It was hump day yesterday, and certainly we seemed to have reached the peak of all promises being uttered from the mouths of the Liberal leadership candidates.
It can only go downhill from here.
Kevin Falcon takes the cake with the merit-based performance pay that ruled the conversation on my Facebook page for a couple days. My response?
” I wonder if he agrees that same rationale should be applied to elected politicians, such as himself? Performance based pay for politicians… what a novel idea!”
Of course his glossy and sleek spin doctors at the Pace Group worked all day and came up with a release that attempted – and failed- to fix the damage already done. *note the title ‘ ASSETS’ in the name of that last link. Too bad they can’t get rid of old photos like this one, the ones taken before Kevin fell in love with hair putty.
Here is the thing. If you need to have the backing and assistance of a PR group like Pace to get the right feeling, the right messaging, the right words to the people, than you have bigger issues than you realise Mr. Campbell Falcon. oops. Sorry about that – the two men are so alike sometimes they seem like the same person.
Christy Clark is waking up babies with her family first call centre campaign, learning how to ski to show us God knows what, and evading the stink wafting along behind her where ever she goes. Yes Christy, that smell is you. Can’t wash it off, can’t scrape it off and certainly you won’t be able to run from it for long.Kind of like the Jerry Seinfeld B.O. episode where the B.O. from his car attaches itself to everything. Christy officially has B.C.Rail, B.O.!!
Not even one of the faces of evening news in BC can help you, although I am guessing there will be a few British Columbians who are uninformed enough to believe Pamela Martin’s endorsement and new position on your campaign. Pamela stated that it is time for a woman to be premier, and that Christy would bring an inclusive culture to government. Ahem… inclusive of what exactly, she didn’t say.
And as far as a woman being premier? Well, we just had the gender talk here on the blog. I would rather see a man with integrity and honesty as premier, than a woman who may be lying about her involvement in BC Rail, a woman who evades any direct questions as to that involvement, and a woman who does have a demonstrated history of being a heartless,uninformed politician in her past. Being a talk show host only allowed her to keep her in the public eye, while putting some distance between her and her politically ruthless past, something most politicians would kill for.Combine d with the performance she gave on the mighty NW yesterday, one wonders how they can ever allow her back without losing what credibility they still possess. By the way, her photo comes from this link ,http://www.leg.bc.ca/mla/36thparl/ClarkC.htm, where again, Christy demonstrates her ability to gloss over the fine details like the fact she never actually graduated from any of the universities mentioned in this bio, and her others. To me, attending and graduating are two different things, and quitting is nothing to brag about, especially to families and students sacrificing everything to attend univeristy with todays tuitions. How out of touch is that?
George Abbott is coasting along, kind of flying under the radar if you ask me, which reminds me of a Survivor strategy. Stay low, keep your head down, don’t say much and in the end you win because you haven’t pissed anyone off. He’s calling for a review of the Carbon tax, which is both a good and bad idea. Good because I don’t think that tax was ever about climate change, and changing habits – I believe it was a desperately needed form of revenue for a government that had just committed to projects and payments they financially weren’t prepared for. ( IE. Governments commonly generate revenue streams to pay things like shadow tolls by increasing a hidden tax elsewhere… most often in the form of a gas tax – carbon tax anyone? )
I digress. It’s good he has committed to review it, I agree it needs to be done, but think clearly now that the government has been relying on that revenue stream for some time, and in losing it, they would most certainly have to make it up somewhere else. Time to re-read how the Liberals already created one fake financial crisis right after first being elected. Fake finances seem to be their forte, if you ask me. Fake a financial crisis with BC rail in order to justify selling it, fake how much we owe on these P3 projects and fake that they didn’t know anything about any of it when it comes back to bite them in the ass, hard.
Enough about the Liberals for now, they certainly aren’t the only party in BC, just the only party I think never deserves to be in power again. I received an email from the Green party this morning – yes, they are still around – that contained a release titled the Good the Bad , and the Ugly. It was talking about Abbott, Falcon and Clark but I still haven’t figured out which one is which! Just kidding. Seriously though, the release talked about the good and bad of each candidates platform thus far, in fact, three-quarters of the page was all about the Liberals.
The last paragraph talked about what the Green party thought of the carbon tax, and there was a teeny-weeny bit about their ideologies, but nothing real, nothing hard, no solutions and certainly nothing electable if they are looking to the next election.
So where is the NDP? Nick Simons is running, MLA from Powell River,friends up that way from Savary tell me he plays a mean cello and not to underestimate him – but that he is also friends with Gregor… and I am not touching pretty Gregor the juice man. I haven’t heard if he has made any promises yet, but I am sure something’s coming. It always does.
