BC Rail - Are Two Cabinet Ministers on the wrong tracks?

Dave Basi and Bob Virk have been wearing the BC Rail chain for some five years now. They were Ministerial staff in the government in 2003 when BC Rail was being "sold" to what was supposed to be the highest bidder.

Its a thriller that one day could become a TV movie. Imagine hush hush backroom deals in smoky strip lounges, political interference matching Watergate, and the public hanging of two political aids only to discover they were acting with the consent of Cabinet Ministers and maybe even the Premier.

That could be the story when its all said and done. Gary Mason has more on how Pat Bell, the Minister of Forests and Blair Lekstrom, Minister of Petroleum Resources may have more to say about what happened and their dealings with rival CN bidder OmniTrax.

Mason's line is here and be sure to check out TheLedgeTrials, Laila Yuile, The Gazetteer and Bill Tieleman blogs for more on BC Rail.

Campbell ready to sell Liquor stores?

Here we go again. There is a crisis in BC and the Government is in deep doo doo. What an opportunity for a right wing government to sell off government assets and guess who is there to help them. The Vancouver Sun. Hey I'm not surprised. These folks are just not playing straight shooter on this issue.

BC has one of the most well run liquor distribution systems in the world. The profits go to the government to assist in paying for health-care, educations, building new roads, fixing old ones, replacing schools with newer ones etc.

Its a darn good bargain for the people of BC. Alberta went the other way a decade or more ago. They decided to sell off government liquor stores. It was good at first for price watching public as prices for everything fell. That lasted all of 15 minutes. Today Alberta is littered with little corner liquor shops, selling some things as a loss leader, but largely charging the same prices as BC or Saskatchewan.

The Alberta experiment has failed. It has only hurt the people that work in the liquor stores. These people use to make a decent wage, have a pension and security. Today they make minimum wage, no pension and no security. The profit in privatizing liquor stores went to people that could buy the license. The savings that were heralded from the roof tops for consumers never happened.

Today the profit from liquor sales goes to the owner of the store. Like always, the little guy loses. The little guy pays the price. Now look at what beer costs you.

HST Fight back info

If you oppose the HST in BC here are the email addresses for all BC MLA's. Send them an email telling them you don't want this new tax and join the No BC HST site on facebook.

Where to get information on the HST Fight:
No BC HST
Fight HST
Bill Tieleman

Online petitions opposed to the HST in BC
Sign them all!

