!!!
John Horgan, Wrong Choice!
Sun, 2017-01-08 18:12
#1
John Horgan, Wrong Choice!
Sun, 2017-01-08 18:15
#2
The Premier is already wearing her hard hat.
Unfortunately John just doesn't get it. It's about jobs and the economy.
You cannot be against jobs and expect to win. The NDP is the party of no.
The BC NDP will get crushed in May.
Too bad!
Sun, 2017-01-08 18:18
#3
Right now the NDP has one effective leader in Canada and that is Rachel Notley. What is not to understand about that!
Sun, 2017-01-08 18:22
#4
NR please fuck off and die.
Sun, 2017-01-08 18:37
#5
... he said please.
good canadian.
Sun, 2017-01-08 19:15
#6
Edzell
NR please fuck off and die.
Really smart people know how to take their own advice 
.
Sun, 2017-01-08 20:36
#7
NR please fuck off and die.Really smart people know how to take their own advice
Anyone with street smarts would know better than to get into the middle of a fight.
Sun, 2017-01-08 20:59
#8
You don't have to support the pipelines to be for "Jobs". We are all for jobs.
And the pipelines are only going to create a handful of longterm jobs.
Beside which, coming out for the pipelines would have no effect on the BCNDP's electoral chances other than to knock the party into third place behind the BC Greens.
Sun, 2017-01-08 21:12
#9
Beside which, coming out for the pipelines would have no effect on the BCNDP's electoral chances other than to knock the party into third place behind the BC Greens.
If they support tar sands gunk being shipped through the Salish Sea in the quantities proposed every single coast seat they have will be in play and many will go Green. The idea that the only jobs imaginable are in digging up the lowest grade of oil on behalf of foreign owned companies to ship it through a pipeline built and owned by and American corporation to ship to China where they are the investing big time in renewable energy is absurd.
Mon, 2017-01-09 22:26
#10
And unfortunately for the brain dead NDP, she is correct.
Christy Clark dons hard hat in quest for 5th Liberal mandate, hammers out jobs platform
Wearing a hard hat, B.C. Premier Christy Clark listens to a question at the Woodfibre LNG project site near Squamish, B.C., on Friday Nov. 4, 2016. Clark never seems to miss the chance to put on a hard hat and pose with workers for what has become the trademark photo opportunity of her government. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
VICTORIA -- British Columbia Premier Christy Clark never seems to miss the chance to put on a hard hat and pose with workers for what has become the trademark photo opportunity of her government.
She's donned hard hats in Nanaimo at a lumber yard, at a mine site in Princeton and at the Howe Sound location of a proposed liquefied natural gas plant.
British Columbians can expect more hard-hat appearances as Clark looks to secure her second term and a fifth straight Liberal mandate in next May's election.
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"Whenever I'm wearing a hard hat, I'm usually talking about all the things we can do to support job creation," Clark said in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press. "Why do I go to work sites? I want to make the point that jobs matter and government makes a difference in whether or not those jobs get created."
New Democrat Leader John Horgan is also familiar with a hard hat.
"I've said in the past, I've worn a hard hat to protect my head, not just get my picture taken," Horgan said in an interview as he placed the union-sticker covered hard hat on his head. He smiled as he joked that he'd never be mistaken for actor George Clooney.
Clark said job creation will be her primary message in the coming months and the choice will become more clear for voters.
"When I was growing up and my dad would come home from his union meetings, it was obvious there were two parties," she said. "Now in B.C. there is one party that supports employers and supports workers because we support job creation, and there is another that doesn't support jobs. That's what will be at stake for us over the next six months."
Horgan said Clark's Liberals have underfunded public education, presided over an exodus of forestry jobs in rural communities and provided tax breaks to the wealthy.
"Sixteen years these people have been in power, and I've been maintaining Christy Clark cares about two things, and you are not one of them," Horgan said, suggesting Clark cares more about herself and her party.
The premier has warned her Liberal party supporters that they are in for a fight this spring.
But she's leading Canada's strongest economy and is betting that issue and jobs will hit home when voters go to the polls May 9.
"What I know is a job means stability," she told the annual gathering of the B.C. Road Builders Association earlier this month. "It means food on the table. It means you can own your own home."
B.C.'s economy is projected to grow three per cent this year, more than double the projected national average of 1.2 per cent. B.C.'s jobless rate at 5.6 per cent is the lowest in the country.