The funniest candidate thus far has to be Dana Larson. Would I vote for him? Not likely, but I would like to meet Tommy Chong, if only to get a photo for the blog of the man who made several generations laugh, including the eighties. He certainly managed maximizing his recent press attention. Where are the rest of the candidates for the NDP? Hello… hello? Anyone home?
One common theme among all candidates, and all parties to this point is clear. None seems to get, and I mean really get, how deceived the voters are. How angry party members might be. How few promises we all want to hear, when the Liberals have either blown, lied about, or hidden details of, far too many promises along the way, and the NDP have been silently marching along behind them, issuing press releases of discontent that hardly anyone reads. Opposition seems to have lost meaning to some members bearing that title.
While it remains to be seen who will lead this province in 2011, and ultimately, our future, one thing can be certain. While all candidates are out there making promises, crossing fingers and waking babies on the campaign trail, there is an army of fact finders on the net to set the record straight on each of them. No, it’s not from the right-wing/left-wing, fringe whack jobs who make crap up in the blogosphere, it comes from independent writers and bloggers like myself and others, who find the facts,yes FACTS, present the documents and ask the questions needing to be asked. Yes, there is a lot of garbage on the net, that goes without saying, the sewer exists here as well, only in virtual form! However, there is an increasing trend and a well-recognized one that social media like blogs and Facebook are without a doubt, reshaping the way politics and political campaigns are being managed.
Unlike traditional media outlets, and reporters who are paid only to report the news,( not comment or offer an opinion on it), as an independent writer one can find the stories, report them to you… and offer our opinion on it.( however, I always check facts,and confirm details with separate and multiple sources, just like a reporter would)
But another difference is that not having all those things hanging over our heads, allows us to take the story deeper, and go further, than newsrooms budgets and directors often can or will allow. I can sit on a story- or several like I am now – and wait for the right moment to release them. I can, and have tackles stories some outlets wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. And by all of us working together – we all have our niches- we can send information and spread it far and wide in a fast manner to get the stories out. In a leadership race situation like we are in now, with so much going on, that can be a plus the candidates have a hard time dealing with.
There has also been a lot of talk about talk show hosts lately, and I won’t get into the details other than to remind everyone that there is a huge, HUGE difference between what is expected of a talk show host and a reporter. Really, the chasm is wide and deep. A reporter reports the news, hopefully hitting the who/what/when/where/why/how in the process. One would hope this is done without bias from political,religious,or monetary influence.
While I defend no one, it is important to remember that talk show hosts are not paid to sit and report news without bias and fairly, they are paid to be provocative, generate conversation and debate and get ratings that appeal to advertisers. To be sure, one does not even need a degree to be a talk show host, look at Christy Clark. She just likes to talk.
Hell, look at Rush Limbaugh- he was right out there, and his listeners loved to hate him for it. THAT makes money. That being said, it is also up to the host and his /her producer to decide how they want to achieve those goals as set by the station. One can do it by being blatantly biased and lobbing softballs at guests they favour, one can sit on the fence and not take a side at all, or one can present both sides , take a stance, and play devils advocate with the facts and the fiction. I prefer the latter. That is why I really don’t get in an uproar over the latest Bill Good gaffe because everyone knows who his friends are, and aren’t and what his political leaning are. So what? Take that, and everything else you hear and read, with a grain of salt and decide for yourself what is right, and wrong, or true and false.
On that note, I must tell you that the blog will be offline later today, and perhaps part of tomorrow as I make the final changes to design and format. It has taken a bit longer as our house is fighting a couple of different flus and colds, and my littlest one learned the hard way yesterday that maybe he should listen to mommy when she tells him the couch is not a place to be hanging over the back of like a sky diver. He landed on his face,hard, and now looks like a miniature NHL player….
**** Blog Borg collective raps Mike de Jong on the head – check it out http://blogborgcollective.blogspot.com/2011/01/mike-de-jong-wants-to-give-us-something.html
Why is the government scrapping certain details over others???
Westcoast Views with Laila Yuile 
I find it interesting that no one ever seems to mention the provincial Conservatives, especially themselves.They want to be an option in the next election, but other than some letters to the editor in the MSM, we never hear anything at all from them. What’s up with that ?
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oh, wow. I forgot all about the conservatives…. seriously! I guess that speaks volumes about what they are up to right now…. sorry BC cons! Totally unintentional on my part!
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Wow! I had to reread your post three times in order to take it all in and savour it.
Although with me, you are preaching to the converted.
Show your little guy a picture of Wendel Clark and he wont feel so bad.
