I was watching Question Period earlier today as the opposition was asking hard questions of Amrik Virk – again. ‘How is it possible that in all the years of the health firings investigation, there were no documents created across two ministers and high-level staff?’ Dix wanted to know.
Virks responses at first consisted of the usual non-answers Liberals give in QP. 
But on the last question, he waits a moment, and smirks… before giving another sidestep. Thanks to a reader watching, you can see it for yourself. Considering the seriousness of the issue, it seemed inappropriate.
He doesn’t mention that the 8 wrongly fired health workers objected strongly to an Ombudsman review, or that the Ombudsman himself had grave concerns over his office’s ability to conduct one. Or that the Liberals pushed ahead with it in the face of these valid objections – in a committee meeting,the Liberals outvoted the NDP 5-4 – despite the calls for a full fledged public inquiry.
Chalke previously raised red flags about his office’s suitability to probe the firings of eight health researchers nearly three years ago, noting that the issue has become a partisan matter.
We cannot, must not forget those 8 government health ministry workers wrongly fired for an alleged breach of confidential public health data during this email scandal. It’s related. One of those workers, Rod MacIsaac, a Phd candidate,took his own life mere months later.
“He was a kind, giving man,” MacIsaac’s sister Linda Kayfish said Tuesday. “He was a concise, straightforward, straight-answer guy.”
After two years in which no wrongdoing by MacIsaac has been uncovered and other members of the team have been exonerated, Kayfish is calling on the provincial government to issue a formal apology for her brother’s dismissal.
“I figured that when somebody makes a mistake and ruins people’s lives like this, they had to know there would be repercussions,” she said. “And when you do that, you have to recognize an error: stand up, and recognize that error. Apologize.”
And an apology was made, of sorts, at least in the public realm. But neither apologies,nor settlements,nor ombudsmans reviews will bring Rod MacIssac back.
None of this should have happened in the first place.
When it was revealed in June of this year, that the government had intentionally misled not only the public, but the RCMP, it further called into question the ability of this government to continue with authority to govern:
Despite claims from MacDiarmid’s ministry that its had “provided the RCMP with interim results of an internal investigation,” RCMP emails show the ministry simply gave “high level explanations of the allegations,” and that “the province’s investigation had not reached any conclusions that could support a criminal investigation.”
RCMP investigators tried five times over almost two years to get more information, but received none of the reports the Health Ministry had promised into what it had publicly billed as one of the biggest privacy breaches in B.C. history.
The Mounties closed the file on July 16, 2014, and informed the province. But it wasn’t until seven months later that the government publicly admitted it no longer expected police to pursue the matter.
The records, obtained by The Vancouver Sun through the federal Access to Information Act, show that the B.C. government repeatedly pointed to an RCMP investigation over several years, while at the same time doing virtually nothing to inform police about the case and failing to provide any evidence of a crime.
“Despite inferences in the media that the RCMP has undertaken an investigation or received information from the Province, this has not been the case,” wrote Const. Dean Miller from the RCMP’s Federal Serious and Organized Crime section, in a late 2014 report. “No tangible evidence or reports related to the allegations have been handed over. As such, no investigation has been initiated.”
NDP critic Adrian Dix said the documents “show a government that not just misled the public but misled the police. And it’s a very serious thing.”
The government “smeared” the reputation of the researchers by repeatedly lying about a police probe it knew did not exist, said Dix.
One of the researchers, co-op student Roderick MacIsaac, committed suicide after he was fired and it was suggested he was under police investigation.
Think about that. The government deliberately misled the public, the 8 wrongly fired workers- one of whom is no longer with us – and the RCMP.
Who lies about an RCMP investigation that never happened? And then goes… whoops! Sorry about that! Sorry just doesn’t cut it. It is government malfeasance. A clear attempt to mitigate their own culpability in the entire issue.
It’s just not remotely plausible.Not to me, not to the opposition and certainly not, the public.
Making it even more appalling, Clarks trying to swing this one by saying only the person who originated the email has to keep a copy. But she fails to get the point that when no records are being handed over in an FOI by anyone,it indicates even the original email sent, is gone. She’s playing semantics. Does this government really think the public is that stupid? Apparently so.
But I digress. We cannot forget that so many of the admissions of willful deleting of emails, or no records happened in the case of the health ministry firings and the Highway of Tears FOI. They involved peoples lives, and their deaths.
