Who else is tired of the usual nonsensical BS from Chambers of Commerce?

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Chambers are basically a right-wing front for the business community.

They definitely represent businesses.  That's literally what they're there for and they're pretty open about that. 

They're not really a "front" any more than Greenpeace is just a "front" for environmental activists.

Looking a little farther into it, why did the NDP originally decline to take part?

“Let’s be clear — the NDP were originally invited to this event, declined, and then changed their minds once it was too late. Due to the actions of the NDP, the Chamber cancelled their part of the #PropRep event,” wrote Wilkinson. “We feel this public discussion is critical so we will be holding our own #PropRep event in #MissionBC tomorrow.”

Here is another comment:

The story from the NDP is different. Kahlon says that he had volunteered to represent the party after MLA Bob D’Eith was unable to attend. Kahlon says that offer was accepted but after putting the debate with Wilkinson in his calendar, he was told he was uninvited.

Seems like some sort of mixup that both parties are trying to spin. How about giving us some dates and documents? Was this all done by phone? 

https://www.vicnews.com/news/premier-john-horgan-ponders-debate-on-votin...“I’m not ruling out having a face-to-face debate with Mr. Wilkinson,” Horgan said. “We’ll see what happens but we want to certainly get through the municipal campaigns right now.

I certainly agree that it should wait until after the local elections but why say he's not ruling it out? That makes it sounds like he doesn't like the idea but will maybe give in.

Lots of political theatre, no solid information. As usual it's all just he says he says with nothing for voters to care about. Might as well be rumors. The media doesn't even bother to ask questions. They just repeat what all the politicians say. 

From the original reference:

“It’s obvious that Andrew Wilkinson and the BC Liberals have no real desire to debate proportional representation,” said Kahlon.

“The BC Liberals and their rich friends have tried to stop British Columbians from even having a referendum. And now he has proven that he doesn’t want British Columbians to hear both sides of this important question.”

The NDP is in power. The Liberals can't prevent the NDP from informing voters of the benefits and drawbacks of PR. The NDP can send flyers to all the homes in BC. They can take out full page newspaper ads to explain it. They can go on talk shows. Debates are to the benefit of the Liberals as it gives them an opportunity to give their counter arguments. 

As a voter, the above gives me reason to tune out politicians. It's junk I have to filter through to see if there is any actual information that pertains to voters. There isn't any. I might as well be listening to children bickering over a ball in the playground. 

Looks like the NDP still thinks they are in opposition not power. The NDP doesn't have to obey the Liberals. The Liberals do not have a bigger megaphone than the NDP does. 

Wilkinson issued the challenge Monday. He said he was touring the province during the summer, and found “most British Columbians” were not even aware that a referendum is coming up. He called for a one-on-one debate with Horgan, not including B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver, who made the referendum a condition of supporting the NDP minority government last year.

Is this true? How much attention is PR getting in BC? Is it a hot topic? Does the NDP even want PR or are they doing it because the Greens made it a condition? 

it's playing hard in some areas others not so much.

lots of propaganda money being thrown about by the no side and BC Liberals. 

the BC Conservatives are on the yes side.

BC NDP supporters are divided but not 50/50 more like 80/20 for yes.

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It's just that no one else here is surprised that the Chamber of Commerce in a small town in British Columbia is AGAINST electoral reform or against anything else progressive or small-d democratic.

It's not even particularly clear what the CoC actually *did*, besides saying "never mind" when they couldn't secure all of the debaters.

How did that get turned into "the usual nonsensical BS from Canada's Chambers of Commerce", NorthReport?