Why Won’t the BC Liberals Release that They Are in Harrison Hot Springs This Week for Their Annual Caucus Retreat?
I received a surprising number of emails this morning from media colleagues in the MSM, who were perturbed by the fact that the BC Liberals would not release where and when their annual caucus retreat was taking place.
Strange…
The BC Liberals are having their 2010 caucus retreat this week at Harrison Hot Springs, which seems to be a favorite of the Premier.
Apparently, in typical Campbell fashion, his trusty assistant, Ms. Lara Dauphinee made the arrangements and simply informed caucus members not too long ago of where they would be–no consultation, no calls, no asking for options on other locales–nothing. Booked and boarded for Harrison.
What’s interesting is that the caucus “clear the air” session has been scheduled for Wednesday by when many members may have to leave. Interesting too that there may be time limits on statements made.
Starting to see the picture?
For some time, I’ve been reporting here that the ‘Mutiny on the Campbell’ could come at any time. Confidential caucus sources report that there are at least four possible dissenters in caucus who might speak their minds and two Cabinet Ministers who are also rightly fed up with the Campbell antics and the fact the Premier does not want to see that he needs to leave now for there to be any chance of a new leader making corrections and charting a new course.
He has already been told by two caucus members that they think he should go, but neither of those members is willing to go public with their concerns.
Yet.
Add that to George Abbott openly campaigning for a leadership run, and John Les’ clear reticence on the six- o’clock news, after being cleared, to go back into a Campbell cabinet and you start to see the fissures. Interesting, too, that Kevin Falcon is receiving some help from friends in high places in his efforts to also launch a leadership run, post-Gordomatic. Local Conservative organizer and employee at the Minister’s regional office (who has been warned once before not to play politics from that perch), Colin Metcalfe–the man who delivered Sam Sullivan’s exceptionally well run Mayoral campaign, is telling anyone in Tory circles that will listen: supporting Falcon in a possible leadership run is the only way to go for federal conservative members in B.C. Now, I know Metcalfe very well; he’s a an exceptional organizer and his endorsement is a good pick up for Falcon, but he’d better tread carefully…
The realities are that NONE of the current crop of leadership contenders FROM INSIDE can win in the next election. For one reason or another, they’re all tainted. You can do a review, here. not much has changed.
The Premier is telling insiders that he doesn’t think Carole Taylor can ‘take the heat’ and that Dianne Watts ‘doesn’t have the guts’
Interesting….
The best bet would be to appoint an interim Premier and then have a leadership convention–PRONTO! Someone like a Bill Bennett, who’s a very decent guy would do us well as Interim Premier–but more likely, it will be the Premier’s personal favorite, Colin Hansen, who has single-handedly destroyed his own credibility and provincial political career by being so blindly loyal (emphasis on blindly) to the increasingly upsetting, arrogant and distant Premier. About the best thing Hansen can do is go off and take advantage of his mother-in-law’s tremendous federal Liberal pedigree and seal the nomination for Vancouver-Quadra as MP. The Grits can’t stand current MP Joyce Murray and would love to get rid of her and Grit supporters are all such lemmings for any Grit candidate in that riding that they could run a donkey and win (Um, with Joyce, mission accomplished).
But I digress…
If there are no fireworks this week at the BC Liberal caucus retreat in Harrison, then it’s a missed opportunity for Liberal MLAs to show the public they still care about the province, regardless of the dismal govt performance. Gordon Campbell is a great millstone around their collective neck and the longer he stays, the worse it’s going to get for them.
If the Premier isn’t gone by the late summer/early fall, there will not be enough time for even the Angel Gabriel to step in and save the province from an almost certainty of ten years of suffering at the hands of the NDP.
And you’ll be able to thank Gordon Campbell for that.
Let’s see what happens…
The job of BC Premier must truly be spectacular. None of the people who have held the office in the last 40 plus years have known when to leave. What a legacy all the premiers have left. Each one virtually decimating the party they left behind, allowing their supposed opponents to sweep in to massive majorities. Bill Bennett is the only one who left in time to allow his party to re-coup and win again. VanderZalm destroyed the Socreds, Harcourt (almost) killed the NDP and then Glen Clark finished the job. And now Mr Campbell seems to be following in the footsteps of his predecessors. Please sir, could we NOT have some more. Get out now and allow time for the Right in the province to recover, so that Carole James never has to be premier.
