Premier Christy Clark & the BC Liberals are both toast - so what happens now? (Thread #3)

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Fri, 2013-05-03 15:24

emjayvan

jerrym wrote:

Some other observations on the Burnaby Lougheed riding where Jane Shin is running.

The article on the riding quoted above makes note of the fact that in the riding "About one in five riding residents speak Chinese at home."

I live in the Burnaby-Lougheed riding and my sense is that the efforts Liberals are making in trying to tarnish Ms Shin aren't getting much traction. Plus, if we were to gauge support by lawn signs, Ms Shin is far ahead of the hapless Liberal candidate. NDP signs are everywhere, even including some pretty expensive homes.

Fri, 2013-05-03 17:30

#303

jerrym

theleftyinvestor wrote:

There's a lot of people who are incredibly deluded about the NDP platform. My now-ex-workplace's owner (everyone just got laid off) was ranting about how the NDP will introduce a capital tax on his business's money. After clarifying what he was saying, I managed to gather that he believes the NDP's reintroduction of a capital tax on banks will not end there, and they will also introduce a capital tax on all businesses. It's nowhere in the platform, but he believes it to be true and uses it as an argument against them.

This man happens to be very intelligent. I get the sense that, rather than fabricate these lies himself, he has been listening to dishonest candidates and advertising that has convinced him the NDP will come after everything he holds dear. When in reality the BCNDP has been campaigning very pro-small-business.

That is why it is important for the NDP to repeatedly (and repeatedly again) counter Christy's arguments. While having Ralston deny that the NDP plan to have no capital projects, Dix should be doing this himself over and over and charging that Christy is being deceitful and hypocritical. He should then cite many examples of projects that the NDP will introduce while pointing out that it is the Liberals who have closed over 100 already existing schools, as well as many hospitals and courtrooms.

When Kerry was attacked doing his presidential run for allegedly lying about his Vietnam experience, he only responded initally through others and did not keep repeating his argument. By the time he did start responding forcefully many people had accepted the false claim and Kerry never recovered. Christy is now repeating this Swiftboating process (named for the type of boat Kerry commanded in Vietnam and that his attackers lied about). The main reason Clinton was able to defeat similar attacks in his presidential runs was that he always immediately and repeatedly countered these attacks forcefully, immediately and repeatedly.

Fri, 2013-05-03 18:55

#304

kropotkin1951

This election is going to prove that negative elections drive down the vote. I think the NDP vote will not go much above the last election because with all the negative ads people who have not voted for them in the past are not likely going to change their minds. However former NDP voters are going to be extremely motivated to vote to get rid of Christy. Her problem will be getting enough people to bother to go to the polls to support her. I think (or is that hope) many former Liberal voters will not bother to vote because you can't get rid of the stench even if you hold your nose.

For the NDP to win a decisive victory the Conservatives will have to pick up votes and they are not impressing anyone it seems.

The seat total in Burnaby last time was 2 to 2 and to win a solid majority the NDP needs to take at least 3 and should be able to take 4 if they get any help from the Conservatives. In my riding the Conservative logo will not appear on the ballot because they did not file in time. Their candidate Christine Clark will appear but as an Independent. But you never know some people might mistake her for the leader of the Liberal party.

In Burnaby we have a by-law that outlaws all signage except on private property. So it means something when you see signs because you know they are attached to a voter not just an indication of which campaign bought the most signs to put on boulevards and at intersections. So far the NDP is winning the sign war in Burnaby by a large margin.

Fri, 2013-05-03 19:00

#305

theleftyinvestor

I also wonder if seeing a closer NDP-Lib race will scare some Green voters to the orange team by the time E-Day rolls around.

Sat, 2013-05-04 12:22

#306

Roystonbones

jerrym wrote:

tell a big lie often enough and people will believe you.

Nothing is a slam dunk in BC politics.

I do like the NDP's positive campaign and no negative ads. However, they could attack the Lieberals a little more vigourously without being nasty. It is not surprisig that polls have the numbers tightening up. Things can be pretty polarized in BC. The NDP wins if we get out the vote.

Having siad that though - it is a sea of orange signs wherever I go in the Burnaby/NewWest/Vancouver areas. Lieberal signs are few and far between.

