Losers Merging, Meggs Surging, the Premier Purging…
(1) I want to take this opportunity to announce that the Grits and Dippers have decided that Stephen Harper deserves the ‘Freedom 65′ Plan. Oh, sorry, never heard of that? Well, let me help. The idiots in both federal parties have decided that merging is a good idea–so the PM can govern until he’s a pensioner!!!. The Grits and the Dippers together? This is typical of political losers. When faced with the heavy lifting of carrying your dog’s poop around, always opt for a smaller shopping bag according to these dimbells–although the weight and smell is the same. I had a look at the federal map last night, plus the results from last year. I factored in the new ridings and reduced the Tory vote by 10%.
Net result? They win a majority by four seats–WORST CASE scenario. Proving, again, that Stephen Harper may end up today’s Jean Chretien: Do what you like as long as your opposition is governed by idiots.
And don’t get me started on the Justin Trudeau bandwagoneering…if Marc Garneau loses in the next election (he is apparently hated by many of his colleagues) then ‘The Shiny Pony’ ends up being the only space cadet left in Parliament.
(2) Geoff Meggs was the best Chief of Staff any Mayor of Vancouver ever had. My friend Larry Campbell isn’t an easy sell–he’ll tell you this himself, although it requires an afternoon AND evening at the Princeton bar. Meggs is one of those extremely polarizing, highly-doctrinaire individuals that does much better behind the curtain than one stage. He’s miserable, caustic and vindictive. He’s also told incredible lies about the useless bike lanes and the destruction of the viaducts. The studies by Silly Hall are all stage managed by Penny Ballem and Meggs is the three ring conductor, while Mike Magee adjusts Mayor Moonbeam’s puppet strings. It’s an all together destructive mix, that’s going to finish off Vancouver, thanks to people like Suzanne Anton and Mike Klassen–both of whom are mostly responsible for the NPA’s DISMAL, ATROCIOUS campaign of last fall.
So now Meggs is running provincially. Of course he is. Meggs’ wife, excuse me, holistic life traveler, is the General Secretary of the BC NDP. She permitted the LATE delivery of THOUSANDS of illegal, largely Indo memberships in boxes, with CASH that was affixed to memberships afterwards (if I’m wrong, SUE ME, I dare you, I mean it, I dare you–SUE ME, go on…). Meggs, no dummy, may very well dispatch all-round nice guy, unioner George Heyman to the cheap seats in Fairview. Meggs is a guaranteed Cabinet Minister and will surely get something to do with municipal affairs, where he will facilitate the total destruction of Vancouver from afar, after the IDIOTS at NPA central help in that regard after their next AGM (more on that later).
If you’re an NDP reader of mine (there are thousands of you) please think about what you are doing. Meggs is a miserable, horrible public servant, who is one of the main architects of Vancouver’s continuing shame.
If you’re an NDP reader of mine and live in Vancouver Fairview, please vote for George Heyman. He’s a good guy and deserves your vote. Hopefully, he’ll win in a battle for climate theocracy’s local crown.
I was recently downtown on a beaming sunny day. Construction delays along Hornby had me sitting in the beast for half an hour from Pacific to Hastings.
Four cyclists in the Hornby bike lane. FOUR! So I asked one of the city workers what it’s like without the construction. Did he know?
“Yeah, I live in that building over there with my girlfriend. It’s been a nightmare since the bike lanes, eh. Just total bullshit. And a lotta these businesses are changing hands for cheap and others are shutting down cause of no business. The worst part about it is that the fucking lanes are always empty. Day and night. Sometimes we sit on the deck and watch. There’s hardly anybody riding ‘em.”
Well done, Geoff, you selfish bastard. If you had even a kernel of decency or principle, you’d resign your seat and campaign on your own time (and dime!)–and certainly not while you’re being paid by city taxpayers. Every time you appear anywhere, it’s no longer Clr. Meggs, but naturally, people will think, candidate Meggs.
But the citizens of Vancouver that voted for these jerks don’t care. They’re still sitting in the community gardens at Silly Hall smoking dope and enjoying themselves.
But on your dime and mine, too!!!
Thanks Vision Vancouver! And thanks to the NPA who ran the worst campaign ever, with a totally unqualified mayoral candidate–that showed some flashes of encouragement. Some!
(3) When Premier’s attack??? You really have to hand it to the Dummy. She’s got Vanilla Bull, Bob Plecas (like anyone ever cared what the hell he thought or what he thinks now) and Sean Leslie shilling for her. Apparently, all the rest of the media should be ashamed because they aren’t being nice to Dummy.
ARE YOU PEOPLE FOR REAL????????????????
It took countless opinion polls and over a year for the media to finally WAKE UP and do their goddamn job!!!!!! She’s had a complete free ride until now! Since when is the media being hard on Clark? How can anyone ask these questions with a straight face???
No, the media should be ashamed because it’s taken them this long to awaken to the reality: Christy Clark is unethical, unbelievable and unelectable. Even though the BC broadcasters crew, at their recent convention, invited none other than the Dummy herself (no conflict there) and in a room full of media, she lets loose and unleashes on several members of the media “who aren’t helping.” Can you imagine? She then singles out Global’s Jas Johal.
And not a single one of the cowardly bastards in the room got up to walk out in protest. They all sat there and clapped.
Clark is a complete fool–and totally without rescue. DEFEAT ANYONE THAT ASSISTS HER!!!
But those of you who are bright enough to read here, knew what a mindless twit Christy was and is–and from the get go, right? RIGHT?
Right, my darlings…right…
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I’m back tomorrow with the BC Rail/Basi-Virk piece. You’ll love it, I promise. It just needs a few adjustments.
Sorry about the rather slow pace this week. Am swamped with travel and personal matters.
Stay tuned.
Holistic Life Traveler – hilarious – She is a she, isn’t she? Not that it should/would matter!
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Not sure, and not about to check, thanks.
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I really cannot see a formal merger between the Liberals and the NDP. They are too different. What I can see are individual Liberals going over, and the Liberals imploding due to everyone leaving, but I cannot imagine a formal merger of the two. Liberals are too full of their mythology, and NDP are too ideological to put water into their wine and become more neo-liberal.
Dark days ahead for my beloved British Columbia. An incompetent neo-liberal government driving the Province into the ground, an incompetent Conservative Party full of bible-thumping retreads, and a socialist government-in-waiting that will finish off the Province into oblivion. I weep.
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Agreed. Well articulated.
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“And Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine,
‘I don’t care where the water goes if it doesn’t get into the wine’”
Of course – In vino veritas – so it wouldn’t apply to the NDP!
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Do would me favorite Irish toast:
Here’s to you and here’s to me
Friends forever we shall be
But should we ever disagree;
Fuck you and here’s to me
It could have been the NDP mantra in the 90s.
The BC Liberals, to their discredit, didn’t even bring the Vaseline.
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So. Rae is following his former UofT roomate Count Iggy to the padded oblivion of Leadership.
Is he the last nail in the coffin? Choosing him likely will kill any national credibility the Liberal Party could hope to offer.
Outside Toronto, who is he? The West sees nothing in him. Rural Ontario can’t stand him. But Toronto and Montreal’s Old Boy network? I expect they understand what he wants. And probably know what he’ll trade to get it.
Mulcair? If Rae is suspicious for being a former NDP premier, how credible is Mulcair for being a former Liberal? And the proposed ‘merger’ of the party with the worst vote count, with the party that slaughtered them? How do they propse to reconcile the diametrically opposed policies which separated them so completely that one caved and the other took over?
And the NDP somehow will dominate and outflank the typical Big Toronto Business Party? Never. Only in Ottawa could such infantile credulity and that degree of stupid fantasy flourish.
And Quebec. With former Mulroney Conservative, now Quebec Liberal Premier, Charest. Does Quebec think he’s no longer a Mulroney Tory? All those riots proved nothing about intransigence?
It’s smoke and mirrors back east. Like the proxy governments of 1950′s Eastern Europe: the “satellites.” Each taking orders from one source: Moscow.
What’s most disturbing – we’re busy building a one-party system in a one-party state masked by three pretended political “Platforms.”
It’s like Blair’s “Third Way.” It wasn’t an ‘alternative’ at all.
You see it daily. In our ‘Moscow on the Rideau’ newbee pawns shout their defiant intentions from the backbenches – up till the moment the party whip demands they SHUT UP.
The top players? Looks like they’ll go to where ever there is an opportunity to merge all agendas into one.. And that charade makes us?