Clark highlighted major projects and the jobs they created, pointing out each one has been opposed by the NDP. The Evergreen Line, South Fraser Perimeter Road, Port Mann Bridge, the Canada Line, Site C hydroelectric dam and Pacific NorthWest LNG are either complete, proposed or underway.
"And then there's Kinder Morgan, 15,000 new jobs, and they oppose that, too," she told the convention.
The $6.8 billion Trans Mountain expansion project from northern Alberta to Burnaby, B.C. would triple the oil pipeline's capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels a day.
Horgan said British Columbians are struggling to make ends meet as hydro, insurance and medical costs increase.
"I've worked in mills. I've worked on a roof," he said. "I've worked in construction. I know what it's like to try and make ends meet, pay cheque to pay cheque."
Political scientist Hamish Telford, at University of the Fraser Valley, said Horgan must increase his public profile ahead of the campaign.
"If you went to downtown Vancouver, Victoria or any other town in the province and stopped people on the street and asked them to name the leader of the NDP, I suspect nine out of 10 people couldn't do it," he said.
Telford said the Liberals are vulnerable on education, transportation, housing and the unequal distribution of economic gains. Clark's Liberals failed to deliver on their big promise of thousands of LNG jobs, he said.
"We are five months away from the election and the NDP have to get him (Horgan) known and defined before the Liberals do it for them," Telford said.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/christy-clark-dons-hard-hat-in-quest-for-...
Tue, 2017-01-10 01:58
#11
You don't have to back environmentally disastrous megaprojects to support "jobs". Brown jobs are not the only kind that can be made. Since you are now right wing, why do you still post here?
Tue, 2017-01-10 02:15
#12
You don't have to back environmentally disastrous megaprojects to support "jobs". Brown jobs are not the only kind that can be made. Since you are now right wing, why do you still post here?
That's not politically analytical though. The unionized BC Building Trades (long-time allies of the BC NDP) supports mine development, LNG, nat gas pipelines, Kinder Morgan twinning, BC Hydro's Site C dam, etc. So does a majority of the USW membership - comprising, for example, a huge membership in Canada's largest metallurgical coal region in the Elk Valley within the East Kootenays.
Frankly, the BC NDP has written off almost the entirety of interior BC (aside from the 2 West Kootenay seats). Without winning these ridings in 2017, where all of the foregoing issues matter, the BC NDP will never form gov't.
Green energy, booming tourism industry, booming high-tech sector, booming film industry, etc. on the SW BC coast does not impact/matter to BC interior folk. Will say again, the BC NDP has basically written off interior BC ridings with their current positions. Do not need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. The BC NDP could have scoped out more nuanced positions like the AB NDP, SK NDP, MB NDP, and ON NDP. But they haven't in terms of the MSM's eyes. And the MSM will always kill ya.
Tue, 2017-01-10 09:41
#13
I think Centrist and NorthReport are right. The NDP needs to listen to every constituency if it wants those constituencies to vote Orange. If people feel that the NDP is ignoring their core interests--the need for middle class wages, for example--then they will abandon the NDP. The NDP needs--desperately needs-- to be seen as a working class party, rather than a party for urban intellectuals. You can only show contempt for workers' bread and butter issues for so long before you lose all credibility with them. Balancing environmental, social justice, and industrial interests is perilously difficult, but it needs to be done: you can't win if you forsake industry for the environment and social justice, and if you don't win you can't achieve any good whatsoever. There has been a terrible bifurcation that has happened in our political systems between conscienceless power and powerless conscience. By abandoning for the sake of social and environmental conscience the strategies needed to obtain and wield power, the NDP ensures that Liberals will fill the resulting vacuum by focusing solely on acquiring power untempered by conscience. The political landscape is ultimately a tragic landscape littered with unresolvable ethical double-binds. The desire to ignore those double-binds in pursuit of a completely clean conscience cedes the field to psychopaths.
Tue, 2017-01-10 10:10
#14
Reading this thread, you might start to believe everyone in the Interior thought the same and had the same interests. I kind of doubt that.
Tue, 2017-01-10 10:19
#15
They may not have the same interests, but I'll bet they largely share the same deep anxieties about things like plant closures and immiseration.