Sat, 2013-05-04 18:02

#307

jerrym

Roystonbones wrote:

Having siad that though - it is a sea of orange signs wherever I go in the Burnaby/NewWest/Vancouver areas. Lieberal signs are few and far between.

Here is an article backing up your statement. The Vancouver Sun has asked its readers to report online who is winning the sign war in their neighbourhood.

"Of the 154 reports received as of Friday morning, 109 say NDP orange is the most dominant colour on their street.

Thirty-one say the B.C. Liberals have the most signs in their neighbourhood, nine say Green, three Conservative and two Independent/Other.

The Sun has received election sign reports from 48 of B.C.'s 85 ridings, from as far north as Prince Rupert and as far east as Creston. But the vast majority of the reports (74 per cent) are from Metro Vancouver."

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/bc-election/winning+election+sign+with+...

Of course, this sample is skewed by the overrepresentation of Vancouver and the sample sizes are too small to be significant for individual ridings, but it also says something about voting intensity for the parties, as one has to go beyond the average voter participation level, which is not high, to put up a sign for any party.

The article does note that the NDP are ahead in sign count in North Vancouver Lonsdale, a Liberal riding. The NDP is also ahead in Langley, Minister of Mines and Resources and Government House Leader! While I find this hard to believe as Langley is in the Fraser Valley Bible Belt, it is changing rapidly as its population grows because it is the Fraser Valley riding closest to Vancouver. Unsurprisingly, Carole James is winning the sign war over Jane Sterk five blocks to one. The one riding where the Greens are ahead is Oak Bay-Gordon Head, which is the riding where Andrew Weaver is running. There is a tie in Vancouver-Fraserview, currently held by Minister of Health Margaret MacDiarmid, in a riding that is expected to be a dogfight. Take the sign wars for what they are worth - not a lot but something.

Sat, 2013-05-04 18:02

#308

jerrym

duplicate

Sat, 2013-05-04 18:57

#309

jfb

Signs wars are important. Having said that, Cons have won elections by not doing sign wars but robocalls to identify possible supporters, and than ID them, and ensure they get them out to vote. It's all behind the scene stuff, and hidden so the other campaigns are lulled into a false sense of security.

So calls go out with misinformation about their competitor(s), and one isn't aware. This happen in the last federal election. Remember someone on Clark's team is from the Blue side of the ledger and ensured Rob Ford got elected in Ontario.

So how it works is that anyone who identifies as an NDP in the robocall doesn't get another call. Those who are maybe's or don't identify one way or the other, get calls with lies about the other candidate/party and so on. It's about turning those maybes into suporters. And this could all be going on behind the scenes and the campaigns are not aware of this voter crap going on until it's too late to turn it around. Look for this election strategy in the last week or so of the campaign.

Sat, 2013-05-04 19:00

#310

jerrym

The Vancouver Sun has a page-long analysis of the week's polls. The article is summed up with the statement "Interpretations of the results were mixed Friday, with some saying the new numbers dramatically change the race, and others saying it is too early to tell."

However, it did note that "the Liberals made just over half of their gain in the Angus Reid poll as the result of an NDP drop, with the rest coming from the B.C. Conservatives and Greens. ...

But the real work will be done on doorsteps and in telephone rooms where campaign staff and volunteers will be doing everything they can to solidify core support and woo back possible supporters who may be considering other choices."

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Liberal+campaign+gaining+momentum+polls...

The vast majority of the NDP vote seems to be holding and the room for much of the growth of the Liberals comes at the expense of the Conservatives. However, with the Cons running 56 candidates compared to 24 in the last election this means that in those 32 ridings where they did not have a candidate the last time but now do have one, many of the votes they do take would have gone Liberal.

For anyone complacent about a NDP victory, the last quote from the article is instructive. Now is the time to put in some hard work.

Sat, 2013-05-04 22:16

#311

jfb

I'm surprised the Green vote would go to the Libs since they are all about the oil pipelines.

Sun, 2013-05-05 01:08

#312

theleftyinvestor

jerrym wrote:
There is a tie in Vancouver-Fraserview, currently held by Minister of Health Margaret MacDiarmid, in a riding that is expected to be a dogfight. Take the sign wars for what they are worth - not a lot but something.

You must mean Fairview. Fraserview is Gabriel Yiu vs Suzanne Anton with no incumbent.