Third World.
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Sorry if off topic, but there hasn’t been much bc rail lately.
This will be intentionally vague as to not make accusations at anyone specific.
There is a rumour going around. Maybe you have heard something.
I heard that when the “raid” occurred, some of the people involved pulled a “Conrad Black” and intentionally moved evidence in an effort to hide it from the investigation. The parties involved received a phone call from a very important person that tipped them off to hide the evidence. They couldn’t completely destroy the evidence until after the trial was over. The trial ended up going on forever. Their actions were not complete until not that long ago. This is certainly in the not too distant past. Apparently, it isn’t even that much of a secret. The way I heard it, people know about this, and witnessed it first hand. These people have no interest in lying for the parties involved. No one has asked them. If someone was a witness and could prove something like this, what do you think they should do? The way the whole thing went down, the highest authorities appear be involved. Where does someone go when there is seemingly nowhere to go. The parties involved are very powerful and their power reaches to very far places. The way these people operate, railroading someone’s career is simply the first option. Contemplating their other options would be quite daunting to someone wanting the truth to come out. People have gone missing for much less. Gut reaction says, tell them to go to the cops. However, their actions in this matter have been confusing considering who was leading the investigation. Maybe you could outline a plan for anyone wanting to come forward with what they know?
Keep up the good fight.
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Whoever told this story is promoting old wives’ tales.
There is ample evidence available to demonstrate what really happened.
They should lawyer up and go to the media.
Or better yet, come to me. Anyone with eye witness accts would have already spoken up.
More nonsense.
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It just gets worse. The CBC interview with Anna-Marie was a total waste of air time. It wasn’t even soft ball questions like Bull G. One can understand CKNW but CBC?? Fluff.
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OK for Reform and Cons to jump into bed together tho?
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What a moronic question.
I was critical of that, too.
Wake up, please.
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Alex, I am a Dipper and a proud one at that, BUT I know little or nothing about Meggs other than what I have heard in the Media and your blog. From what you have written and I don’t doubt it for a minute, I don’t think I would want him on my team or Government. Don’t know George either, other than being a common sense guy. Who save a lot of Union Jobs with the LCB. So it just goes to show that both parties are scraping the bottom of the Barrel. Cheers
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All the former advisors to Glen Clark coming out of the closet and hoping to run the province. Dix now Meggs.
I can affirm Meggs’ propensity for chicanery.
A former Communist Party member and now a recent graduate of the Tony Blair School of Neo Liberalism, Meggs, can taste power much like a Hannibal Lecter.
I believe Meggs is just another example of those interested in an ex-change of power rather than a real change of power.
He will not be a supporter of electoral reform nor open and transparent government. He will do his best to prevent any examination of contracts signed by Campbell and Co regarding BC Rail, BC Hydro. Building Trades union executives, developers and corporate CEO’s will be in Meggs’ corner in Fairview and in Victoria.
One has to wonder if Meggs has ever held a job that wasn’t financially supported by worker’s union dues or the public purse.
If Meggs’ had any integrity he would request an unpaid leave of absence as councilor during his campaign for a nomination in Fairview and resign his seat if he wins the nomination. But knowing Meggs he won’t. He is nurtured by the public teat.
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p lg, can you confirm the statement above “A former Communist Party member…”. Nothing I can find will back that accusation up.
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It’s completely true.
He was asked about it when he first ran. I was in the room. Meggs tossed it off as a youthful indiscretion.
Problem being, he’s not far off that kind of thinking now!!!
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Good commentaries, and the fact that Meggs had youthful indiscretions, does not mean he hasn’t still. The information definitely needs to be out there.
p Ig – Not sure that electoral reform is a good thing or not, you would have to define it – it sounds scary to me.
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“Losers Merging, Meggs Surging, the Premier Purging…’
I started to laugh and never read past the headline… funny funny and a great hed!
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Froth – He needs no urging, don’t be encouraging!
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Geoff Meggs was the best Chief of Staff any Mayor of Vancouver ever had. My friend Larry Campbell……..
When I read those few words, I thought ‘Alex likes Meggs AND Larry Campbell’. Then I read further and realized you also think they are both wasting good breathing air.
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He’s not doing the Princeton any favours either.
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I don’t think the NDP would do Princeton any favours.
Princeton y’see is where the Simikameen Mine is and everyone knows the NDP hates mining.
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Then why do they keep electing Harry Lali? (and Alex Atametenko)
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Harry has the mill-worker vote and indo vote, which both go hand-in-hand. Plus, he has a bunch of support in the First Nations communities in that riding.
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It would be too bad if George Heyman was Not the nominated candidate. He would be a much better fit. He actually is a nice guy and knows how to run a large organization. Most importantly he knows “when to hold them & when to fold them”.
It is people like Heyman, rather than Meggs, who would make for a successful, middle of the road, NDP government. I would be most disappointed if people like Heyman weren’t sitting as NDP MLA’S after the next election. The NDP is going to have to deliver a lot of bad news after they form government. People such as Heyman know that & will do the job. Meggs is going to be not such a good thing, out in public.
if the bike lanes are an example of the work Meggs would do, the NDP could well be a one term wonder. O.K. don’t get me going on the bike lanes. They are a waste of space & money. And I know bike lanes. You should see them in Holland but Vancouver is not Holland. Politicians just don’t get that. Bike lanes work in Europe because the countries have amazing public transportation system. The cars there have always been much smaller & people have a tradition of using public transport & bikes. They aren’t arrogant bike riders.
In the lower mainland the distances are just to big for bike lanes to work. They would be better off to work on people in Vancouver using the bus system & giving bike lanes to buses & taxis.
In B.C. it takes 9 hrs to drive from Vancouver to Prince George with not much in between. In Europe you can drive from Rotterdam to Paris in 8 hrs. You can take rapid transit from Rotterdam to the Amsterdam airport easily. There is also the issue of hills. Rotterdam doesn’t really have them. it makes biking easy. I lived in Kits & worked in downtown Vancouver. I would never take a bike. I’m too lazy but also who needs the hills. Jumping on a bus, that is easy. People who live in the south east corner of Vancouver certainly aren’t going to be biking up & down the Boundry Rd. hills & unless bikes are more or less a mjaor conponent of the transport system they aren’t going to work.
The current bike lane thing is just another version of the Granville St. mall we endured through the 80s, 90′s, etc.
People who work in Vancouver come from other areas of the lower mainland & the distances are more than people would bike. Biking from Richmond to downtown Vancouver isn’t a reality so we will always need buses & cars. It is too bad Vancouver council decided to keep the bike lanes. They are truly a waste of space & money.
C.C. is upset because some media weren’t helping??????? Only in countries such as China, Russia, Syria, south & central american countries,etc. are the press expected to “help the government”. We can tell CC didn’t finish school. She obviously missed the history section about society working towards a free press.
That’s enough from me. Looking forward to your next column.
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Heyman is fair and reasonable.
Meggs is a horse’s ass.
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Biking from Richmond to downtown is real. It happens all the time. I live on Ontario Street and I know the bike traffic has nothing to do with our neighbourhood. If it did I’d find the cyclists using our front yards on Ontario Street as their BMX track and ask them to stop it but it’s no one local so it must be bike commuters.
I used to bike commute from the Oakridge area to Burnaby so it’s not like I’ve never used a bike but I can certainly say that I’ve never ridden across anyone’s front yard for any reason.
But, that’s the belief in this town now. Any surface that they can get their skinny little tires on belongs to them and to h*ll with everyone else. The police will not respond to calls to enforce laws that would restrict cyclists actions and the police community offices and the city traffic planners both have stated to me that things like speed limits on the bike routes and were never intended to apply to bicycles.
Now there’s a plan to turn the walking path around Langara Golf course into a shared bike and pedestrian path. This is going past an assault on the cars and roads. The cyclists are now trying to take over the few places that the pedestrians can enjoy.
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I’ve been in the media in BC for 40-plus years, including a stint at the Ledge. I’ve watched some media suck up to Wacky, Gaglardi, Barrett, Bennett Jr, Zalm, Glen Clark, bureaucrats, business and union leaders.
But I’ve never witnessed anything like what is occurring now. It is a disgrace. What do they think will happen if they ask a tough question? They won’t get that future interview? They’ll get cut off? So what, that action speaks volumes. Do your job or get out. The people deserve better.
They “sat and clapped”?! You so-called reporters/journalists make me vomit. Especially the ones riding the coattails of a government paycheque.
