I’m about to give the old fingers a rest from the keyboard for the May long weekend – they’re getting a bit claw like – but there are three more stories I wanted to bring to your attention for posterity.
Readers who have been with me long enough know that while I feel strongly enough about the current government that there’s a list of reasons they should go on my blog, I continue to hold the opposition to account as well. Political hypocrisy doesn’t impress me nor does an opposition that sometimes doesn’t oppose. And if the NDP do manage to win an election provincially, I will continue to hold them to the same standard as I have the Liberals and they know it.
But I digress.
Three stories came out this week that really highlight wrong actions, wrong policy and terribly wrong results.
1) http://bcndpcaucus.ca/news/liberal-insider-wins-contracts-from-the-agency-he-leads/
When it comes to the awarding of contracts in government, it is as important to avoid the perception of conflict as it is, conflict itself. It doesn’t matter that this story didn’t come from a reporter, it’s still wrong.
” Well-connected Liberal insider Larry Blain won $219,000 worth of public contract work from Partnerships B.C. while he was also serving as the chair of Partnerships B.C., according to documents obtained by the New Democrats.”
I have a hard time believing that there was no other company who could have fulfilled the requirements of the work for a reasonable price. Seriously. Here are the FOI documents the NDP received. http://bcndpcaucus.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2015/05/Blain-Package.pdf
Might be just me, but that is just wrong.
In a time when foreign companies are being allowed to buy farmland and plant it over with trees to get carbon credits – wrap your head around that one,will you? – it would make sense to have someone who will fiercely defend the ALR, in charge of the Agricultural Land Commission.
But no, the government thinks it makes perfect sense to suddenly fire the chair Richard Bullock and replace him with a former mayor who has no agricultural experience.
Smart move? Wrong. See ya farmland. It was nice knowing you…
If there are angels on earth, one is surely Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the representative for children and youth. Along with a damning level of child poverty in this province, the handling of children in government care is one of our provinces greatest shames. In particular, aboriginal children.
Turpel-Lafond has taken this government to task so many times and yet every little change is hard-fought for.
This latest story is a horrific indicator of the systematic failures of agencies overburdened and underfunded, that hold the responsibility to care for our provinces most vulnerable. No child should suffer through a life like Paige’s, no children should be living in the DTES, and that there are right now, 100-150 files just as urgent that need immediate action,is unthinkable.
And please let us not forget that these ‘files’… is a child.
Wrong just doesn’t begin to describe it. And all of these stories are just a small part of why it’s no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. You’ve got to be engaged in what matters to you.
Have a good, relaxing and safe long weekend, kick back and be well!
Westcoast Views with Laila Yuile 
“…But no, the government thinks it makes perfect sense to suddenly fire the chair Richard Bullock and replace him with a former mayor who seems to have little to no farming experience..”.
And further to that is this story…
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/gordon-head-neighbours-seek-solution-to-cattle-tussle-1.1396072 headed
Gordon Head residents want the owners of a suburban cattle feedlot and Saanich to settle a zoning dispute before more cows are brought into the neighbourhood this fall.
“The mayor could fix this in a short meeting,” said Ted Lea, who lives near the farm at 1516 Mount Douglas Cross Rd.
And the article goes on to say..
Saanich council has received legal advice that the land cannot be zoned to a use that is contrary to the ALR, said Mayor Frank Leonard.
“Approving a rezoning while the property remains in the [ALR] is inconsistent with provincial legislation and the bylaw would be of no force and effect,” Leonard said in a Sept. 25 letter to residents.
“Taking a rezoning through public hearing to third reading while the property remains in the ALR is a clear signal to the Agricultural Land Commission that council supports the removal of the land. Council wishes the ALC to undertake its deliberations without undue influence and pressure from the local government — the ALC is the expert body in these matters and must come to its own decision.”
So one of the decisions the new boss of the ALR/ALC [former Mayor Frank Leonard] gets to make is the decision he referred to “… the ALC is the expert body in these matters and must come to its own decision…
Ya can’t make this up folks…
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As your long-standing list of the sins of both omission and commission of the current régime lengthens, broadens and deepens, it gives rise to questions about how this all seems to make so little difference, as witnessed by the crowing from Baldrey as we hit the mid-point of Clark’s current mandate. The press constantly glosses over everything that comes from this blog, and others like it, thinking particularly today about the graph/stat-rich post from Norm Farrell this morning, as damning an indictment of the government’s competence as there ever was, but for the fact that it follows a complete lapse of ethics that speaks to the desire of Clark and crew to completely and irrevocably break the apparatus of society.
