Monday, June 23, 2008

The May 2009 Liberal Dream Team

So, as we’ve all been waiting for with bated breath… the May 2009 Liberal Dream Team:

Premier Campbell Announces Cabinet Changes

June 23, 2008VICTORIA - Premier Gordon Campbell realigned the provincial cabinet today to provide more integrated services across government. The changes include five new ministers and new portfolios for seven of the current ministers.

Defence wants Premier to testify at Basi-Virk trial
MARK HUME (12/06/08). Globe and Mail.
VANCOUVER -- Alleging "political interference" in a case that involves an unprecedented police raid on the B.C. legislature, defence lawyers have filed an application to have the Premier testify at a political corruption trial.

Friday, June 20, 2008
Basi-Virk defence alleges political interference allowed by special prosecutor, seeks audio tapes of Michael Smyth interview with Premier Campbell

Basi-Virk case sees sparks fly over allegations that special prosecutor "complicit" in political interference by Premier Gordon Campbell's then-deputy minister Ken Dobell

By Bill Tieleman, 24 hours columnist

Campbell unveils new cabinet
Colin Hansen becomes minister of finance in this 'mild review'
Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, June 23, 2008

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=c914b08a-3221-44b5-ab88-1c93b4e317f5
- Blair Lekstrom, Minister of Community Development
- Mary Polak, Minister of Healthy Living and Sports
- Iain Black, Minister of Labour and Citizen Services
- Bill Bennett, Minister of Tourism Culture and the Arts
- Joan McIntyre, Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relationsn

The changes include:

- Stan Hagen - Minister of Agriculture and Lands
- Colin Hansen, Minister of Finance
- Pat Bell, Minister of Forests and Range
- Rich Coleman, Minister of Housing and Social Development!!!
- Gordon Hogg - Minister of State for Mining
- Kevin Krueger - Minister of Small Business and Revenue and Minister Responsible for Deregulation
- Ida Chong - Minister of Technology, Trade and Economic Development and Minister Responsible for the Asia-Pacific Initiative

Premier names new cabinet heading into election

Premier Gordon Campbell shuffled his Liberal cabinet Monday in preparation for an election less than a year away. more »
Related: AUDIO: Lisa Cordasco reports for CBC Radio (Runs 0:51) CBC News.

The Blind Leading the Dumb: The Liberals "Go Fish" as they Shuffle the Deck

Cabinet shuffle to set up B.C. Liberals for election
Attorney General Wally Oppal confirms he will run again

Comments:

Have to agree with the comments so far, I don't think a cabinet shuffle is going to solve the gaping holes in talent, intelligence and competency left in Campbell's sinking ship. You can tell that from all the fleeing parties. I think many people finally get it, the Liberals truly are the worst managers of the province and quite likely the most (allegedly) corrupt government that has been seen in BC and perhaps even Canada. One need only review the boodoggle and farce that the BC Rail/Legislature raid has become, directly influenced by the Premier's office. We don't even know how much this (and all the other lawsuits) are costing BC tax payers.

Putting aside partisan politics, a government, to be found credible by it's citizens, must demonstrate fiscal, moral and ethical management of the funds and governance of government. With simply a brief analysis, it is easy to see how the Liberals have failed all of us. Any CEO that would sell off an organization's most important resources, slash and cut crucial operating funds, staff and subject its' employees to non-stop organizational chaos and crisis and award billions in contracts to friends and insiders (who take the $$$ out of the country) and then sit by idly while they fail to meet deadlines, wracking up even more debt for the company would not last very long. I think it is really clear that if Campbell was a CEO of a private sector company, he would have been fired long ago, as would most of his cronies, er caucas.

Now, solutions. I agree the NDP might not be a strong option for some, in many respects they and their backroom leaders aren't all that different from the Liberals. So, here is a revolutionary idea for the election in May 2009. We propose that citizens vote for .... the BEST CANDIDATE in their riding, no matter what party they are in. The one who actually has a _real_ record of community involvement and successful advocacy. People with real live experience in business, in non-profit sectors, people who are real leaders in their communities and who know how to do something besides politic and BS. It is the common sense revolution. It may be idealistic, but it might actually work. And, let your incumbent, or new candidates know, that if they fail to deliver and prove themselves to voters (ie. play possum as part of a caucas), they will never set foot in politics again, EVER.