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Your wish is my wish…but Campbell is an evil, vindictive man. He will not listen and needs to be embarrassed out. Mark my words. If it’s not public it will be private–and I’ll hear about it and tell you believe me.
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You have the Glen Clark thing wrong he was vindicated by the BC courts and was found innocent of all charges.
But CTV and Global the Neo-Con / Neo Liberal propaganda and lies destroyed the NDP not Glen Clark
Look into it you will be surprised at how similar those 2 stations actions were to what fox news does.
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Too bad though. A few weeks ago, when we were in the last week of Spring, this could have been a Hot Spring in Harrison…
.. but as far as CM goes, he may have walked a bit too far on his antics. Think he may see Falcon as a pre-paid ferry fare and express ride to the coveted political job in the Corner Office in Victoria.
He (and a few others I figure who are also playing Falcon as the favoruite and a few of those you most likely know since they also are well known to CM) are not doing it for the best advantage for B.C.
They are doing it for their own advanatage. It’s all about power and prestige. Has very little to do with “savig the province”.
Kevin is a nice guy, but he would not be my ballot choice.
and no I would not expect to see any pizza triangles flying via paper saucers to the walls in anger at MLA caucus meetings this week.
I wouldn;t exepct Campbell do have to duck to avoid flying Coke cans either.
It will as these things go, be controlled, as many of the MLA backbenchers won’t want to ruin their chances of getting into Cabinet,
since this may be for some of them, their last opportunity. Qite a few of them are of 2001 vintage and they know the pension is much richer when it is drawn from what they earned as a Cabinet Minister.
There won’t be any dramatic turn of events after this.
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I won’t hold my breath either, but it shows you the insularity that is killing them. They honestly think that if Gordon hangs on and rides through the HST and recall storm somehow that will miraculously make things better for his successor. That’s nuts! But I agree with you. Any comments will get watered down…pity.
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Return to the same scenario in 1989. Same thing, Bill VanderZalm was Premier, a large congealment of blind loyalists, caucus members who saw any party member speak evil against VanderZalm thought said member was committing sacrilege, and a party that was breaking apart faster then the edge of a glacier at deep water’s end in Alaska.
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I’m not sure about blind loyalists. I was there, as you know, and there were some that were blind, but nothing like what exists for Gordon now, not even close. And I would argue that we made a mistake by erecting Rita. She was awful in the campaign. Grace would have delivered many more seats and the Socreds might not have disintegrated (at least not as quickly).
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Man if I ever see Rita and her Trailer Park Boys get into the BC Conservatives, I am not voting for them.
I’ll hold my nose and probably vote Green. Will probably turn green ad vomit afterwards in disgust of what I voted for,
But will agree with you Old Boy. The blind loyalty shown back then is nothing compared to the sickening levels of blind loyalty seen within the BC Liberal Party. Even their president is all giddy about seeking a fourth term as president (see public eye onlie and wince).
Bu I suppose we can look the whole schmeal in a different prespective.
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Of course we can. But the BC Conservatives are going nowhere, trust me. Not with the likes of Randy White proffering advice…
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How could the NDP be worse than the gong show the Province has now? Do you have a list of possible problems? And with the way provincial assets have been sold off and the ‘sales’ continue one has to scratch their head as to why Gordon has sold off the assets to the lowest bidders but the biggest contributers to his party. BC is going bankrupt for the very reason that you cant sell electricity for a half cent per kh and pay your friends 12 1/2 cents. Whether the NDP, Liberal rump, conservative or whomever forms the next government they will have to ramp up taxes to obscene levels to run the business of BC. ‘Corruption’ seems to be the order of the day with that bunch in Victoria.
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Well, you’re not wrong. I just have a philosophical aversion to the NDP. But you’ll get no argument from me that this Liberal govt is one of the worst we’ve had in the history of the province–without question!
