Musings of Lives Lost; Days Lost; Our Loss
September 11th, 2001 was a strange day.
It was the due date for my son’s arrival–our first child–of three. My wife had been having contractions all the previous week–on and off, and we, as first time parents, weren’t sure what on earth would happen.
And when!
After September 11th transpired, we were justifiably devastated. I worked in New York, during the late nineties. It had become such a huge part of my life that we were considering moving there to honour a great job offer I’d received.
George was born on September 14th., on the day President Bush went to Ground Zero for yet another go around–the most celebrated of the three in that week.
The whole world stood at attention–arm in arm.
They died, but we all died a little, too.
It dawned on me that perhaps we might not have been prepared until after the fact. Setting aside the recriminations that most partisans have against the Bush Administration (mostly absurd objections), I began to think that it was a case of being too complacent for too long. As President Clinton put it, in a rare moment of complete clarity, “we’d all been in the same boat…this isn’t a time for partisanship, but partnership instead.”
Quite.
I couldn’t help but think of this as I sat in Courtroom #32 of the Vancouver Law Courts building this morning. I was following the machinations over something so simple: The Basi-Virk indemnity agreement. Why are we still foaming about this?
If Christy Clark’s government has nothing to hide, then why not send it out into the pubic domain? Who are they really protecting?
Not you.
So much foaming, I thought, over something so utterly facile: An agreement between two “convicted criminals” and us. What could be simpler? A wanting public and a willing government. Shouldn’t these go hand in hand?
It did in New York.
But apparently not here. Christy Clark doesn’t want you to see the agreement. She even pushed former Attorney-General Barry Penner to appeal the court’s decision to allow the Auditor-General access to some of the materials. She did so in Cabinet, with many high profile Cabinet Ministers present. NOT ONE, stepped in and asked her to stop.
They opted for their own political hides than protecting yours–the reverse of what should be an implicit contract between you and your public servants.
I watched as the various lawyers had their say. Making their appeals; and all I could think about was how the Premier’s ass is grass because of this one scandal–that will all come apart on her the second Basi or Virk can talk freely.
Or want to.
And how not one mainstream media outlet had anyone covering anything. Never mind the specifics of the court proceedings (which are always very dry), there wasn’t a soul looking at the issues raised. Although 24 hours’ Bill Tieleman was there Monday and CKNW’s Bob Mackin was there both days.
While this was going on, three different lunches were about to take place between some very prominent Vancouver business people. Armed with polling showing the BC NDP vulnerable in many key constituencies, they are meeting to replace the Premier. They’re sick of her and her whole crew–believe me when I tell you this. They won’t write cheques. She won’t see any support.
The drums beat in the distance, but only for now.
Christy is in real trouble. While I can’t tell you who these men are, I can tell you that they will move against her soon. It’s only a matter of finding the right candidate to unite under and get rid of her.
Other than David McLean, she has NO ONE that is a guarantee in the money department for the next battle. That has to hurt.
Nevertheless, I’m still compiling information…stay tuned. It might take a couple extra days, but rest assured, Christy has a world class headache coming. I don’t want to give you anything unless I know for certain it’s there. I need to speak to several participants from yesterday’s meetings. That won’t happen until later today.
She’s in real trouble, believe me. If she manages to stay, it will be the suffering of her life–the mother of all defeats.
And then there’s me…and further ‘Basi-Virk’ documents forthcoming…maybe she’ll move to China…
Stay tuned…lots ont he way.
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NOTE:
So…there is a new group called ‘Friends of John Cummins’. And they’ve been hitting the airwaves. It is to laugh. I’ll be back later today with more on the above and a review of a superb column by Les Leyne and then I’ll decipher the BC Conservative nonsense coming from their leader and his disciples.
Enjoy the sun.
Liberals can scaleback their 24k gold pensions and take the 24 billion dollars ,with a b ,they added over 12 years of BC debt.
What no Pat K support.?
http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/details.asp?c=46335
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It baffles me when people make the NDP out to be so anti business. What they are is for fair business, fair labour, which support mid to small businesses and make larger corps more responsible, so to see big business plotting always scares me. The liberals no matter who runs them do not deserve another shot as they have done very little to stimulate the economy and the corruption is beyond repair. Time to look at the alternative: a new government under Adrian Dix.
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I doubt that. But time will tell. I’m happy to be proven wrong.
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Here in Campbell River, the slence is deafening from NDP MLA Claire Trevena taking her husband on a government trip to Africa.
http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/news/168047366.html
It doesn’tr matter the partry stripe – entitlement is the norm.
JK
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I absolutely HATE that word. No one is entitled. No one.
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Thanks for that John, that information is very relevant, and it should be all over the front pages of the MSM – we shall see!
