Debbie Does Christy Clark… and how!

Posted on by Laila

You know what I really hate?

A contrived photo-op. You know the kind, where the politician of the moment sets it all up to do or say something and it all looks hunky dory for the select press invited to show up.

Something Christy Clarks camp seems to be very inclined to do, since Christy can’t seem to handle anything unscripted or unauthorized in terms of reporters questions. And in agreement with fellow blogger Harvey Oberfeld, I refuse to refer to Christy as premier since she has yet to be elected to that position by the electorate of British Columbia.

Thankfully, my comrades in arms are everywhere and this evening Debbie left a comment worthy of a front page post, because she was witness to such a contrived photo op that it left her gagging.  But it was not only the fake aura of the event that turned her stomach, but the details that weren’t reported that really takes the cake.

But don’t take my word for it. Read the gory details yourself :

Today in Tsawwassen Christie Clark, Kevin Falcon and the education minister showed up at a local elementary school to announce $8 million in funding for playgrounds. Of course, the playground was full of children playing on the well appointed playground (that the parents had fund raised for). Clark talked about how the government was now going to fully fund school playgrounds because they were a vital part of keeping our children healthy.
A couple of things struck me.
First, I bring my children regularly to this playground and there are usually only a couple of children playing there. I recognized a good number of the Liberal friendly Delta School Board Trustees were there, including Dale Saip (the erstwhile and bankruptcy revealed former Conservative candidate) and Laura Dixon a well known Liberal supporter. They had called friends and family to show up and provide backdrop for this announcement. Miraculously after the cameras left, so did all the children. More phony baloney.

Secondly, this press conference was not held in front of one the 44 schools who have no playgrounds because 10 years ago wooden playgrounds were declared unsafe and removed. There was no funding made available by the Campbell/Clark government to replace them. Guess who was education minister?{ CHRISTY CLARKE}

 Funding to replace the playgrounds had to be raised by parents, who were also dealing with( PAC)  grant cuts. So,the less well off schools were left to choose between books and playgrounds. Not much of a choice. The hypocrisy was palpable and was asked about by a reporter who had that question ignored.

Thirdly, while it seems the Provincial Liberal candidate was invited, along with the Liberal supporting school trustees and even our Liberal loving mayor, Lois Jackson was invited, Delta’s Independant MLA Vicki Huntington, was not.

 Pretty poor manners I’d say but typical of the “openess” of the Campbell/Clark government.

What was interesting though was that members of Mothers Against Power Poles had been tipped off and they advised Ms Huntington of the press conference, which she and the spokesperson for MAPP, Heather Coles, attended. Ms. Coles talked to the media before the press conference (oops) and reminded them and the Premier that the Liberals had promised not to put dangerous high voltage lines through Tsawwassen ~ A promise they reneged on promptly after being re elected.

The Premier’s handlers did not like this outburst and attempted to shoo Ms Coles away after promising to arrange to speak with her later. But Ms Coles stood her ground and insisted on talking to Clark in front of the media. Good for Ms Coles.

As an aside, for those of you who wondered what happened to CTV’s Olsen On Your Side, well  he has a new job acting as the chief media guy for Christie Clark, a sort of Olsen On Christie’s Side.

 I guess he must have missed Pamela too much.

What I witnessed today was the typical Dog & Pony show we’ve come to expect from this bunch. Not a thing had changed except for the media handlers.

23 thoughts on “Debbie Does Christy Clark… and how!”

  2. It is insane and insulting that Christy Clark engages in phoney publicity tactics. Who is advising her? What is even worse, is that she does not have any concept of what is important and what is not. In the big scheme of things, playgrounds are not the most important thing.

    There is a situation in Langley that Christy should jump on … immediately, and she would have many very interested parents with children in tow show up for the event.

    Initially, there was a plan and land set aside to build an elementary school in the Routley area of Langley. Then, Township council and others got involved in a land swap plan dropping plans for the school in favour of development and building the school in another location, which would have several hundred children cross 200th Street (a high-collision interestion) to go to school.