Tue, 2017-01-10 14:58
#16
You don't have to back environmentally disastrous megaprojects to support "jobs". Brown jobs are not the only kind that can be made. Since you are now right wing, why do you still post here?
That's not politically analytical though. The unionized BC Building Trades (long-time allies of the BC NDP) supports mine development, LNG, nat gas pipelines, Kinder Morgan twinning, BC Hydro's Site C dam, etc. So does a majority of the USW membership - comprising, for example, a huge membership in Canada's largest metallurgical coal region in the Elk Valley within the East Kootenays.
You are wrong in your analysis. During the Bennett years the Building trades supported the Socreds. It was not until MiniWac attacked the building trades and drove the percentage of industrial construction from 85% union to 5 to 15 % union that they became NDP activists.
Federally Liberal Senator Ed Lawson was from the same period. The Teamster's are part of the Building trades Tri-pack [Operating Engineers, Teamsters, Labourers] who build the dams and other major government projects under the Bennett years with polyparty collective agreements that were signed prior to the beginning of construction
Since we are discussing defamation on the board here is a little bit about the defamation suit that Lawson won when he was called corrupt.
On March 9, 2012, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of David Baines and others from a judgment finding Mr. Baines (a newspaper columnist) and the other appellants (members of the paper’s editorial staff, the paper’s publisher and its proprietor) liable for defaming the Hon. Edward M. Lawson, a former member of the Senate.
http://hakemiridgedale.com/2012/03/court-of-appeal-dismisses-baines-defa...
Tue, 2017-01-10 15:06
#17
On Vancouver Island and the rest of the Coast we have lost pulp mills, paper mills, sawmills and we now ship raw logs primarily as a forest industry. I feel for the people of FOrt McMurray but what about Gold River and Campbell River and Powell River to mention three mill towns in decline. Building pipelines will not do anything for the economy of our region except add another risk factor to the fishing and tourist industries that are the backbone of our local economy..
Tue, 2017-01-10 17:11
#18
alan smithee
Not to be hypocritical but I used to call NR right wing. I can't prove that he is even though some of his posts are questionable. No need to tell him to fuck off.
But slagging the NDP isn't conducive to the conversation. There are hundreds of comment boards out there where that can be done. There's no place for it here.
Tue, 2017-01-10 17:44
#19
The BC NDP could have scoped out more nuanced positions
..i agree with this statement although it may not in the same way as the author. probably all of us by now understand that how we are living/working is unsustainable. so far the ndp has been unable to articulate the alternative. they began taking the positions around lng, site c and lng because they perceived, rightly so, that great numbers of the population were against this business as usual.
..reducing the crisis we are facing as one of jobs is a manipulation that will guaranty business as usual. extraction causes enormous damage to water, air, earth and people. this not theory but a reality. extraction is empowered via trade deals that override democracy. it violates both land and human treaty rights. by challenging this indigenous folks they are threatened with state repression financial or/and violence.
..the clc has a campaign currently. it's the creation of 1 million jobs via the green economy. it is only limited by the lack of polititcal imagination. horgan raised the issue of expanding the cooperative sector. this is a way to proceed that is not business as usual. we are not short on alternatives it's the polical will and the remedy is pressure from below. and while the ndp may not be totally committed at this point in time to an alternative approach they are the most susceptible to change.
eta: the state of the bc economy, the lack of jobs is mostly due to the very same people who are falsely promising all these jobs..the libs.
Tue, 2017-01-10 18:27
#20
..we face multiple crisis in the lack of proper transit, afforable housing, proper medical and mental health care, education. all these are green jobs. yet what we are offered is some of the dirtiest ways of earning income that leave us with clean up costs and the brunt of the profits going out of the country to corporations. liberal policy such as run of river electricity and site c is destroying the family jewel bc hydro. we can do much better.
Tue, 2017-01-10 18:48
#21
They may not have the same interests, but I'll bet they largely share the same deep anxieties about things like plant closures and immiseration.
why aren't the BCNDP explaining why raw logs are being exported and how or if they intend to stop it?
nothing being said to the issue around the collapse of the forest industry and how it can be rebuilt means why not vote BC Liberal.
Tue, 2017-01-10 18:54
#22
Not to be hypocritical but I used to call NR right wing. I can't prove that he is even though some of his posts are questionable. No need to tell him to fuck off.