Media talk about the political “pigs at the trough”. Well take a look in the mirror and say “OINK”. You know who you are.
Oh, and hopefully Alex, Dix manages, somehow, to rid himself of Meggs.
Otherwise just another lovely day on the water admiring pictures of Queen Hybris.
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NOTE TO READERS: SUPERB COMMENT–ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED READING.
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simple answer… let the liberals refuse interviews.
then just go talk to the people who will talk. all the people who want them out of office.
CC would soon be forced to answer questions….. hey is that not pretty much what is going on now…. new scandal,CC ignores for 2 days, then some excuse?
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Slightly off topic but…
Has anybody else noticed since the Richard Branson comments (&AGT’s)
That Christy Clark has de-whored her image,just a co-inkydink I guess,Not.
I wonder if she will be showing up at Nokia’s Burnaby facility with a golden shovel … Something tells me not.
Can’t wait for your article on the total destruction on CKNW980.They get rid of all the real talent worth listening to about 6 years ago,then give the keys to that drunken nepotist Bill Good who is about to get “retired”. Now they are forcing out (inside info) Dan Russell to be replaced by noted plageriser and serial liver abuser David Pratt,unreal,can’t wait for a real news/talk radio station to arrive.
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The Prom Queen de-whored it somewhat?
I hadn’t noticed
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Meggs is evil. I waas speaking at City Hall a few months back and after my presentation Meggs says. You live at —- right. His way of intimidation because I was against what he was selling.
Fairview NDP’ers don’t select this idiot, you and your party will regret it.
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He is a bastard and a half.
Very nasty man. Not a good person at all.
His shameful lies on the bike lanes and his incompetence with respect to the Olympic Village.
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I KNEW there was a reason I didn’t like Meggs! Just the mention of his name raises my hackles.
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Thats part of the problem with the NDP. Some of the people might be stand up guys and gals but they tolerate the wackos like Meggs too much who then take control of the mayhem if they are ever elected.
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Precisely.
Think Mable Elmore, who hates Jews and still gets elected an supported by her NDP peers.
For shame.
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Excuuuse me?? Mable Elmore hates Jews? I know you speak the truth but where the h-e double hockey sticks did that come from?
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I wrote a column about it which Tieleman took great exception to–because he endorsed her.
This is back in 2008, I believe. It was her first run. And her anti-war BULLSHIT was uncontainable.
And just like that pig–literally and figuratively, Libby Davies, Elmore threw the Jews in for good measure.
Just disgusting.
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“Very nasty man. Not a good person at all. ”
Buuuut, isn’t that what makes a good politician in BC-Canada nowadays. Type A personality, can lie till the cows come home with nary a quiver and go home (or the Princeton) to hatch up new plans to aggrandize themselves the next day at the expense of all who float within their perimeter, much like the Praying Mantis.
For all the do-good politicians there are at least 10 who ascribe to the aforementioned description.
We have to make to make politicians accountable or this will never change.
How can it be done???? And it must be done, blood sweat and tears.
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Sadly, you’re right. So few good people take up the mantle of goodness in public life.
It’s truly sad.
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Methinks some of them get carried away with “fame” and “power”.
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Ron R … we need an independent, free press staffed by intelligent, educated journalists who actually know something beyond the mechanics and the process of journalism. Hell, they don’t even know that much. Journalism schools are useless.
Hire people who can write and who have actual knowledge and then train them in the business. Most journalists now are graduates of radio and television programs who can’t even spell “politics, economics and public administration” let alone understand them.
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great column alex.
i truly weep for the people ofcanada, bc ,citizens of vancouver.
i never ever thought i would see politics on all levels reduced to a mexican donkey show.
dix is going to have to behave like a leader and remember as premier he has to represent all of the people not just the ones that voted for his party.
i am scared that they will take the poverty industry province wide.
at all levels our country politically is in a mess.
they say you get the goverment you deserve,
we do not deserve this
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“at all levels our country politically is in a mess”
All hail the right wing governments.
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Alex,
Thanks for the heads up on Meggs.
How about the Cons ramming through more legislation. Chrusty or as my friends say Cabbage Patch Kid, nice pumpkin face – has learned from the worst.
The real joke is Harper trying to kill the sovereignty of European countries. Canada will soon be as hated as the Germans in Europe. Can you say “New World Order!”
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“The real joke is Harper trying to kill the sovereignty of European countries. ”
Whaa…???
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Yeah, I know…
Totally nuts, but I can’t reply to every single nutty thing someone writes.
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I just don’t understand how “fast ferries” is still a thing. Both the BC Place roof AND the Vancouver Convention Center were bigger boondoggles than the fast ferries, and ended up costing the province far more. If you want to stick to the ferries, the Coastal Renaissance ferries have had plenty of their own problems and rarely sail – not to mention the millions they had to spend altering the terminals to protect them from the effects of the vessels’ propellers.
Quantitatively the province did quite well under the BCNDP in the 90′s – where did this myth that everything was horrible come from? The liberals managed a massive growth phase from 2000-2008 but still couldn’t post a balanced budget. Guess all the money was being funneled into private coffers as fast as it could be spent.
I think the bottom line is that they should forbid putting political party affiliations onto the voting ballots. Parties are one thing that is wrong with politics – it undermines the concept of a house of representatives that are supposed to debate issues.
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The province was ill-served by the NDP.
Just not as badly as under the BC Liberals.
Simply put, the numbers weren’t as bad. They badly starved businesses and taxed them to death in order to win a surplus.
They went too far one way and now the BC Libs way over on the other.
We need a balance.
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What a concept!
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Would that be nice, “Balance” WOW !!!
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agreed alex
the ndp just may kiss us more before we get screwed but we will still get screwed .
instead of right wing business having the goverment ear it will be left wing poverty pimps
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If you want to give your money to the rich, vote for someone on the right. If you want to give your money to the poor, vote for someone on the left. But rest assured, you’ll be giving your money to somebody.
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Balance is one of my favourite words.
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Me too! Hey, I was thinking about you the other day. I bought three pair of Boulets last week! Very comfortable. One in burgundy alligator. One black calf and one in tan. Very, very comfortable indeed–more so than my Lamas. Hornback alligator (which I loved!) was only in a size nine and I’m a ten, otherwise I would have made it four.
Take care, brother.
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Ah! Great to hear you like those Canadian made boots…..always stiriving to find a way to stay on topic…I menitioned later in this thread about how the many people with integrity are in the current NDP that don’t fit the socialist horde moniker….indeed there are several in other parties too…….brings up a point that you could stop by and visit Joe Trasolini (another good guy)….Boothill Junction in his fine city of Port Moody is a great place to shop. The proprieter had spent many years at Dayton in East Van right where I grew up .
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I won’t trade my Daytons for anything.
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The City of Vancouver should just spend $2 million a year giving away bikes to random citizens rather than subsidizing this bike rental program that’s bound to fail/cost a lot more than expected.
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vancouver has a ton of bike rental shops.
why is vancouver about to drive those business under?
i like the idea/premise of bike share program….. but not when we allready have so many private business’ fufilling that role.
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Well guess what else? How many of those subsidized bikes will end up in the Downtown Eastside? Quite a few.
How many end up in the shady pawn shop or in some drug guy’s garage? A few.
Might as well give away $200 bikes to everyone on the DTES that wants one.
Heck I’d take one of those bikes for free to get around. Would be good on Sundays to tool around Stanley Park and other places on a sunny day.
Also guess how many “new” metal bike parts wil end up at “Ron’s Recycling” scrap yard near Powell and Jackson?
Quite a few.
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people steal wheel chairs from hospitals…. so therefore we should close all the hospitals seymore?
people vandalize schools… quick, close all the schools and sell them!
there are legitimate reasons to oppose a bike share program, the fact that there are thieves and other problems in our society is not one of them.
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I disagree. You’re handing tax dollars to dope fiends and dime baggers.
Why not just hand them the cash instead and be done with it?
Ridiculous.
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The city already tried the “free bike” program.
Doesnt anyone remember the “yellow bikes” that were available to everyone to ride about 10 years ago.
The bikes were spray painted yellow. The wheels, spokes,frames, handle bars, seats, ….all yellow. The lasted about 3 months and POOF! All of them stolen , cannibalized, gone……
Cant wait to see how long those shiney new bikes last.