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When questioned by reporters in the Legislature this week, Trevena said she was “not aware of the cost” of the junket.
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Typical politician they all say that.
What really bothers me is that by saying this they are essentially saying that price is irrelevant.
I am getting tired of paying politicians to take holidays with their spouses on these trips and its high time it stopped. I dont expect much action on this from Dix if his people are doing stuff like this when they are not even in power.
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Thank you for that Alex.
The people of this Province owe you a tremendous debt for what you are doing.
I like how you tied those points in time together to bring us to yesterday’s power lunch. Most of us do not even hear of these things let alone have insight of the discussions.
That’s exactly why we come here……in order to unravel the confusion that is being presented to us…..to help us understand…..
……to put a stop to the spin.
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A power meeting of big wigs the hear their leader say
“We must do something!”
http://youtu.be/JN99jshaQbY
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I LOVED THAT!!! Hysterical, on a day I could use a little laugh.
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So Alex I guess the money men are just trying to figure out who can lead the CONServatives so they can BUY the next election. I for one am fed up of seeing BOUGHT elections in Canada Federally and Provincially. None of the COMServative or LIbERal parties have any progressive legislation to offer the people of Canada or BC. Only the NDP have legislation that offer people a chance for better jobs and security. Check the current and past platforms of the all.
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Yeah, it’s really terrible…the attempted buying of an election…
Isn’t it???
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2012/09/09/20182601.html
Hate it when that happens…those damn Conservatives…
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What platform?? The NDP has always said they were for jobs and the most intruging arcourt had a statement for the 1991 election “It’s time to stop the special deals for friends and insiders”. Well guess what happened when the NDP got elected? Same trough different pigs.
Haven’t seen a thing about what the NDP would do once elected.
Does anyone figure that the NDP will be all about good paying jobs for BC? When they advocate corporate taxation (remember kids, corporations are not inside downtown towers. They exist at your small business, even the local MacTools truck can be a corporation, heck even Comic Book Guy’s Android’s Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop an be a corporation.
The NDP is also not the best in the political business for advocating for the unfortunate. They have always mandated “full employment” and “elimation of poverty”, but neither existed when the NDP was in government.
There’s going to be a second hit of reality after the next provincial election.
The first of course is the dazed look at BC Liberal party insiders and hacksplus the Big Money Men when they realise their artificial world is gone.
The second is the dazed look at NDP party insiders and hack splus union types realize that the NDP can’t achieve everything that the unions and the poverty industry wants.
Reality bites.
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And the liberals NOT Conservatives fined for Robocalls http://www.leaderpost.com/news/CRTC+fines+Liberals+over+robocalls/7143628/story.html
And the NDP http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2012/08/31/20161006.html
Your right Alex those damm conservatives
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I know. Damn CONSERVATIVE robocalls. And damn CONSERVATIVE election finance cheats!
Conservatives are the cause of all wars, Third World hunger and AIDS.
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Don’t forget, Romney and his pals (read: all Republicans) are the reason for the economic collapse in 2008 and will lead the U.S. into oblivion
At least, that’s what Bubba said in his speech…..oh the maddness of it all.
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What I LOVED about Clinton’s speech was how he cleverly tried to blame Bush without mentioned him.
Unfortunately, the President who signed off and deregulated Freddie and Fannie, was nonresident other than William Jefferson Clinton himself. Too rich!
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Damm straight!!!
Had the very same arguement with a co-worker about one William Jefferson Clinton and FanM and FM!!
It’s amazing how many people have fallen under the spell of the Democarts and their “star power”. Mind you, the liberal media down there does not help.
On the other hand, Mr. Eastwood (aka The Good, from one of my favorite movies) did not do the Rep.’s any good; man that was brutal.
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I agree. Clint’s performance was brutal. But one line made sense.
“When someone doesn’t get the job done…you replace him…”
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And here we have the crux of the problem with our southern neighbor. One group wants to raise revenues and continue spending on all fronts. The other side wants to slash revenues and cut spending on most fronts. Neither side however sees a problem with a 500 billion dollar military bill that exceeds what the rest of the world spends combined. Meanwhile schools are brutal and kids are hungry. Pathetic. As anyone with a shred of US political knowledge knows the President controls very little domestically. Even Reagan lost the House after two years. So did Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2 and Obama. The difference is that until the Koch brothers sponsored Tea Party and Grover Norquist (sp), both sides cooperated. When a fellow like Mitch McConnell openly states that he doesn’t care about his country just defeating the sitting President, the writing is on the wall. People interested in the truth of US politics should read Stratfor’s George Friedman. Most of you sound like “sound bytes.”
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Utter nonsense. ACORN was in operation years before the Tea Party. As was George Soros. A lack of cooperation was in play well before the Tea Party.