I live in BC. I am inundated in all the media with pro-BC Liberal propaganda. The BC Liberals are one of if not the most corrupt government Canada has ever seen. Coming to babble and day after day having to put up with NR's regurgitation of MSM talking points is beyond the pale. He is only doing it to piss people off. He pissed me off and since I thought he did on purpose I told him to fuck off. I still mean it.
Tue, 2017-01-10 18:57
#23
delete dup
Tue, 2017-01-10 19:20
#24
alan smithee
Not to be hypocritical but I used to call NR right wing. I can't prove that he is even though some of his posts are questionable. No need to tell him to fuck off.
I live in BC. I am inundated in all the media with pro-BC Liberal propaganda. The BC Liberals are one of if not the most corrupt government Canada has ever seen. Coming to babble and day after day having to put up with NR's regurgitation of MSM talking points is beyond the pale. He is only doing it to piss people off. He pissed me off and since I thought he did on purpose I told him to fuck off. I still mean it.
I understand. I felt the same way the months before the Canadian election. I see exactly why he pissed you off. I was just trying to have cooler heads prevailng.
Tue, 2017-01-10 19:42
#25
Edzell
No need to tell him to fuck off....I understand. I felt the same way the months before the Canadian election. I see exactly why he pissed you off. I was just trying to have cooler heads prevailng
Congratulations on your equanimity, but good luck with that. "Fuck off" - Is that the worst any of the krackpots said? I believe "Fuck off and Die" is their usual "euphemism" for "I disgree."
Tue, 2017-01-10 19:45
#26
Usually when one levels personal attacks it is because their arguments don't stand up.
Politically the NDP are a lost cause, and they need to stop wasting people's time, energy, and money with their nonsense.
Tue, 2017-01-10 21:13
#27
No need to tell him to fuck off....I understand. I felt the same way the months before the Canadian election. I see exactly why he pissed you off. I was just trying to have cooler heads prevailngCongratulations on your equanimity, but good luck with that. "Fuck off" - Is that the worst any of the krackpots said? I believe "Fuck off and Die" is their usual "euphemism" for "I disgree."
so let me get this straight.....you're negatively labelling people as krackpots? from a self-imposed belief in your position of sane superiority?
lolololol
Wed, 2017-01-11 08:38
#28
alan smithee
No need to tell him to fuck off....I understand. I felt the same way the months before the Canadian election. I see exactly why he pissed you off. I was just trying to have cooler heads prevailngCongratulations on your equanimity, but good luck with that. "Fuck off" - Is that the worst any of the krackpots said? I believe "Fuck off and Die" is their usual "euphemism" for "I disgree."
There's nothing more annoying than some Johnny Come Lately calling people here 'Krackpots'. You're inviting confrontation. Smugness is not a virtue that demands respect.
Wed, 2017-01-11 13:06
#29
Usually when one levels personal attacks it is because their arguments don't stand up.
You do nothing but post propaganda from the MSM media. I don't comer here to argue with right wing talking points. If you have nothing to add to the debate of how we get from here to a better future except more Liberal BS why are you still here. I told you to fuck off because I believe you opened this thread and the countless others just like it to piss in our collective cornflakes.
I actually agree that the BC NDP has major problems but the focus has to be how do we stop the BC Liberals from winning again. You are here to promote the party of thieves and charlatans fronted by Ms. Photo-op herself.
The BC NDP needs to run on jobs and the third party interests need to save their money for a relentless radio ad campaign this spring citing the corruption of this government. I have a different view of what cost the NDP the last election. It was a combination of months of business group ads calling Dix's character into question and his stupid response in the debate to the question about the memo. The NDP allowed a government that had its offices raided over BC Rail to run without them pointing to the oozing corruption while being under attack for backdating a memo.
Wed, 2017-01-11 22:06
#30
Just heard the leader of the "Party of NO" on the CBC confirm that the BC NDP will lose the next election. Even neophyte politicos know you can't expect to run against jobs and win. How stupid can you be! Political losers always like to blame others for their own failings. Now Christy Clark and Rachel Notley are united against the lunatic fringe represented by John Horgan. But don't worry NDPers, you will probably come ahead of the Greens, which your leadership, in its brillance, has obviously decided, are even a bigger threat than the Liberals. Go figure!!!