The City of Van is run by incompetant idiots that dont give a shit about the voters
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http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/27/bixi-bike-share
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I’m hoping one day a fair minded man like yourself will pen a column will be holding Harper’s feet to the fire. He’s doing a lot of stupid things.
(I’ll sit back and wait for my bashing)
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Huh?
My column ripping them for the cancellation I the Coast Guard station was lost on you?
My specifics about what a disaster the Enbridge pipeline would be wasn’t specific enough?
My piece on the Prime Minister’s idiotic photo op gift at the Dummy’s son’s hockey game wasn’t good enough either?
Perhaps you’d like me to just turn over the editorial licence of this blog to you and everyone else who want to see me bash someone you don’t like?
That ain’t gonna happen. Too much to cover and Ottawa isn’t our biggest problem. Far from it.
I pick my targets very carefully. At the moment, there is no bigger problem than Christy Clark.
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Some people have selective reading skills, AGT. *sigh*
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You see , I knew I would get a thrashing for my post, but let me tell you why I feel disgust with the Conservatives:
First and foremost, the piece of shit Vic Teows. The use of terms when defending his idiotic online surveillance bill, saying that you side with the legislation or side with child pornographers. I speak with a lot of knowledge about that as I was repeatedly sexually abused when I was a child. Every goddamned day I deal with the fallout. In my younger years I went through the cycle that most who have suffered from this do. Drug and alcohol abuse, unable to hold a job, no sense of self confidence. That was all ripped away from me when I should have been a normal kid growing up. That no balled turd used molested children for cheap political gain. Yet that lump of trash is still warming a seat on the front bench. How would expect I’d feel towards the Conservatives when that gets blown up in my face and many more who suffered as badly or worse than I did?
There’s a lot more , but that makes my mouth fill with bile. And that’s about all I can type right now or my emotions will get the best of me and what I type won’t be , well, forget about it.
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You didn’t get a thrashing.
But I do admire the strength of your courage.
I’m sorry, there was no way to know your background or history. However, may I help? I have two friends who went through the identical problem. Let me help you.
They’re both now living productive lives and have put the matter behind them.
agtsakumis@gmail.com
No pressure.
Be well.
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I’m sorry, but I don’t quite get the idea that the Conservatives are guilty for what you claim happened to you? Nor do I, personally think this is the place to seek solace; we’re not psychologists or clergy. That said, I hope Alex can be of help.
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Larry, back off.
Leave the guy alone.
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Doesn’t that bible you constantly wave around teach you about COMPASSION , Larry???.
That Larry, is why people that constantly quote scripture and go on about the morals of the day , but don’t put it into practice in their own behavior , are called HYPOCRITES .
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He’s quite compassionate, actually.
But sometimes, Sir Lawrence acts like an ass.
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Alex, you are making some wild assumptions here. Fact is that I am quite rational to go along with my religiosity. I am not a Bible thumper; if anything, we are accused of being non-scrilptural. Neither am I the kind of person who runs to Wikipedia for my Gospel, and, I don’t believe everything people say on the internet, in fact, I tend to consider most of it to be highly suspeicous. There is nothing more suspect than statements found on the internet. For all you know, I might be Larietta who lives in Richmond. I suppose I might be a patient at Colony Farm, or an inmate at Mountain Prison. What do you know about my compassion, or lack thereof. Nada!
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WAC, Barrett, Bill Jr, Zalm, Johnson, Harcourt, Clark, Dosanjh, Campbell and Clark 2. Have I missed anyone? Some good. Some bad. Some resigned in disgrace. Some wrong place wrong time. And now The Dummy.
I will personally remember Andrew Petters “partner” Maureen Maloney who whilst never holding a non-publically paid for job, took a well paying job in her “partners” ministry and proceeded to outline how BC taxpayers could be taxed a further 4 billion dollars! Ouch Andrew enacted 2 billion of them. At the time I was in the car business and found the cancellation of the trade in tax credit particularly galling. If Dix rolls the same way he will join the list of NDP one timers.
I seem to recall this legislature justifying their raises with” if you want the best the public must be prepared to pay for the best.” WTF happened!
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Sorry, Alex, I know I am going to go way off topic with this comment. Please indulge me.
I could not help but respond to this comment: “At the time I was in the car business and found the cancellation of the trade in tax credit particularly galling.”
What I find even more galling is that the government continues to tax used vehicles, even ones that are being sold for the third, fourth or fifth time. That’s BS. And this is all because of the wonderful trade-in tax credit you are referring to that I’m sure the car dealers lobbied their friends in government to establish.
Why are new vehicles treated differently than any other new item the government collects a tax on at time of sale? Why not have whoever is buying it new pay the full tax (so government ensures they get their full cut) and then forgo collecting any further taxes whenever the vehicle is subsequently sold (whether by a dealer of privately)? That would be a lot more fair and consistent with how other new items are taxed, wouldn’t it? Instead, eveyone who subsequently buys that vehicle (arguably most people’s second biggest purchase after their home) essentially subsidizes the tax credit the original purchaser received when the vehicle was new and the government laughs all the way to the bank as the collect more tax every time that vehicle is resold.
Yeah, yeah, I know it’s a cash cow that the government will never give up (in fact, they made it richer by deciding to maintain the 12% tax rate rather than the 7% pre-HST regime). Argh.
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Ahhh, the car industry.
Back in the PST/GST days, you bought a car from a private party, you only paid GST. You bought from a dealer, you got nailed for both taxes.
Why we have to pay taxes on a used car is beyond me…. and has been an endless source of frustration in the automotive industry.
The ONLY thing I enjoy about the HST in this business is I don’t have any idiots ordering parts screaming “NO TAX!!!!!” and then they can’t pony up a tax number. Becauseit was supposed to be the repair shops and body shops that didn’t pay PST, they collected it on their end.
*sigh* REally not looking forward to that aspect of the PST/GST returning.
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A search of the Elections BC website for political contributions to the BC Liberals for the last couple of years from the New Car Dealers Association shows a total of over $750,000. Most major individual dealerships and their owners also contribute heavily. Not much doubt about why we pay taxes on used cars.
On a related note, I see the head of the Liquor Distribution Branch suddenly resigned and just happens to be going to head up the Motor Vehicle Sales Authority of BC. Contrary to popular belief, it appears some coincidences are planned.
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Yeah, I know. I’m aware mostof the dealers within the New Car Dealers Association have contributed to the Liberals.
If I was able to get out of the industry without losing everything I’ve worked for, trust me, I’d do it.
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Correction – for private sales of vehicles before the HST, only the PST was paid. GST has never applied to the private sale of vehicles. Dealers had to charge GST because they had GST Registration #s from Revenue Canada.
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That’s right. We always paid PST on used cars. The BC Liberals added 5% to the PST at or around the time the HST went into effect. So when the HST is dumped, don’t expect the tax on used cars to go back to the PST rate. It will stay at 12% to “level the playing field” in Colin Hansen’s words.
And anybody who thinks that has nothing to do with the New Car Dealer’s Association and their political contributions to the BC Liberals is naive in the extreme.
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I agree with everything written about car dealer contributions, the fact that there should be no tax on any used product. When first in the business I collected 6% tax on a $6000 unit that we made $2000 profit on. When I got out we were collecting 14% on a $20000 unit that we made $800 profit on. Business today are glorified tax collectors. At least the Sherrif of Nottingham could help himself to some of King Johns gold.
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Yes, It appears Dix will have to walk a fine line, with some of the people signing on or wanting to sign on, to the NDP, for the next election. Intrestingly enough , he and his party are playing their cards close to the chest. Not much info from them, on what they will do, if and when they take power.
As for Christy and “her” party…well the old “gong show”, had it right…gang gong them, and get rid of the lot.
While I am not a fan of either socialists or neo-liberal types, a balance has to be struck. We know what both ideologies are capable of, here in BC, and neither option is acceptable to the majority of the people in the province. Choosing the best of a bad situation, is not a third option either.
One would think that individual candidates or independents would be the way to go, but with the current party discilpine structure, that option may also be, without any merit. What’s a voter to do?
Forget party mergers…this election will be one on one, with the BC Liberals ceasing to exist, the Conservatives maybe making some inroads, and the NDP probably taking over, the “scorched earth mess” from the Liberals.
Sad days for the province, indeed.
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Complete agreement.
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Geoff Meggs puppet strings are being pulled from afar. An avowed McPhailite, Meggs is going to make sure of one thing; that the regional taxpayer will fund a $4.5 billion SkyTrain subway (an oxymoron), under Broadway to UBC.