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Mr. Stannis:
Not sure why you had to spout off at us, information we already knew.
Very condecending comments.
However, I know that if in my household, we were in debt, the solution to the problem would not be adding more debt.
The U.S. is in freefall, in terms of the national debt, so sooner, rather than later, they must take the bad medicine they preach other troubled nations must take.
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I agree I think it would be smart of the Republicans to run that on the tail end of some of their ads. Not sure if they are doing that as unfortunately most of the ads are being targeted in a handful of swing states and with Washington pretty well a shoo in for Obama thanks to all the hippies who have migrated there from California we wont get to see too many of the ads.
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Adding capital letters that are supposedly cleverly placed does not make one’s opinion more valid, nor does it convey a decent grasp of the use of the English language, or for that matter, even the current denigrated form used commonly by shills of all political stripes on comment boards and blogs.
Sorry about the rant – it’s my #1 “crumbs in the butter” for the internet. #2 is the improper use of “neo-con” by lefties. Alex, I’d love a brief lesson on the latter for everyone someday.
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Happily.
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it never fails to amaze me.
The endless machinations of lawyers, judges and the political ‘dogs” that decide “for the good of the public” to allow information to be released to us.
Judges lament that the public has “no respect” for the law while lawyers try every twist and turn to have the information suppressed.
Disgusting
And pointless because the longer they try and hide the facts the more people realize there IS something to hide.
The Liberals fruitless attempts at “tweaking” their image just digs the hole deeper……..
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How many people would take personal time to travel & then sit through these court proceedings ? Thanks again Alex for going that extra mile for people who want to know exactly what’s going on….. without printing just a “Press Release”.
Meantime Christy & her groupies are on a tax payer funded holiday in China to apparently bring home thousands of more jobs. All this while China is experiencing it’s own economic crisis to the point that a Chinese government stimulus is being announced.
Guy in Victoria
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How does one respond to a piece like this? Despair is perhaps the first emotion, that this calamity is being fought through the Courts by a corrupt government that absolutely refuses the People’s Right to Know and will do ALL in its power to ensure the truth never gets out.
Complicit in this are their lawyers, ethics parked with their Mercedes in the underground parking and guzzling on the Public tit for as long as they can and for as much as they can. The RCMP meanwhile continue to sit on all that they know, disclosure of only part of which would have rendered this whole charade moot a long time ago. And Liberal MLA’s too, bloated pensions beckoning, prostitute themselves by collectively failing to find the single ounce of integrity within their ranks that would topple this loathsome bunch. And as for the MSM, we have learned not to expect anything from the majority of them and are thus neither surprised nor disappointed….they are simply an irrelevance.
But while despair might be an early emotion, hope should be right there too for, thanks to JvD, Alex and a few other bloggers, the trickle of awareness has become a flood and even those malignants in the Vancouver Board of Trade, the Vancouver Club and such other august bodies whose members’ donations have kept this odious government and its leader foisted upon us for much too long must, however reluctantly, realise that the jig is up. They’ve all had their way with the Province but we’re now so close to purging the whole lot of them….and their influence.
I think I’m already sensing a sweeter scent in the air!
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purging the whole lot of them….and their influence.?
I think you’re mistaken.
They all work for the same master and the masters are just concocting another ‘face’ to foist upon us for the next 4 years while they continue to pillage and concoct new ways to tax the middle class to fiefdom a la smart meters.
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great column alex.
it is so sad that we lost over 3000 lifes and shattered many more. the only thing theese people did was to live in a free society.
i think about all of our vetrans who have fought for our rights democracy and freedom .
what they must think about how our provincial goverment is operating.
it is not lost on me that auditor general and a lone mla is in court fighting for our democracy. on sept 11.
with msm calling this a non event and not covering this is also bs
this reminds me of state run media proping up a failing dictatorship.
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I find it sad that the MSM had nobody at these hearing’s.In our small town talking to people,most are saying the same thing. That they will not buy the Shit papers(Sun ,Province), at the price they are starting to charge,$3.00 for the weekend paper here in Powell River. With nothing to show. I get most of my information from the web. Excluding the above said papers.Although I miss Mike Smyth’s work.
Off topic while i was in Scotland this summer I found the best Scotch I’ve ever tasted.”17 year old Glengoyne.” Smooth. But I am far from a expert. Have a great day Alex. Cheers.
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The duct tape cat made headlines twice, days apart. Basi/ Virk zero. Sad state of affairs with the MSM. And they want us to pay for this crap. Not a chance.
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My understanding is that there are, once again, no MSM in the courtroom today, except a smattering of juniors loitering in the hallway.
Not only you should not pay for MSM online, you should stop buying them period, if this is what they think constitutes a robust press.