BC NDP online petition against the HST

Stop the HST

BC ANTI HST Petition

BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association petition

Prince George-based petition started by City Councilor Brian Skakun

MLA Email Address List
Abbotsford-Mission	HAWES, Hon. Randy
Abbotsford South	van DONGEN, John
Abbotsford West	de JONG, Hon. Michael
Alberni-Pacific Rim	FRASER, Scott
Boundary-Similkameen	SLATER, John
Burnaby-Deer Lake	CORRIGAN, Kathy
Burnaby-Edmonds	CHOUHAN, Raj
Burnaby-Lougheed	BLOY, Harry
Burnaby North	LEE, Richard T.
Cariboo-Chilcotin	BARNETT, Donna
Cariboo North	SIMPSON, Bob
Chilliwack	LES, John
Chilliwack-Hope	PENNER, Hon. Barry
Columbia River-Revelstoke	MACDONALD, Norm
Comox Valley	McRAE, Don
Coquitlam-Burke Mountain	HORNE, Douglas
Coquitlam-Maillardville	THORNE, Diane
Cowichan Valley	ROUTLEY, Bill
Delta North	GENTNER, Guy
Delta South	HUNTINGTON, Vicki
Esquimalt-Royal Roads	KARAGIANIS, Maurine
Fort Langley-Aldergrove	COLEMAN, Hon. Rich
Fraser-Nicola	LALI, Harry
Juan de Fuca	HORGAN, John
Kamloops-North Thompson	LAKE, Dr. Terry
Kamloops-South Thompson	KRUEGER, Hon. Kevin
Kelowna-Lake Country	LETNICK, Norm
Kelowna-Mission	THOMSON, Hon. Steve
Kootenay East	BENNETT, Hon. Bill
Kootenay West	CONROY, Katrine
Langley	POLAK, Hon. Mary
Maple Ridge-Mission	DALTON, Marc
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows	SATHER, Michael
Nanaimo	KROG, Leonard
Nanaimo-North Cowichan	ROUTLEY, Doug
Nechako Lakes	RUSTAD, John
Nelson-Creston	MUNGALL, Michelle
New Westminster	BLACK, Dawn
North Coast	COONS, Gary
North Island	TREVENA, Claire
North Vancouver-Lonsdale	YAMAMOTO, Hon. Naomi
North Vancouver-Seymour	THORNTHWAITE, Jane
Oak Bay-Gordon Head	CHONG, Hon. Ida
Parksville-Qualicum	CANTELON, Ron
Peace River North	PIMM, Pat
Peace River South	LEKSTROM, Hon. Blair
Penticton	BARISOFF, Hon. Bill
Port Coquitlam	FARNWORTH, Mike
Port Moody-Coquitlam	BLACK, Hon. Iain
Powell River-Sunshine Coast	SIMONS, Nicholas
Prince George-Mackenzie	BELL, Hon. Pat
Prince George-Valemount	BOND, Hon. Shirley
Richmond Centre	HOWARD, Rob
Richmond East	REID, Linda
Richmond-Steveston	YAP, Hon. John
Saanich North and the Islands	COELL, Hon. Murray
Saanich South	POPHAM, Lana
Shuswap	ABBOTT, Hon. George
Skeena	AUSTIN, Robin
Stikine	DONALDSON, Doug
Surrey-Cloverdale	FALCON, Hon. Kevin
Surrey-Fleetwood	BRAR, Jagrup
Surrey-Green Timbers	HAMMELL, Sue
Surrey-Newton	BAINS, Harry
Surrey-Panorama	CADIEUX, Stephanie
Surrey-Tynehead	HAYER, Dave S.
Surrey-Whalley	RALSTON, Bruce
Surrey-White Rock	HOGG, Gordon
Vancouver-Fairview	MacDIARMID, Hon. Dr. Margaret
Vancouver-False Creek	McNEIL, Hon. Mary
Vancouver-Fraserview	HEED, Hon. Kash
Vancouver-Hastings	SIMPSON, Shane
Vancouver-Kensington	ELMORE, Mable
Vancouver-Kingsway	DIX, Adrian
Vancouver-Langara	STILWELL, Hon. Dr. Moira
Vancouver-Mount Pleasant	KWAN, Jenny
Vancouver-Point Grey	CAMPBELL, Hon. Gordon
Vancouver-Quilchena	HANSEN, Hon. Colin
Vancouver-West End	HERBERT, Spencer
Vernon-Monashee	FOSTER, Eric
Victoria-Beacon Hill	JAMES, Carole
Victoria-Swan Lake	FLEMING, Rob
West Vancouver-Capilano	SULTAN, Ralph
West Vancouver-Sea to Sky	McINTYRE, Joan
Westside-Kelowna	STEWART, Hon. Ben

42% would recall Premier Campbell

A total of 42 percent said they would sign a petition recalling the Premier, including one-quarter of those who cast a vote for the BC Liberals in the last election. That's the news from a poll done exclusively within the boundaries of Premier Campbell's provincial constituency, Vancouver Point Grey.

The news is startling given the "tony" make up of the riding. People feel the Liberals and the Premier should have told them before the election they planned to implement the new 12% Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). In fact it would appear the Premier would be in the fight of his life if an election were held today. We know he would lose the province if there was a vote today, and its my bet he would go down big time in his own riding.

The poll was conducted for the BC Federation of Labour by Environics Research Group Ltd. See the full poll and questions asked here.

Assistance to Shelter Act

You have got to be kidding.

The BCCLA has uncovered plans to turn homeless shelters into jails and if they are right, BC just became a Police State.

Instead of building adequate shelters for the homeless, or better yet, building more affordable housing, providing a decent housing allowance, the BC government has come up with this hair brained idea. Under the guise of protecting the homeless from extreme weather, the government has come up with a means of getting the homeless off the streets during the Olympics.

A police officer and or a social worker will tell the homeless they must go to a shelter and if there is no room at the inn, they will provide you with a nice warm cell. That's right, they will hold you there until it is deemed safe outside for you to leave.

