Long Overdue: The Party's Over for Christy Clark

http://www.straight.com/article-560371/vancouver/former-port-moody-mayor...

So when will Christy resign or be run out of town by her fellow Liberals?

 

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Conservatives+cannibalizing+Liberals/5891136/story.html

 

 

Sounds like the pollster didn't really push leaners, I would say... both the BC Liberals and the NDP seem to be about 10% lower than what the other polls are saying (low 20's vs. low 30's, and mid 30's vs. mid 40's). I doubt the Greens will reach the mid-teens, especially if there's no discontent with the NDP to begin with.

Christy is done but I'm sure she will try and hang on to the bitter end. 

Falcon may well try and dislodge her though before the Cons become the NDP's main opposition in BC.

Shades of the Gordon Wilson situation.

 

http://thelinkpaper.ca/?p=12810

 

 

Dix And NDP At Top As Christy’s Liberals Slide Amidst Their Poor Performance And Corruption Baggage

http://thelinkpaper.ca/wp-content/plugins/Viva-ThumbZoom/lib/v-zoom/grap...), pointer; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; " href="http://thelinkpaper.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bc-110117-adrian-dix.jpg">VANCOUVER – NDP Adrian Dix has position his party for a decisive win in the next election while Christy Clark led Liberals suffer under the party’s horrible performance, bad governance (HST while defeated is nowhere near being abolished) and corruption baggage stemming from the Basi-Virk corruption scandal that was covered up by the party through a $6 million deal with lawyers representing Dave Udhe Basi and Bob Virk, former BC Liberal insiders who pleaded guilty in exchange for a slap on the wrist.

 

And then we get another poll released Friday by NRG Research:

NDP: 36%

Lib: 32%

Con: 19%

Other/Undecided: 13%

http://www.nrgresearchgroup.com/newsroom/documents/Prov%20Ballot%20News%...

Looks like the provincial scene is very fluid right now with all of these weird numbers coming out. BTW, both Forum Research and NRG Research don't have any track record polling the BC provincial scene. I'll still stick with ARS, Ipsos, and Mustel in that regard.

 

Raif often has his finger on the pulse and I think he is onto something here. 

 

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/12/26/BCTories/

 

Cummins' Conservatives Could Destroy BC Libs

Why the Tory factor gives Clark's party reason to fear for

 

 

 

<sarcasm>I fully expect the RCMP to show up at the premier's house anyday now with BCTV in tow to arrest the premier on criminal charges... and then to call a snap election.</sarcasm>

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/12/27/BCRail/

2013 is still a few years away before the PR campaign goes into full swing again.

Quite frankly who gives a tinker's damn what Keith Bauldry says, does, or thinks.

Mable's was wrong about James, but Mable's efforts helped to secure the Leadership for Adrian.

And Mable will get re-elected.

The B.C. PC's in the 1970s were very much a "Red Tory" party with leaders like Derril Warren, Dr. Scott Wallace & Vic Stephans. It could be argued that they were to the left of the BC Liberals, with Pat McGeer & Bill Vander Zalm.

Interesting. But were they to the left of the 1970's BC Liberals, who had not yet severed formal ties with federal Liberals? I would have imagined that the BC Liberals of that decade were more in line with Art Phillips and TEAM. Yes, his wife Carole Taylor later went on to be a BC Liberal, but back in the day TEAM was in competition with the NPA. How did Phillips feel about provincial politics with the NDP and Socreds duking it out?

I had forgotten though that I'd read Vander Zalm was a Liberal first.

I suppose that with Bill Davis as Ontario's PC premier in the 70s, it's not hard to conceive of a similar bent to the BC PC banner.

I was not alive during that decade and I only moved to BC in 2006. But it is interesting for me to get a window into the politics of the day.

Politics has certainly made for strange bedfellows didn't it? Especially for people who define themselves as centrist in BC... you never know whose bed you're going to wake up in.