Wed, 2017-01-11 22:50
#31
The BC NDP are definitely brain dead. The BC NDP lost the last election worrying about the Greens instead of keeping an eye on the main player, the Liberals, and now Horgan is just repeating Dix's stupidity word-for-word!
Year / Liberals / NDP / Ind / Total
2005 / 46 / 33 / 0 / 79
2009 / 49 / 35 / 1 / 85
2013 / 49 / 34 / 2 / 85
You tell me what has the NDP learned about its election strategy, and what have they done about it over the years. People get tired of losers. My hunch is that the NDP will probably lose about 10 seats this time.
Thu, 2017-01-12 01:41
#32
North, what you don't seem to get is that the BCNDP couldn't endorse the piplelines and still be significantly different than the Liberals.
And any vote they did gain from the Libs by endorsing the pipelines would be lost to the Greens. They'd have no right to ask anyone who recognizes we are in a global environmental crisis to bother voting Dipper.
What chance would they have if they did what you wanted and automatically lost every seat on Vancouver Island to the Greens, and lost them for good?
Thu, 2017-01-12 08:39
#33
..just to add to what ken b said. the ndp are victims, so to speak, of the people of not just no but of yes. the lower mainland, vancouver island, the pacific coast, indigenous nations..all people of no to tankers and pipelines and yes to an alternative greener economy. for all of nr's main stream media bluster..the last federal election punished the cons for those very same extraction policies.
..this will not be a cake walk for the libs no matter how badly the ndp campaign goes. the labour movement, who have been taking a shit kicking will be activated if you believe their last convention and it will not be in support of extraction. the resistance is more organized than any time in the past. more organized than in the last fed election.
..i predict the most dynamic bc election has ever had with a very active people factor. a participitory/direct democracy in action.
Thu, 2017-01-12 09:09
#34
It is disconcerting to hear from 3000 miles away such doom and gloom about the BC election.
I certainly dont have my ear to the ground there but i have looked at the most recent published poll which is not so bad for the NDP as the comments above might indicate.
http://www.insightswest.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ReportCardBCNov20...
The NDP has a very slight lead in this poll, released a month ago. What may be more significant is the high disapproval of Premier Clark - 58 to 37 negative.
John Horgan by contrast has a 42 to 32 net approval appoval rating.
It is noteworthy that fully 34% strongly disapprove of Clark,which contrasts with only 14% of Horgan
Thu, 2017-01-12 09:44
#35
Epaulo
Very misleading
The BC Fed is split right down the middle which is exactly where Christy Clark wants them to be
And Nicky forget about nonsensical polling which means nothing until we are in the middle of the actual election Last election the BC NDP had a massive lead going into the election and the BC NDP with their political smarts managed to screw that up I would like nothing better than for Horgan to win but it ain't gonna happen and Horgan confirmed that last nite with his no resource jobs for BCers once again just like Dix did in 2013
Thu, 2017-01-12 10:25
#36
Epaulo Very misleading The BC Fed is split right down the middle which is exactly where Christy Clark wants them to be And Nicky forget about nonsensical polling which means nothing until we are in the middle of the actual election Last election the BC NDP had a massive lead going into the election and the BC NDP with their political smarts managed to screw that up I would like nothing better than for Horgan to win but it ain't gonna happen and Horgan confirmed that last nite with his no resource jobs for BCers once again just like Dix did in 2013
..no not misleading nr. i understand there is a split but you have to provide the stats to show this right down the middle statement. also your depiction of horgan's statement "no resource jobs" also spin. provide links because your words i have found to be slanted in favour of your extraction at any cost position.
BC Fed Launches Campaign to Elect NDP Government in May
Effort to focus on jobs, wages and public services and increasing voter turnout.
Thu, 2017-01-12 10:44
#37
..and an expression of solidarity with indigenous folk. i repeat this will be a dynamic people powered election. expect folks following libs around and putting enormous pressure on those candidates. raising issues that the media doesn't want to voice.
Politics, Poverty, Privatization and Globalization Big Issues for BC’s Union Movement
Political action and a campaign to oust Christy Clark’s government next May were at the centre of the BC Federation of Labour’s bi-annual convention in Vancouver, but inequality, poverty and the negative effects of globalization were hot topics for the approximately 1,500 delegates.
quote:
“We look south of the border at what Trump is about do to there in horror… but our own country is racially discriminating against little kids and we need to take care of business here,” said Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Care Society. She said the federal government underfunding leaves children on reserves with substandard services compared to the rest of Canadian children.