These weren’t deleted emails on a coffee meeting about a new ad plan, these were records directly relating to two very sensitive issues, one of which involved horrific abuse of government power and malfeasance.
That’s why when I read this new article on how over the last 23 years, it’s always been the same issues in government, instead of thinking what a good perspective it was,I felt disappointed and honestly, a bit sad.
I very much respect the author- he has produced some excellent work but to me, it seems to minimize the seriousness of what this current government has done, as business as usual. Only, it isn’t.
The examples he’s brought up are egregious by any standard, but do not come close to the current governments handling and what now looks like a cover-up, into the health ministry firings and the Highway of tears meetings. These events are so reprehensible that it still amazes me the Liberals allowed Clark to remain in power.
His article also doesn’t mention one startling fact that still remains largely unreported or discussed in media: that the Clark government removed the offence act, the penalties for improper destruction of records, two days before Tim Duncan blew the whistles on the emails George Gretes allegedly deleted to avoid the Highway of Tears FOI.
I’ve written about this removal twice, back in May when it happened. Doug Routley tried to amend the Bill but he was overruled and the bill passed on division.
The NDP put out this release a few days later:
So while prior governments have indeed tried similar tactics to avoid scandal, this government has taken it completely above the law. Completely. No penalties,no deterrents and because Clark and now Virk have completely ignored Commissioner Denhams 3 separate recommendations over three years to legislate Duty to Document, everyone is getting away with it.
Except poor George Gretes of course, whose case has been handed over to the RCMP for investigation for allegedly lying under oath. And rest assured, someone else will get tossed under the bus before this is over.
But take a look now at this. Denham wrote this letter to Amrik Virk in February of this year reminded him again of the need for a legislated Duty to Document key government actions and decisions, before Bill 5 was passed.
I know a lot of people in law enforcement and one thing they all hate is a loophole. So one would think that Virk, a former RCMP officer, would want to ensure every loophole would be removed, right? But no, Bill 5 passed without a Duty to Document. Which leaves this government free to do what they want with little documentation.
During the federal election I wrote how we seemed to have lost all honour, integrity and common sense in politics. Clarks government has now ensured we have no legislated requirement Duty to Document key government decisions and actions (Aka Boosenkool human resources investigation), and removed the penalties if you get caught. And for all intents and purposes, I see not one bit of remorse. I’m disappointed her caucus hasn’t publicly distanced themselves from this.
Glen Clark resigned as premier over a patio deck/casino license deal. Despite Ethnic-gate, the Boesenkool affair, the Health firings scandal that resulted in a suicide, destroyed emails relating to the Highway of Tears and more… yet Premier Clark still stands.
AmrikVirk still stands.
Other ministers involved in these scandals still stand…and none of them deserve to. They were elected to represent their constituents yet I highly doubt this is what they had in mind. It is an unforgivable breach of the public trust.
There are far more things in life that matter more than power. People. Personal integrity. Your character. Honour. Accountability.
The only recourse left is for Clark, Virk and others to resign.
Because this isn’t her government. It’s yours.
** Two great posts I have to direct you t on the email scandal are here: http://www.bcveritas.com/index.php/2015/10/28/a-level-of-bullshit-never-seen/ and here: http://blog.cleverelephant.ca/2015/10/government-email-deleting-intent-matters.html
**Here is the link to the BC Liberal MLA’s. If you have a Liberal MLA, please contact them and ask why the penalties for improper document destruction were removed from Bill 5, and ask them why they have refused to legislate Duty to Document rules after 3 years of recommendations. I also urge you to join the call for a resignation of Premier Christy Clark. #ResignChristy
http://governmentcaucus.bc.ca/mla/
Westcoast Views with Laila Yuile 
Christy Clark will never resign.
That would require a conscience or feelings of empathy for others, guilt, etc…
None of which she has demonstrated unless its for tv photo ops and votes.
The last time I checked.
Sociopaths dont have a conscience, empathy, or guilt, etc.
Draw your own conclusions.
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Its so similar to what I wrote during the federal election. There is no honour left in certain quarters. This is one of them. She needs to resign. So do others. This needs to stop and they all wear this stain.
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Every BC Liberal caucus member shares responsibility for this. They should each be judged now on their demonstrated response.