I wonder why the Vancouver Sun left this part out of the Canadian Press story  - just sayin'!

 http://www.vancouversun.com/Liberals+launch+attack+website+aimed+leader/5929492/story.html

 

I love how the screenshot in the Vancouver Sun article quotes the BC Progress Board which Clark is quietly going to kill because it failed to prove that the Liberals had been better managers of the economy.

Just laughing at Kinsella and his unpopularity in BC.

 

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/30/bc-politicking-will-put-new-democra...

Kinsella might just be working for the BC Libs for $$ but I think he's been supported of Gordon Campbell in the past though. Given that the BC Libs aren't even a 50/50 split of Lib/Cons, this just goes to show how rather odious the Liberal establishment is. Kinsella is screaming racist!, reactionary! everywhere and talking about the progressive values of the Liberals are Canadian values, but will throw his lot in with the crypto-Socreds even if a BCNDP with a quickly moving to the centre Adrian Dix has a chance at power.

Many a small business owner are reaping what they sewed by their throwing their lot in with the BC Libs over the last 3 elections. Everything that has happened in the last year and coming about this year has solidified into the assured destruction of small and medium businesses. Also with the help of the Conservatives. Now that I think about it more.

* hydro rates going up 3+% along with the new billions of dollars smart meters allowing BC Hydro to charge them triple during their peak periods of consumption. Also hitting the working poor and fixed income peoples hard too.

* vehicle insurance rates going up

* building and property taxes going up significantly across the province today

* higher minimum wage now impacted larger on them  for payroll costs because of the new added federally increased EI and CPP rates. Workers get it, the slap down, too of course. The badly needed minimum wage increase is all gone now.

Christy should have stayed at CKNW as she is going to take the fall for all of it.

Would the Chamber of Commerce people really flow to Cummins after all that the right of the BC Liberals have done?

that's super - yeah

 

______________________________________________________________________________________ Our kids live together and play together in their communities, let's have them learn together too!

Regarding the statement: "If I was criticizing myself, I'd say: Make less decisions but make the more significant decisions and make sure the execution is followed up better. I think that would make for better government."

Dix echoed that in his speech at the convention. He mentioned how Barrett's government passed bills at a rapid breakneck speed, but ultimately the implementation is up to the public service, and the overwhelming amount of change in a short time made it difficult to implement them all well.

http://www.straight.com/article-581011/vancouver/coalition-could-foil-nd...

B.C. New Democrats are leading in the polls. The ruling B.C. Liberals are in trouble. Resurgent B.C. Conservatives are splitting the centre-right vote. If all this holds until next year’s general election, the NDP coasts to victory.

It’s a neat narrative that may work out that way. But if history repeats itself in May 2013, there could be a huge wrinkle. Think 1941.

Political scientist Dennis Pilon revisited B.C.’s electoral past when he contributed a chapter to a pan-Canadian academic book expected to be out sometime in the fall. In it, the former University of Victoria faculty member demonstrates how politics in the province has been largely defined by how the right has formed coalitions to keep the left out of power.

“In 1941, the Liberals and Conservatives joined together into a coalition government, and they ruled the province in a coalition from 1941 to 1952,” Pilon recalled in a phone interview with the Georgia Straight from Toronto’s York University, where he is now an associate professor.

Unless Adrian Dix’s New Democrats win a majority of the 85 seats in the legislative assembly, 1941 could happen again.

If Premier Christy Clark’s B.C. Liberals and John Cummins’s Conservatives have enough seats to form a majority, “no question, they’ll govern,” Pilon said.

In the 1941 election, the left-leaning Co-operative Commonwealth Federation won the popular vote with a 33-percent share. However, neither that precursor of the NDP nor the B.C. Liberals and B.C. Conservatives at that time won a majority of the 48 seats up for grabs.

“The various ruling elites said, ‘Holy Toledo, what’s going on here?’ ” Pilon said. “And they very quickly put together a coalition. They ran as a coalition in 1945 and 1949 and easily won both elections.”