Thu, 2017-01-12 11:56
#38
..this link came from the bc fed here.
Our seasons are changing, and extreme weather events are becoming more common. Our economy isn’t providing the kind of good jobs it used to. More people find themselves in precarious employment, often having to leave behind the places they are from for jobs they can count on for months. We don’t have the infrastructure we need: whether moving around people or energy, we’re using 20th century technology to deal with 21st century problems. Our communities suffer while our climate commitments go unmet.
Green jobs are career-track, family supporting jobs our communities need across the province. Stable, sustainable positions, green jobs remain rooted in their regions- you can’t offshore a rapid transit mechanic or building retrofit specialist. Around the world, green jobs are growing, as both a solution to climate instability and as a way to provide good jobs.
quote:
Green Jobs BC is an alliance of labour and environmental groups with a shared vision of an inclusive, sustainable economy that provides good jobs, is socially just, protects the environment and reduces carbon emissions. We advance policy initiatives that result in greater investment in and public support for green and community sustaining jobs.
quote:
Our steering committee consists of:
- Brenda Brown, Executive Vice President, BC Government and Service Employees’ Union
- Charley Beresford, Columbia Institute
- Lynn Bueckert, BC Federation of Labour
- Vanessa Geary, Vancity
- Matt Horne, Pembina Institute
- Irene Lanzinger, President, BC Federation of Labour
- Lee Loftus, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Union - Local 118
- Lisa Matthaus, Organizing for Change
- Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor
- Tim Pearson, Sierra Club BC
- Iain Reeve, MoveUP
- Darryl Walker, President Emeritus, BC Government and Service Employees’ Union
- Bill Wareham, David Suzuki Foundation
Green Jobs BC would like to thank the following organizations for their support:
- BC Federation of Labour
- BC Government and Service Employees’ Union
- BC Teachers’ Federation
- BC and Yukon Building and Construction Trades Council
- Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE 378)
- Canadian Union of Public Employees - British Columbia
- The Columbia Institute
- David Suzuki Foundation
- Heat and Frost Insulators Local 118
- Hospital Employees’ Union
- Unifor
- United Steelworkers District 3
- Vancity
Thu, 2017-01-12 12:34
#39
Christy Clark won the last election based on 100,000 LNG jobs that never appeared.
"No more pipedreams" should be the BCNDP campaign slogan. 
Thu, 2017-01-12 13:14
#40
Christy Clark won the last election based on 100,000 LNG jobs that never appeared.
"No more pipedreams" should be the BCNDP campaign slogan.
Except maybe this one. One of favourites.
Thu, 2017-01-12 16:53
#41
Seems to me all Horgan has to say is "Where are the 100,000 jobs you promised last time, Christy?"
If she was bullshitting workers then, why should any worker believe her now?
Thu, 2017-01-12 20:38
#42
..during the last federal election dogwood did a lot of important work in ousting cons. they claim more than 200,000 supporters in bc and 600 volunteers.
Together, we can create the province’s largest network of organized voters. That’s how we’ll make a difference.
Fri, 2017-01-13 12:39
#43
montrealer58
Why is Rachel Notley a good premier? She failed to protect the rights of Alberta farmers to sue the hydrocarbon industry for poisoning their water. Shame on the Alberta NDP!
Fri, 2017-01-13 15:31
#44
wtf?
Fri, 2017-01-13 16:54
#45
John Horgan is not an Albertan politician. I guess from Central Canada it is hard to tell the difference.
Fri, 2017-01-13 16:59
#46
Why is Rachel Notley a good premier? She failed to protect the rights of Alberta farmers to sue the hydrocarbon industry for poisoning their water. Shame on the Alberta NDP!
I am not sure what you are referring to. They can sue if they have a case. This government is doing a tremendous amount in spite of huge headwinds. Labour rights, minimum wage, closing the coal industry, LGBT rights, addressing education issues around the curriculum, and private schools, electricity generation, health care, reversing privatization. This for a government a year and a half old.