My elder brother, not often one to engage in political debate, sent me the link below, and it’s a mark of my respect for him that I actually sat through the whole thing and came away with some strong impressions about how we perceive and deal with unresolved conflict, but also the pertinence of comments dealing with the disappearing ability of whole segments of society to read the auguries and to synthesize a coherent view of current reality and then to engage in moving the process forward.
I often find it hard to empathize with people of a conservative bent, but I found much to either like or just ponder in this rather long talk. I found your duels with Brent somewhat more difficult as I sensed too often that his words were parroting Phil Hochstein’s talking points. It’s a different story with this character.
Have a great weekend and come back with a vengeance as an equal-opportunity critic of whatever political and social shenanigans are committed by whoever.
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I hardly ever find anything to agree with that is said by Conservative politicians but I, myself, am very conservative. I honestly believe that most people are – small c conservative. They wish to conserve the natural world, they keep themselves out of debt, they minimize their risks and they follow the Golden rule. But Conservative (as a party label) doesn’t mean diddly as to their philosophy. THEY are NOT conservative, they are Conservatives – just a brand name. Liberals aren’t liberal. The NDP sure as hell aren’t NEW in anything (they seem to lack a little democracy too when you consider that men can’t run for them anymore). The label means as much as the label/brand/name of a sports team. Might as well call them the Lions, Moose or Oddfellows. How successful would their brand be if they described themselves as they actually are? So, they lie and give themselves the name of something people relate to. In fact, their name is their FIRST BIG LIE.
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I guess naming any major political Party something that smacks of the truth is out of the question……..like
Lying Arrogant People Devoted to Obvious Graft ( LAPDOG)
or
Craven Opportunistic Pigs Overseeing Union Tirades (COPOUT)
or
Govt Rebelling Against Finding Truth (GRAFT)
or
Social Cutbacks Unite Media (SCUM)
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People in Greed (PIGS). Liars in power (Lips). Incompetent selfish idiots sucking our life (ISIL). Criminals organized against the people (Cops). Criminals regularly exploiting everyone for profit (Creeps). Citizens yelling nonsense in complete sincerity (cynics).
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There is an emerging school of thought that suggests we are entering a very dark time in our political maturation.
Traditions and loyalties are traded back and forth for no apparent reason other than that of appearances.
Leadership has become an economical dissertation having less and less to do with fact and more so with convenience.
Major decisions marginalize downside consequences in favor of short term victories and gains.
Tomorrow will take of itself… be it global finance, global warming, or the uncertainty of a better world for your unborn children.
The examples are many as you might expect…….. what you may not know is your elected officials care less and less about the consequences of their actions and the impact on your life.
As Canadians living in this country, no one should be proud of becoming “the best of the worst”.
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have morals and ethics been commoditized?
more stories
http://www.cknw.com/2015/05/13/aa/
Burke mountain transaction
Have how many people have possibly died under BC Liberal rule?
hospital cleaning cutbacks(possibly by c difficile)?
increasing speed limits?
health researcher controversy?
foster care?
one good- lowering blood alcohol to .05
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Seems that the politics in BC has followed, pretty much, what has happened federally. I am glad that the NDP made such big gains in Alberta as it must make Harper think a little more about the people of Canada instead of his own needs.
Christy Clark is nothing but a bimbo with the brains of a puppet. I am sure she believes that tell a lie often enough it becomes the truth. I still think of the interview that Clark gave to the Vancouver Sun some years ago – where she crushed beer cans and bottled gas. That just about sums it all up for Clark IMHO.
The old adage of give an inch and take a mile is very much what is going on – little by little, things get changed for the worse. A little here and a little there and no one really notices until it is too late.
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Once again, Laila, you’ve given us some more damning vignettes of the worst government BC’s ever had. Regards conflicts of interest, BC Liberals understand there are guidelines to identify and eradicate it, but those guidelines conflict with the basic tenets of crony capitalism: how can a government possibly put in to effect integrated favouritism and a publicly-funded BC Liberal loyalty reward system with such arcane regulations? And isn’t it unfair that a mere perception of conflict—without any conclusive, specific evidence—is enough to initiate an inquiry as to potential conflict? BC Liberals think so. And how can the government’s central modus operandi of concealment possibly jibe with silly, notional regulations?—now THAT’s a real conflict for you!