Cummins’s Conservatives acknowledge 1941, devoting an entire subsection to it in the party’s history posted on its website. According to this material, the Conservatives got three cabinet posts to the Liberals’ five in their shared government.

Pilon explained that coalitions like these took the form of either alliances between parties, like the one that took shape in 1941, or, mostly, single parties like Social Credit and the modern-day B.C. Liberal Party. According to him, these coalitions won 17 of the 20 elections fought between 1941 and 2009.

Poll results released in December by Forum Research Inc. show that the B.C. Conservatives are tied at 23 percent with the B.C. Liberals. Both centre-right parties trail the NDP, which is at 34 percent.

B.C. Liberal woes may go from bad to worse in the two by-elections expected this year.

The NDP recruited a popular politician, Joe Trasolini, former mayor of Port Moody, to represent the party in the by-election for the Port Moody–Coquitlam seat vacated by B.C. Liberal MLA Iain Black.

In another by-election, John Martin, a well-known Fraser Valley newspaper columnist and criminologist, will run for the B.C. Conservatives in Chilliwack-Hope.

John Dyck, an assistant professor of political studies at Trinity Western University, noted that a deeply divided right serves the NDP well, as the party didn’t gain much above 40 percent of the vote in B.C. the three times it won and formed a government, in 1972, 1991, and 1996.

During these years, the NDP had its biggest share of the vote, almost 41 percent, when Mike Harcourt led the party in the 1991 election, winning 51 of the 75 legislative seats in contention. In that contest, the B.C. Liberals earned 33 percent of the vote, and Social Credit 24 percent.

“As much as the Liberals and Conservatives right now are fighting for the same base, the NDP only makes an inroad into that base if, in fact, the other two parties don’t do well,” Dyck told the Straight in a phone interview. “They [NDP] have to have a split opposition in order for them to do well.”

The Trinity academic sees the same result Pilon does if next year’s election leads to a minority outcome. “It certainly would be much easier for the Liberals and the Conservatives to cooperate,” Dyck said. “It would be more likely that you could have Liberal minority government supported by Conservatives.”

The former government usually gets the first kick at the can, doesn't it?

Anyway you are talking about a right-winger's wet dream. Just not gonna happen.

And Christy Clark is probably now rated as a long shot to even get re-elected in her own seat. 

The palace coup is coming.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/new-bc-liberal-chie...

Just saw Christy Clark on CTV's QP. She supports Harper on the Northern Gateway and on his new health care initiative his "(take it or leave it" offer). Ugh.

Christy Clark did express on P&P one concern with the health formula, namely that it funds per-capita, but seniors cost far more in annual health expenses than younger people. And BC, as a major retirement province, is in fact seeing that its fastest-growing population is the over-85 set. So she would advocate for an age-adjusted formula. Which is probably the only reasonable thing I heard her say in the interview.

Regarding the BCCons... it looks like Dix will start to have to push back himself against both parties. The NDP can't count on the Conservative vote only splitting the right.

It's far more likely that we will win a majority with less than 40% of the popular vote.

I'm sure Premier Adrian Dix would lose a lot of sleep over that. LOL

http://www.theprovince.com/news/select+Gwen+Mahony+lead+Chilliwack+elect...

It's federal jurusdiction isn't it, or at least the current hearings are federal. 

Trasolini expected to make transportation announcement

http://www.tricitynews.com/news/138229904.html

You mean premier, right? :)

Dix hasn't personally said much. But his environment critic Rob Fleming and his energy critic John Horgan have.

http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/10297-tar-sands-pipeline-not-wort...

 

“The pipeline would carry over 500,000 barrels of raw tar sands  crude each day. The pipeline goes over mountains, across farmland, over the  Fraser and Skeena rivers, and straight through the Great Bear Rainforest to  the Pacific where it will be picked up by supertankers trying to navigate our inland coastal waters,” said New Democrat environment critic Rob Fleming. 

“The opportunities for disaster are many, and the B.C. Liberals should re-assure British Columbians that it will not go through.”