We encourage citizens to host all candidate meetings in their ridings. And, ensure people in the community have a chance to come out & hear what their candidates have to say. If candidates refuse to attend, that will be helpful too, helpful to eliminate contenders you know won't be there for voters.

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Perfect example of what we're talking about, spin, spin and more abject crap from the Liberals:

Minister expects turnaround

VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) 6/23/2008

BC's Forest Minister says analysts have told him the forest industry in the Province has hit rock bottom. But those same analysts paint a rosy picture in the not-too-distant future. Rich Coleman says market conditions can't get much worse. But he says he's also been assured there's a dramatic turnaround ahead.

That could come in 18 to 24 months as he expects lumber prices to rebound after significant cuts in production and numerous mill shutdowns and closures, "The challenge will be to make sure they've got the workforce. because there's so many other jobs out there, the forest worker that thinks he's going to be laid off for more than 2 or 3 months is starting to gravitate to other industries."

Coleman making the comments despite first saying there could be as few as 700-thousand housing starts in the United States next year, compared to 2.1-million last year.

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Geeze, we sure wish we had Coleman's crystal ball. Clearly this is ass-covering at its best. Coleman is taking hits from everyone over the abject failure of the government to do a damn thing about forestry. We have friends whose families depend on jobs in forestry. This is offensive tripe and spin coming from the Liberals. Over 20,000 workers are losing their jobs, in the forests, in closed down mills etc.

Newsflash Sylvia Brown, er Coleman:

Workers have children to feed and mortgages to pay, of course they are moving away from forestry into other jobs and taking their hard earned tax dollars to other provinces and territories where they can actually find work. That's what real people do when the going gets tough and their government fails them.

What real action is the Liberal government taking to help those workers/citizens/families?

And, to add insult to injury, dare we ask how Coleman's brothers are making out with their tree farm licenses? I bet they aren't out of work yet, or all the other "fortunate" Liberal insiders and American corporations.

Now, I guess the question of the hour is, which Ministry is going to be plagued by Mr. Coleman next? We only have a few hours left to find out.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

How much does a party have to Suck before they are Thrown Out? BC Liberals want to test us all

It really is not being melodramatic to say that the BC Liberals are quickly reaching critical mass in how much they suck. I’m trying to think of clever metaphors, but it’s all just too absurd. So, here, in no particular order are some of the asinine and offensive things that they’ve done, or been involved with over the last while:

- Since December 2003, 4 years ago (!!!!) when the Legislature was raided by the RCMP and we all got to see OUR HOUSE and the offices of elected officials, peons and perhaps some might say alleged “co-conspirators” we are no further ahead in receiving justice and a complete explanation of what happened. It is no mistake to say this alleged case involving allegations of drug trafficking, influence peddling, bribes and a whole lot of other nastiness has been hijacked by the BC Liberals. It is a travesty of injustice and a slap in the face to every citizen in BC.

- Talking about slaps in faces, the “majority” just used their power to push through numerous bills, with no debate. The most controversial actually bans political messages and advertising in the lead up to the election AND, worthy of a complaint to the United Nations, legislates the full exclusion of poor people, the homeless and those with no identification from voting in their own province.

Bill 42, the Election Amendment Act.

http://www.leg.bc.ca/38th4th/1st_read/gov42-1.htm


I think Corky Evans, NDP MLA speaks eloquently to these tactics:

"We're not even going to get to talk any more, so exactly what is it I'm doing to earn my wages?" Corky Evans, the member for Nelson-Creston, asked reporters. "Why do we keep this building? Why don't we just have a king? I don't get that.…

"I hope it's offensive to the 20,000 people who sent me here. I hope it's offensive to everybody, because we had had wars so that Parliament would exist. Even if you think what happens in there is dumb, at least it has to happen."