I really like your comparison of Falcon to being a mini me Campbell, but I wonder if Shirley MacLaine’s quote doesn’t get Campbell off the hook, when you consider that he is always either in love(more accurately lust), drunk or running for office or all three at the same time.
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Good summary of the Liberals and the sorry state of affairs in BC politics with ALL parties failing us.
The idea of wrecking a public utility then selling it is greatly helped by devious compliant media like CTV, Global and CBC. The BC rail crisis was fake and resulted in a sale. BC Ferries was a similar play and as you are aware, BC Hydro is currently being mismanaged on purpose to destroy its value to prep it for privatization. The NDP silence on all of this and their infighting right when opportunity knocks are no accident.
As for the “funniest” candidate Dana Larson?
The attempt by NDP party president Moe Sihota to block him from running says much about the pathetic state of the NDP party, none of it good. The insincere apology only came to appease outraged party rank and file. On one level we need a discussion about the war on pot smokers now more than ever.
The recent Canada Senate decision to adopt the USA style war on drugs…………MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCING is no joke.
It was passed in silence just before Christmas and will send anyone to PRISON for 6 months for as little as 5 small plants. Six months in prison!
How did this happen?
Last year the Harper fascists and their little helpers in the Liberals and NDP passed that law in parliament, but the Senate wisely rejected it.
This year the fascists in Parliament passed it again, but Harper loaded up the Senate with more traitors and he had the votes needed to pass new laws.
Interesting how a google search on this topic yields many many hits on how the Senate in 2009 rejected the law, and very very few hits on how the Senate passed that very same law in 2010. Why?
Also interesting that simple pot possession busts are at an all time high in Canada with police laying charges against 35,000 to 40,000 Canadians each of the past few years………….past numbers were less than 20,000.
Say what you want about Dana Larson. But the thousands of regular people busted each year are not laughing. As for the new 6 month minimum sentence for 5 plants? That should chase the last few remaining honest hippies out of the business and permit Hells Angels and similar groups to bring more violence and chaos to the table……….and that of course will lead to more laws to fight the war on drugs/people.
I would vote for Dana.
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A quote from Top Gun: “your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash”.
Something all of the candidates should keep in mind. Laila, your comment about falcon (isn’t the falcon bird a predator bird?)and his rediculous merit pay rule is bang on.
Everyone knows Pamela Martin is an airhead. Crusty is a domineering crank that you can’t get a word in edge wise. I wish she would just shut the hell up.
Absolutely, Georgie is flying under the radar, but I don’t trust him either.I view Georgie as a coaster not a leader.
Apparently Harry Lali is going to make an announcement today around supper time.
Maybe we will see some ndp mla’s with strength announcing their leadership intentions during the next couple of weeks.
The one constant theme we can hold onto in B.C. is the whacky way politics is played here.
Real estate deal completed by a lady in weird hats for a dude who flogs flowers, patio decks, dui in a foreign country by a dude who won’t take off olympic mittens, a soft warm huggey woman that refuses to put her foot down that is waits too long to leave and is pushed out,a dude who wants to be leader in between tokes and you tube video debuts. Journalists who seem to think they are celeberties intitled to politicial contra (1st class freebies).
Where is Rick Mercer? We have an emabarrassingly amount of material to keep RM busy for years to come and the rest of Canada to laugh their butts off.
Like children are a reflection of their parents, we citizens are a reflection of the government we hire to perform the job of running this province.
What does this say about us? We need to get off our asses, become informed, get in the game and participate in the running of OUR province daily basis.
Just a thought.
Now where the hell did I put my pitch fork?
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Lynn, I think Mercer is too busy trying to protect his show to do the hard hitting material we all came to love. Same with 22 minutes. We seem to need a new medium for political humour. Harper has emasculated our beloved CBC. Sharpening pitchfork (it’s stainless too, Lee Valley) Thanks Laila, looking forward to your updated format!
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“You know what I like about your writing’s, Laila” He asked rhetorically. I’ admire the way you hold yourself in check and the reserve you display while reporting on the distasteful.”
🙂
Yous my … but you’ve read that from me on some other open forum
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Jeepers Laila, I saw Pammy on TeeVee last night and she assured us that she could definitely recognize “leadership” and Crusty has it. Of course I never believed that Pammy could even read the prompter properly – so call me “not convinced.”
Now for a little wee bit of proofreading:
“…….as an independent writer one can find the stories, report them to you… and offer our opinion on it.( however, I always check facts,and confirm details with separate and multiple sources, just like a reporter would) ”
the ending should read:
“just like a reporter SHOULD”
I am constantly stunned by the outright disregard for facts and the sheer making up of stuff that constantly flows from the, as Ross refers to ’em, proMedia. Half of the time I have to do extra due diligence for my own modest posts just to determine which news report is actually correct as various news readers and sometimes the same one will supply different “facts” with the same story at different times throughout the day.
