Clark tries new tactic to woo women back into the fold with Über-mommy friendly website – paid for with your tax dollars.

Posted on by Laila

It started innocently enough.

While checking out my twitter feed, something came by from the Christy Clark twitter feed sending followers to the new public service announcement on bullying.

I bit, clicked… and ended up on the BC governments newest website, paid for with your tax dollars:

bcbsides

Hmm….. what’s this all about? From the About page:

Heart and soul

 British Columbia has over 4.4 million people. Chances are – you’re one of them. When it comes down to it, you’re what make this province go ’round.

We’re working in government and we help this province go ’round by making life for BCers better. We’re pretty good at announcing new ways for serving British Columbians: new programs, new funding, new services and new ideas, or just cool stuff happening around BC. And while these announcements are great, our focus is the ‘flipside’ of these stories – the people. Everyone hears the single of a record, but it’s the b-side that has the heart and soul.

We want to tell the story of the mom spared a paperwork nightmare, the artist who can concentrate on their work instead of where the next rent cheque is coming from, the 95 year old king of swing who’s ‘still got it’ and the apprentice who just finished framing her first house. We want to tell your story.

Shades of OMG!!! How altruistic! How engaging! How… propaganda-ish!!

Seriously, I had to laugh. Considering how often Clark has mocked bloggers as unreliable news sources… somebody in the public affairs bureau realised the power of this specific form of social media.

But here’s the catch: this isn’t a real blog… it is nothing more than a BC Government website touting BC government news under the guise of being a blog, pure and simple.

What’s more, it is clearly designed to appeal to the Über mummy crowd..(and regular mommies.).. ie..both part of the one voting demographic Christy Clark has been unable to connect with –  women – matter how many times she hauls her son out for a photo opportunity and talks about motherhood like she invented it.

Clicking through the site is even more revealing… the Blogroll is a collection of banana bread, granola friendly fashionable motherhood sites to foodie hangouts, to arts and crafts and more…. oh wait.. don’t forget to click on the  Get to Know your Government section!

First…small kudo’s to the government for finally acknowledging that blogs,and bloggers can be incredible influencers on public opinion when factual and well run.

Second.. I happen to be a mother, and in no way am I attempting to disparage any of the mommy sites( or others) that the government site links to. They aren’t my ‘thing’ but I do recognize many mothers, particularly new moms, gravitate towards these sites  to connect with other moms, find tips, recipes, etc…

But let’s face it, this site is not really about moms or families… it’s about making the premier ( and by association, the party behind her) with one of the worst approval ratings in history look more family oriented and less heartless and disconnected.

However…where the epic fail occurs on this propaganda “blog” is on the Contact page,where one is reminded how insidious this uber Mummy blog really is:

Social Media Collection Notice

 The personal information you post may be collected by the Ministry of Citizens Services and Open Government under s. 26(c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for the purposes of engaging and consulting with the public. Please be aware that any information collected may be stored and/or accessed outside of Canada on servers not belonging to the government.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include any personal information including phone numbers and email addresses in the body of your comment. Please do not share personal information about others. If you have any questions about the collection of your personal information, please email bcbsides@gov.bc.ca

Hmm… suddenly… the friendly mommy blog isn’t so generic anymore. How many people really read those disclaimers? And how many of those people who do end up visiting and leaving personal information.. like names and emails… might end up on some voter “outreach” contact list? Might get an friendly email, or call or flyer perhaps?

Because as we’ve heard today… that’s really what these Liberals are all about… using government resources to further party politics and this coming election campaign.  Calculated? Cunning? All of the above?

Time for a little reality check.

There is a very big difference between real bloggers… and paid bloggers.

In particular, paid mommy bloggers who work for the BC Government for the sole purpose of making connections with the demographic that Christy Clark remains so disconnected with.

It leaves me with even more disdain for this government, because this ‘blog’ is  nothing more than the government version of the kind of stealth marketing used so often by companies like Enbridge et al.

Designed and written specifically to make you feel like this really is a families first government – when in reality, the same government behind this pseudo blog is the same one behind the tragic cuts coming to adults dealing with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and autism.

The same old government behind the ongoing inadequate funding to kids with special needs, the extraordinary wait times for treatment and therapy, the increase to medical services plan fees, cuts to family justice services… should I go on?

I wonder what all the mommies reading this propaganda blog would say about that?