- Ken Dobell, Gordon Campbell’s right hand man has had his fingers in all of the pies. He is up to his eyeballs in all of the dreck and nothing is sticking to him. He keeps taking wheelbarrows full of taxpayer money while working with his little cabal to sell BC out, and off, piece by piece to the boys down South and to those who so enjoy their offshore companies.

- Those last bits segue way perfectly into the next bit: What the Hell is Wrong with our Court System? Mr. Oppal, you are turning into a trained dancing monkey (no, that’s not a racist comment). You have been a respected jurist and member of the Bar. Under your watch,
the BC justice system is becoming anything but just and a shocking indictment of how political influence can unduly affect BC citizens rights and interests in justice. You should all be ashamed of yourselves and we all deserve better.

- Crown prosecutors must be and are accountable to the citizens of BC. They are not above the law, not above testifying at inquiries and not above civil responsibility in carrying out their duties as representatives of the Crown and officers of the court. Period. End of debate.
The fact that the BC government is spending tax payer dollars to fight appearing before the Frank Paul inquiry and the Oak Bay inquest is a gross abuse of process and taxpayer money. In this province social workers and other employees in the Ministry of Children and Family Development are expected to be accountable and participate openly in their decision-making in child welfare cases. These employees of the Crown are not exempted from accountability, culpability and most who appear in front of inquiries and not only are they not shielded, or protected by their leaders, they are most often scapegoated and hung out to dry. Why the disparity? Why should Crown prosecutors in deciding on bail conditions, charge assessments and recommendations be any less responsible for the tragedies that occur through their decision-making?

Inquiry targets prosecutors' role at inquest

Making prosecutors testify hurts justice system: lawyer

- And ICBC, where do we even start? Paul Taylor is a good place I guess. Another friend of the BC Liberals, handpicked for CEO at ICBC. He had no idea managers and a whole lot of other folks were fixing deals to get written-off vehicles, using shops for paint jobs for personal vehicles, selling off write-off vehicles to an unsuspecting public. Just when the heat comes down, Mr. Taylor books it, what a coincidence. Yah right. There are more than 5 different investigations going on about ICBC over the last few years, criminal and otherwise. This is worthy of it's own website, similar to BC Mary's Legislature raids. Whistleblowers BC has written some stuff about the ICBC scandal on their blog.

One thing that is for sure is that all of the corruption, disgust and dirt, citizen journalism is having an explosion and hitting paydirt in BC. There is more of the inside scoop going down on the Net than anywhere else and that is of benefit to all of us.

Review finds no misconduct by former BC deputy minister

Head of ICBC quits amid car sale scandal


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Well, this is a start, there’s so much more, we’ll add on more as time allows.

We need to start thinking about all of this, May 2009 is fast approaching. People need to get interested, galvanized and start paying attention to our political plight. It isn’t enough to just bow out in apathy talking about how ALL politicians suck and are corrupt.

I’m suggesting the theme for the next election is quite ordinary, quite simple, and even idealistically naïve. HOW ABOUT…..

WE ALL VOTE FOR THE BEST CANDIDATE IN OUR INDIVIDUAL RIDINGS????

The party they come from matters much, much less than what their track record for public service is, what kind of impression they've made personally and professionally.

  • What have they done to make their community and the world a better place?
  • What evidence is there to prove they have a track record of good work?
  • Do they have a history of screwing people over, backstabbing, or other political nastiness?
  • How about their business practices and conduct elsewhere? Any questionable land deals lurking anywhere? Numbered companies? Shells that need to be picked up to see what scurries out?
  • Do they have a broad perspective and commitment to the interests and wellbeing of diverse citizens in the community?

If you want to make a real difference next election, start planning how you will personally influence the outcome. Will you work with others to put an All Candidates Debate together? Campaign for someone, for the right reasons. Start your own blog in your area? A newletter, letters to the editor? Letters to your incumbent? More ideas to come.