I walked through Fairview today and did not see that many signs. Maybe it is just the street I was on. One Liberal sign on 16th west of Ontario, and one NDP sign east of Ontario somewhere between 16th and 12th. I forget exactly where. Heyman's office is, of course, east of Broadway in the little sliver of East Van that the riding includes. I can see why he might have put it there, but it might have made a bolder statement to go further west rather than preach to the converted.

Sun, 2013-05-05 01:23

#313

Left Turn

kropotkin1951 wrote:
This election is going to prove that negative elections drive down the vote. I think the NDP vote will not go much above the last election because with all the negative ads people who have not voted for them in the past are not likely going to change their minds.

I actually think that a large part of what is driving down voter turnout in elections at every level of politics is reduced tolerance of the openly abusive behaviour of many right-wing politicians. A lot of people don't feel that voting makes enough of a difference to put up with the plethora of abusive behaviour from right-wing politicians in the news and in the political ads. So they tune out all politics, and then when the election comes they don't bother to vote because they're not informed enough to make a decision.

Sun, 2013-05-05 01:31

#314

theleftyinvestor

Voter suppression is a well-known right-wing tactic. All the more reason why getting out the vote is important.

Mon, 2013-05-06 15:11

#315

jerrym

If the NDP forms a government, as still seems highly likley, one problem that needs immediate attention is the child poverty rate. For much of their time in office, the Liberal government had the highest child poverty rate in the country. Now it is the second highest rate according to the following graph based on Stats Canada data.

Figure 2: 2010 child poverty AT LICO by province*

*Source Statistics Canada. “CANSIM - 202-0802 - Persons in Low Income Families,” 2013.

http://cwrp.ca/infosheets/child_poverty

An article in Monday's Vancouver Sun "More Children Show Up For School Hungry" puts the child poverty rate in BC even higher. it points out "that one of every seven children in B.C. is living in poverty and two-thirds of them live in Metro Vancouver." With Vancover now one of the most expensive cities in the world in which to iive, this would be an issue of concern to much of the middle class as well as the poor.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/More+children+show+school+hungry/83...

Dix and the NDP also need to start to point out how bad the Liberals have been with regard to this issue and others, such as the underfunding of schools, heathcare and the legal system as evidenced by the closure of more than 100 schools, as well as many hospitals and courts, and the BC Rail fiasco. Attacking the government on its failures to deal with issues, while avoiding personality attacks, was, afterall, something that Jack did very well.

Mon, 2013-05-06 15:30

#316

kropotkin1951

The only problem with the NDP using this to attack the Liberals is that the worst poverty in the country is in the NDP stronghold of Manitoba. This is another double edged sword.

As well the NDP platform does not offer a whole lot in vision to change that reality. Unlike Jane Sterk I think the $70 per month per child is a very good plank. I am less impressed with indexing increases in GAIN to the price index because it is in effect freezing the now inadequate rates. A phased in set of increases above the price index is what is needed.

I was also appalled that the platform does nothing for the disabled on GAIN.

I'll still vote for them but not because they are committed to ending poverty.

Mon, 2013-05-06 16:04

#317

jerrym

I noted that there were many other issues on which to attack the Liberals in addition to this one. I already recognized the problem in Manitoba by posting about their failure to deal with the issue in the Manitoba thread. However, BC is not Manitoba and the problem needs to be tackled here in part by recognizing the failure of the Liberals to deal with it and the its steady growth over time.

Mon, 2013-05-06 16:29

#318

kropotkin1951

Any ads going after the Liberal record need to be focused on areas that the NDP platform and record is strong on. Poverty and welfare issues is not one of them. The pipelines are a good issue for them that needs to be hammered away as is the idea of turning Delta Port into a coal exporting centre for American coal. The Employment Standards Act is another area where the Liberals have really beat up on the people and the NDP in power had good laws and policies. They also had much better labour laws but they likely don't want to be seen as running on behalf of the unions. They should really be hammering the Liberals on the off book debt that is in BC Hydro, BC Ferries and all the P3's that have been signed. As well they should be really pushing the idea of a public inquiry into BC Rail. Many people on all sides of the political spectrum would like the crooks brought to justice.

