDP’s long ago misjudgement? How much money has Clarke wasted on fighting the teachers, at the expense of a generation of students, only to be proved wrong over her attack on the public system. I hope the NDP get a chance to prove that they can be the government of the people and that they “will work for us”
This is blatant nonsense, spume by the Liberal controlled mainstream media.
The fact is, the provincial debt, including contractual obligations is now a colossal $170 billion! It was mere $34 billion, when the NDP were voted out of office.
What Clark and her Liberal confidence tricksters have done is creating a massive debt, to be paid for by our children, grand children and great grandchildren.
BC economic is a massive pyramid scheme, where the rich few get richer and the poor are left to hang.
The NDP may not be any better, but we need a fresh broom to clean out the Campbell/Clark stench.
I moved to Vancouver in 1980 and have lived in BC ever since, I have never trusted the BC liberal party and Clark even less so…I would have loved to hear Jack Webster rip into her.
But You are dead right on this John Horgan is a better bet at this point but we real need to
re-write our law’s around how much the government can do towards selling off public asst and writing laws to defend it’s stand…All party’s should get the same amount of fund’s for their election bid’s and only be allowed to put up their platform as media output. Then spin doctors could go home and we could vote on their record.
” doubled the provincial debt in the past 14 years and had presided over the ruination of the largest and most successful public corporation in the history of the Province? ”
The voters of BC re-elected a convicted drunk, so it should not come as a shock if they re-elect the most corrupt government in BC history.
The thing that scares me being retired would be the selling of BC hydro and hydro rates soaring?I get so sick of the lies and corruption in politics especially the federal giving Canadian tax money away and doing nothing I mean nothing for us Canadians I was going to say proud Canadians?The taxes we pay are outrageous.If John gets in is he selling hydro?
Thank you Rafe. I hope some of your fans realize a Green vote this time is dangerous for our beloved BC, both for its peoples & its environment, especially the Coast.
In the most basic terms,just the thought of her and the sick irony of her handy work combined with that creepy smirk is depressing. Please, lets do what is necessary to make her face go bye bye, please…
150% agree !!! This province God help us – cannot take 4 more years of this conniving liar – who spends all her time between elections courting her corporate bosses and rarely sits the house. Almost 1 million for photographs – yet the disabled are denied a $50 bus pass . Post your article on my FB and where ever I can when responding to a pro christy comment . Absolutely frightening that there are so many – but when you have $12 million for an election( that’s after you have spent $15 million of taxpayer money leading up to the election ) and you also have the msm corporate heads – you could probably run a jackass and win. Heaven help this province !
Bang on Rafe. I’m glad someone gets it, even though the mass majority of BC’s Lamestream Media try to ignore this white elephant.
I think the $13,000,000.00 advertizing budget in the Liberal election war chest and the $10’s of millions of taxpayers dollars spent by the presiding Liberal Govt telling us how great they are………..might have something to do with the “medias” silence.
As an aside.
I saw former Global TV media gadfly/ Liberal lickspittle Steve Darlings election office in North Burnaby assembling hundreds of lawn signs for the coming drop of the election writ.
One wonders what incredibly important job he’ll get if the Libs win again?
Govt spokesperson? Christy’s bodyguard? ICBC Chairman? Head of BC Hydro?
The sky’s the limit when the libs are in power and you have no moral compass………
I too will be voting for Horgan this election. As a long time Green I just can’t swallow the misguided Weaver. He still approves of private power and IPP’s. And he’s just as rigid as any other leader.
Horgan is an honest man, and I think we might be able to work with him. Seems that he’s a bit of a policy wonk, likes to follow procedures before decisions are made. I hope he wins.
But with Christie’s attack ads and Weavers attack ads coming out directly at Horgan I’m not certain that the NDP have the ‘ stuff ‘ to fight back over the long haul. We might get another 4 years of Christie.
If so then we must start a grassroots movement to join the Greens and the NDP together for the next election. I know Greens and NDP and they’re both disgusted that the two camps can’t join hands and beat Clark.
“If you’re thick enough to believe that the Liberals’ declared balanced budgets are remotely honest, leave now – you are beyond salvation and will obviously believe anything.”
Well said, Rafe. I hope that thousands have made it all the way to MY comment.
Please vote for change — or if you’re a BC Lib voter with a conscience, stay home for a change.
Total owed to IPPs by publicly-owned BC Hydro:
Over $56 Billion, that’s over $56 thousand million bucks.
$56,473,000,000
See P. 5:
http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/ocg/pa/13_14/Contractual_Obligations.pdf
Not for a moment do I believe that today’s announcement by the ombudsman on the health ministry firings represents justice served. Clark chose the investigation not to be an open one knowing that an investigation by an ombudsman is implemented in secret. After all, secrecy is Christy’s M.O.