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Pathetic
Regurgitated
Erroneous
Slanderous
Shite
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Since the institution of the Facebook moat this week, Sun/Province posts have slowed to a dribble.
They say, “We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts….”
My response (the only one after 2 days) in a Report Card story was, “I would say that you actually DON’T encourage all readers to share their views. Adding this Facebook requirement will cut out all those contributors who have an understandable aversion to Facebook.”
And yes, as FB prominently displays in the Sun and Province now, I’m “57 YEARS OLD!”
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Too funny–but sooooo true!!!
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Sure hope it’s soon. Still getting page errors when trying to view older (Monday’s) post.
Keep up the great work
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“It’s only a matter of finding the right candidate to unite under…”
Considering all the people who have said no, that must be a very short list.
“… and get rid of her.”
Where can one park an EGO as big as that?
Presumably, like Campbell before her, she is so toxic that she’ll need to leave the province – and, preferably, the country too if the Unite-the-Rightests have any hope of salvaging their fortunes.
While the Seychelles are BC’s natural antipodal point there is probably not much opportunity available there – Any South Africans owe the BC Liberals a favour?
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That’s one of the problems.
She is utterly useless, with no appreciable skill set.
Oh, wait, Brandi’s is still open. Coat check girl! Perfect!
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problem is alex she will have problems distinguishing between liberal red and tory blue. the coats that our ndp orange i just triggers a melt down. lol
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LOL!
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OK Guy asks: “Where can one park an EGO as big as that?”
Fair question: here’s the unfair answer.
http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2012-09-10/tony-blair-got-1m-for-three-hours-of-xstrata-talks#r=else-fs
“Tony Blair got about $1 million in fees for attending a meeting between Glencore International Plc Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg and Qatar’s Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani, Sunday Times says, citing sources close to the matter. “
One million for 3 hours work!
That’s some payback isn’t it? Or is it back pay?
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Coat check girl ? Make sure you empty your pockets before handing it over.
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ZING!!!
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Several years ago I made this comment to a friend of mine who happens to be a very well respected lawyer “the fix is in with these Basi-Virk guys. They are pleading out right before their defense team gets to grill Liberal cabinet ministers.” He responded “Stan those are just conspiracy theories. Do you think if this was true everyone in the courtroom from steno’s, to RCMP officers and on up the line would keep their mouths shut?” At the time this sentiment of someone some where would have to leak some thing seemed feasible as a defense to my inner suspicions. It now seems we were both right. The courts are sealed tighter than a ducks ass and there was a fix on.
As for 911 a terrible day all round that has cost western civilization thousands (and Muslims hundreds of thousands) of lives and trillions of dollars that could have been spent improving the lives of those who attempted to terrorize us. Will humans ever learn? I think not, but I am pessimistically optimistic.
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Your lawyer friend said that BEFORE I started leaking the documents I received from my source–who is a retired lawyer, with a previous career in law enforcement.
Can your lawyer friend say the same things now?
I think not…
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Technically we were both right. The fix was in and a person inside the courtroom or with intimate knowledge of the proceedings did leak out the poisons. It’s nice when everyone is right. Although in retrospect it would be better if the whole thing hadn’t happened. The corrupted sale of BC Rail that is.
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I gave up writting letters etc to mla’s cabinet ministers, mp’s because of the BS they send back, now i just phone. Usually i get right thru. I just called global to complain about their lack of coverage on the basi virk – CC love fest they have over there. Lame stories of lost puppies when we have the most corrupt premier and gov’t ever. I asked them to retire Baldrey and get Jas in there. A real journalist. Too bad Marissa left a huge loss.
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Jas is the absolutely best reporter on political issues Global has in its stable. Hands down. Bar none. Superb work and thunderous credentials.
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Couldn’t agree more. Very courageous reporter.
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Question if I may .. if Jas, Marissa and the few others are such great investigators, why then are they only sporadically covering these basturds … does their employers have dog collars and muzzles on them and if so, what type of ‘choke-chaining’ do they get when they DO seemingly pop of the leash and cover a Chrusty moment? It would seem that you, Bob, Bill and Harvey have found enough leads to keep your fires going, so why are these other ‘ace reporters’ not fixated as well?
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Ever heard of the words ‘editor’ or ‘producer’???
In the dictionary under those you can find a picture of a cancerous tumour. Malignant.
.
Stage 4.
And I note there is no Stage 5…
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Thanx … but for the uninformed (that why I come here to learn), how is it that every now and again does the elite reporters actually sneak out a story that goes against the grain/ control of the current MSM? Is it being done to give the illusion that they are reporting ‘fairly’ on both sides of the issues?
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Of course!
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Evil has no boundaries, it’s all perception and hinges on recency.