    The parents living in the Routley area have been fighting this issue for months, and as far as I am concerned, cannot get any satisfaction from anyone in government to step up.

    School is about to start and what is Christy working on … playgrounds. Insane!

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  3. Debbie said, “They had called friends and family to show up and provide backdrop for this announcement. Miraculously after the cameras left, so did all the children. More phony baloney.”

    This is a real life example of a pseudo-event that I wrote about in ‘The Corporate Coup is Over – They Won.’
    http://northerninsights.blogspot.com/2011/08/corporate-coup-is-over-we-have-lost.html
    “In politics today, trolls live in the sewers of think-tanks, communications firms, corporate media, old-line political parties and government ministry offices. They provide material to fill the airwaves and pages of the press with absurdities. So-called professional journalists, reduced to purveyors of gossip, participating in what they know to be theatre, blithely report pseudo-events as real.”

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  4. My son’s school in Ladysmith has more portables than original classrooms. Nothing more I can say other than I guess a sunroof on a stadium is more important to the Liberals than my son’s education.

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  5. Guy Gentner was appointed as Chair of Parks and Rec in Delta shortly after he was elected to Delta in 1999. Sadly, shortly after the civic election, a young girl was injured on a swing in one of Delta’s parks. Guy ordered an immediate closure of every playground in Delta until such time as a safety assessment was conducted on all Delta’s playground equipment . It was determined that the playgrounds were in in such bad shape that an appeal went out to the community to assist in fixing the problems. It took almost 18 months before these playgrounds reopened, and that only happened because Delta & the community came together to raise the $$s needed to bring the equipment up to standard. Of course we’ll not look a gift horse in the mouth Christy. After all, your govt. has taken away some of the most important agricultural land in the world to build a freeway to China. However, Christy, it’s too little… too late. We’re way ahead of you in Delta! Here’s to the people!

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  6. Great post, Laila! I have been appalled, as I’m sure many others are, at how the pundits of the MSM have gone along with Clark’s coup … and have even argued it’s a GOOD idea that the un-premier will NOT hold an election until 2013! Incredible. Shame on them. Clearly they have been “on the inside” too long and have lost touch with the public. Neither Clark, nor her government (or their agenda) have EVER been given a mandate by the people of BC. And we have to say so …and reject her claim to unelected legitimacy..

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  8. Crusty and her minions are beyond Disgusting. Truly they are trolls of the worst kind using kids and schools this way. Seeing as we don’t get an election this fall, I hope caucus revolts and does the job of getting rid of her for us.
    And for those of you who have not seen the biggest slap in the face to taxpayers ever ( yes , there is worse than Crustys shennanigans ) have a look at this link while it is there;
    http://news.ca.msn.com/local/britishcolumbia/gordon-campbell-to-receive-order-of-bc
    This took away all of my desire to eat today !

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  9. wow, the story goes on, never ending drama….
    thank you for bringing this to our attention Laila.

    I have made lots of comments about CC to become the leader on the mere phrase, “I AM ALL FOR THE FAMILY”, what BS is that when she leaves her son on his own, she is not a single mom, she is a divorced Mom and in my eyes, unless you have tons of good family living with you that can take care of him, she should make her son number one, not her premier job, that is already not a family decision….

    Playgrounds, don’t even get me started on that one, as you know our playground out here in Diesel Land is 4.5 meters from the curb of the Highway, just wait until the City of Surrey will push the 5 lane truck route through the area, we will be hooped, gassed to death and killed.
    So far we have only one Councillor that really got the picture on how this will affect us, it is criminal and devastating.

    at the moment they are working on 160street and 32nd Ave, it will be a detour by Sept. 6-16th.
    and already we have a standing line up with diesel trucks using their air brakes and the idling right in front of our bedrooms, only 9 meters from the house, that is bad with just 2 lanes, can you imagine what this will look like when the put the 5 lanes in? we will have this line up and standing idling trucks here 24-7.

    what is wrong with our leaders? who really pulls their strings and they move like puppets? what is there that we don’t see? what are they being promised and who does the bribing? what are they given in return by acting like they have lost all their senses? maybe if their would be no fat pension at the end of their “political” term, would be still get the same greedy crowd in?

    please visit our website:
    http://www.deathbydiesel.ca

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    1. Hi Canadianbud, top of the morning to you !! Yes indeed I think it is safe to say most, if not all of what we see with many politicians is contrived and arranged to just look perfect.