Mon, 2013-05-06 16:56

#319

knownothing knownothing's picture

Gordon Wilson endorses Clark, Liberals for Government

http://hqcowichanvalley.com/home/local/news/v/Local/183654/Wilson-endors...

Mon, 2013-05-06 17:23

#320

Policywonk

knownothing wrote:

Gordon Wilson endorses Clark, Liberals for Government

http://hqcowichanvalley.com/home/local/news/v/Local/183654/Wilson-endors...

He once had more credibility than he does now. The Liberals he is returning to are not the Liberals he lead in the early '90s and whose Leadership he allowed himself to be maneuvered out of. It's not great, but I hardly think it will be enough to turn the election around for the Liberals.

Tue, 2013-05-07 00:02

#321

jerrym

After Clark claimed that Dix and the NDP were putting the children of BC at risk by having a $3 billion deficit, Dix responded by saying that the Liberals have done nothing for children during their time in office. He also pointed out that the Liberals have “Eight years leading the country in child poverty"and that the only thing they have to offer is "nothing except misleading comments and attacks”.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/06/leadership-is-not-misleading-peo...

Tue, 2013-05-07 00:07

#322

jfb

excellent - Dix must have been reading the suggestions on the BC babble thread.

Tue, 2013-05-07 02:44

#323

theleftyinvestor

janfromthebruce wrote:

excellent - Dix must have been reading the suggestions on the BC babble thread.

Well, we all know that Brian Topp peruses the Babble threads, or at least chimes in occasionally when his name is mentioned. So I wouldn't be surprised if he occasionally brings it to AD's attention.

Tue, 2013-05-07 07:50

#324

nicky

Gordon Wilson's motives:

http://alexgtsakumis.com/2013/05/06/exclusive-breaking-news-gordon-wilson-eyeing-leadership-of-bc-liberals-post-christy-apocalypse/

Tue, 2013-05-07 07:59

#325

jfb

So today the BC media appeal to the idea that the NDP has dropped the gloves and doing "attack ads". Except of course, it is not attack ads but responding to attacks by Libs. Of course it needs to sell papers and thus sensationalize the headlines.

Campaign attack mode is officially under way

No more Mr. Nice Guy! With the polls tightening, you can tell the NDP war room has decided to drop their whole "positive" campaign gimmick and is going negative against the Liberals instead.

And that includes NDP leader Adrian Dix, who said Monday he found it "offensive" that the Liberal government is "doing nothing when children suffer."

On the radio, I actually heard NDP attack ads for the first time, slamming the Liberals for the HST

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/Campaign+attack+mode+officially+under/8347497/story.html#ixzz2SbiYq8UN

Tue, 2013-05-07 08:02

#326

jfb

Vaughn Palmer: Liberal handling of HST the heaviest drag on their political fortunes
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Vaughn+Palmer+Liberal+handling+heaviest+drag+their+political+fortunes/8345468/story.html#ixzz2SbirZoC0

As the opinion polls tighten, the New Democrats intend to spend the last phase of the election campaign reminding voters how this “time for a change” thing got started in the first place.
snip

The New Democrats, notwithstanding their earlier disavowals of negative campaigning, intend to make political hay by underscoring how Clark and the Liberals are collectively responsible for the HST.

In reply, the Liberals can and do readily cite various NDP authored debacles from the 1990s. But the HST is a fresher and more painful memory for today’s electorate.

Amid the accumulated baggage of a dozen years in power, the B.C. Liberals would have faced an uphill fight for a fourth term in any event.

But the heaviest drag on their political fortunes is still the HST, the post-electoral double cross that first raised the notion that the Liberals needed to be punished with a stretch in Opposition.

So reminding voters of recent past issues related to the red team - now is that considered a personal nasty attack or just providing facts?

Tue, 2013-05-07 08:22

#327

jfb

nicky wrote:

Gordon Wilson's motives:

http://alexgtsakumis.com/2013/05/06/exclusive-breaking-news-gordon-wilson-eyeing-leadership-of-bc-liberals-post-christy-apocalypse/

Interesting and here's another theory by Bob Mackin Exclusive: Flip this house, by order of the court

Gordon Wilson was the man who drove the BC Liberals from zero to 17 seats in the 1991 election, lost the 1993 leadership vote to Gordon Campbell (in the wake of his affair with Liberal house leader/future wife Judi Tyabji), formed the Progressive Democratic Alliance with Tyabji in 1995, sailed into a 1999 cabinet post with the NDP and took over the Fast Ferries file.