Less we forget!
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Alex, the indemnity agreements were not a matter involving the special prosecutor, who was charged with prosecuting the case and accepting pleas. Indeed, all involved say they took great pains to ensure that the special prosecutor had no idea they were being discussed or were even a consideration. The ADAG has stated in writing that the special prosecutor knew nothing of them and the special prosecutor himself confirmed that fact publicly. The oral reasons for judgment did not mention them, and so it appears the judge was unaware of them. They were not part of the court prosecution or defence. So they can’t be part of the court order concerning documents that cannot be released.
I can understand concerns about release of billing information surrounding the agreements (although the Auditor General should be able to view it), but it is hard to see how the indemnification agreements themselves could be the subject of any solicitor/client privilege. Even if there was, the privilege rests with the client, and it would be Basi or Virk’s call. I can’t see any legal reason the indemnification agreements cannot be released to the public, let alone the Auditor General. Mike de Jong is Finance Minister, with sole legislated authority and responsibility for indemnification. He should be called to account to explain why he won’t release the agreements.
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Whatever was stated in Loukidelis’ letter about the SP knowing nothing of the agreement, is utter bunk. It will come out soon enough.
With respect to the client release–Basi and Virk have already done that long ago. It’s the government that has forced its own Auditor-General into court! I agree wholeheartedly that deJong should be made to answer. I’m just afraid he’ll provide the same four or five conflicting versions as he did when Attorney General. Isn’t it rich? He couldn’t give us straight answers when on one side of the equation, so now he’s one the other–where the stakes are even higher and he’ll surely have to answer for his actions and those of his government.
And people say there is no God…
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I hope he does better than Kevin Falcon did on May 31, 2011 during debate on the estimates in the legislature. When questioned on the indemnities he said, “I am trying hard to be as forthcoming as I can on an issue that only has a tangential relationship to the Ministry of Finance.”
Tangential relationship? The Minister of Finance has sole government responsibility!
As for the special prosecutor’s involvement, I have it in writing from the ADAG of the day that, “I can confirm that the plea deal was arranged by the special prosecutor who had no knowledge of any discussions regarding the issue of legal fees for the two defendants.”
If you are right on this, there are going to be a lot of complaints to the Law Society of BC when this is all finally revealed…
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I’m absolutely correct.
Wally Oppal cut that deal with Bill Bernardino.
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Mike de Jong? Finance Minister?
Does anyone recall the c. difficile crisis at Burnaby General? More than 80 people died while the government’s Minister of Health waffled, stalled, and trotted out excuses. The most spectacularly credulous of which was – when 4 people use the same bathroom that’s the trigger for c. diff.
1/ I’m no physician but where else could hospital residents relieve themselves but in hospital bathrooms?
2/ What did the Minister in fact do to resolve the problem, beyond nothing more than making promises?
3/ Next time you enter a public washroom in a restaurant, a theatre, a sporting or musical event, an office building, a gas station, in short anywhere used by multiples of 4 people, it may become clear why our new Finance Minister can’t yet see any urgency in providing full disclosure of facts that might harm the libs.
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In this video update JVD tells us proceedings on Auditor general’s legal play to get more access may be pushed into December. Incredible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmKGfUueYt8
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Correct.
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LOL.
considering the damage being done to the libs by trying to make sure this info is not released before the next election…..
you really have to wonder how bad the truth is.
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We already know it’s pretty bad.
The Dummy leaked Cabinet information to lobbyists for Omnitrax.
The Dummy’s operatives stole PIN numbers to win the Liberal leadership race (and become the defacto Premier).
The AG made a $6 million hush deal with Basi and Virk, and probably broke Legislative protocol by doing so.
In short, The Emperor wears no clothes and has no morals. And everyone in the province knows it except her.
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like the beatles said. if you go carying pictures of chairman mao your not going to make it with anyone any how. same goes for george bush
to each its own. just skip the condescending attitude.capish?
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One of a multitude of things that amaze me about the BC Rail file is this: Here are these mainstream media outlets employing scores of reporters apiece but which have no one to send to court proceedings regarding the largest theft in history from the people of BC.
And here are the “true” journalists, Tsakumis, Mackin, who understand the importance of this “event” who are going ON THEIR OWN and sitting through the proceedings so that they can acurately report what is going on to those same people of BC.The heavy lifting, if you will. (add Mr. Van Dongen to this tiny but powerful group)
It is my fervent hope that at some point the apparently complicit employers of these permanently vacationing “reporters” (and I use the term oh so lightly) will be forced to carry the story of what the Liberals did with the sale of the railway.
At that point the pretend media can get on their knees and kiss butt.
