B.C. Election: Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Why have the Liberals done business with this kind of scum in the past - remember the Canada Line where Costa Rican workers were being paid $3.77 an hour, and why are the BC Liberals doing business with them again now on the Evergreen Line?
Remember How The 'Fairness' Advisor Didn't Consider The Evergreen Line Bidder?AllThe10YearBansThatFit
WorldBankProjectsVille
Well...
WASHINGTON, April 17, 2013 - The World Bank Group today announced the debarment of SNC-Lavalin Inc. - in addition to over 100 affiliates - for a period of 10 years following the company’s misconduct in relation to the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project in Bangladesh, as well as misconduct under another Bank-financed project. SNC-Lavalin Inc. is a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin Group, a Canadian company, and represents more than 60% of its business.
The debarment is part of a Negotiated Resolution Agreement between the World Bank and SNC-Lavalin Group following a World Bank investigation into allegations of bribery schemes involving SNC-Lavalin Inc. and officials in Bangladesh...
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Here's our original report, with linkages and updates and stuff (and see the comments too), on the lack of consideration on the 'bidder' in both the fairness advisor's and the AG's report on the 'process'.
Oh, and for the record, the World Bank also has this to say: "This represents the longest debarment period that has ever been agreed to in a World Bank settlement"...
B.C. Liberals' proposed childcare registry would be useless, advocate says
http://www.straight.com/news/372926/bc-liberals-proposed-childcare-regis...
The platform comes one day after the B.C. Liberals aired a half-hour TV broadcast on Global in which the party reiterated many of the commitments it made in its third term, including the BC Jobs Plan.
The Jobs Plan, announced in 2011, focuses heavily on trade with Asia and promotion of B.C.'s liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, as well as mining and technological innovation.
The Jobs Plan has consistently been under the microscope. Central 1 Credit Union economist Bryan Yu has noted that the province's jobs numbers have been weak over the past year.
Meanwhile, economist Tim O'Neill reviewed the B.C. Liberals' LNG projections ahead of the release of February's budget and advised the party to dial back its estimates by $70 million.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/04/14/bc-liberal-platform-2013_n_30823...
Christy Clark just can't stop talking about the NDP 
http://www.theprovince.com/business/Christy+Clark+just+stop+talking+abou...
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B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix’s campaign to encroach on traditional Liberal territory
Jonathan Hayward / CPNDP Leader Adrain Dix waves from his campaign bus following a stop during the first day of the British Columbia election campaign in Vancouver, B.C. Tuesday, April 16, 2013.
VANCOUVER — New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix is taking his campaign into Finance Minister Mike de Jong’s Abbotsford riding today where he is expected to put up his party’s financial plan against that of the Liberals.
The NDP presence in de Jong’s riding — not traditional New Democrat territory — comes one day after the New Democrats decided to start the May 14 election campaign in Vancouver-Point Grey, the Premier's own riding.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/17/b-c-ndp-leader-adrian-dix-extend...
She knows the writing is on the wall for her role being part of government, so she could care less the damage she creates. That's the right-wing for ya! I hope she loses her deposit!
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/bc-election/Vaughn+Palmer+Last+minute+L...
The website of Linda Reid, British Columbia's deputy speaker and the B.C. Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly for Richmond East, includes the web address of a teen porn site.
Reid's personal campaign website and Facebook page both list her site with a lindareid.com address, though her site is actually a lindareid.ca address. The discrepancy is likely a typo.
The .com website, actually called Teen Flesh, is plastered with images of what appear to be teenage girls engaged in hardcore sex acts. Reid has no affiliation with lindareid.com
On Wednesday, the MLA said she was frustrated and seemed to believe that she was the victim of a hack.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/04/17/bc-linda-reid-porn-site.html
Drawing the battle lines in B.C.’s election
As Adrian Dix looks to return B.C. to the NDP, all eyes are on the most important provincial election in years
http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/04/18/drawing-the-battle-lines/
Putting Truth to Christy Clark’s Campaign Lies!
http://alexgtsakumis.com/2013/04/18/exclusive-breaking-news-putting-trut...
NDP would cut childcare fees in B.C., Dix promises
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/ndp-would-cut-child...
This pollster wins the bc 2013 election award for "Jokester Pollster".
http://www.electionprediction.org/2013_bc/index.php
Oh, by-the-way, did you know he is a Liberal pollster.