The same dark shadows that ooze in the dark, which compelled McPhail to do a flip-flop from light rail to SkyTrain on the old Broadway-Lougheed transit projects are now advising Meggs.
There is big money in this and familiar faces are slinking in the background giving advice.
Oh refresh my memory, what was the real story behind the $1 million in cash (later claimed by the VPD officer who found it) found in a Garbage can in Clinton Park in the 90′s?
If Dix is smart, he will make sure Meggs will be deep-sixed, if not, it will be Dix paying the price.
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The media in this town are an absolute disgrace. A bunch of shockingly incompetent, uneducated partisan fools.
The few good ones who do their job well are shunned by the insecure halfwits in an attempt to make them conform to the mediocre standards of their useless brethren. “You’re making us look bad by doing a good job Jas!”…whine whine whine..
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Precisely.
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I think the antartic ice shield will melt before the NDP and LIbERalS merge. I am a strong NDPer and I will never support a merger of that sort. As for Meggs, don’t know him, haven’t paid attention. Surely he can’t be as destructive as Coleman or De Jong. If he does win the nomination (which I doubt he will) Dix will keep him on a short leash I’m sure.
Looking forward to more BC Rail shenanigans!
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from the west coast a merger may look far fetched.
but there is a stage being set for a primarily western party (the cons) vs a primarily eastern party (the merged ndp/libs)
or at least to me that seems to be where the ndp and libs want to go. if it happens it will be terrible for Canada as a whole.
imagine the same situation federally as we have provincially where there is really only 2 main partys….. and federally one of those parties primary power base would be in quebec.
im not saying this is going to happen, i just see it as a potential problem.
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I should have wrote Alex, “Dix is a leader that will keep him on a short leash…”
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After seeing the way Meggs operates it might be the other way around. Whether the NDPers reading this blog like to hear it or not Dix is not that strong of a leader and if Meggs has “pictures” … case closed.
Remember Dix was polling below Clark before she won the nomination. He just profited from keeping his mouth shut while she introduced her brand of being a weak leader sprinkled in with ineptness and guys like Falcon and Coleman scorching the earth for her.
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Heard Bob ray on CBC today saying Thomas Mulcair wants nothing to do with it. As far as Steven staying on till 65 forget it. Since he won last year he has shown some of his true colors and canadians do not like what they see. He will be a one term PM. He will be shown to be as phoney as Campbell. People are getting sick of the lying and cheating of the Cons. If he would have campained on all the crap he is doing in C-38 he would not be PM.
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Of course Mulcair doesn’t want it.
Because he’s intelligent. He knows if a merger happens, Harper is PM for as long as he likes.
And you, and others, can whine about it all you want.
As long as the Dippers are Opposition and the Grits are in total disarray, Harper wins reelection in a walk.
Just watch.
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My Question:
Why didn’t the NDP look for another riding for George Heyman to run in (the party made it obvious that they wanted Geoff to run in Fairview since they refused to name a nomination date when George stated his intention to do so)?
Is this about two unionists going up against each other? Heyman is widely applauded as the best union negotiator in the province. He presents as reasonable, which might attract undecideds.
Why would his own party treat him like dirt in the matter of this nomination? There’s something else going on here.
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You know, I’ve been thinking about this.
I totally agree with you. They knew Meggs was coming. I heard about him, Connie and Raymond possibly going somewhere on the eastside.
They knew long ago and hung George out to dry. He’s a super good man that deserves better.
And let me tell you: Heyman would make a very good MLA.
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I have met and spoken with George Heyman at a couple of lake draining IPP public meetings ….he struck me as a good man that is capable of working with several others I can think of in the current NDP. The ones that project a balanced commonsense approach. The ones with integrity. The ones that don’t fit the “socialist hordes at the gate” moniker. I grew up in Vancouver but since moving a little bit away I don’t have an opinion on Meggs…I do know I don’t like how his significant other handled the leadership ballot issue.
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She essentially helped Adrian cheat to win. he was so far ahead based on the Indo vote, that Horgan and Farnworth combined couldn’t have beat him.
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Just to remind readers how incestuous is the NDP, Meggs wife jan O’Brien PRINCIPAL SECREATARY of the provinicial NDP (gee, maybe that helps with Geoff’s nom chances in fairview?), is Chair of the VanCity board (and re-ran as an incumbent for another 3 yr term). A board that recently “recommended’ a slate of candidates over all others running.
Furthermore, those “recommended” candidates were HIGHLIGHTED on the ballot!!!!
Helps to have friends in high places, eh?
Read this, and weep: http://www.straight.com/article-657446/vancouver/vancity-elections-criticized
Oh, one of those other board members is Courier columnist and Vision flagwaver, Allen “the Bee Keeper” Garr. So cozy!
Would LOVE to know how many times he has supped “Chez Meggs”
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Every since Allen went to the Board I lost respect for his journalism. He’s destroyed an otherwise strong career. Absolutely pathetic.
The Courier only shames itself by keeping him.
VanCity is an NDP outpost. For shame.
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…that has seen record profits…but we all know those NDP types can’t manage money, right
…and I think Tamara Vrooman might take exception to your comment.
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None of their success has anything to do with being NDP.
If anything, they’re hypocrites. They’re more hawkish than most other banks and they are brilliant in customer service with small things like calling and saying thanks, etc.
That’s called reasonable capitalism.
I actually quite like Tamara Vrooman. She’s one of my favorite hypocrites.
I don’t begrudge anyone turning a buck. Just don’t preach Marx when you’re talkin’ money.
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“None of their success has anything to do with being NDP.”
I know…but neither does their nepotism. That, sadly, is just human nature.
Tamara is rock solid, and Vancity is a model organization.
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Right, for all the reasons they fight politically…
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Vancity is by far a model organization. Tamara Vrooman is nothing more than a big biz puppet…at least as far as the dealings I have had with them. When I was a member, I was refused to speak at the shareholders meeting becasue I was to criticize their investment division about their obfuscation in returning funds to me (3 months!!) after I wanted to pull out just before the 2008 crash.
I lost 30% of my investment and contacted Tamara Vrooman and she did sweet F.A. except give a form email.
All the overseers of the investment industry blew me off also.
Vancity grew too big and is now just the same as a big bank.
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Tamara Vrooman used to be in Gordon Campbell’s entourage as B.C.’s deputy minister of finance from 2004 to mid-2007. So now you know how she regards her minions being taught by the devil himself.
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That ain’t new. VanCity was always an NDP outpost. Heck Franca Zumpano perpetually ran in Burnaby for the NDP minor league team.
Youll find many VanCity Board members past and present that are
NDP types.
VanCity was started by that Socialist Stalwrt Bob Williams the perfect example of a Cadillac Socialist.
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…and just to remind you that social progressives can get pissed at the inner sanctum workings of their “progressive leaders” a look at that VanCity election, from a losing candidate’s perspective.
(You will see the results there, as well. All I can say is; thank god some VanCity members don’t swallow everything they are spoon fed by the BOD!).
http://gilyaron.ca/vancity-board-election-results-undemocratic/
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About the bike lanes: I love them and I’m sure they’ll get used more and more. In the long run this is very good for the health of our city. Get off your duff and try ‘em out, Alex! It would do you some good.
http://www.gogreentogether.ca/files/BikeToWorkCaseStudy.pdf
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Go pack sand.
I cycle every week at least theee times per week and don’t need some sanctimonious asshole taking a shot at me from behind a contrived name about te single greatest fraud in Vancouver’s history.
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I’ve never SEEN anyone in the cycling lanes, even stuck in traffic. Complete waste of taxpayers’ dollars IMHO.
BTW, I don’t cycle anymore, not after getting hit by a car and ending up in a tree.
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Cycling three times a week….. and I’m willing to seriously bet that you’re one of the responsible cyclists who actually do obey the rules of the road. Good on ya!
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Yup.
And never a need to use a bike lane. It’s a total ruse. Complete bullshit.
Green hooey. Oh yeah, that’s redundant.
And by the way: Why are most greenies fat?
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i use the bike lanes every time i go to vancouver.
there great… thats not to say i think they are a good idea, i just enjoy riding in some safety without pissing people off by being on the sidewalk.
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Not only that, you see what they wear at protest rallies. Not all natural fibres, the signs maybe green, but the messages are written with a felt pen which uses petroleum distillate based by products for the ink.
When you use a felt pen, smell it.