That fact that they have purposefully ignored the story is a display of the prominence they place on not pissing off, and being cut off by, the government when they are supposed to be the eyes, ears and voice of the truth, serving the public.
Bob Dylan said it: You’re gonna have to serve somebody.
This file has clarified so many things.
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Hi Alex, I was just wondering if you were going to be doing a story on the new iphone5. According to all other media sources it is the biggest issue affecting us today. We need to have a live blog post on every website about it with details as they emerge…..
You heard it right, forget a court case about a 6 million dollar bribe, forget 9/11. Apple is releasing a new phone! lets all fawn over their greatness.
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I know, it’s so pathetic.
Mind, I have the Samsung Galaxy III and find it a much better product than iPhone. Although, I swear by my Macbook Pro.
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I have to admit Mac laptops are awesome in comparison to what else is out there because nobody else makes a quality product. They all seem to be adopting the walmart mentality of cheaper is better.
Now with that out of the way, back to our regularly scheduled program.. Goodbye christy clark? PLEASE!
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I nominate Cluck Cluck for ambassador to Iran.
Oh the embassy is closed?
Dang, she would look so good in a Burkha.
I hear that in her heart she is a mad mullah.
What a lost opportunity.
Seriously Alex, if you have a political nuke please drop it on her ASAP.
(Let me guess – she is secretly campaigning for the NDP. Sure seems that way judging by the results she is achieving.)
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Not yet.
Soon, but not yet.
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she’s already in China… lets leave her there.
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“They died, but we all died a little, too”.
Amen Alex.
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Latest A-R Poll results
L – 25 (+3)
N – 46 (-3)
C- 19 (NC)
http://www.cknw.com/news/vancouver/story.aspx?ID=1772509
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Meaningless, but interesting.
The independents that were toying with the Conservatives are now breaking Liberal. That’s the 3% right there. And the NDP have done nothing to balance off the prowess of the Liberal bullshit machine, so that;s their three drop.
And the Conservatives, with their leadership woes won’t get any movement at all.
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Personally I just attributed it to the fact that christy is out of the country making the liberals slightly more palatable.
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Too bad now she is going to think she can turn it around
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Alex, you are not alone in looking back at what happened on Sept, 11, 2001. Notice the latest news out of Egypt and Libya regarding the attacks on the American embassy and consulate and the deaths of 4 American’s. Late last night I was reading about these attacks from other news sources. I woke up this morning listening to this on the radio, no not NW. I had the kids turn the TV on to the news. They turned it on to Ch11 news – my god the drivel on that show, it’s 10 times worse than the worst NW has to offer. I flipped between Sun news and an American station to get the latest. Sad isn’t it. The Sun/Province and the local TV stations have become meaningless…..I’d comment more but this wasn’t the original topic.
Can we FOI to find out how much it has cost the Gov’t in Lawyer and admin costs to keep the Birk/Vasi documents from the Public? Or is it being done by lawyers already paid by the Gov’t? It would be interesting to see all records of electronic communication between the people in Gov’t at the time involved in this + out going communication to some of the media + those involved on the outside. Unless of course, these have all been wiped out by Christy & her team.
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Such FOIs–and most under this govt, will be rebuffed. Solicitor-client privilege will be the call on this specific one, however, I’m not sure how to tackle something like that. I’ll talk to Bob Mackin about it. He’s FOIed more material than all other news venues combined. The man is a machine.
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Good for Bob. The Liberals must hate FOIPA requests.
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WOW!! I was wondering when you were going to spill the beans on the table so we all can look at them Alex. The sale of BC Rail has affected all of BC and I could not for the life of me understand why such a thing could happen. Not until I looked at my local news paper critically. I must have been asleep at the switch. I found the PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN chock full of lazy sheeple who couldn’t get a job in ajunk yard. I blame myself as much as these scum bag culprits for the sad state of our Province OF BC. I just want to say thank you Alex G Tsakumis for every thing you have done and are going to do. Showing us the way to justice looks good on you Alex.
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My pleasure.
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Great piece Alex.
My wife and I enjoy visiting downtown Vancouver once in a while. We feel we do not even need to travel to enjoy world culture while we are there with the people, the languages and the food !!
Its too bad that NATO and the US continue to kill so many people in those countries who food and culture we enjoy so much when going downtown…….
I wish the people of the western world would stop sipping latte’s for a month and try to put an end to this…..
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We’re killing Italians and Japanese???
Wow, you learn something every day…
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New York victims: Around 3000
Official Iraq casualties: Over 100 000 men, women and babies. This does not include Afghanistan. We have special forces. We should use them if we are to take out “terror camps” etc. We do not need to carpet bomb countries full of beautiful people……I am white by the way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
I am nicely trying to say……I wish we would use greater efforts to stop ALL WAR. I don’t think our politicians are trying hard enough to do this. Oh…..and I’m a veteran as well although in the late 80s and early 90s we did not see theater so I was fortunate enough to not have to go overseas……
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You should be embarrassed to attempt a parallel between the two.
