Monday, April 17, 2017

BC Election Campaign Round-Up....Week 1.

IsSomthingHappening
HereVille


I first had a vague inkling that something might be shifting in the Lotuslandian political zeitgeist in the first day or two after the writ dropped last Tuesday.

Which, to my mind at least, was supported by the following in the Dean's Friday column in the VSun:

...(BC Liberal Finance Minister Mike de Jong) levelled a broad-brush accusation that NDP spending promises would mean “massive” increases in taxes and deficits and a downgrade in the province’s Triple A credit rating.

Maybe. But at first read the NDP plan did not represent all that massive a shift from the three-year budget the Liberals themselves tabled in February.

Horgan would increase program spending by 1.4 per cent above what the Liberals were projecting for the current financial year, by 2.5 per cent in fiscal 2018 and three per cent the next year.

Those increases, for the most part, would finance readily defensible priorities — including a long overdue increase in social assistance, elimination of interest on student loans, hiring more park rangers and conservation officers, and rolling back ferry fares on the smaller routes...



And then, on Sunday, Martyn Brown went for broke in the GStraight in a way I'm not sure I have ever seen in the public prints since I really started paying attention to #BCPoli in 2004:

...The Clark government is demonstrably not working to help make life even remotely affordable for those low-income individuals and families.

It is not prepared to make even those modest investments, to help those who are able to work, lift themselves out of poverty, with meaningful employment that might alleviate or ultimately eliminate their dependency on social assistance.

Again, on this issue, the NDP did not try to outspend the Greens, who propose raising income assistance rates by 50 percent over the next four years. A bold and noble platform commitment, for sure, but not at all realistic, in my humble assessment.

Horgan’s platform is by contrast eminently reasonable and clearly affordable. It offers a welcome first step toward helping those most in need, yet without also unduly and even cruelly raising false expectations of what any new government will be able to responsibly afford...



So.

What, exactly, is that shiftyness thing I mentioned at the top of the post really all about Alfie?

Well....

It looks like some of the puffed-up punditry 'round here is starting to look at Mr. Horgan like he is the reasonable, pragmatic one who will really and truly make things happen for all of British Columbia without blowing the place up.

Gosh.

Is the Keef sure to follow?


________
 I realize the Mr. Brown may have an anti-CClark axe to grind, but still...Go have a look at his entire piece...He makes a decent case as a detailed follow up to Mr. Palmer column.

The real interesting thing to watch for in Week 2?....Well, in this vein at least, it will be interesting to see if other herd members start to paint Mr. Weaver as the extremist out on the looney left...If that happens and middle really does open wide for Horgan and the Dippers, I'm pretty sure the BCL wizardarian braintrusts' collective lobb-shopped potato-head will very likely explode.
Subheader ear worm got hold of you?....Relief is...Here.


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13 comments:

e.a.f. said...

No the Keefe will not follow nor do I believe those quoted in the post will continue in this vein. its the first week so they want to say something nice so they can't be accused of being anti NDP later on. In the last week of the election wait for the Dean and the rest to go full blast anti NDP and pro Christy and her B.C. lieberals.

The pundits have known all these years what the B.C. Lieberals stood for and what they were doing. I don't expect they suddenly developed a conscience. Although on the off chance they did have a read of Norm Farrell's figures and got scared and decided they would not survive economically for another 4 years of Christy.

Anonymous said...

SH:

Assuming the pundits have actual human feelings, maybe, just maybe they miss the BC that was.

Maybe life among the ruins is becoming disturbing, even to them?

Anonymous said...

Be careful what you say...
You might get hauled off to the psych ward... or worse.

"An RNC constable shot Don Dunphy on Easter Sunday 2015. Const. Joe Smyth, a member of then-premier Paul Davis’s security detail, has testified he shot Dunphy, 58, once in the left chest and twice in the head in self defence after he aimed a rifle at him.

RNC constable Smyth has said he went to Dunphy’s home to check out political comments Dunphy had made on Twitter."


Court defends political dissent after N.L. man sent to psychiatric hospital for criticizing police shooting - The Canadian Press

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/national/court+defends+political+dissent+after+sent+psychiatric/13307059/story.html

"Andrew Abbass was detained and taken to the psychiatric unit at Western Memorial Hospital in Corner Brook, N.L., on April 7, 2015, two days after the fatal shooting of Don Dunphy in Mitchells Brook, N.L.