Yes, there's more! He ran for the NDP leadership in 2000, but Ujjal Dosanjh was the eventual winner who led the NDP to oblivion in the following year's election against Campbell and the Liberals

snip

What is Wilson's true motivation for urging disaffected Liberals to "come home"? Wilson is known by the nickname "Flip" for all his party changes. But he's not wilfully flipping his house on the aptly named Random Road in Powell River. That is also the address listed for his Duddles' Lair waterfront sheep farm.

The property is offered for $842,900, according to the Realtor.ca listing below. A B.C. Supreme Court judge in Powell River ordered the immediate sale on Jan. 7. A summary of the case and the court's foreclosure order are both below.

snip

There is a legal battle, home foreclosure, and the blogger asking for comment from the defendents.

And a commenter wondering about "how much money was offered for Gordon Wilson endorsement?" Interesting that

Tue, 2013-05-07 08:26

#328

jfb

So Alex is suggesting this motive in Nicky's link above

‘EXCLUSIVE’ BREAKING NEWS: Gordon Wilson Eyeing Leadership of BC Liberals Post-Christy Apocalypse

As one would expect with the ilk of Gordon Wilson, while telling Clark and her ex-husband Mark Marrisen, that he’s completely onboard to support the beleaguered BC Liberal leader, Wilson, instead, is also telling confidantes that he’s eyeing the brass ring of the BC Liberals should Clark go down to defeat in one week’s time.

So money and power - so how much crede does Wilson have anymore with all his flips!

Tue, 2013-05-07 10:38

#329

kropotkin1951

Like others who have sought various leadership roles in the NDP he is and always has been a liberal. As long as Campbell led the BC Liberals he avoided the party like the plague. That was personal not ideological given that he had the brass ring snatched from him by Gordo the Drunk the Howe Street backroom boys' front man.

The Liberals will never elect him as leader after they turf Christy because he is too old. By 2017 he would be 68. The Howe Street crowd who run the party will be looking for a young dynamic leader who can pretend to be progressive until elected.

Tue, 2013-05-07 12:38

#330

jfb

I agree with you k1951. So do you think that he was bought off? Idle speculation?

Tue, 2013-05-07 13:11

#331

kropotkin1951

I have no idea what "incentives" he was offered for his support. I do believe that this government is very corrupt and that includes the people around Christy in her circle of friends and family that all seem to have had their fingers in the BC Rail corruption. It might have been as simple as finding a rich person to buy his real estate after the election is over and that would be something that would be impossible to prove.

I don't think his announcement is going to persuade any NDP voters to jump ship so the effect will be negligible. I continue to believe that this election is not going to see any major increase in voters so it is all about who can get their voters to vote.

I do notice that when I drive around the Liberals are really pumping the money into music radio stations and the NDP is not. I am hoping they have been saving their money for a big spend in that area over the last week of the campaign. It is one of the ways to reach a younger audience who don't watch cable news or read MSM newspapers.

Tue, 2013-05-07 14:05

#332

jerrym

The article below contains a brief description of candidates of all parties in all the Vancouver ridings.

http://www.vancourier.com/story.html?id=7884566

Tue, 2013-05-07 14:06

#333

jerrym

Christy is obviously concerned by the strong opposition in British Columbia to the Enbridge and Kinder Morgan oil pipelines.

"Clark, under pressure from the New Democratic Party to denounce pipeline proposals from Enbridge and Kinder Morgan, said project advocates have still not met the demands she laid out in 2012 -- “world-class” safety and environmental measures, full consultation with First Nations, and a sweeter economic deal for B.C."

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Federal+minister+holds+fire+Christy...

The title of the article (Federal minister holds fire on Christy Clark’s ‘don’t need Alberta’ statement regarding oil pipelines) gives one a much better idea of what is really happening. Recognizing the broad opposition to the oil pipelines, Christy is having a HST moment. Should she win the election, she will announce within weeks that, just like the HST and Gordo, she has discovered how vital the oil pipelines are to the economic future of the province and the revenue stream of the government. The federal Cons know this and are saying nothing that might upset BC voters while the election is going on.