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I agree. And if your MLA doesn’t respond, there is your answer.
This entire mess is so indicative of how far this current government has gone far beyond those prior to it. And the statements that all governments do it doesn’t make any less of what is going on here. This is so far above the law and none of it should have happened.
At what point can we expect accountability?
Where are the questions to the Premier on why she has ignored Denhams three separate recommendations since 2013, to create duty to document legislation?
Where are the questions on the implications of removing the penalties, which protects staffers who improperly destroying documents?
Why am I, and the opposition, the only ones raising a stink over this?
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Well, Keith Baldrey says that because you do, you’re an activist, not a journalist.
i happen to think you are contributing to the solution, while he and his buddies in the legislative press gaggery are a major part of the problem.
I also think you have a great deal to teach them about journalism.
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Thanks Lew. And btw, I have your email,just swamped right now 🙂 a reply is coming!
I’m not sure why he was so twisted out of shape over my post and suddenly took offence to my activism.Nothing has changed- I’ve always done stories and been active in pushing for change.
His comment : ” so you’ve given up all pretense about journalism? I see you are now an activist. Which is fine – but there’s a diff.”
Yes, there is a difference. I am not a reporter,never have been.I’m a blogger,freelance writer, researcher,and when I need to be,advocate and activist. And I always have been all of those things so clearly he’s never read my About page or my bio. In fact Sean Holman invited me to be part of a panel on Activist Journalism last year. I break stories here and I’ve actively advised readers in my columns to get engaged many times and hold government to account.
So, telling readers in this case to email their Liberal MLA’s for an answer and pressure caucus is nothing out of the norm for me. But his particular objection was telling people to pressure caucus.
Frankly, I don’t care. Former Deputy Minister Don Fast showed up to tell me my over the top comments on this story were out of line. And that was very interesting too considering he was let go during the time period of the health ministry firings.
This mess stinks. And I can’t put my finger on it but there is something I am missing. But I will find it.
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May I add the disgraceful conflict of interest in which Jordan Sturdy, my MLA finds himself over the Woodfibre LNG plant recently approved, not by an environmental assessment group as officially alleged but by Clark and her lap dog, Rich Coleman love no before the phony EA. Sturdy has refused to meet constituents on this issue and defends Clark dealing with Sukanto Tanoto, whose massive-tax evasion and rainforest destruction record across the Pacific has put his business reputation into serious question.
It happens that Sukanto picked up the entire tab for Jordan’s giant fundraiser at the posh Capilano Golf Club last Feb and made a substantial donation. All this while his application was supposedly being assessed.
That is Tammany Hall corruption endorsed by Clark. Fellow Neanderthal Richard Nixon would blush with pride!
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It never ceases to amaze me how far we have come that we are just expected to sit and take all of this from elected officials as just the way government operates.
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Rafe, can you please post references for your 2 comments below. Thanks. Want to share but need to source-check.
1. Sukanto picked up the entire tab for Jordan’s giant fundraiser at the posh Capilano Golf Club last Feb and made a substantial donation.
2. Sturdy has refused to meet constituents on this issue and defends Clark dealing with Sukanto Tanoto
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Can’t speak for Rafe, but 1) http://www.squamishchief.com/news/woodfibre-lng-sponsors-mla-sturdy-s-fundraiser-1.1755686
2) Here Sturdy states not govt business to vet owners. http://www.nationalobserver.com/2015/06/03/news/bc-under-pressure-cut-lng-deal-notorious-asian-billionaire
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Thanks, Laila, That’s perfect.
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Every Liberal AND NDP MLA shares responsibility for this AND the 100 or 200 other reasons the govt. has to fall. For evil to be done good people only have to do NOTHING and the opposition is absolutely AWOL and ineffective. Limp Dix and Mr. Pleasant repeatedly DO NOT get the job done. Time to boycott, Sue, accuse, charge or set some effigies on fire!
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Actually the opposition has been exceptional this session in QP. I’ve been watching. They’ve upped their game and Clark knows it. But the behavior in QP and the arrogance displayed by Clark and Virk ie, the Virk Smirk above, is appalinng. Seems like its all a big game to them.
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For the good of the province, the BC Liberals need to be gone. I suspect the pressure will be on Christy to step down before the next election — but that would only give them a chance to foist a new shining face upon the electorate.