And what they would say about money being spent to fund a blog like this,with paid writers, government staffers in effect, registered only on January 25th of this year…

…rather then directing those funds to any of the truly families first needs above?

bcbsides registration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**** update:

Following my complaints, via email communications, the BC Bsides blog appearance changed in several manners, one important one being that it now readily identifies itself as a government blog on the home page.

bsidesafter

27 thoughts on “Clark tries new tactic to woo women back into the fold with Über-mommy friendly website – paid for with your tax dollars.”

  1. well at least the person who came up with the web name bcbsides.ca has a sense of humour… bc for British Columbia, bs for Bullshi… and ides – beware the ides of march.

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    1. A reader on twitter pointed out the similarity between the B-side on the old 45 records… and the soon to be Liberal B-side of the government.. 😉

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  2. I can’t remember how many times I have thought? Just when you think the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals can’t become any more ridiculous….THEY DO. Then, so does Harper.

    For well over a decade, we have had to contend with this garbage. No kidding, I am weary to my very soul. I am trying to figure out, how to pay my income tax, house insurance, property taxes and everything else, that has mushroomed on me? My hydro bill has also doubled. My usage hasn’t changed one bit. I have a case of the dreary’s to-day.

    Who I am really sorry for, are the young family’s and single Moms.

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    1. Canadian Bill of Rights
      1.(a) the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property………

      Interpretation Act
      35.(1) General definitions– In every enactment
      “security” means sufficient funds
      Now read the above security(sufficient funds) of the person and you can see where you can access funds for the necessities of life.

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  3. It might be worth using a disposable email address and name to see if one does end up on some list.
    For those that have had unexplained increases in their Hydro bill there is an indication that nearby cell towers and other signals may be interfering with the new smart meters. Haven’t seen proof but there does appear to be some strong indications that stray emf is causing problems.

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  6. Norm….it would be good to know for sure if cell towers cause interference with smart meters. I had a huge hydro bill. I managed to get half credited because I took photos of the meters to show them their “estimated” reading was wrong. Even still….the bill seemed high.

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    1. Probably would take a lot to catch possibly a recoding spectrum analyzer and regular photos of the meter and its read out or a hack into the system to see what they are measuring – a very costly sophisticated set up to catch the problem

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    2. It is good policy to photograph your analogue electric meter every two months on scheduled reading times. I do this regularly and have done so for the last five or six years. You would be surprised how many times the meters have been read incorrectly. Having a photo with the date and the dials clearly showing makes for easy bill corrections. I have to do it two or three times a year and have had as much as 2,000 kWh difference. I use a lot of electricity (electric heat etc.) so I am watching my consumption like a hawk.
      I am also one that is holding out of the smarrt meter programs – not for me at all.
      I just plain don’t trust BC Hydro and their propaganda – and I have a cell tower a couple of miles away on top of the nearby hill too!!!
      Thx

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  7. a “mommy blog” by c.c.and the lieberals? give me a break. they’re using my tax $s for this bull tweet? Will this ever end??? O.K. after the election. c.c. and the lieberals aren’t going to connect with the uber mommies or any other type of mommy because the lieberals don’ts support the one group the mommies are interested in, CHILDREN. For 8 consecutive yrs B.C. has had the highest rate of child poverty in Canada, we currently hold the second largest group of children living in poverty. Then there are the mommies who want their children to have surgery to ensure they don’t become more disabled–they have to go to hospitals in the U.S.A.. Then there are the mommies who want their children to go to decent schools and have decent affordable day care–not happening. There are mommies who some times have to leave their homes because they find themselves living in abusive situations. They don’t have any place to go and they can’t survive on welfare rates.

    About the only mommie the lieberals are going to “connect” with is a mommie who doesn’t need any government services and doesn’t care about other mommies’ children. Those are few and far between.

    Just see what a little fact checking/investigation can do. thank you for your work.

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    1. It was suggested that considering the performance of the Liberals as of late, that this BC B-sides ‘blog’ might be an attempt at satire…. 😉

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  8. Filipino heart and Chinese foreign workers soul
    ‘Round and ’round it goes,
    Where it lands everyone knows…..
    $$$$100 BILLION DOLLARS IN Harper/Campbell/CLARK BC LIBERALS DEBT for our families and future families for the next three or four or five generations.
    Do these dispicable pink shirt criminal BULLIES ever do any real work?