Liberal minister crashes NDP's education platform release
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/04/18/Dix-Education-Announcement/
Green Party loses candidate to B.C. Excalibur Party
The BC Premier Who Loved the Universe
When he wasn't drunkenly clubbing foes. Third in our series 'Some Honourable Members.
http://thetyee.ca/Life/2013/04/18/Some-Honourable-Members-3/
Majority of voters have some concern over NDP spending plans
http://globalnews.ca/news/493509/majority-of-voters-have-some-concern-ov...
Even in Chilliwack - great news!
BC Election 2013 Hot Riding: Chilliwack
The New Democrats are now a factor in the formerly rock-solid Liberal heartland.
Christy Clark, the "say anything" Premier of BC
As The Campaign Kicks Into Gear, Ms. Clark Just Keeps On 'Saying Anything'.
NoBoombox
NoCusackVille
A while ago, back when the British Columbia legislature was open for a nanosecond or seven, we noted that BC Liberal Party leader Christy Clark has a penchant for saying pretty much anything, even if it is completely at odds with what she said the day before.
Well...
She's still at it.
And this time it involves the trail of (supposed) Con-followers that are supposed to protect her right flank while she runs around promising sparkle ponies for everyone.
Andrea Woo, of the Globe, following up, pretty much straight-up, on a BCCon party press release has the story.
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i have been playing with the hill and knowlton predictor and the last few polls show that Port Moody-coquitlam and Chilliwack-hope are going conservative. Is this likely to happen?
BC NDP targets Liberal social development minister
New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix is set to make a major policy announcement today in a Vancouver riding currently held by a Liberal cabinet minister.
Dix is scheduled to make the announcement in a community centre in Social Development Minister Moira Stilwell's Vancouver-Langara riding.
If the pattern set in the early days of British Columbia's four-day-old election campaign holds, Dix's announcement will focus on the NDP's social development plans if the party wins the May 14 election.
Dix chose to announce the NDP's student grant and skills training programs in Finance Minister Mike de Jong's Abbotsford riding. On Thursday, Dix was in Courtenay on Vancouver Island to announce a $372 million plan to hire up to 1,000 new teachers and teaching assistants.
Dix's education plans, which also included reducing the monthly fees parents pay for infant and toddler child care, were announced in Education Minister Don McRae's riding.
McRae ended up crashing Dix's announcement, saying the NDP is spending wildly during the campaign.
Stilwell's social development ministry is responsible for several social welfare programs that were the targets of consistent NDP attacks highlighting mistreatment of vulnerable adults and their families.
The Liberals increased funding to the Crown agency Community Living B.C. after consistent NDP attacks over group home closures and poor treatment of adults with disabilities.
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/04/19/NDP-Liberal-Minister/
More troubles on another Enbridge pipeline
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/04/19/Enbridge-Line-21-Trouble/
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Moose scientists 'muzzled' during B.C. election
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bcvotes2013/story/2013/04/19/bc-moose-gove...
HST still haunts B.C. Liberals
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/04/17/bc-elect...
Is Mike de Jong Still A BC Liberal? 
Mo
WhoVille
Because, I'm telling you, you sure can't tell it by his webpage.
And as for being part of Ms. Clark's 'new' team?
Well.
Gee, what a surprise!
http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/04/19/Liberal-Infomercial-Citizens/
Is the CBC Compass Test accurate in saying the BC Greens are more to the left on social and economic issues than the BC NDP? I was 77% Green, 74% NDP. Hmmm
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CBC pimps for the Liberals. Always have and always will.
irEvery single political thing they do is designed to show the Liberals, both federal and provincial, in a good light, and the opposition in a bad light.
That's obvious to most political observers by now.
Is the CBC Compass Test accurate in saying the BC Greens are more to the left on social and economic issues than the BC NDP? I was 77% Green, 74% NDP. Hmmm
I think what it comes down to is, the Greens and NDP each score "leftier" on a different set of questions than the other. But the dimension by which Greens differ from the NDP does not manifest itself on the plane.
Also the Vote Compass is basing itself on the party's policies for the present election. That doesn't mean individual Greens are actually left-wing.
Someone I know from Ontario high school who is a staunch fed/ON Liberal took the test on a lark and considered it "ludicrous" that he came out closest to the NDP. He insisted, knowing full well the nature of the party here, that he would be a BC Liberal. I proposed that maybe here he'd be one of those folks who vote federal Liberal and BCNDP but he did not want to believe me :P
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I think Mulcair is correct.
Tom Mulcair: Adrian Dix B.C. Election Victory To Be A Precursor To 2015
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/04/20/tom-mulcair-adrian-dix_n_3121368...
Basically Conservatives running in the BC election are closest to the Harper Conservatives federally, whereas Liberals running in the BC election are closest to the Trudeau Liberals.