Throw around a few “Fast Ferries.” “Remember the 90s” and “Jobs! Jobs!” sound bites and… Voila! They’re back in again.
For a more permanent fix, I hope Christy insists that SHE will lead the party into the next election.
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Christy has never been anything but what most observers would call a spokesman for a political leader, who takes no questions, and provides mostly spin when instructed to—that is, she only does what support staff to political leaders usually do, rather than speak as the knowledgable authority leading the government’s policies. And I think that’s because she doesn’t really have a firm grip on policy.
She hasn’t earned the name “Premier Photo-Op” for nothing. She’s hasn’t engaged in policy conversation since she was Education in Gordon Campbell’s government—and what a disaster that STILL is over a decade later. She took leave of politics when she was thus outed as an intellectual lightweight who DOESN’T DO POLICY, returning only when the Premier’s job was up for grabs—a job she fantasized would give her the attention she craves, but absolve her of the harder stuff in ministry.
Ever since she ham-handed her way through her Premierial honeymoon with hackneyed policy non-starters like online voting and Senate reform, confirming her reputation for shoot-from-the-lip statements she hasn’t fact-checked first, she’s been kept away from any engagement with, say, news reporters, concerning policy, releasing instead one-way puff pieces stuffed with anecdotes about her personal conviction.
Think about it: aside from cheerleading for the hated HST during its ultimately unsuccessful referendum, turning up the preposterousness in each of her otherwise single-note election campaign appearances (you know, starting with millions, and winding up with gazillions of LNG dollars all in a few weeks of bluster), and boosting pink anti-bullying T-shirts, “Om on the Bridge,” and the foreign Bollywood movie industry, all she’s really done is show up at disasters natural and man-made with insincere “feel-your-pain” rote. It’s as if the real power players in this government are afraid to let her out too much, and especially of letting her speak off the top of her head, for fear she’ll put her foot in it. It seems policy statements or exchanges are forbidden absolutely, probably for good reason.
No way she could have won last time (well, she actually couldn’t win herself a seat ‘less it the safest one in the province was provided for her) without critical help from the NDP—as in it didn’t show up. Barring that ever happening again, it’s reasonable to wonder if she might be written out of the script before tiring the electorate further with her native charlatanism. But that’s the BC Liberals’ problem: who else can boost an atrocious record with such genuine love of the limelight as Christy? I’m sure she’s up for it, but are we?
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The right thing to do is for her to resign immediately and take a few with her. The Ministers involved in this mess need to go as well.
The caucus needs to pressure her and the public needs to pressure the caucus.
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Replacing the Premier before the next election is a matter of POV:
Christy: I have a mandate from the people of BC. Besides, that’s my call to make.
BC Liberal Caucus: She’s been elected by both the party and the people of BC—well, except for the people of Point Grey—but, in any case, that’s our call to make.
The prancing majorette is Christy at her most genuine; leading her party into battle is, by nature, the only call she’d willingly make on her own.
However, Christy’s caucus doesn’t look as Christy-centric as she probably likes to believe; inasmuch’s it needs to remain government to keep getting away with its cronyism (and hide what’s been gotten away with so far), having Christy lead it into the next election is a call that’ll have to made soon if a replacement is to be deployed with exploitable advantage in the next nineteen months.
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A must read. Merv gets to the heart of the matter. http://www.bcveritas.com/index.php/2015/11/01/this-is-not-that-media-lines-which-need-to-be-rejected/
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I am just sick! And there is MORE to come. 😦
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I suspect there is a lot more to come from the odd behavior and comments I have been getting, I have to wonder what that is…
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[…] https://lailayuile.com/2015/10/29/50-shades-of-wrong-why-the-liberal-government-has-lost-all-moral-au… […]
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Once upon a time, the people of this province, had a province wide referendum.
The Social Credit government of the day was poised to be removed.
The people were weary of abuse of power and the SoCreds presented the voters with a referendum comprising two questions.
Do you want recall, and do you want citizen’s initiatives.
Both questions passed by over 80%.
But the SoCreds weren’t elected again.
The incoming NDP with one Mike Harcourt, was under no legal obligation to honour the vote,
But there was a moral obligation to.
Four years and much fiddling we were graced with the two pieces of legislation that we have today.
Totally worthless junk.