But this would require some shame.
3000 men and women were murdered in cold blood by a pack of raving, murderous, theocratic loons.
100,000 civilians died (out of over a million in total, including over 650,000 from armed conflict) as a result of a war effort. Plenty of warning, throughout the country. A massive difference.
Your comparison is as offensive as it is foolish.
Your line about being “fortunate enough” not to go overseas, clearly illustrates your position. Give back your stripes! You’ve disgraced them. A soldier–a real one, doesn’t see armed conflict any differently than he sees peace time. It’s what you do.
For shame.
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I totally agree with your reply to Richard. A soldier worth his uniform , does not publicly state that he was fortunate enough to not do his chosen job or duty.
Is his reason for stating he is white because his post makes him appear yellow.
As usual this was well worth the read .Thank you for your efforts to ensure that truth is available to all.
Have a great weekend.
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Wow, good comment Milt! You do attract the best and the worst Alex! P.S. Put me somewhere in the middle, but closer to Milt than Richard.
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Of course.
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I think Richard’s point is a lot of Western governments are a little too trigger happy to get their armies into conflicts in order to thump their chest and show they are still considered a “superpower” on the world stage. They’ll bomb Libya with no questions asked, and did the same thing in Iraq looking for these WMD’s.
In the meantime, they don’t get involved in places like Syria where a ruthless leader is killing hundreds of thousands of their own citizens.
What kind of soldier considers him/herself fortunate to not go to the theatre? A logical and sane one. A soldier is there to take orders and go to where he/she is needed, but should be grateful if they were fortunate enough not to be sent into combat.
You coming down on him saying that is like saying a New York firefighter or police officer isn’t worthy of praise unless he/she was at Ground Zero.
I realize I’m probably on your asshole list now, but on a completely unrelated sidenote, I really enjoyed my dinner at Q4. Great staff and very good food.
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Lovely. That’s my cousin, not me.
And I don’t mind your opinion either. It’s complete bullshit, but hey, you had a nice meal.
I’ll sleep better tonight.
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By the way Brian, I’m crowned Resident Asshole (though I like to think of myself as “visiting Asshole”. You’ll just have to wait your turn.
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No you’re not. You just know my soft spot for you and neither respect it or appreciate it.
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It’s true that I know your soft spot, but I do respect and appreciate it! No, really!
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Larry, I think Seymour Forest would win for Resident Asshole here. You do give it a good run though..,,
I like to see myself as the resident laxative that helps clean out the bowel.
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Don’t sell yourself short.
You’d be first runner up in the former category… LOL!
Which makes me…oh, never mind.
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More likely the glob of fiberous matter that is very difficult to be excreted and stays there releasing toxins that cause eventuially colo-rectal complications.
If you figure I am the resident A-hole here (so what? I’ve heard much
better language in that direction when I was visiting construction sites.
Big deal.
When I see people like Brian Kiernan Diary make stupid comments like this…
“Larry, I think Seymour Forest would win for Resident Asshole here. You do give it a good run though..,,
I like to see myself as the resident laxative that helps clean out the bowel.”
I wonder how far back in the line he was when the C-’s ran out that were given to the students lined up according to being good based the grades in the class.
and also did this guy ever get out of the bathroom.
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That’s utter crap.
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It is indeed.
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I was referring to your comment AGT
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Oh well, let me help you: You need to get your head examined.
What kind of soldier says he was “fortunate” to avoid service???
These insidious people are the same that criticized Bush and Clinton for skipping out. Go tell someone who cares.
I stand behind my comments. And as for Iraq, I’m not going to cry for kids inculcated into a life of crime and terrorism, who show up with their families to bury roadside bombs and fire RPGs.
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Once again-He did his service. He was never sent into battle. And this is a bad thing? Whats your damage?
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If you are going to come here, you will treat me and my readers with the respect we’ve all earned or I’ll ban you. Period.
Your last comment I deleted as it was filled with expletives and complete drivel. This one suggests that my opinion demonstrates I am suffering some “damage.”
You are not welcome to come here and play ‘Happy Asshole’. Understand that.
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Perhaps another perspective on all things 911. My friend is in Afghanistan serving with the RCMP attached to a NATO base. Last Sunday a suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside the gates of the base. No servicemen were killed but…
http://www.shareplanner.com/news/opinion/12068-the-story-of-parwana.html
The piece was written by a US Soldier, very well written in my opinion. My friend shared it with me, and so I’m sharing it with all of you.