Tue, 2013-05-07 15:32

#334

gadar

Mary Polak has a well documented history of campaigning against inclusion of books promoting gay families when she was a school trustee. Now her campaign manager, who is gay, has resigned. Lets see how this one plays out. Langley is part of the bible belt and full of socon nutcases.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/07/bc-mary-polak-campaign-resign-gay.html

Tue, 2013-05-07 16:02

#335

kropotkin1951

Langley is at best on the border of the "bible belt" and the urbanized part has been growing fast over the last decade. I would not include it in the bible belt which is further east and diminishing all the time. It shares a name with a much larger federal riding that does stretch out almost to Abbotsford.

Why a gay man would have ever got involved with trying to elect a homophobe like Mary Polak is the bizarre part of this story.

Tue, 2013-05-07 16:41

#336

ghoris

That's sort of what struck me too. Of all the Liberal candidates this guy could go to work for, only Marc Dalton might have been a worse choice than Mary Polak. It's not like her track record when she was on the Surrey School Board is a big secret.

Tue, 2013-05-07 16:53

#337

theleftyinvestor

kropotkin1951 wrote:
It is one of the ways to reach a younger audience who don't watch cable news or read MSM newspapers.

Younger audiences listen to radio? News to me.

Or at least in this day and age, only the ones with cars are listening. The most popular smartphones and media players don't have FM radio anymore.

Tue, 2013-05-07 16:59

#338

kropotkin1951

Interesting turn of events.

Quote:

Premier Christy Clark should insist that Dr. Kenneth Fung, a political advisor, apologize for using a false identity to disparage an NDP candidate, said fellow New Democrat candidate Jenny Kwan.

"I'm asking the premier today, does she condone this kind of behaviour?" Kwan told reporters in Vancouver's Chinatown Tuesday morning.

Fung recently admitted to 24 Hours that he called into a CKNW talk radio show on April 21, giving his name simply as "Mike."

"I've got news for you," Fung told CKNW host Sean Leslie at the time. "Did you know the NDP is running a candidate in Richmond Centre by the name of Frank Huang who can't really communicate in English? So I suggest maybe you guys give him a call and do an interview in English and see how good it is."

Kwan accused the Liberals several times during the press conference of seeking a "quick win," a reference to the party's multicultural outreach strategy, which created a scandal last March when it was leaked.

Kwan developed the apparent linkages further, suggesting the Liberals don't support the political aspirations of recent immigrants who don't "speak perfect English."

It's not apparent that Fung, Chair of the BC Premier's Chinese Community Advisory Council, was acting on behalf of the Liberals when he called into CKNW last month.

Fung supports the BC Liberals, he recently told 24 Hours, but does not actually belong to the party.

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/05/07/Jenny-Kwan-NDP-Premier-advisor/

Tue, 2013-05-07 17:25

#339

kropotkin1951

theleftyinvestor wrote:

kropotkin1951 wrote:

It is one of the ways to reach a younger audience who don't watch cable news or read MSM newspapers.

Younger audiences listen to radio? News to me.

Or at least in this day and age, only the ones with cars are listening. The most popular smartphones and media players don't have FM radio anymore.

No they have internet access to radio stations. Its really hard to buy advertisements that get inserted into playlists on peoples smartphones.

Many workplaces have a radio on all the time and yes many young people have access to cars and drive around. If you live on the Drive you don't drive in a car much but if you live in Surrey you are likely in a car a lot more whether you own it or not. The 20 to 25 year group doesn't vote much and the 30 to 35 year old voters are mostly mobile in vehicles, especially the ones that are likely to vote. There are still 1.5 million cars in the Metro Vancouver area. I would bet that you can still reach more younger people on the radio than on other media.

Quote:

Although radio remains an afterthought for many, as popular culture media fixation focuses much more on iPods and various assortments of portable mp3 listening devices, tablets, and laptop computers, the bare fact is millions still tune in every week, multiple times each week, to their favourite local radio station. The age-old quest for ratings in radio remains of paramount importance to the conglomerates that own our local radio stations, given that all but two of those stations listed in the graphic below are funded solely through advertising. Thus, today, we present the Vancouver Autumn Radio Ratings, for your amusement and perhaps edification, and to provide you with some insight into how popular your radio station appears to be among listeners across Metro Vancouver.

http://www.vanramblings.com/radio-wars-vancouver-autumn-radio-ratings-no...