The INITIATIVE ACT was started to remove the intensely hated HST, and after the signature threshold was reached by very hard work, then Premier Gordon Campbell, changed it from a vote under the initiative act, to one under the binding referendum act.
So the INITIATIVE ACT wouldn’t be seen by the public as totally worthless.
Thus it has never been tested.
So all of this crap that is going on in the Christy Clark government is the NDP ‘s fault.
Had Mike Harcourt done what was the right thing to do, this would not be happening today.
Politicians are the problem at every turn and they will never ever do the right thing.
NEVER.
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Congratulations, Laila for yet another slap expose of the seemingly endless scandals that involve a government more interested in almost anything but governing. The secret deals and hidden priorities of Clark and her gang are so numerous it’s almost impossible to keep up. Maybe that’s the intent – the more scandals, the less serious each seems and the less ability the public has to remember them.
It is so discouraging these crooks can’t seem to be removed. How much money is involved behind the scenes benefitting how many people? Will we ever find out?
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Members of the Liberal caucus and those who serve you:
When you look in the mirror and in the faces of your children and grandchildren think of this;
“If I were to remain silent, I’d be guilty of complicity.”
― Albert Einstein
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How come? The Province of Quebec was able to generate an inquiry into their massive malfeasance and yet we aren’t able to? What’s the matter? Are our crimes, corruption and lies not as good as theirs? Are we a second rate Province?
Do you not think all the issues that have surfaced so far are but the tip of the iceberg?
What happened to the Mount Polley disaster, the wood frame office tower in Prince George, the Burke Mountain real estate give-away, oh yes – BC Rail, and ad infinitem. Surely there is something worthy of a Maclean’s issue. I’ll bet there’s a bushel of skeletons just waiting to burst out of the closet.
If we only knew!
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John, I think you should rephrase that last sentence.
“if only the people that knew were allowed to speak….”
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Excellent comment John. Excellent. I totally agree. In fact I am going to share that.
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I wonder if VIRK’S public(are they ‘lies’?) and the situation (was it ‘fraud’?) that happened at Kwantlen would have any bearing on his previous cases as an RCMP Officer?
Showing his true character NOW would make me question those.
Leopards don’t change their spots.
Was he truthful on the stand with those too?
Just askin’
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What is worse no viable alternative to take over from the BC (not real) Libs….
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The only problem with Christy resigning is the ‘voting public’ will think that they have ‘cleaned house’ in the Liberal camp and think it ok to vote Liberal again. We can no more vote Liberal again than we can vote Conservative again Federally. Better to have her in place to face the music and watch her government crumble that to let her off by resigning. She must be held responsible for all her wrong doing. We must keep the pressure up in every way we can think of.
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Disagree. No one will care about this in 2 years.See the last provincial and federal election for a reason why I’m not relying on an election to deal with this.Ask yourself why we have had Liberals for more than a decade recently?
The health firings happened in 2012 and we are just not finding out what and why that all happened… and I suspect there is much more to come. Government misled the public, the fired workers, and the RCMP. They knew there was no investigation yet they allowed this perception to continue,even knowing a man had taken his own life in the face of all this. And for what? There was no wrongdoing.There was a lot of covering up on govts part and now, no emails.
Seriously,if this was your family member who had gone through this, would you be happy waiting 2 years and hoping the public voted elsewhere? Not me.
This is about accountability.There is none. And that needs to change. This is so egregious,it is potentially criminal and it cannot be allowed to drop.
Government counts on an ever revolving news cycle that whips scandals away as quick as the new outrage appears.And that’s not going to happen here. If Clark continues to claim she has no clue and nothing is going on, she is either incompetent or complicit.
Virk,Lake and a host of other MLA’s are also on that list,in addition to a number of deputy ministers and high level advisors and staff.
No Leanne, there is no cleaning house.And people have to stop waiting for someone else to do the hard work. Hold your government accountable now.
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kieth baldrey has absolutely no right to make comments on weather someone is a journalist or not….he lost that some time ago,and since that, every time he opens his mouth he just makes a bigger fool of himself
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Keith Baldrey makes comments on the weather? Whether he is a journalist or not makes no difference when opining about the weather.
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moral authority, well those are two words most b.c. lieberal M.L.A.s don’t understand. if they do they are keeping their mouths shut so they can continue to keep their jobs. You’d think one of them might open their mouth with 4 dead kids in care. but no, nothing. kids living 50% below the poverty line, nothing from their mouths.
moral authority and a couple of bucks gets you a coffee. a seat in the Leg gets you a good salary and benefits along with a good pension. who cares about moral authority with all that money to be made.