...

Fleming said there have been many disasters in the oil industry  recently, and this report clearly spells out how the tar sands pipeline  project is high risk.  

“British Columbians don’t want to see rivers and lakes killed,  fisheries destroyed or towns and farmland contaminated,” said Fleming. “While Alberta oil companies have a lot to gain, the small benefits to British Columbia are far outweighed by the enormous risk to our northern industries, fisheries, communities and ecology.”

Fleming said the report highlights an incident in Michigan last  year where another Enbridge tar sands pipeline ruptured, dumping three million  litres of crude into the Kalamazoo River. The area and surrounding wetlands are expected to be contaminated for many years.

“There is a reason why First Nations oppose the pipeline and  associated tanker traffic. There’s a reason why the Union of B.C. Municipalities voted against it. There’s a reason why British Columbians are  against it,” said Fleming.  

Fleming said that the report also underlines the need for a  commitment from the B.C. Liberals to put pressure on the federal government to  create a meaningful national plan on climate change.

That's Fleming. As for Horgan:

http://www.pipelinenewsnorth.ca/article/20111223/PIPELINE0118/312239952/...

Horgan was equally disappointed with Clark’s comments concerning Northern Gateway.

“Certainly, in British Columbia, we recognize the big contribution that the oil sands make to Canada and to our national economy,” said Clark.

“And in British Columbia, we’re watching the national environmental review process as it works its way through. So, we’re watching to see. And I think that we’ll be in a position in British Columbia to have a real fulsome, meaningful debate about it once we have all the facts on the table about the impacts for British Columbia and the benefits for British Columbia and for Canada as well. And so we’re watching this environmental review process very closely. Because that’s what’s going to get the facts out on the table for us.”

That wait-and-see approach is robbing British Columbia of its voice in the process because that voice will be heard too late, according to Horgan.

“British Columbians have to make their arguments now,” he said. “That’s what the tribunal and the assessment process and permitting process is all about. It’s not to wait and see what citizens feel and experts allege or argue. It’s about coming to a conclusion, making a case, and standing behind it. That’s what people expect from politicians. They don’t want them to wait and see where the wind is blowing. They want them to stand up and say, ‘Based on the evidence that I’ve seen, these are the conclusions that I’ve come to, and therefore my opinion is [this].

“But I didn’t get that sense. This is clearly an issue that the premier doesn’t want to touch while she’s in her re-creation mode going from talk show host to statesperson. It’s all well and good to stand beside the premier’s of Saskatchewan and Alberta and declare you’re a statesman, but statesmen make tough decisions and they stand by them. I haven’t seen that from Christy Clark.

“The issues are pretty clear,” he continued. “Northern Gateway has been on the table for some time now. We’re shaping our position. It’s pretty clear that many of the people in our party [aren’t interested]. Gary Coons representing Prince Rupert – not interested. The people that he represents – not interested. The Haida – not interested. And the confusion around where First Nations are, I think, only further muddies the water. And to have the premier then come up and say … it’s not for me to say what happens in British Columbia. Well, what are you the premier for? Perhaps you should go back to being a talk show host. In this business, you have to stand for something, and this is a very decisive issue for many people. There are those certainly that want to see this happen. And many, many more, based on my assessment that don’t. Our focus is on trying to continue to grow our natural gas sector, which is providing jobs, tax revenue, royalty revenue for the province of British Columbia. The pipeline moving Alberta commodity to market seems to me to be a lot of risk and not a lot of reward.”

I think we'll ultimately see the BCNDP take a stance against the pipeline, but I'm guessing they're biding their time to frame the message right. We may find that they put up a broad spectrum of arguments - not just environmental, but also labour, the interests of the First Nations and the local communities, and so forth. Perhaps they are looking for some prominent spokespeople to join them when they finally have a press conference about it. They know the stakes are high for the next election and they don't want to lose votes by putting out the message the wrong way.

Music to my ears!

Liberals at 'point of no return'

http://www.royalcityrecord.com/news/Liberals+point+return/6118607/story....