      Gary, I agree, although I agree we do need many playgrounds – a vital part of a childs day and not only for the value of activity, but for social interacting as well – we also need new schools and supplies which are more important in my eyes. Parents advisory councils have been doing the job of raising money for school playgrounds for years, even with decreased grants. And as you you eloquently pointed out Shirley, the communities have really stepped up and taken care of what the government and municipalities have not.

      Of course will will not look a gift horse in the mouth, Shirley, but we also must not ignore the lack of leadership of this unelected official who is now resorting to making announcements like this so shortly after George Abbott told us all here in Surrey they are going to have a tough time finding the desperately needed money for new schools because of the HST. Not to mention the attitude displayed by her government who has still yet to comply with the court order regarding classes and special needs!

      Yes indeed I will be looking forward to seeing how many of these playgrounds get built at all…

      Harvey, an honour as always to have you stop by. Your post was stellar,and I urge everyone to consider what Harvey has said:

      ” Neither Clark, nor her government (or their agenda) have EVER been given a mandate by the people of BC. And we have to say so …and reject her claim to unelected legitimacy”

      I have often since she became leader, referred to her on this site as our un-elected premier, and that holds true today. She is not my elected premier, she has not been given a mandate and I call her right on on her lies of stating that 80% ofthe people of BC have told her they do not want an election, and that is her mandate!! What gall! What arrogance! What lies! And you said it best, FOR SHAME for the media to go politely along with this nonsense of hers.

      We must urge her to an election, by email, by phone call, in person, and not let up until she calls an election. However,as I teased everyone with yesterday, there might be another reason she wants to hold off for a while, and perhaps the spring will bring a better time for her.

      Shirley, Guy is one of the most real politicians I have met, and you speak well to his efforts in your community. And what a shot…. the freeway to China!! ; ) Love that my dear, love that!

      Steve, but those old portables are so much better for learning, don’t you know? The cold draftiness and dampness in winter keeps the kids awake !!! (snark snark) I know what you mean. The high school my son just graduated from is quite new – his was the first graduating class in fact – but before it even opened, there were already portables on site, and now they number in the teens. Sad.

      Norm, great link,a must read! And we must all thank Debbie, who is a fierce and strong advocate,for her account of what really happened Friday! 1

      Nora- that is a story and a half- 200 street is a nightmare for kids to cross! I’d like to hear more on that one!

      Lynn, I do think Chris must have missed Pam..lol..

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  11. Didn’t I read somewhere in her bio when she was running for her legislative seat that her son attends a “private” (read expensive) school to boot? One has to wonder, is he living at the school and only home weekends, holidays? hmmmm? Yes, I spent countless hours in the yearly days of her being minister of education raising funds so that we parents could build a playground for our children to use at their elementary school in South Hazelton, and donated thousands of books to the school library, including encyclopedia for the children to use to enhance their education. Had nothing what so ever to do with taxpayer’s money or the then minister of ed, Ms. Clark! AS if she gave a tinker’s damn!

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  12. Yes, Miss Photo opp loves a good show. If fact that is all she does.
    Which is why I sent her a email asking her to do a photo opp of her putting her family first and have a smart meter installed on her home. I would love to see her and her son stand in front of the smart meter when some one takes a reading of the EMF emissions.
    I bet it will not happen but we could push it.

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  13. The Campbell/Clark BC Liberals, have been nothing other than a sick joke, for over ten years.

    I just cringe, at what their next dumb statement is going to be. The only thing we hear about is, Christy’s family’s first, which has become another BC Liberal joke. Christy’s priority is the HST, she has wasted millions of, OUR tax dollars, to force this asinine tax onto us.