Christy Clark is not going anywhere, there is just too much money to be made and fun to have.
There are write offs for all sorts of mining corporations in this province. a couple of hundred million each year for the movie industry. a bus along the Highway of Tears so more women won’t be murdered? Not happening.
this government was elected by the citizens of this province. doesn’t say much about them either. sort of that lack of morals thing. must have something to do with the water. We know where bauldry stands, right behind his pay cheque. but you do have to wonder where all those moral people in “houses of worship” are. Haven’t heard much from all of those religious types about the poverty and the deaths of the children in care or the lack of a bus for rural areas.
It will be interesting to see exactly what the B.C.Lieberals are hiding. wonder if we will have another raid on the Leg this Christmas vacation.
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E.A.F.,
Re: “this government was elected by the citizens of this province. doesn’t say much about them either. sort of that lack of morals thing.”
Will you please stop spreading this cynical, toxic, specious propaganda? You write this evil mantra, or at least imply it, on every blog/comment section you participate in. You make a lot of excellent points on said blogs, and you are often very thought provoking and well informed on the relevant, important issues being discussed, *but* a lot of that is undermined by your insistence that these ruthless, amoral, self serving, greedy, narcissistic, opportunistic, likely corrupt, dynamically gang-like, reckless, feckless and possibly criminal “leaders” actually honestly abide by the rules when trying to get elected, *but at virtually no other time*. Come on! That ridiculous thesis (that in your believing/proselytizing actually aids them by preventing appropriate scrutiny) defies logic completely and demonstrates a dark, insulting faithlessness and loathing your fellow man and woman. It’s so self-contradicting, ironically, that it calls all of your thinking into question. You want people to believe that the previously described “baddies” will break or bend or change every rule that they can that stands in the way of their goals, or those of their secret constituents, no matter what damage it does, or even whether it is potentially illegal or immoral, and yet when it comes to elections they just defy their collective natures and play by the rules??? Why; out of sacred fealty to the beloved Democratic Process? LOL!
I am sick of you suggesting that your fellow citizens are too stupid, naive, apathetic, co-opted and/or lazy to act in their own best interest after everything they have experienced for over a dozen years. And after everything they have read, discussed, and assimilated in blogs just like these. If you want to blame yourself for your own subjugation, that’s your own business, but if you want to blame others you better have some strong proof. The people of BC who I know do not fit your description for the most part (actual political beliefs notwithstanding); not the doctors, the nurses, the craftsmen, the teachers, the policemen, the firemen, the electricians, the attorneys, the accountants, the barristas, the students, the plumbers, etc., nor the mothers and the fathers who want the best for their children, or the neighbours who just want the best for their community. Really; just who the hell are you talking about anyway? You need time away from the keyboard, it seems. Maybe you should mingle with your fellow citizens a bit to mitigate the hyperbole. It won’t be long before you see people for who they actually are. For the most part they are decent, they are intelligent, and “they get it”. Holding them accountable for a captured democracy and all of the complicit institutions that facilitated and perpetuate that reality is shameful.
Cynicism is as cancerous and parasitic to a community as political corruption. Tragically, it’s also equally self-perpetuating. I suggest that the hypothesis that “the people currently in leadership were rightfully installed there by a legitimate democratic process” (despite their track records, the known facts, the suspected likelihoods, and the material conflicts of interest which transcend the “appearance of impropriety” standard) is laughably implausible. We would all be doing ourselves and each other a tremendous favour by searching for an explanation that isn’t rooted in electoral mythology. Some people have been doing this for a long time, like the author of this blog and several others. If it weren’t for outlets of information and communication like these, we would all be at an even greater disadvantage.
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What he said……. 🙂
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I actually agree mostly with EAF. While I have never voted for the Campbell or Clarke Lino’s I believe we all share in the fact that they are still here. I do not believe that it is because there is no alternative. There are,not perfect ,but there on the ballot. Most people I know are not really paying close attention accept when there is talk of increased fees or tax breaks. Very selfish.
We need to vote for the good of our neighbourhood,our province and our country. Not only what is of benefit to ourselves and our families.