Christy, naturally, doesn’t bother with the understanding part, either because she’s too impatient to get on with LNG, or because it’s a concept a bit beyond her grasp (I can imagine her affecting an indignant rejoinder that she’d be the very last person on earth to have a concept of conflict of interest). My all time fave illustration of this was her defence of the abusive BC Civil Forfeiture Office (now defendant in a civil lawsuit, standing accused of such abuse) which, she proudly proclaimed, was necessary to fund her anti-bullying T-shirt campaign: the cursory conflict between her official duty to all British Columbians and her own partisan boosting (you can be sure the T-shirt distribution photo-op will be among her campaign material) is relatively minor—but blithely admitting that her personal special interest in co-opting school kids into her tireless self-promotion is what informs her responsibility for the ethically-challenged CFO is glaring proof she doesn’t really get it. And that her Attorney General, whose job it is to advise the Premier, is incompetent (in fact, the AG went on to parrot her boss’s initial boner). Christy’s (and Suzanne’s) incessant demonstrations of incompetence must make her handlers (and Suzanne’s) cringe.
Insofar as there are regulations concerning conflicts of interest, one wonders why they aren’t applied when and where they are plainly needed.
I must reluctantly take a very small exception to your otherwise sterling screed: children should be able to live anywhere in this province, including the DTES, in happiness and safety. Problem areas such as the DTES need to be remedied, not compartmentalized—I do agree entirely, however, that the way it is now, the DTES is not a place for kids.
Have a nice weekend—and remember: Victoria Day is a week early and it’s been suddenly warm of late, BUT, in any case, it’s still too early to seed beans.
Cheers
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http://www.straight.com/news/452256/ndps-lana-popham-says-bc-liberal-government-has-declared-war-farmland-firing-alc-chair
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/careers-leadership/christy-clark-bc-premier-has-made-a-big-bet-on-lng/article24460315/
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There were a few single issues alone that should have turfed this government last time.
Continuing child poverty and the complete and total failure of the Children’s Ministry (and Stephanie Cadieux in particular) should see the BC Liberal Party banished. I wonder, sometimes why nobody in the BC Liberal Party has the gumption to stand up and say, “This is criminal and I won’t be a party to it any more.” How do they live with themselves?
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Easy,
$150,000 and higher salaries per annum with no accountability……. just be glad non of them are running Translink…..we’d be paying them even more money for being incompetant.
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Need to move from group ineffectiveness to group effectiveness, is all.
Even very young toddlers get why it is the Canucks don’t shoot at their goaltender during games.
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I just wish someone would charge the minister and the government with child neglect and abuse in these situations. It would be interesting to see what the courts would do.
The Lieberal government does not care about these children. Its much more important for them to be able to award contracts to their friends and other “insiders”. we have seen reports such as these before and we will see them again. Nothing will change. the minister is no where to be found and the premier just doesn’t care because at the rate she says Families First and then we look at the organized crime we have in this province, we might just consider this to mean, Crime Families First, all others second.
B.C. has had the highest rate of child poverty in Canada for most of the past 14 yrs. and still doesn’t have a poverty reduction plan. We have thousands of kids going to schools which would collapse if there were an earthquake of any real strength and still Christy and her lieberals think it will be o.k. to not bring them up to standard until 2030.
but what is worse is the people of this province have continued to vote for this government. So if you voted B.C. Liberal, to an extent you are as responsible for the death of this child as the government and the circumstances she was forced to live in.
Don’t expect the MSM to give this much play either. Report and then bury it. Lets just give premier photo op her pictures looking at forest fires around Prince George. You do have to wonder why a reporter didn’t ask her about this case. Well you don’t have to really wonder, we know.
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Breach of public trust?
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Canadian_Criminal_Law/Offences/Breach_of_Public_Trust
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How is that not applicable to almost everything the Neo Liberals have forced upon this province.
5.The accused acted with the intention to use his or her public office for a purpose other than the public good, for example, for a dishonest, partial, corrupt, or oppressive purpose.
Every thing they do is counter to the public good and its obvious.
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