Lower mainland jails ought to be full for two weeks of the Olympics. No need to show the world our ugly underbelly now is there...

They're selectively picking things - Vander Zalm

BC Liberals desperate to turn the discussion from HST have decided its best to attack their opponents, not on the merits of their arguement against the HST but other things.

The Liberals put out a press release on Friday, Public Eye has it on their website, that goes on as to what a "bad" Premier Bill VanderZalm was.

As Vander Zalm told Public Eye, "I guess when you can't win the argument (that) the HST is the wrong-way to go, that it's a bad thing you begin attacking and marginalizing and discrediting. And that's what they're trying to do. And, obviously, they're selectively picking things."

Its a common tactic used by those in indefensible positions, try to turn the discussion to grounds you can win on, or discredit the messenger(s). The BC Liberals must have known how much opposition they would face with this decision. That is clearly why they did not announce this in the run up to the last election. Clearly they have decided to hunker down and ride this storm out, hoping to see the storm through.

So when you have nothing to use to protect yourself, you try to discredit those speaking against your position.

Look at this line, usually used to attack those reckless freespending socialists...

As Premier, Vander Zalm introduced or increased over a dozen taxes in nearly every budget that punished families and small businesses - including introducing the Property Transfer Tax and increasing the Small Business Tax to the highest level ever. - BC Liberal Press Release Friday, September 18, 2009 (from Public Eye)

I can't recall another time when Gordon Campbell or any of the current BC Liberals have ever attributed anyone other than the NDP with having raised taxes higher than you can reach! Carole James and the NDP better tuck that quote away for use later on.

Surely the signs of a worried Liberal government. If you live in the South Cariboo, election day squeaker, Donna Barnett says she will listen to constituents, however she supports the new HST. You might ask why she would be so fast off the mark.

I suspect it could have something to do with who benefits if the HST becomes law. The Forest and Mining sectors look to reap 140 million and 80 million respectively. Needless to say these industries support the HST and contributed a great deal to Barnett's election campaign in May of this year.

From Elections BC, Barnett's Donation list

$4,648.71 - West Fraser Timber, Imperial Metals - $1,500, Taseko Mines - $2,000. In fact Barnett received $41,758.71 from corporate donors.

Barnett's campaign donations list several key individual donations that come from those working for or are owners of forest companies. With that kind of investment in Donna Barnett, I dare say they will see a big return should Barnett support the HST in the Legislature.

BC HST should scare Campbell

The HST issue is dead in Ontario but something of a different story in BC. Read the link below for a good description of the lay of the land...

"I have two words for Gordon Campbell and Colin Hansen: Be afraid.

That’s right. You read that right.

Be very afraid men, because in my opinion, the prospect of the HST is the proverbial straw that broke the camels back, and as everyone knows… camels have loooong memories – as do the people of British Columbia.You have both earned the contempt of a good majority in this province, and among them are the very people who voted you in last fall -who, in my experience yesterday, are not afraid to loudly voice their disappointment. I personally spoke to hundreds of people prior to the rally and each one had the same things to say: NO HST and Enough of Gordon Campbell." - laila yuile's blog

Campbell's War on Sustainable Government

Part one

What the heck is going on in BC. Premier Gordon Campbell has pulled the wool over the eyes of the media and the public for eight plus years now.

Lets look at his record so far. He has run the largest three and by the time he is done, four deficits in BC history. He has accomplished this despite coming to office in 2001 with a one billion dollar surplus. Campbell talked about a structural deficit that lead to the huge deficit in 2002. What he did not mention was his move to slash taxes by very large numbers, to the extent that it crippled the government's ability to deliver on services to people, to maintain health-care and education funding.

This manufactured circumstance of lower revenues lead to the Campbell government claiming they had to reign in health care costs. He did this by gutting health care workers rights, reducing wages and benefits by 40 to 50 percent. It was one of the most aggressive attacks on workers benefits in Canadian history.

Cutting health care was not enough with shrinking revenues to balance the budget. Campbell had promised in the election not to raise tuition fees. He kept the promise for one year. The fees have risen every year since. BC went from having the second lowest tuition and post secondary fees in Canada to rivaling those in Alberta, Canada's highest cost education.