Nine new additions to BC Conservative roster
Campaigning for the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky riding, Ian McLeod previously ran for the BC Conservatives in the 2008 byelection and the 2009 general election. He is employed in a B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch and is a shop steward for the B.C. Government Employees Union.
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/04/19/Conservative-Candidate-Update/
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The platforms of the Greens and the NDP are similar in many areas, but...
This can split some votes between the NDP and Greens. I think that the NDP are way more committed on social issues that matter. I've seen Elizabeth May (our only elected Green member and not provincial) drop the ball on issues where the NDP has been the champion in my mind. Going the other way, the NDP claims to support the environment, but their record and promises fall short.
The Greens and NDP don't seem to want to commit to halting:
- the practice of fracking
- Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) exports
- the building and massive financial and environmental cost of a dam to power the LNG conversion
- LNG pipelines
- LNG tankers
- the entire industry which is failing because LNG prices are dropping
- LNG investment in what is effectively a Ponzi scheme
The BC Liberals are trying to sell that this Ponzi scheme will bring in massive revenues. I am not buying it. And, I don't think that the NDP needs to either. And, I really can't understand why the Green Party who are actually committed to the environment first would even consider supporting existing the LNG industry.
Basically Conservatives running in the BC election are closest to the Harper Conservatives federally, whereas Liberals running in the BC election are closest to the Trudeau Liberals.
Yoiu may be right about the BC conservatives but I think the BC Lieberals are closer to the federal conservatives than they are to the federal liberals. Of course, having said that, it is hard to tell the difference betwen a liberal and a conservative.
theleftyinvestor, perhaps what's going on is that your acquaintence thinks that Liberals are "progressive", no matter what their policies and programs actually are, and thus supports Liberals.
So I see you suggesting that voting liberal federally is a progressive choice, however, we have seen the complete right shift since 1993, after Chretien did the "bait and switch" with the Liberal redbook 1.
Did I suggest that? I merely suggested that there are progressive individual voters who are very committed to voting Liberal, and in BC these individuals often prefer the BCNDP to Liberals who are in bed with Conservatives. I have met these people. They retweet Justin Trudeau attacking Mulcair, and then retweet Adrian Dix one after another.
Also, to be fair to my Ontario acquaintance, Ontario's provincial Liberals for a time occupied an ideological space where any means of defeating Mike Harris and Ernie Eves was the most progressive option the province could hope for (with the ONDP down for the count all those years). Moreover, the ONDP has a patchwork combination of policies, and on some of them (some! not all) it's very difficult to say the ONDP is any more progressive than the OLP. As a result the OLP has held on to a swath of progressive voters.
0
The saving grace now is that the internet is a presence in any election, and there are enough bloggers out there to help mitigate the constant stream of right-wing propaganda in the vancouver sun, ctv, cbc, etc. Nothing will ever be perfect but theTyee.ca is a good example
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I seriously doubt that anyone could do worse than the BC Liberals.
The BC Liberals "focus" on paying down debt is a sham. The debt has more than doubled under the BC Liberals. I think that the sell off of public assets is criminal. Little or none of the revenue from the sell offs seems to have come back to the province. The money and assets have been given away to corporate cronies. There is also shady accounting practices and other massive amounts of debt that is hidden by shuffling the debt off to P3s and public corporations.
I think that the BC government (and/or an auditor general who is not in the back pocket of the ruling government) needs to audit everything, and kill any contracts that are effectlvely kickbacks to corporate donors of the BC Liberals. I think that the BC Rail case and any other suspected criminal activities of the past government need to come to trial.
I'm playing the devil's advocate a bit here, but where are the jobs going to come from?
But the moment any political party loses sight of that, they are toast.
The platforms of the Greens and the NDP are similar in many areas, but...
This can split some votes between the NDP and Greens. I think that the NDP are way more committed on social issues that matter. I've seen Elizabeth May (our only elected Green member and not provincial) drop the ball on issues where the NDP has been the champion in my mind. Going the other way, the NDP claims to support the environment, but their record and promises fall short.
The Greens and NDP don't seem to want to commit to halting:
- the practice of fracking
- Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) exports
- the building and massive financial and environmental cost of a dam to power the LNG conversion
- LNG pipelines
- LNG tankers
- the entire industry which is failing because LNG prices are dropping
- LNG investment in what is effectively a Ponzi scheme
The BC Liberals are trying to sell that this Ponzi scheme will bring in massive revenues. I am not buying it. And, I don't think that the NDP needs to either. And, I really can't understand why the Green Party who are actually committed to the environment first would even consider supporting existing the LNG industry.