Shoes? Most are not the sandals variety, but I’ve seen trendy runners from Addias, Nike, etc. that weren’t bought from Wal Mart but from specialty shops or at least The Bay
Take a look at the tents. Rip stop nylon. Some may be cloth canvass but those while great in Penticton in summer, wouldn’t last long on Pender Street in November.
Their cars? Certainly not a ’65 Volkswagen split window bus. Probably gets fuel economy worst than a 68 Lincoln Continental ever did on it’s best day on the road.
Oh look what one of them has there. A cellphone. Made in China for a Korean company or made in Malaysia for Apple. All plastic and silcone.
heck, I’ll bet their underwear isn’t even Canadian (Stanfield’s).
That is assuming they have underwear on and not goin’ cammo.
and by the way. Alex, about Hedy Fry who shows up at anything where there is a camera? Want to see her advertising
something Vancouver?
How about seeing her when she has tight Lululemon pants on.
I’ll envision slate grey for that overall visual look.
and.. her goin’ cammo.
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Okay, you and I need to have a chat…
(1) Yesterday, you hit us with Hedy in leather pants. I was in the middle of lunch and just about lost a perfectly acceptable vegetarian chili and egg salad on light rye.
(2) Today, you hit us with Hedy in Lululemon pants. I just finished six egg whites and a protein shake. But I feel like I want to hurl again.
Two questions:
(1) Why are you torturing me with thoroughly sick images?
(2) Do you have a camera around here? Cause every time I’m about to settle into something, you hit me with the Sausage Queen visions and I’m hurting so hard from laughing that I might as well blow groceries…
Geezus man, have a heart….I’m at lunch with my son later. Please be kind, there will be a child involved.
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Thanks for the vision of Hedy in leather pants and Lululemon.
I was *trying* to eat a protein bar here!
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The next provincial election does rapidly approach.
How encouraging.
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Not rapidly enough in my humble opinion.
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I just got notice of a B.C. Conservative get-together (to raise $) at the Olympia Restaurant in Surrey. Come clean now Alex, any financial affiliations? Not that there is anything wrong with that!
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I find it offensive that you would even ask that.
If there is a run on Haggis at the butcher, should I suggest you got there before the rest?
I’m a writer, NOT a restaurateur.
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I am a security person, not a writer, nor do I eat haggis, that is for the Black and Tans, and others who did the Englishman’s bidding! Talk about offensive!!!! Oatmeal Savages!
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You need a drink and a good lay.
Clearly.
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I’m not a Scot, but haggis is delicious. First had it deep fried in Glasgow and have liked it ever since.
Best with decent single malt.
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Clearly, it is what you need, it is constantly on your mind.
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It’s always in my mind because I love it!
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Haggis? Or a drink and a good l…. eh, you know what I mean.
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Agree. Larry needs a drink (preferrably that gawdawful warm English Beer). He needs something else but this is a family oriented blog.
Why on earth would he assume any connection to the Olympic Restaurant in Surrey? Surely he can do better than that in his research.
or is it that all those mushy peas and badly made roast beef has gotten to him?
English cooking is notorious for being the worst on the planet.
Well except very well done medium rare and juicy piping hot roast beef, gravy and Yorskhire Pudding.
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You can say ‘blowjob’ here.
Why not? It’s a blog. Not a formal column or a program.
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Blowjob.
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The single greatest word in the English language.
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And, well, also almost in most languages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_tooth_sharpening
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Th picture of the Congolese Pygmy had tea burning through my nose. LOL!
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Uh Seymour, I just dissed the English a few pages back and now you want to try to insult me by knocking the English? I am half English, and not likely to apologize for it either.
The comment about the restaurant in Surrey was done in jest, and AGT makes mock insult of it! He’s just feigning hurt, and looking for an excuse for an argument. As for his gang of suckholes that trot along behind him, they can blow me! “Post coitum omne animal triste”, should keep them busy for a couple of seconds, at least. Alex statement about “blowjob” and its importance in the language of Shakespeare, goes to show that he has some way to go before claiming supremacy as a writer, and Will could be as raunchy as any, but without the crudities.
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What? You want my readers to blow you?
Um, I’m guessing they want a meal, not a snack…
A few seconds? Seriously? Geezus…no wonder you’re miserable sometimes.
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Larry needs a piece, doesn’t he?
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You’d better make clear you’re just asking a question and not making an offer.
Otherwise, he may need to take up motorboatin’. LMAO!!!
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On the subject of lays.
Lays, themselves, only come (snicker) in degrees of good. It’s only the post lay that can sour the whole experience. That’s why the finely tuned male body uses the chemicals oxytocin, prolactin, gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) and other hormones … to get to sleep fast.
I have to assume if the pre stuff was bad, angry sex (and sleep) made up for it.
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ROTFLMFAO!!!!!!
Too true!
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I have heard from many male friends that like pizza, there is never a bad lay.
However, I’ve eaten bad pizza sooo…. yeah
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Twenty bucks says he would find something to bitch about the lay
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Forty days he demands to see the expiry date on the condom box.
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Forty two days later he did see the expiry date on the condom box, and
makes two stops.
One to a church to make arrangements. That is after a half hour in the confessional and another 10 minutes to calm the Father down who listened to his confessional.
The next one to the travel agent for arrangements for the honeymoon.
He has yet to figure out from his bank account whether it it will be Tahiti or Toronto
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You guys are just bein’ mean to poor old Larry………
perhaps this is a secret Liberal plot to ‘divide and conquer” us??????
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AGT protested: “I’m a writer, NOT a restaurateur. ”
But there is at least one real cause for some confusion on that point: I had to do a double take when I recently read that there is an Alex B. Tsakumis, “a local real estate mogul” involved with the new Quattro restaurant on W. Broadway (in the former Lumiere location). B and G even sound alike, and given your Greek heritage and former family business, perhaps it is understandable. Not that I care to cut L.B. much slack…or have anything against booze or blowjobs.
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That’s my younger cousin. There are SIX Alex Tsakumises. His father, Bill, is one of my father’s brothers. They were partners until my father bought him out many years ago.
Um, Alex is a real estate mogul? Really?
He is part owner in Quattro Q4 restaurants and he and his family have done SOME development work. I’m not. And that’s as far as I’m willing to go on such a useless sidebar.
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Sorry, I added the “mogul” bit when I quoted from memory. The article I saw actually described him as a “noted real estate developer and entrepreneur” which implies similar meaning, I guess.
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That’s funny. He’s 35 years old.
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I assume it wlll be on an all you can eat pasta Tuesday to keep the costs down.
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There’s an idea. Need to go to Anton’s for a mountain of pasta, or some better place that’s located on The Drive.
Gotta love pasta.
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Poor Italian.
First and Rendrew. Número uno in the city for pasta.
Otherwise, Nick’s is always good. Anton’s isn’t really that great.
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I’ve wanted to go to The Poor Italian ever since it opened but for some reason my wife thinks going out for italain is a waste of time since she can make pasta at home. I try to tell her its just not the same but she’s not listening. May have to go by myself.
Rob
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It’s the best Italian restaurant in BC right now. Nothing even comes close.
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I’ve driven by it plenty of times and always wanted to pop in….. but never had the time.
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Not rapidly enough. Maybe Alex can grease the rails a bit and hasten the demise of the dummy on the tracks. Please asap.
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Let’s see.
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Please Alex, put the final nail in this coffin. We can’t take anymore.
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I have to admit I’m addicted to the anticipation… because I realize that at the other end, the parties that are involved in this dirty mess are not sleeping well..
For those of us that know Alex, we realize that he is a man of his word… Christy and company know it as well.
Christy hears a clock ticking in a silent house at 3:00 am when one’s conscience doesn’t allow sleep to come..
It can drive one mad.. tick tock tick tock..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Vn5kCasUo
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Mind blowing ! The BC media are as much a joke as Dummy is. Aren’t these guys unionized for the majority of them ? Where is the solidarity just as a profession ? I hope Jas Johal and the others she singled out go town on this bitch like never before. What total a disgrace as a provincial leader to be invited as a keynote speaker and then spew out that self serving garbage !
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Hi Alex,
This case has carried on for 8 years and cost us $230,000. Why was the 7 year Basi Virk trial so much more (over 6 mill)?
“Hopefully, the government will stop spending our money on this, and the court’s resources and all the rest, and just hand it over. What would be even better is just post the thing online with all the other contracts.”