Quote:

Whoever said video killed the radio star? Well, it was a band called The Buggles. Who? Exactly. Radio is far from dead. In fact, radio is so much alive that it’s becoming increasingly popular, thanks to better-than-ever contest giveaways, social media interactions, broke-a$$ iPods (kidding!) and, most of all, the awesome DJs that make sure you’re listening to great tunes while sharing the latest news, gossip and laughs.

http://www.bcliving.ca/entertainment/six-vancouver-djs-prove-video-didnt...

Wed, 2013-05-08 00:42

#340

jfb

One of the interesting new technology the ONDP did in the byelection in Kitchener/Waterloo is send out text messages to cell phone users on the University campus. The election happen in mid September and it was text messages sent to students on campus.

It was interesting and the students really liked it. It provided the with where to vote information on campus and the type of id they needed. Anyway, it's an idea to consider. I don't know about the softwear, myself, but I do remember that the other campaigns were very impressed.

Wed, 2013-05-08 02:32

#341

ghoris

Weird day today. The Hauptman affair takes another twist with Polak stating he had a 'relationship' with an NDP staffer and leaked campaign information, and implying that he quit ahead of being fired. The Fung affair also takes a twist with the Liberals now claiming that NDP candidate Frank Huang was a member of the Communist Party when he lived in China, which has of course set off all the usual conspiracy theories about 'sleeper agents' and 'Chinese spies in our midst'.

Par for the course for BC I suppose.

Wed, 2013-05-08 04:18

#342

Left Turn

kropotkin1951 wrote:
I would bet that you can still reach more younger people on the radio than on other media.

The one other media that might potentially get a similar sized audience among younger people is Youtube, and the NDP seems to be putting a lot of resources into Youtube ads. Every ad I'm seeing on Youtube at the moment is from the BC NDP.

Wed, 2013-05-08 06:32

#343

mmphosis

Greens' Weaver Hoping for an NDP Victory Tuesday (thetyee.ca)

<a href="http://thetyee.ca/Bios/Geoff_Dembicki/" title="Bio page for Geoff Dembicki">Geoff Dembicki</a> wrote:
One of those environmentalists told The Tyee that Weaver's Greens have the strongest environmental platform of any party, but that the NDP's is nearly as good, and supporting them makes more strategic sense.

Wed, 2013-05-08 13:49

#344

theleftyinvestor

ghoris wrote:

The Hauptman affair takes another twist with Polak stating he had a 'relationship' with an NDP staffer and leaked campaign information, and implying that he quit ahead of being fired.

Now that I think about it, someone I know on an NDP team told me a few days before this all erupted that some prominent Liberal's staffer was sleeping with an NDP staffer and it was going to blow up at some point. Knowing BC politics I'm sure it's quite easy for both his story and Polak's to be true at the same time (including the part where she blatantly admits to believing in biblical anti-gay tropes).

Wed, 2013-05-08 14:39

#345

jerrym

Adrian Dix announced Tuesday that he would bring up the issue of the stalled negotiations with BC First Nations during his first meeting with Harper if the NDP forms a government. He said this needed to be done to correct the historical wrongs that have been committed against First Nations, to help reduce inequality in the province, and to spur BC's economic development, especially with regard to natural resource development where three-way partnerships between the feds, BC government and First Nations could help development.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/bc-election/Adrian+press+Ottawa+First+N...

I wish Dix the best in this regard, but I doubt if it will result in anything, except perhaps another fruitless round of negotiations put on by Harper for appearance's sake.

Wed, 2013-05-08 15:07

#346

theleftyinvestor

jerrym wrote:

Adrian Dix announced Tuesday that he would bring up the issue of the stalled negotiations with BC First Nations during his first meeting with Harper if the NDP forms a government. He said this needed to be done to correct the historical wrongs that have been committed against First Nations, to help reduce inequality in the province, and to spur BC's economic development, especially with regard to natural resource development where three-way partnerships between the feds, BC government and First Nations could help development.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/bc-election/Adrian+press+Ottawa+First+N...

I wish Dix the best in this regard, but I doubt if it will result in anything, except perhaps another fruitless round of negotiations put on by Harper for appearance's sake.