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If the Basi/Virk trial concluded in the 6 weeks it was supposed to I suspect things would have taken care of themselves. Look for a prison reform bill in the Spring session.
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I totally agree with you.
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Now that Bill Vander Zalm announced his FIGHTHST court action against the government, one can surmise that there may be a little more fire under the butts of those that want Campbell gone. You can bet that a good number of BC Liberal MLAs will be trying to find out if Vander Zalm’s court case has a chance, and if they get the impression that they may be on the losing end, they may actually get some intestinal fortitude. This little retreat may deliver a lot more news than the organizers intended, nor imagined.
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I agree. I’d be mighty surprised if some delectable morsels come my way shortly. Stay tuned!
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Well one long time lawyer friend of mine who is quite sharp, says there is a good chance that The Zalm will pull this off,.
Might want to do some exploring for possible strip mining of new dirt.
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And I agree with him.
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I think Mr. X – Checker above is conveniently forgetting two who left far before their best before date – Mike Harcourt and Dave Barrett
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I’ll agree on Mike, but Barrett was the second worst Premier in B.C. history. Couldn’t have gotten rid of him soon enough!
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How would you know what kind of premier Dave Barrett was? Oh, you must have read about it somewhere – you musta been in about first grade at private school when the combined powers of Wall Street, Bay Street and Howe Street managed to successfully pull off their coup to save BC from the Commies.
The ALR (under attack of course now by the Campbell Regime and John Les) alone was a major accomplishment for an administration that had such a short time and was under such concerted attack from those who were used to running things. Of course even you might someday be thin if your friends (excepting Campbell of course) have their way in developing all the land that can produce food in BC and Canada and it becomes either to expensive to import it from elsewhere or the people elsewhere realize they need to eat it themselves.
Good luck in the future eating condos or natural gas! Maybe that’s why you are basically pro-development, to you it is easier than diet or exercise.
Dave Barrett and W.A.C. or Bennett the Greater were both great men, and both respected each other and both did much good for BC, though Davy didn’t have much time and never could accomplish anywhere near as much as did W.A.C. Gordon Campbell has made a mission of of destroying the legacy of both men for purely shortsighted selfish reasons.
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Ladies and Gentlemen…Koot off his meds again. You viciously attack my weight because you have no other argument except to pretend that you know what you’re talking about.
I’m pro-development? I’m against STIR. I’m against taking land out of the ALR, unless it’s of now REAL use for farming. I’m against towers in flood planes. I was against what has become the over-development of the downtnown core of Vancouver. I’m a fan of Spaxman, not Beasley. I liked Fritz Bowers and think Brent Toderian is incompetent and about as effective as a wet noodle.
The ONLY good thing Barrett’s govt did was the ALR. That’s it.
And the fact that Gary Lauk was introduced to the province was also a GREAT thing. Alex MacDonald too.
I know that govt better than you think.
Question for you: Should Connie Black, who wrote what is regarded by many impartial observers as the best bio on a President (Roosevelt), feel any less accomplished because he might have been in diapers when his subject was around? A fact that might be pointed out by another unbalanced, obviously medicated, indignant, hypocritical, draft-evading asshole like you?
Just asking…
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It sure don’t take much to bring out your stooooooooopidity and bile does it Alex?
By the way, how come NO ONE – I MEAN NO ONE, has even mentioned the so-called caucus gathering at Harrison but you – are you the only one who knows, or are you making up stuff again? By the way Alex, you picture, especially sitting there at the desk in your silly videos says all that need to be said about your weight – me on the other hand, I’m always off my meds because I don’t need any, also my height to weight ration is pretty well perfect and my cardio/vascular/respritory health that of someone in his twenties or thirties which is pretty good, considering I’m on CPP.
BTW, Alex, you should know better than to call me a draft evader, cuz you know that ain’t the truth. But I also am pretty sure that you would have been, if you would have had the opportunity, in spite of the fact you say your mother wouldn’t let you join the military during PEACE TIME – and I’m pretty sure you won’t publish this, but I don’t care, I may.
Just looking at you I’m pretty sure I’ll have the opportunity to go to your funeral, not that I’d bother…..