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  10. But, but, but, Laila, Josh and Brooke were starving to start up a blog where they could reach ‘real’ people. A starving novelist, and a psychology major to boot!

    Perhaps Brooke and Josh would like to meet the Traumatic Brain Injured individual who’s Rehabilitation was basically taken away from him and replaced with a non-trained person in Brain Injuries to take him for walks in malls instead, because the Rehab was too expensive for Government tastes.

    Or perhaps they would like to meet the Speech Impared child who could not get the Speech Therapist supposedly supplied by the Simon Fraser Health Authority to come in no more than once every two weeks to work a half hour with him.

    Perhaps they would like to come in and photograph and write about the Teacher who has five students of varying challenging needs in a class of 30 and see how she/he copes each day in planning for all of his/her class, and then go home to cuddle with his/her family and read and share and discuss the story’s on BC-bsides.

    Or perhaps they would like to meet a Family and Children of that Family, who were taken away from the family and shuttled about from one home to another by the Ministry and the non-existent help for the parents who are drug addicted and alcholic and have no parenting skills whatsoever.

    Or isn’t that warm or fuzzy enough for their blog.

    Perhaps they would like to meet the student who had to sleep in the back of the truck, because his drunken dad kicked him out the night before, and hasn’t eaten in 24 hours, and then acts out in class. (Screaming for help)

    Brooke and Josh have unlimited story’s of family’s that they can tap into and photograph and write about.

    Poor Brooke just might find enough material to write that book she so yearns for. Does anyone think any of these stories will make their way in BC-bsides?

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    1. Awesome comment Gary,

      pretty obvious Brooke & Josh lack a lot of Human Qualities, pretty sad as they fit right in with our current Government, Trading Lives 4 Cash seems to be the Motto for Canadian Politics, anything to fatten up their wallets and to pilfer our purses,

      the Times where we were governed are long gone, We are being RULED from local to provincial to federal.

      Canada At Large oh how I miss you

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  11. Soooooo
    The reelection comittee for CC is focusing on 50% of the population, females.
    Then they focus on the females that are moms. In a population of declining childbirth.
    Then they focus on the “uber” mom. The same mom that is probably too busy to vote.
    Well done reelection comittee.
    The single mom female polling numbers are tanking perhaps because the fiscal policies/cutbacks of the current govt have made life even more unaffordable for people…….

    Good use of financial resources Liberal Party.
    Instead of spending millions of ads telling us how great you are, perhaps more daycare, or less user fees, or free lunches for poor kids…….

    idiots.

    May 15th cant come soon enough for me ….even if CC gets booted from office before the election.

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  12. Shouldn’t the domain name be bcbsides.con?
    Further, would this not be something the BC Liberals spent some of those outreach dollars on? You know, the $ that Clark claims was not spent.

    Can’t wait to find out what tranpires today at 4:00 PM. Do you think the tar is being brought up to temperature? And how many renegades within the BC Liberal party will wake up tomorrow morning with a crick in their neck having slept without their feather pillow?

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    1. BC Bsides.con…lol.. thats a good one RS. Sorry, your comment was caught in spam, of which I am getting a lot of lately.

      Well,now we know what happened today… nothing!! I have a post coming for the Huffington Post BC tomorrow.

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  15. Wanted to give you a few more details. There was an initiative involving Pamela Martin to bring Mom bloggers and female entrepreneurs to the Premier’s office to meet her. I believe this was done in several visits. I was unable to attend due to my schedule with the kids and school. It was indeed part of an effort to reach out to more women.
    I complained about this at one point because I wanted more emphasis on reaching out to the low income and women that don’t already have their names out there. Although Mom bloggers and female entrepreneurs come from a variety of backgrounds, they are already able to get their voices heard via their blogs. I wanted them to make more of an effort to reach out to the majority of BC women. Who I dont believe have blogs and businesses.
    All of the women invited were women who would be able to help them out in the future I’d imagine. Not those with whom they could help as much.

    Kudos to reaching out to women, but this particular way wasn’t all that effective I don’t believe. I want to see someone paying attention to the average gal.

    My two cents.

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  16. BC Bsides blog before appearance in the photo above.

    Changed to this appearance following my post, now openly identifying themselves as a BC Gov blog.
    see above update

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