B.C. taxpayers have so far spent at least $230,000 in legal fees. That includes the more than $124,000 in fees the government spent between 2006 and 2011, but not counting in-house lawyers or staff time. B.C.’s privacy commissioner has spent about $105,000 fighting the government in court.
Labour, Citizens’ Services and Open Government Minister Margaret MacDiarmid said she is considering an appeal, which the government has 30 days to file.
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Province+must+divulge+details+multimillion+dollar+contract+with+judge/6785070/story.html#ixzz1xsCbmo6w
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The difference between ongoing agreements, without contentious exchanges, and a highly controversial criminal trial, with major political interference, is as wide a legal chasm one might chose to bridge.
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Alex this is your blog, but I can’t let another day go by without speaking my mind….
It is a really sad state of affairs when one man (Larry ) can consistently pull down the level of quality from this blog, with his hate filled diatribe.
What a hate filled man… please many of us beg of you, to keep the quality of your good work, BLOCK this hate filled man.
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As much as I dissagree with some of Larry’s statements,
I think banishment is a tad harsh. If you dont like what he’s saying……TELL HIM !!!!!
And if his “not so politically correct” comments ruffle feathers so be it.
I would rather hear the venom that wonder who was smiling at me while thinking it…….
He can be quite eloquent even when he’s being obnoxious……
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I agree. Larry Bennett is one of the most literate men I’ve ever encountered. His over-the-top Catholicism is a bit much and he can be a bit of a codger form time to time, but I’d miss him.
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That’s rich George, really rich. For the past … what? 2 – 3 years, this blog and most of its commentators, have made vicious and personal attacks of the most grievous and vile nature, not just of a political bent, but that debased a person’s personal life, her sexual morality, her fitness as a mother, and even her suitability to run for office. I personally disagree with her policies and her methods and would even question the legality of many of her actions. No doubt, the fact that she sent her son to a Catholic school, is part of the reason for this vilification. There have even been queries about the suitability of her son to be a student at St. Georges. We won’t get into the politics of this particular private school’s biases.
You really shouldn’t hold Alex to your wishes, because I really no longer feel as though I want to be associated to such a hateful, anti-Christian (especially Catholic) post. When I no longer feel welcome, I move on, and I usually find that things improve with that decision. How does the saying go? Let them choke on their own bile.
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Larry, you sure can dish it out…but can’t take it…
That you think Christy is criticized here because she’s Catholic, only shows me–and all too well, that you’re lost in space on this one. Also, Hamish is NOT attending Saints as I understand it. Don’t know what happened there, and none of anyone’s business. For the record, I actually supported Christy and Mark’s decision to send their son to Saints. It’s about the boy and has nothing to do with parents, etc.
As for your threats to leave. I can’t be bothered to recount them, but they must total in the dozens.
And you’re still here, thankfully. I defend you’re right to spew off any time you like. But I also don’t want you staying if you don’t feel comfortable.
And the only thing warming my mouth right now is a Bolivar robusto sent to me by an old friend, who recently visited my favorite smoke shop in the world (Old Morris in Victoria). My first cigar in months and I’m savoring it.
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Larry,Larry,Larry, take a deep breath. Calm down.
I also agree that some of the personal attacks on CC were over the lines of good taste and decorum. ( I admit I have lowered myself a few times and called her “Dummy”).Unfortunately we are’nt in a debating class at School. This debate is the 21st Century version of the Roman Mob and Alex is “Ceasar” giving the “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” on the discussion.
Thats the reason I like coming here to read the Stories AND the comments. I’m sick to death of the politically correct daily pablum that gets shoved down my throat at work, on TV, on Radio, the newspapers…..
Everyone tries to be sooo nice. I’m dying a death of a thousand “nice” cuts.
I had no idea you were Catholic. Couldnt care less. I thought the discrimination towards Catholics went the way of the dodo sometime around when JFK was elected President of the United States….
Now, lets get back to topic(s) of relevance.
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nonconf – If you hadn’t noticed the bias at this site than you haven’t been around long. Just the other day we had Alex warning us of that wicked, wicked woman, Mother Teresa. You see, Alex was an aficionado of the late, obnoxious, Chris Hitchens! You hadn’t noticed? He also allows long diatribes declaiming Pius XII as a Nazi. This despite statements by Golda Meir, Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, during the war (who converted to the Catholic Church shortly thereafter), taking as his baptismal name, Eugene, the Pope’s given name. Then there was Elio Toaff, who replaced him as Chief Rabbi of Rome, and Nahum Goldmann, President of the World Jewish Congress at the time, and later on the best know Jew of that century, Albert Einstein, who said , “Only the Catholic Church protested against the Hitlerian onslaught of liberty”. But the internet is full of hatred and is totally unregulated in this regard.
You should know too, that my father married my mother at the side altar of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Calgary, and neither his parents nor his siblings were present, even though they lived in Vancouver and certainly had the means to do so. My father, like Alex, was a graduate of St. George’s, and a professional football player. He was too, a Freemason, like his fathers before him, but I never heard the kind of language I hear here, not was there ever allowed obscene material in the house, and you were taught to speak of women, all women, with respect. I must say that I am embarrassed and ashamed to think that someone’s child might come across some of the things printed here (supposedly, in this particular stream) to sully my sense of deceny. I can assure everyone here, that I have done things that would fill them with disgust. As I am sure they have. That is not to say I am proud of it, but we (mostly) all grow up at some time. I do not come to this post to plumb the depths, for they abound on the internet – but to give and take. I think too, that it is ironic that Alex, condemned me for mentioning Douglas Collins, because, according to him and a few politically correct media types, he was an anti-Semite, which it is apparently not okay to be. Doug Collins fought at Dunkirk, was wounded and captured, and spent most of the war escaping the Nazis clutches, and to survive and come to Canada. I think he is worthy of our interest.
I can take it Alex, but I can dish it out on a shingle too! It seems to me that you have few (far too few) detractors, and I don’t mean the idiots and their ad homs, but intelligent people who aren’t just interested in the gossip from Victoria, but who really are concerned about where the province is headed, and what reasonable alternatives there are, and how we are to go about changing things. Alex likes a down and dirty brawl, but I, for one, do not intend to sully myself by getting down into the primordial slime with him any longer.
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Okay…
If you’d just do us all a favour and Google ‘The Swedish Touch’.
When you get there ask for the Roman Room.
And, no, you can’t use my account.
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And your wife knows about this? May I ask for Inga, or am I doomed to have Lars pound my bones? Or worse, Svend? I am afraid this is more of a socialist pleasure, and is one of the reasons they want open immigration, which serves to keep it cheap. Adieu, adieu, thy plaintive anthem fades/ Past the near meadow etc..
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Does my wife know?!
She drops me off. It’s a break for her.
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Latest IPSOS Reid Poll results – it just gets worse
N- 48 (+4)
L – 29 (-3)
C – 16 (nc)
Best Preem
AD – 31 (+6)
CC – 25 (-6)
Approval
AD – 50 (+5)
CC 33 (-14)
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5659
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Yes, I know, I saw them.
No surprise.
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With a steady stream of stuff like this:
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/BC-Politics/2012/06/14/PremierLouise/
I am surprised the Libs still poll over 5%. A 200K no-bid contract adding yet another courtesan for the Dummy? And for what practical taxpayer-benefitting purpose, exactly?
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Agreed!
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I’m convinced that by the time May 2013 rolls around, Dummy will be below His Excremency in the polls. 7%.
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we can only hope….. The 7% Solution.
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It’s a quite pathetic, not to say cynical, back-pedalling exercise by this, otherwise highly intelligent, MSM whore: http://alexgtsakumis.com/2012/06/14/losers-merging-meggs-surging-the-premier-purging/
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Terribly sorry, Alex! I’ve pasted the wrong link. Could you, please, switch the links in my comment? Too much on my plate
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Clark+followed+instincts+polls+might+tell+different+story/6787219/story.html
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No problem. No worries at all.
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And another good one: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/energy+resources/Clark+keeps+close+spill/6780533/story.html
She must be out of her mind if she has ever had any …
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“She permitted the LATE delivery of THOUSANDS of illegal, largely Indo memberships in boxes, with CASH that was affixed to memberships afterwards”
Alex I’m curious about this statement, not because I’ve any reason to doubt it, but I thought you’d said recently in a comment that the accusations against Dix were a bit of a tempest in a teapot…that the delivery of the memberships was last-minute, messy and unconventional, but things turned out to be in order.