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Congratulations–BANNED–except this time permanently. I should’ve known better than to think a coward would do anything other than lob bomblets from behind his blankie….
Liberal caucus retreat was covered by NW, the Sun and the Province. The Libs weren’t letting on where they were. But you must have missed that coverage. Tough being on the bong and being able to remember news from three days ago.
But maybe you should think of something else…regardless of whether or not you’re a fine physical specimen (bullshit is YOUR currency, not mine), perhaps you might consider that your own death won’t be of your choosing.
Of that much, I too, can be pretty sure.
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If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly! Sharpen up your knives, boy and girls, before we have to find out first hand just how much worse the NDP could be…
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It is now not an outside chance Campbells ruins can be saved and he knows , in fact i would say once the true cost of HST is taken in by taxpayers hes destroyed any hope of recovery for right wing govts at all and we lose any balanced Govt , i agree NDP cant make a worse mess or be more arrogant or corrupt but some ability to see all sides represented fairly benefits us all far better
we will see no such thing again as G Campbell screwed this Province for generations possibly it wont be hard for NDP to tell MSM it was BCLIbs heres the books ask them why they did it.
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Gordon has easily been B.C.’s worst Premier. Just awful. No question about it.
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A way out:
1. Gordon resigns (its even palatable if the liar makes it look like it was his own decision.
2. A leader NOT in Gordon’s circle is make the new leader.
3. The new leader (while insisting the HST is good for BC) immediately withdraws the HST and returns the money to the Federal government.
4. The new leader declares that as soon as the HST is withdrawn that he/she will start a transparent, open, public input process to re-institute the HST.
Then the Liberals have a chance – I might even be convinced to vote for them again.
Otherwise – they are finished. We will recall them into oblivion – they will not even come close to holding on till the next election. The party will be reduced to NOTHING. They have no understanding of the level of animosity and distrust they have created in this province. They are going to be very shocked soon.
On a side note – I’m a “hospitality operator” in the lower mainland – I can hardly wait for the premier or any MLA to come to my place of business (this is a likely event) – they will be asked to leave our premises and it will be done in a way that is obvious to everyone around them.
A little further on the above thought. I think every hospitality operator in the province should put up a poster with the names and pictures of every MLA who voted in favor of the HST and publicly ban them from their business. While a few of the larger operators and those with substaintial governments contracts would be opposed – thousands (THOUSANDS) of others would be do this given an easy way to participate.
The government has effectively stepped in front of and in between hospitality operators and our customers and added a 7% tax that never existed, and you know what is coming next right…..an increase in the minimum wage (not that we pay anything even close to the minimum wage) .
Would it not be great if every MLA who voted for the HST had to go to Alberta or Washington state to eat a restaurant meal or stay in a hotel – lol….. The thought of that actually brings a genuine smile to my face – which this post until this moment has not been able to do.
Keep up the excellent work here Alex.
JB
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Thx Jason. You have provided a very good analysis, but my understanding from Harrison is that, for now, everyone is playing shiny, happy people.
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I guess you are too busy to check and release comments (the one above couldn’t be offensive) because of this that I accidentally came across while preparing to search for other news.
“‘Climategate’ review clears scientists of dishonesty over data
The Guardian – Christine Ottery – 2 hours ago
The climate scientists at the centre of a media storm were today cleared of accusations that they fudged their results and silenced critics to bolster the case for man-made global warming.
CRU climate scientists ‘did not withold data’ BBC News
‘Climategate’ review clears scientists of dishonesty CNN
FOXBusiness – Telegraph.co.uk – Financial Times – New York Times (blog)
all 354 news articles » ”
I imagine it will keep you busy checking out and dis-crediting just these 354 articles and I’m pretty confident there will be more to come.
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The inanity of claiming that the scientists in question are “cleared” is int he following paragraph.
“But the report did dole out some criticism, saying that Jones clearly pushed others to delete e-mails that he thought might provide ammunition to skeptics, and that the University of East Anglia had been “unhelpful” in dealing with Freedom of Information Act requests — an issue Britain’s data-protection watchdog has also flagged.”