Abbass had expressed anger about the death on social media, prompting Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers to go to his home."

Grant G said...

Actually Mr. K......

There is a much darker picture show being played out..

#1 Christy Clark announced a toll cap...Which in fact, was a tacit admittance that BC's tolling policy(brought in by BC Liberals) is a failure...

Horgan trumped Clark by killing tolls, bringing back fairness and restoring traffic flows...

Massey bridge...a Christy Clark capped tolls scheme means that bridge never gets paid for through tolls..which means it won't have tolls...no sea to sky tolls(shadow guv tolls)..no Kelowna bridge tolls...

Patullo..Massey..no tolls..a lot of votes seeking safety..

In other words...it was a stroke of genius(YW NDP) by Horgan to kill tolls and as for paying for it...the use of the pretend LNG prosperity fund is priceless....(return gift of in the form of political hubris, served slyly cold)
There's more...

Gordon Campbell snipes from afar, or is that anear...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/world-markets-will-not-stop-lng-site-plans-clark-says/article34711869/

Can you feel the cleanse..

Kevin Falcon reincarnation coming back, the forces of Campbell know a bloodletting is before us...

The Socreds transformed from a demonaCon persona to a Liberal inclusive Brand New Party...

Sometimes a political leader outplays their opponent...which Horgan has, and sometimes the other team is so dirty, so in your face corrupt, so two-faced, so cynical that the public has no choice but to burn down the organization..

Shockwaves rippled through BC Liberal ranks when the Campbell faction made its intentions clear..

I love OZ-like curtains..

Cheers

Anonymous said...

socreds to liberal to green.Like some companies ..change the name once in awhile to reduce scrutiny.?And support the newer party near election time to split the vote?

BC democracy inaction. 1 yes only 1 debate on tv.Now thats tv programming.
Like MLA s sitting for only a few months a year with a 4 day work week.

Anonymous said...

Same amount of money to be spent. Different priorities. Not just for the most vulnerable, but for everybody. What have we got to lose with a new government??? Basically, a no brainier for those that are paying attention and are interested in improving their every day situations and living conditions. Apathy is the only enemy and stumbling block of positive change.

Len said...

Your dreaming Ross if you think keef is going to say a bad word about our preem cuz if they win again i'm sure he'll get a deputy ministers job...he'll probly need a job the way it's going at glowball tee vee

Len said...

Big news at globall for the last week or so is the media celebritys' new hairstyle,isn't it

North Van's Grumps said...

Grant G

"sea to sky tolls(shadow guv tolls)" are being paid from gas tax collected in Metro Vancouver.

And the reason that the North Shore Cut area is only now being upgraded is because the BC Liberals spent all of the money allocated for the Highway DISTRICT (North Vancouver to Squamish) on the Sea to Sky Highway for the Olympics

Hugh said...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/site-c-suspension-ubc-report-1.4074750

"Secondly, BC Hydro's predicted demand for electricity has "dropped significantly," according to the report.

Experts said that could mean electricity from Site C won't be fully needed for nearly 10 years after the project's expected completion date in 2024.

The surplus energy would need to be "exported at prices currently far below cost," leading to losses of at least $1 billion.

Under BC Hydro's forecasted demand, the analysis found, cumulative losses would be nearing $2.7 billion by 2036."

Hugh said...

"People think that there is a slurry of mud and silt. It's absolutely not toxic. Most mines in the world are very envious of our water quality," said Steve Robertson, Imperial Metals spokesperson, who called the aftermath of the Mount Polley mine breach an "environmental success story."

New long-term waste water management

Under the Ministry of the Environment's plan, mining waste water would be collected in ditches that would drain into small ponds, allowing solids to settle.

Water would then be routed to a treatment plant before being piped into Quesnel Lake at a depth of 45 metres, 250 metres from shore in order to dilute it as fast as possible."

If the waste water is so clean, why does it need to be diluted?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mount-polley-mine-waste-water-quesnel-lake-1.4074233

North Van's Grumps said...

Mount Polley 2017

Ministry of Environment Permit 11689 under the provisions of the Environmental Management Act

Anonymous said...

April 1

https://www.google.ca/search?q=round+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=5XD3WNKSMsqV0gKRs5L4Dg