Am I not remembering correctly?
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You’re not. I defended Adrian on the memo business, which I think is a tempest in a tea pot.
On the memberships, though, I didn’t do the full story, because the Indo family involved are friends of mine. Tough spot to be in. They took in memberships after cut-off and affixed CASH to each membership handed in.
Geoff Meggs’ wife, Jan O’Brien saw NOTHING wrong with this…but I can tell you, some EXTREMELY prominent NDP members are STILL upset about it.
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Maybe he didn’t do it personally but it sure doesn’t look good on Dix for being involved.
Is Christyesque a word…?
Can we have Horgan now?
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I agree. John Horgan is as honest and ethical as the day is long. Wonderful man. If he was leader, I’d endorse the NDP. Mike is great too, but backed by too many of the Vision nutters. But a marvelous human being, too.
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The problem for voters is that most of us have lost trust in all of the parties. There was a time when an elected MP or MLA served as an elected representative whose main role was to be the voice of their constituents in the house. They have all forgotten this. Now their first role is to follow their leader even when it goes against the sentiments and interests of their own riding for fear of being expelled from caucus if they “rebel” and actually represent the people who elected them. The last time I cast a vote in favour of someone instead of holding my nose and voting for the least bad option was probably back in the days when I had options like Emery Barnes or Chuck Cadman. on the ballot. That was a long time ago. This government needs to go, but honestly I don’t see any truly viable options to replace them. Maybe the NDP will be less bad but to think everything will be ok once they are in government is like believing in the tooth fairy. Partisan politics, both provincially and federally is an obstacle to true democratic government of and for the people.
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If you burley the waters with food that the kooks love, you can’t really be surprised you attract kooks.
BTW: These kooks fit perfectly under the NDP big tent. Most normal folks don’t listen to kooks.
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Alex said “So now Meggs is running provincially. Of course he is. Meggs’ wife, excuse me, holistic life traveler, is the General Secretary of the BC NDP. She permitted the LATE delivery of THOUSANDS of illegal, largely Indo memberships in boxes, with CASH that was affixed to memberships afterwards (if I’m wrong, SUE ME, I dare you, I mean it, I dare you–SUE ME, go on…)
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No doubt about that!!! And that was a fraudulent attempt to get Dix elected over Farnworth. Remember? Remember that Meggs also supported Dix? The same cabal!
Remember Moe Sihota, current BC NDP Party president?! Dix and Meggs, co-workers to elect and retain Glen Clark and his social engineering?
Fake memo by Dix? And for some strange reason, you recently congratulated Dix on his birthday in a previous post?! What gives?
On a personal note, I recall Sihota interfering with his then deputy environment minister Jon O’Riordon (now retired) during the 1990′s after discussions with Jon confirming otherwise. Then launched a lawsuit and the then NDP guvmint settled quietly. The lawsuit is still in the public domain.
Again personally, BCBC had a RFP for a building, which our proposal was deemed the best in terms of location, cost, financing, and otherwise overall for the NDP guvmint (based upon discussions with BCBC’s agent). When our bid lost, the BCBC agent said “I can’t say anything”)
Guess what? After some further due diligence, an NDP supporter won the BCBC RFP bid, which was inferior to ours and the taxpayer of BC. Contact the RCMP or commence civil litigation against the guvmint you say, in this example? Then we, would never be considered for another guvmint contract. That was the last straw for us.
And then NDP guvmint cabinet minister David Zirnnhelt publicly saId to paraphrase “We are government and we can do anything that we want”.
And during the 1990′s, Dave Barrett and Bob Williams were both under criminal investigation. Both NDP heavyweights. Look it up online. And on and on.
Alex said: She essentially helped Adrian cheat to win. he was so far ahead based on the Indo vote, that Horgan and Farnworth combined couldn’t have beat him.
http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110119/bc_ndp_money_110119/20110119?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
So we have the same corrupt 1990′s NDP apparatchiks that will potentially form the next NDP guvmint? Dix, Sihota and Meggs?! Wonderful!
Dix is left-wing and the BC NDP is the most looney left in Canada. Nothing like the centrist SK, MB, and NS provincial NDP.
Have you looked at the BC NDP backbench? Harry Bloy dummified ten times over. No Paul Ranseys or Dan Millers who support economic development, BC Hydro’s Site C Dam, the oil and gas industry, etc. Horgan? “Site C Sucks” on his FB page. Yep. Guvmint in waiting.
And the 1990′s? The NDP was financially prosperous for BC? Statistics Canada doesn’t think so among others.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/060511/dq060511a-eng.htm
Hell, I know sooo many ppl that left BC during the 90′s and have since returned. It was called BC’s “great brain drain”. Yes, BC did have a net outflow of 50,000 during the late 1990′s and BC had the lowest economic indicators in Canada on ALL COUNTS.
And as a result of the BC NDP guvmint, BC was the highest taxed jurisdiction in NA after Quebec. And in early 2001 BC fell into the “have not” province status – the first time since the early 1960′s. Awesome.
It’s your blog Alex, but I see more and more of the same left-wing flakes post on here as on various other news sites all over the ‘net day in and day out. The “Brian Goughs” of the world so to speak.
Perhaps it’s also time to focus some attention on the dummies on the BC NDP backbench, for instance? Your call.
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Don’t worry. I’m getting there.
To items…
I dealt with Jon O’Riordan when I was owner of Britannia Beach. Let’s just say his ethics in negotiation were severely lacking.
And if I choose to congratulate Adrian on his birthday, that’s my business. I like the man on a personal level. My father bought insurance from his dad for years. His father was also a patron at my father’s steakhouse on Granville Mall, for years. They’re very fine people, regardless of Adrian’s politics.
I think we need to concentrate less on right vs. left and spend some time considering right vs. wrong.
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Thought of The Night
“Cheap seats tickets changing Liberal hands; the escalation of Meggs; Premiership… not in BC… but in the English soccer!”
Great post, Alex!
Nice to see you are doing well, and your readership’s up. Still the best in the West!
Oh… Happy Birthday!
I know, I know… but how do you expect me to remember your birthday, when you never look any older?
Hugs!
We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.
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Thanks Glissy. Good to hear from you.
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Alex said: “I dealt with Jon O’Riordan when I was owner of Britannia Beach. Let’s just say his ethics in negotiation were severely lacking”
I’m very familiir with Britannian Beach and environs. Let’s just say that it has appeared on my desk over the past 20+ years. Wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. An environmental and political football and mess. Never seen anything like it.
My experience was more akin to Boss Energy but on a much, much lower financial scale. And O’Riordan’s sub-ordinates approved same in our favour in conjunction with the Waste Managment Act. O’Riordan was actually very professional in my experience.
Sihota stepped in politically to prevent adherence to that statute, in my instance, while neighbouring applicants were approved same with lower environmental standards – we had a tertiary treatment plant above and beyond what was required – and that was later acknowledged by guvmint. NDP Green fanatics influencing Sihota.
IOW, political interference by NDP in guv bureaucracy approval in accordance with statue. Again, read “Boss Power Uranium”. In my case the guv caved in on subsequent lawsuit to prevent further political outfall/turmoiul at the end of their term. And that was good – for us.
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I see it.
Let me just say I found Jon a pleasant man, but when he appeared with an unsigned MOU and told me it was still enforceable without the govt signature, I lost all respect for him. Six months I waited, and nothing. For shame.
Anyway, water under the bridge, literally! And I did quite well on the deal.
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Alex, sorry to ask at such a late date.
Meggs refers to his wife as a “holistic life traveller” ???? W..T…F ????
Are you serious?
Do sane, normal, people believe in that sh*t?
Or have I just answered my own question?
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No, it’s worse.
He actually corrects you if you refer to her as a wife or to him as her husband.
They use some other phrase or description from the Communist collective. It’s really quite unbelievable.
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……..in the words of Dr. Evil when he hears something completely ludacris, ” R-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ight”.
Good to know that the asylum is being run by the lunatics. God help us come election time…….
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I know.
It’s unbelievable. Meggs is a but and doesn’t belong in public life.
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Yup those damn indians just go to hell. Chug Chug run them over and burn them in the coal train. Wait! I am one of them and yes NDP somehow illegally signed me up without verifying that I am a BC Liberalist. Who is dumber a NDPer or indian? or the politicans who think we are bunch of Dippers thus use and abuse us any way they can.
Alex like I said before it is a hard truth but your a straight shooter I can not deny some well known truths in the poltical life.
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