I would not be surprised if Dix carries out a number of strategically planned attempts to negotiate with Harper on a wide variety of issues, leading up to the 2015 federal election where Mulcair uses these as a cue to demonstrate Harper's failings.

Wed, 2013-05-08 16:05

#347

jfb

It appears Libs have run out of campaign planks to talk about so shoveling dirt out daily is the keynote of each day.

Wed, 2013-05-08 17:40

#348

knownothing knownothing's picture

Liberals new attack ad on Adrian Dix

http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=922362&playlistId=1.1272859&binId=1.8...

Wed, 2013-05-08 20:47

#349

kropotkin1951

Christy Clark voted today and may have spoiled her ballot. Hopefully many of her supporters will take her cue and at advance polls vote for Christy Clark not the Liberal candidate running in the riding they live in. The CTV and Globe and Mail reported that she voted and didn't report on her stupidity.

Quote:

B.C. Liberal Leader Christy Clark caused some confusion when she cast an advance ballot in Burnaby on Wednesday.

Clark initially wrote her own name on the blank ballot, but she doesn't live in the riding she is running in so she made a change.

Clark took back her ballot and — in front of news cameras — wrote in the name of Vancouver–Fairview Liberal candidate Margaret MacDiarmid.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/05/08/bc-christy-clark-vote.html

Wed, 2013-05-08 20:58

#350

knownothing knownothing's picture

omg

Wed, 2013-05-08 21:00

#351

jerrym

Adrian Dix is promising to reinstate the Therapeutics Initiative at the UBC in order to act as independent agent in the evaluation of pharmaceutical drugs. In the past, Therapeutics Initiative was credited both "with saving lives and money in B.C. ...

The Liberals cut the 15-year-old agency’s funding and access to key health data after the government launched an investigation last year into the alleged inappropriate sharing of patient health records. The probe has resulted in seven ministry employees losing their jobs.

But the future of the Therapeutics Initiative was put in jeopardy several years ago, Dix said, when the Liberals appointed a pharmaceutical company-dominated committee to review the effectiveness of its work. The result was funding cuts and a reduced mandate.

“Therapeutics Initiative is an independent body, designed to be conflict-free to protect the public interest and hold the industry accountable, and you put the industry in charge of judging their role?” Dix asked. “[Pharmaceuticals] is clearly an influential industry.”

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/bc-election/fears+pharma+influence+woul...

Therapeutics Initiiative was created during the last NDP government with the "mission to provide physicians and pharmacists with up-to-date, evidence-based, practical information on prescription drug therapy. To reduce bias as much as possible the TI is an independent organization, separate from government, pharmaceutical industry and other vested interest groups."

http://www.ti.ubc.ca/

The Liberal government used the industry-dominated panel to cut Therapeutics Initiative funding and last year suspended it completely claiming that seven employees improperly shared the health data of some BCers with researchers. Journalist Craig McInnes outlined the "shroud of secrecy" surrounding this issue, noting

"For almost two decades, the TI has been looking at whether prescription drugs really perform as claimed. Its findings have saved lives and health care dollars that otherwise have been squandered on ineffective, or worse, dangerous treatments.

Not surprisingly, the companies that supplied those drugs have not been amused, and have been trying with some success to isolate the TI and get it shut down. An industry-dominated panel appointed by the Liberal government five years ago was the precursor to a series of cuts to TI funding, which was recently eliminated completely after being frozen as a result of the investigations into the alleged privacy breaches."

The Liberals claim that the researchers violated the rules governing the privacy of health records. However, "No motives are given or known. Neither is it apparent that any personal information was ever at risk of being made public. An investigation by the provincial privacy commissioner is still underway."

The Liberals refuse to release any information on this, claiming initially that an investigation was going on and now claiming that because of employees filing wrongful dismissal lawsuits that they cannot talk about it because it is before the courts. Can you say sounds like a repeat of the Liberal BC Rail scandal strategy?

From this perspective, the researchers "professional reputations have been left in tatters, their life’s work has been taken from them, and their incomes cut off in a series of events in which they see themselves not as the villains, but as collateral damage in the ongoing campaign by pharmaceutical companies to derail the Therapeutics Initiative."
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/bc2035/health+researchers+could+dee...

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