    If the HST is so super beneficial to the citizens, why are BC people spending billions, shopping in Alberta, U.S, and on line? I have no idea, how that can be beneficial to the province, nor for the people????

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  14. A couple of things Laila……. I thought photographic recordings of children, playing, on school property was, is, illegal in the Province of British Columbia.

    Sure, school isn’t open yet, but premier Christy Clark has now set a precedence by involving school age children and having them merrily sliding down slides with total strangers, adults. And being recorded on film. Is this what our public officials want to encourage?

    Search criteria:
    “Keeping schools safe for students” : questions and answers about privacy and school safety
    http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/pubdocs/bcdocs/345277/keepingschoolssafe.htm

    “Keeping Schools Safe for Students”
    Questions and Answers about Privacy and School Safety
    British Columbia Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils
    Fall Leadership Conference
    Victoria, British Columbia
    October 27, 2000

    1. Who can photograph students?
    Classrooms are not public places. Schools control who has access to school property and to students and are responsible for protecting students while they are at school. Students should not be photographed in classrooms or in schoolyards during school hours without student or parental consent. SNIP

    Secondly….. Chris Olson, now working on OUR side has listed off all of the 44 schools in need of new equipment in his website (government). The province’s share is pegged at a maximum of $50,000 per request. Problem is, the schools that are listed appear to be Swing ridings where the BC Liberal went down to defeat in the HST. Coincidence, or is this another one of those situations where Christy Clark said: “We aren’t going to be talking about trying to reduce it by a point or two before the referendum. I mean, I think people will see that as buying them with their own money.

    The premier’s use of happy children playing in the background, on School Property, on new equipment, could have been done without violating their privacy rights. Or were their rights not violated? Did the parents waive their children’s rights to their privacy and has it been duly recorded?

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    1. I know what you mean NVG, because every year we are given a permission slip that authorizes our children to be photographed or taped at school, or not, and I always decline permission for either with my children. It seems the Liberals who happily brought their children or arranged for their children to be part of this, agreed to it all, but I do get your point.

      Now, I looked at that list too and found it interesting. There is a school near here that is in desperate need of a new playground – still has the old wooden one that is decrepit and splintered from many years ago -in Falcons riding, and it wasn’t on the list.

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  15. Norm,
    I read your article. A very intertesting, thought provoking statement.
    The trolls are forging ahead to solidify their position but would argue the mainstream public are about to enter the infancy stage of maintaing society’s liberty.
    The first step is to hang up on the pollsters.
    The second step is to rebuke the MSM and their advertisers.
    We all want to share our anger and disbelief. To be heard. All that energy plays into the troll’s plan.
    Time to fight back silently.

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  16. I agree it is time to fight back and the best way to do that is by redirecting our spending. Think of the Montgomery Alabama bus boycott started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person.

    Northern Insights will soon be publish an update on the people behind the Fraser Institute, the boys who want corporations to be relieved of all taxes and regulations. For example, if merchants such as Brandt Louis wants to finance and manage the anti-consumer Fraser Institute, citizens might choose NOT to shop at London Drugs, IGA Marketplace or other businesses associated with the Louis family. Same goes with other businesses financing or furthering the aims of the right wing think tank.

    Here is the profile of Fraser Institute directors that I did in 2009. It is the one I am working on updating.

    http://northerninsights.blogspot.com/2009/09/fraser-institute-who-are-they-anyway.html

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  18. A friend made a comment about how Christy Clark didn’t state her entire slogan when campaigning for her current job, and that it is actually “Families First. We’ll get the rest of you later.”

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  19. This is a good start- after this, a petition to recall the grub from the sofa in England. Would Harper bow to enough public pressure? The man is a disgrace and needs to be hoisted on his own petard.

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  20. I remember when Christy was education minister. She was closing as many schools as she could regardless of how it would affect the kids. I think she is as much a narcissist as Gordo.

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