I will read the report in detail. Interesting that the mainstream press, bought and paid for by the left, with whom you swim, are popping off before the ink is dry on the report. But they did nothing to report the clear and unequivocal professional misconduct ay the University of East Anglia, where the data was INDEED CORRECT. They found that no increases in temp had taken place for over a decade and chose to be “unhelpful” in releasing said info. So I agree, Koot, that Sir Muir is right–the information that we are in a period of cooling and not warming is correct. Why don’t you ask then, why those matters weren’t reported?
I think we all know the answer to that. Thanks for coming by. And yes I have been a little busy: a friend’s Dad is dying and he’s having a tough time with it; my kids are all off school and we’re preparing to go away (but I’ll still be blogging, no worries!) and I’m chasing down yet more breaking news from Silly Hall.
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I read the results of Muir Russell’s very lukewarm judgement, and laughed out loud when he explained that the seemingly incriminating (“trick, hide”) e-mails were actually highly technical messages that us ordinary folks couldn’t understand. Russell said “researchers must do more to explain that science can be mired in uncertainty. ” And I thought they told me this science was settled!
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You are a wise man. And lest we forget Nuir was one of the true believers as a swivel servant. The whole thing is quite a joke. When the alarmists get a foul ball they call it a homer. When the TRUTH comes to light and looks like it’s going to end up in San Francisco Bay, they claim the bat was corked. The whole AGW lobby is loaded with liars and crooks.
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Enjoy your kids before they all grow up and summers aren’t that special anymore, and, I hope your friend finds some peace of mind.
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Thx Alan. Unfortunately, my pal’s Dad died last night. He was a real trooper. 91 and a solid guy who lived a good life.
As for the kids, yes, it’s a lot of fun during the summer. Even small, seemingly meaningless things like washing one of the trucks or weeding the garden become a team effort. I’m a very fortunate man. We get along quite well and have well-adjusted kids.
Thx for your kind thoughts.
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Alex,
We all know that Gord is done and the only real questions remaining is exactly when and more interestingly how will he go ? Not to mention you have no fewer than five current Lib’s all manoeuvring right now and rather openly. It is the worst kept secret that everyone pretends not to know about.
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Yes, they are doing a lot of pretending that’s for sure.
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Alex, why do you allow koot back on this site? It is an insult to the rest of us. You banned him once, so please keep him off. What he wrote to you is nothing more than a jealous man who has lots of time on his hands. His opinions are worthless and the same goes for his site.
Please Alex. Forget this fool and inform the rest of us please.
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I apologize for offending you but I though his “new” politeness of about a month ago would help. He is part of a miserable few in the Interior who couldn’t possible resonate with the public. If bother to read his stuff, it’s just loose rhetoric that bumps for the radical left. It’s not even well written, and often defamatory. He’s just a draft dodger with an axe to grind. When the meds wear-off, he’s at it again. But I assure you, it’s his last time here. Good advice. Thx.
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koot/coot said his health was pretty good, considering he’s on CPP. Do you think he meant PCP? ( Hee hee, couldn’t resist.)
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Makes you wonder. The man’s is simply a nut. What grown adult ridicules a guy about his weight. You think I’m happy to walk around with two broken down knees and a bad back? Getting in shape would be a lot easier if I had either of those. After three knee surgeries, believe me. Koot is a far left wing nut, not different from people who want to shoot abortion doctors on the far, far right. People like that do not belong here.
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I am wondering???? Did anyone catch the look on Campbell’s face in the photo, when the CSIS said they were watching BC? His face looked like he swallowed a turd. Could it be possible, the Harrison Hot Springs retreat, could be a decision time, about Campbell stepping down? In this instance, where, there is no smoke without a fire? It does seem, B.C. is being sold to, China and the USA. That’s just the the scary way I feel. I am just uneasy. I would feel better, if someone would say, I am totally wrong.
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You are totally wrong. Better?
B.C.’s real estate market was sold to China years ago. And our best performing assets are owned or significantly invested in by America. The former is the reason most kids cannot stay in Vancouver after getting a job and starting a family. The latter has its pros and cons…mostly pros.
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