I do not take EAF’s comments personally but as something that needs to be said . I myself wonder why we keep voting these traitors back in when I can see absolutely zero benefit to the majority of us.
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I side with E.A.F. … though few people enjoy being told they are stupid, naive or lazy, so it’s likely better to be less blunt.
If we assume that all voters are intelligent, with a healthy level of skepticism… why would so many watch the following video and swear they will never get a flu shot? The comments I’ve seen when people post this video are scary.
I’m not sure if Laila will allow my post, as it veers a little off-topic… but here goes:
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80786656/
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It’s not about taking “sides” (just the fact that you think that way is telling); it’s about realizing we have *all* been had. I don’t expect you to believe that, especially since you seem pretty comfortable with EAF’s belief that intelligence is so rare, and that we are all being sandbagged by the dimwitted, lazy, apathetic, selfish “other guy”. Whoa is a community that is kept from furthering its own best interests and keeping the sociopathic leaders from exploiting it all because they just aren’t as smart as people like you and EAF. Lol!
I have worked in politics, business, and the media for over 20 years, after obtaining multiple degrees in said disciplines. I believe I have experienced enough and observed enough to have drawn some pretty sound conclusions. And I am not alone, either. The most talented journalists in this Provence know what I know and more. I know some of them, and they work from the same apolitical calculus that I do.
Democracy in BC is nothing but a myth designed to sustain enough stability to stave off a tipping point. People like you will never believe that, for myriad reasons, until you have been confronted with it most directly – – – until it’s way too late. You see the polls, the news coverage, the debates, the entire dinner show, and you swallow it whole. In our current high tech, hyper ambitious, morality free environment it is eminently possible to steal things, game things, and materially alter things without ever leaving the kind of evidence required to make people like you even realize that a crime has been committed. No fingerprints. No DNA. No whistleblowers. And almost no suspicion from your ilk because you have all been convinced that the other guys are irresponsible and ignorant, even your neighbours, friends and family members. You probably think George W. Bush got elected both times fair-and-square, lol. But people in “the business” know the truth, and they are counting on you to never change.
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If you think democracy has been gamed, please tell us how. If you have evidence of gaming, you should go to the RCMP.
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BC’s political system clearly needs a MAJOR upgrade to bring it into the 21st century.
The “Elementary Students in Charge of The Highschool Student’s Lunch Money” system is so…20th century.
The $610.00 financial assistance amount would be reasonable back in super-BC of the…70’s, but 3 times that would be reasonable in today’s (RIDICULOUSLY expensive) world-class BC. It’s very important to provide a very generous amount (to non-abusers) so that good BC’ers don’t suffer horribly because of being at the mercy of low quality political groups, or business owners (master/slave relationships).
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[…] government, (as Laila Yuile notes – 2 days before the George Gretes scandal broke), removed the application of Section 5 of the Offences Act to the evasion of FOI requirements. That […]
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[…] and policy, instead of just doing the right thing, we’ve had denials, smirks and evasion. Give them the humility to remember it is an honour to be elected, and the commonsense to know when […]
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[…] Funny thing about that… and I have still yet to see this mentioned anywhere in any news clipping of this… that improperly destroying documents actually was an offense until the Liberal government removed it in May of this year– right before Tim Duncan blew the whistle on Georges Gretes intentional deletion of emails in response to a… […]
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[…] There are few things in politics that have left as big of an impression on me personally, as the continuing disgrace of the health firings scandal. To this day, it pains me to think of what Rod MacIsaac must have gone through leading to his tragic suicide. It’s not hard to believe this government would mislead the public- they do it usually several times a week-but that they would as far as to mislead the RCMP as well, was unfathomable. And in my opinion,posted here last year, unforgivable: […]
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https://www.change.org/p/christy-clark-its-time-for-bc-to-raise-the-asset-limits-to-a-level-equal-to-the-rest-of-canada?recruiter=44087175&utm_source=petitions_share&utm_medium=copylink.
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[…] Why? Because there is not one cabinet minister or Liberal MLA not tainted completely by the hundreds of egregious and unethical scandals and actions under the Clark or Campbell government. Not one Liberal MLA stood up when Rod MacIsaac killed himself after their party misled not only the fired researchers, but the rest of government, the public and the RCMP. They misled the RCMP. And all stayed silent. Who does this? This government lost its moral authority to govern on this alone. […]
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