Further measures by the Campbell Government like cuts to the Corporate capital tax put another big hole on the revenue side of the ledger. This was a tax that applied to paid up capital in the province and was intended to address the companies that did big business in BC but had corporate head quarters else where. In the case of the banks, BC received nothing in income tax as they are all headquartered in Toronto. Ontario gained the income tax for banks on business done in all the other provinces, including BC.

Premier Dave Barrett was slaughtered in the 1975 election in part due to the Social Credit promise to eliminate the Capital tax. The tax survived and has been place at various levels since 1975, with governments of all stripes relying on it to support government services.

So Campbell managed in 2001 to lay the ground work of undermining the government's ability to fund health-care, education and other government services. This is the first step often employed by right wing governments in the USA and now Canada, to remove government's ability to support improvements to health-care and education.

If government can't support these issues then you pass it onto the individual. The liberals have systematically removed procedures from coverage on MSP. They have drastically reduced the financial support for seniors drug plans and for others.

MSP premiums are going up 6% this year. That's faster than US Health care cost increases! In future posts I will look at each of these items and add more with respect to taxation, or the lack of taxation and how the government agenda is one to privatize BC's public services like BC Hydro, BC Ferries, and the payoff of a big time liberal contributor with the sale of BC rail.

Old Dutch dips and chips at workers

Here is another of those companies doing well during the recession, trying to squeeze even more out of workers. And the Alberta government makes it so much easier to treat workers poorly. Of course that is why they left BC years ago.

So much for my favourite potato chip, I guess I'll have to Lay off my Old Dutch for awhile. What's crazy about all this is Old Dutch is doing well during this recession.

Help out by picking up a bag of other brands and be sure to tell the cashier, (nicely) that you won't be buying Old Dutch until they start treating their workers properly.

Prime Minster Mulroney appointed who...

CKNW Breaking News...

Prime Minster Mulroney has appointed B-C Court of Appeal Justice Robert Bauman as the new Chief Justice of the B-C Supreme Court. Bauman replaces Donald Brenner who resigned earlier this year.

Sent at 7:45am

That was the breaking news I just received for CKNW folks. Did we even have email when Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister? Its likely the first time I ever thought having Mulroney as Prime Minister was a good thing. It would certainly be better than the current one, Right?

Looks like it was a mistake after all...

from CKNW News Talk 980 reply-to programming@cknw.com to Rick Barnes date 10 September 2009 10:54 subject CKNW Breaking News correction

hide details 10:54 (28 minutes ago)

CKNW Breaking News...

Prime Minister Harper has appointed BC Court of Appeal Justice Robert Bauman as the new Chief Justice of the BC Supreme Court. He replaces Donald Brenner who retired from the court last week.

Sent at 7:50am

Its an old joke...but timing is everything

A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.

He asked, "What are all those clocks?"

St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move."

"Oh," said the man, "Whose clock is that?"

"That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie."

"Incredible," said the man. "And whose clock is that one?"

St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire life."

"Where's Gordon Campbell's?" asked the man.

"Gordon's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan."

On the Federal side of things...

This one of the funnier lil bits on the maybe soon federal election front...

and it happens in the woodshed...

Where do I sign up? I've never been a big fan of Michael Ignatieff, but I do need a job that would let me move back to Canada... read more

h/t to the proud hippie

Biggest BC Deficit EVER

The BC Budget is out and its a shocker, the largest in BC histroy. The Liberals now have the three largest deficit budgets in BC history. Not bad for people that promised during the election that they really really could keep to the $495 million deficit set in February 2009.

More in the days ahead... Check out the link below for the latest!

From NBC Dipper

My overall first impression: it seems as this budget is the fulfillment of the idea that one doesn’t waste a crisis in order to make changes. This is a budget that is going to hurt the middle class of BC by slapping on new taxes for them, while rewarding those that tend to vote BC Liberal by reducing taxes for them. Considering that cuts are supposedly supposed to be made, what these cuts are actually going to be is very unspecific, making me rather nervous as to the future.

gg

BC Budget almost 3 billion in hole

The BC LibCONS have

... tabled a budget with a $2.8 billion deficit.

Total provincial debt will rise over $10 billion over the next three years to almost $53 billion in 2011-2012.