Fri, 2017-01-13 17:43
#47
alan smithee
Let's all join hands and dance together LOL
Fri, 2017-01-13 19:23
#48
Brain-dead Horgan's NDP (Horgan, James, Meggs, Dewar), like Dix's (James, Dix, Topp) regime before him, has kissed the coming election good-bye. All I can say to the NDP, by delivering a big fuck-you to the working person once again, is good riddance.
Christy Clark’s bold Kinder Morgan deal could pay off during election
To be clear, there is no precedent for this. Kinder Morgan could have accused the province of extortion and walked away – which would have infuriated Alberta, and possibly Ottawa, and ramped up pressure on Ms. Clark to back off in the name of national unity.
But it didn’t. Ultimately, it made more sense for the company to throw some money on the table rather than trying to fight the edict via the courts or through diplomatic back channels.
Regardless, this gives Ms. Clark a huge win, one it’s difficult imagining her not trying to capitalize on during the coming provincial election.
Although the Premier has said it is not her job to champion the pipeline – she has insisted it was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision and ultimately his responsibility to sell it to British Columbians – her government’s approval of it makes it as much her project as the federal government’s. Attempting to distance herself from it will be impossible – the provincial NDP will make sure of that.
She likely knows that too.
That is why she will highlight her five conditions and the rather remarkable financial transaction she reached with Kinder Morgan as an example of her uncompromising principles and superior bargaining skills. Whether the public buys it is another matter.
There is still a great deal of opposition in B.C. toward the pipeline. Most of the support for it resides in the Interior and rural parts of the province. Disapproval is centred in Metro Vancouver. And then there is a group in the middle who can see both sides of the issue – these are the voters Ms. Clark hopes to impress and persuade with her Kinder Morgan agreement.
While he opposes the pipeline, and has vowed to stop it if elected, NDP Leader John Horgan does not believe the election will turn on this matter like it did in 2013 when then party leader Adrian Dix stunned just about everyone by coming out against Kinder Morgan after saying he was going to wait to see the company’s full proposal before passing judgment.
Ms. Clark jumped on the flip-flop and the rest is history.
“This is an issue that you are talking about, and a clutch of people are talking about, but not the people I talk to,” Mr. Horgan told me recently.
“The vote-determining issue for them is not pipelines but how are they going to make ends meet, how they are falling further behind, what they are going to do about their aging parents. That’s what the regular folks I talk to are concerned about.”
If Mr. Horgan didn’t want to make Kinder Morgan the central talking point of this spring’s campaign before, he is likely even less inclined to do so now in the wake of Ms. Clark’s bargaining-table home run.
For the Premier, it is called making the best of a bad situation. One she may no longer be so reluctant to talk about.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/christy-clarks-bold...
Fri, 2017-01-13 20:03
#49
With Kinder Morgan approval, Premier Clark draws her line in the oil sands
It’s a bold move by Clark, who earlier looked like she might tip-toe around the controversial project rather than take a clear position on it and risk a voter backlash in Metro Vancouver.
That all disappeared on Wednesday as Clark went all-in on the pipeline while taking credit for extracting millions of dollars from Kinder Morgan in additional benefits for B.C.
The project approval includes up to $1 billion in “fair share” payments from the pipeline company to the province paid out in annual instalments of between $25 million and $50 million.
The money will finance a B.C. Clean Communities program that will pay for local projects that “protect the environment and benefit communities,” the government said.
This not only gives Clark a clever campaign talking point about how the pipeline will actually help protect the environment, but she will also now argue the project will deliver benefits to every part of the province, not just along the pipeline route.
You can already hear Clark on the campaign trail telling voters all over B.C. that Horgan would cost their communities money and jobs if the New Democrats win the election and try to stop the pipeline.
http://theprovince.com/opinion/columnists/mike-smyth-with-kinder-morgan-...
Fri, 2017-01-13 20:55
#50
There are fresh concerns about the legitimacy of British Columbians getting first crack at construction jobs for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Tom Sigurdson, executive director with the BC and Yukon Territory Building Construction Trades Council, says they tried to engage with Kinder Morgan years ago, and things went quiet quickly.
More recently, they reached out again.
“We’ve tried to engage but to this point we’re a little shocked at the lack of engagement. If Kinder Morgan hopes to have shovels in the ground by September of this year, I think we need to sit down and have a discussion about what the requirements are going to be.”
Sat, 2017-01-14 18:08
#51
The difference between a political winner and a political loser