That's because the government is in such deep, deep trouble with the public that one has to wonder whether it's reached the point of no return.

There comes a point in any government's existence where nothing it does - no matter how popular or sensible it may be --can save it from demise the next time it faces the electorate.

The B.C. Liberals have to be wondering whether they've reached that point. I've long held that after roughly 10 years in power, a stench of sorts begins to envelope a government and it can be very hard to get rid of it.

The latest Angus Reid poll shows the steep uphill struggle facing the B.C. Liberals and their leader. The poll gives the NDP a whopping 14 point lead (42 per cent to 28 per cent) over the B.C. Liberals.

But two other numbers are equally as alarming for the ruling party. The upstart B.C. Conservatives' support is pegged at 19 per cent, which is roughly where it was three months ago.

That means the B.C. Conservatives are not a flash-in-the-pan party. Its support appears to be solidifying, which is disastrous news for the B.C. Liberals.

The other number is the 22 per cent Premier Christy Clark polled when respondents were asked who would make the best premier. That's a bit behind NDP leader Adrian Dix's level of 26 per cent.

In the last three months, in fact, voters' positive impressions of Dix have improved by seven points while positive impressions of Clark have dropped three points.

Thus, the one argument Clark could use when defending her performance against critics with-in her party - that she was more popular than the B.C. Liberal party itself - seems to be disappearing.

Also troubling for the B.C. Liberals is that they are losing ground on credibility in running

the economy and fighting crime, two issues that should be their bread and butter.

Finally, the poll shows that just 60 per cent of those who voted for the B.C. Liberals in the last election would do so today. More than a quarter of those former Liberal voters now say they would vote for the B.C.

Conservatives.

Would You Buy a Used Car from These Libs?

Eight old dents in believability Clark's polish hasn't fixed.

 

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/02/06/Libs-Believability/

So, Adrian Dix is higher in the polls than Christy Clark.

It comes as no surprise to me, who has said from the beginning that Christy Clark did not have what it takes to lead a party, much less a province. If she were not premier, I would call her an airhead.

It's interesting to note that only one person in her caucus supported her leadership bid, and he had to be shuffled into cabinet obscurity after screwing up his first minister's post. This is an important point because under the British system, when a prime minister goes, the caucus declares who the successor will be until the next party convention. A party-wide vote, democratic though it may be, is a popularity contest, while the caucus votes the most competent successor which they are best qualified to determine. At the very least, before a leadership convention, the caucus ought to be polled and the poll made public. As expected, Premier Clark refuses to face issues by changing the subject when she is asked tough questions to her amazing plan to make B.C. the most this or that, blah, blah, blah.

Although I live in Quebec (22 years now), I really, really want Adian Dix to replace Clark as the next  B.C.  Premier.

This article would be more accurately entitled "Lying Business Contractors who pimp for Christy Clark. What a pile of nonsense. And independent my ass. LOL

I wonder how many people realize what an absolute sleazeball Philip Hochstein is. And I wonder if Peter Gall had a hand in this.

 

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/ICBA+poll+shows+Liberals+trailing+poi...

In a news release, ICBA President Philip Hochstein said he believes the poll shows people are beginning to warm to Clark, and to policies such as the B.C. Jobs Plan.

“These poll results confirm what I’ve been hearing over the past few months – the race is much closer than we thought. I talk to folks across the province, and I’ve been hearing support for the government that was much stronger than past polls indicated,” Hochstein said in a news release.

“What we see in our poll is a six-point difference – and that’s less of a margin than the BC Liberals faced a year before the 2005 election.”

The poll also showed 43 per cent of voters have a favourable impression of Clark, while only 30 per cent have a favourable impression of NDP leader Adrian Dix.

It also found that 35 per cent of people have an unfavourable impression of Clark, while only 20 per cent have an unfavourable impression of Dix.

 

 

More Christy Clark Liberal sleaze.