I especially loved the recent polling data displayed on either CTV or Glow Ball that proves that the total number of voters in BeeCee equal something like 160% – maybe that’s how the BC liaRs won the last couple elections with voters from the 60% of voters that don’t actually, you know, EXIST! Shades of the Ivory Coast! Maybe we should replace “Bestest Place on Earth” with the “IVORY COAST of the Pacific Northwest!”
And then when it comes to the Vancouver Stun or the Times-Colonial WaterCarrier, if they ever won a Pulitzer it would have to be in the fiction genre.
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I was taken aback by, Gary Masons column in the Globe and Mail. The bias is, slammed right into the face. Mason is obviously pro Campbell. Hence, The Globe and Mail, a paper that I did read, I will no longer purchase. I am still in disbelief , of the way he thinks of the BC people, objecting to Campbell’s underhanded tactics. Palmer is Snow White, compared to Gary Mason.
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Kootcoot!
LOL, I love your sense of humour.
I can’t stop laughing. I have to go and whipe the laugh spit off of my monitor!
Oh, I needed the giggle.
Thanks!
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There is talk of trying to persuade Nathan Cullen into running for leader of the NDP. Apparently he has a really good environmental record, which none of the current leadership candidates for either the Liberals or the NDP seem to have. Not Kevin Falcon for sure.
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I like Dana Larsen for a candidate – at least, I would and will if he starts coming out hard for reversing the BC Rail deal which he has, sort of. Just not hard enough. Someone needs to educate him about exactly who is who and what relationships they had with each other, etc and make that his #1 plank.
Show them he isn’t just a one issue candidate. Plus, get him to go on about weeding out the judicial system and sending some of the real criminals (as opposed to Marc Emery) to jail.
Plus, if elected he will do what he can about marijuana laws but he should be harping at every opportunity about bring real organized crime to real justice starting with bc rail and freeing up some prison space by cutting down on growers, etc because we need the cells for all the politicians, bureaucrats, judges and police – plus some associates. I forgot media.
I’d like to see that happen in the leadership race – I’d like to see him attacking Leonard Krog constantly as to why he said nothing about bcrail. Then I’d like to see him win and support all his candidates by going to the ridings that the various Liberal evildoers are running in and attacking them over their role in selling BC Rail.
When I start to brood on it enough I come to a state of mind where I achieve a sort of clarity that makes sense and I just know that the last thing I want is the NDP with a strong leader.
If Dana can win the leadership of the NDP and then if we have at least some time before the general election that would probably give enough time to destroy the Liberal Party and then having accomplished that the NDP can be torn apart by the Moe Sihota crew warring with the backed by Marc Emery from his prison cell in the USA Larson crew.
With any luck Dana would win as an independent as a reward and all other candidates would be forced to run as independents too.
Moe Sihota doesn’t want Dana to run – that’s good enough for me, you’d have to muster a pretty strong argument to overcome that huge plus.
Dana’a friend Marc Emery went to jail in part to allow his friend to die at home and not in US prison. He paid his taxes and I think has walked it like he talked it. Campbell, Kinsella, Les, Krog et al would never do anything approaching that and I’d bet that their “mentors” wouldn’t either. If Marc Emery is anything approaching a role model to Dana he gets my vote.
I’m no real Marc Emery fan but in relation to the thieving thugs in BC politics I sure am.
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Greg B,
How can Dana The Dude keep current with all the goings on if he is high all the time? Come on, man!
Marc Emery sold seeds to a US citizen. How could he not know he was going to get charge, and for Marc to say he wants to change the policy of a foreign government.I am sorry Greg,
I simply don’t share your sympathy. My sympathy is more directed at the citizens of this province who are being nailed with more taxes. Quite frankly I think the voting public view Dana as clown.
I know I do.
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Laila, don’t underestimate Falcon. He is rabid, and now has a child. A new enlightenment to his life. She is yet young and he does not realize how much money it will take to shield her from the big and bad world out there in BCland. For him to lose his income from the public purse…….
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I get your message Island Cynic,and heed it, but that won’t keep thre truth seeing the light of day. There was much amiss during his time in the transportation ministry and I am currently following information received on his time as minister of deregulation. His new enlightenment seems to have little impact on his polices and plans for BC.
There has been a technical delay in the new format. We are trying to achieve the best visual and make it even easier to read for those with any kind of vision impairments, which is something that has come up with the current blue text.
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