Key Clark Backer Lobbied for Firm Seeking Public Liquor Assets

Budget surprise revealed after Lib insider Kinsella lobbied to privatize distribution.

http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/02/23/Public-Liquor-Lobby/

 

Amazin'

Buzz over Premier Photo Op’s snub by Telus

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Opinion+Buzz+over+Premier+Photo+snub+...

 

Not surprisingly, the B.C. Liberals are seething at the deliberate snub to the premier and the cavalier way the company handled the invitations to the other members of government.

Especially galling is the fact that a big part of Friday’s news — extending Internet service to 97 per cent of the province, installation of fibre-optic cable to 450 schools, wireless coverage along 1,700 kilometres of remote highways — was a direct result of a $1-billion, 10-year contract with the province, approved by the Clark government and announced last summer.

So what provoked the falling-out? Neither side would say anything on the record. But I gather that on the government side, Telus is thought to be engaging in payback for the company’s disappointment over negotiations on the naming of BC Place. The company thought it had the rights in the bag. Turned out it didn’t.

Still, hard to imagine a major corporate player would have chosen to embarrass Clark’s predecessor, Gordon Campbell, in such an obvious fashion. And in that sense, Friday’s event might be taken as a portent of a changing of the guard.

As Dix could not help observing, one of the things that made him happiest at the Telus announcement was Entwistle saying that the development would go ahead, irrespective of the outcome of the next provincial election. Hint, hint.

Unbelievable sleaze politics - Bloy is the one Caucus member who supported Christy during her leadership run.

Fuck his apology - why did he do it is the question? He should at the very least be resigning and perhaps going to jail for his behaviour.

     

MLA Harry Bloy apologizes for leaking information related to Province investigation

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Harry+Bloy+apologizes+leaking+informatio...

 

"Bloy" seems like it is just itching to become a word with some sort of offensive definition.

Bloy (v): To ignore a recent scandal because someone perceives that enough corrective action has been taken. E.g. So what you're saying about the leaked memo is, you expect us to just Bloy it off?

I haven't heard any. Although a friend of mine thinks Kevin Falcon is setting his sights on getting a federal Conservative nomination for 2015.

It would be like 2001 in reverse!*

*Except that in 2001, Campbell's Liberals actually got a seriously crushing majority of the popular vote.

Hey wait... I just noticed... 21 + 21 = 42. Even if the Libs and Cons merged right on the spot... the NDP would still form a majority government?

And in the Justason poll 45 NDP 31 LIB 14 CON, even if they merged right on the spot, the right would be in a statistical dead-heat with the NDP.

This just got real. Now Clark faces the uncomfortable truth that chasing the right-wing vote is still not likely to be enough to get her re-elected.

This is staggering - close to a 50% lead for the BC NDP in the latest poll

Christy Clark: B.C. Premier Poised To Be Swept From Office By Adrian Dix's NDP, According To New Polls

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/03/20/christy-clark-bc-polls-adrian-di...

Not that I believe any polls, I am intrigued by this one. I have a couple of questions that perhaps other Babblers might answer about this poll. The poll states that nine seats would go to the Liberals and one to Vicki Huntington. 

 

Which constituencies would go Liberal? The Abby's, some in the North? And second question, how does a poll like this come up with an independent such as Huntington. Does Forum record individual constituencies or regions?

So now that Topp is *not* going to lead the federal NDP...

Encourage him to come work on BC's election next year?

new

Former B.C. cabinet minister jumps to Conservatives Liberal MLA John van Dongen takes swipes at premier in announcement Monday

 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/03/26/bc-van-dongen-to-conservatives.html

 

 

So the BC Cons now have a basse in the BC Legislature - good! Go John Cummins Go!

How many more defections need to take place before Christy loses her majority - the knives will be coming out now, and she will quickly be losing control of the government. 

Yeah and the first Conservative MLA is a dim bulb, who as Soliciter General and Minister of Public Safety, was caught speeding more than 41 Kph over the speed limit. This is a BFD moment in comparison.