Afghanistan is an ugly country and this is sometimes an ugly world. I have highest respect for everyone serving over there. These are not bloodthirsty knuckle-draggers bent on killing people. These are our friends and neighbours trying to make things just a little bit better.
Remember that.
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May God bless you and him.
A wonderful story.
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Alex,
Thanks for putting into words what we all felt on 9-11.
As a veteran who served during war time I understand Richard’s use of the word ‘fortunate’ although I never felt that way. Rather, I live with survivor’s guilt and I think of guys I trained with that never came back while I’ve had a wonderful life.
His comments about stopping all war show a certain naivete and his remark about the use of special forces as opposed to bombing demonstrates a lack of battle tactics as well as the realities of war. Perhaps he was in the RCAF or the Navy. Nonetheless, I respect him for serving and while I disagree with him he has the right to express his opinion which is what separates us from the people he seems so worried about.
That and all of the other rights we enjoy have been paid for with the lives of soldiers, sailors, & airmen because there is only one way to deal with cruel tyrants whether they be Nazis, Communists, or the Taliban. The fact that Richard can walk around freely in downtown Vancouver today enjoying diverse food & culture was made possible only because the United States, Britain, & Canada weren’t afraid to stand up from time to time and use the sharp end of foreign policy to preserve his freedom.
This week’s events in Lybia should remind everyone that the threat to our way of life has not diminished. In fact this threat is, in my opinion, the most serious that western civilization has ever faced and the only thing more dangerous would be spineless leaders who lack the will to do what must be done.
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Thx Bob.
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I don’t have to agree with politicians playing with service men’s lives as though they were a throw of the dice. It’s hard to see black vs. white in a world where so many turn off reason as a way to communicate. People have died in a war. This is because of the beliefs that these soldiers held dear. Things such as personal freedom and a desire to see the world without strife. This includes listening sometimes to our critics. I hope that we can look at things with a perspective that allows us to see our own limitations and act on them. Personal improvement should be something we all look for. PS.. If you are looking for reason, don’t look for any in the Afghan war it won’t be there.
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Oil reserves drive the Western world’s military vision, rather than the pursuit of freedom and decency.
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I dont’t believe that for a minute. Yet another conspiracy theory.
If that was the case and the excuses were so flimsy, then they could have gone after Saddam much earlier.
Conspiracy theory, pure and simple.
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Alex,
Time for a trip to the North Shore … meet you for coffee?
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Sure. Next week some time.
Contact me privately, please. agtsakumis@gmail.com
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Its nice to read about the movement a foot to “house clean” both center right parties because contrary to what my NDP friends say an NDP victory does not unify the Province.
Regarding Sept 11: For me the most vivid memory was the aircraft flying into YVR. At the time I lived on the flight path into YVR and watching the absence of aircraft in the sky for a week afterward was a chilling reminder of how the events of that tragic day touched me in a small insignificant way.
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Indeed. Bless you.
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All I have to say to those businessmen plotting a coup is: For heaven’s sake, give us a view of a smokin’ hot BCLibabe.
*No plastic surgery on her like some woman we’ve all suffered through.
*Must also have experience in air dominance either through punditry or as a MLA.
*IQ of at LEAST 135 a requirement.
*MUST have a clean criminal herstory but a DUI is fine. My preference did drive an Alfa Romeo up a tree I hear…
*MUST be a mother.
*Finally must have moxie to stand up for what she believes in, unlike some woman who will have surrogates steal elections and mute people from CKNW.
Sound like a job for somebody we know, love and trust Sir Alex?
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…thy Kingdom come, thy will be done
ON EARTH as it is in Heaven…
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Josef says:
September 12, 2012 at 1:53 PM
“*MUST have a clean criminal herstory but a DUI is fine. ”
yep josef, thats a great quality to look for in a leader. the complete disregard for the lives of others, to the point of potentially taking others lives.
after all its completely obvious that if you disregard others to that level… you can obviously be trusted with making decisions over billions of dollars that they collectively pay to be used in their best interests.
by the way jo… i dont how it works where you live.. but in canada we actually have cyber-stalking laws.
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LMAO!
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Having a father who drives to work when the bars let out makes it hard for me to look the other way in regards to DUIs, but in extreme situations such as an endorser of Occupy running BC I hope you understand.
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Josef says:
September 13, 2012 at 11:29 AM
“Having a father who drives to work when the bars let out makes it hard for me to look the other way in regards to DUIs, but in extreme situations such as an endorser of Occupy running BC I hope you understand.”
no josef i dont understand. I PERSONALLY COULD NEVER JUSTIFY THE VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER OF ONE OF MY PARENTS.
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What I don’t understand, is how someone should be charged for NOT being impaired (though I believe there is presently a class action suit in the works for those who have been). It is a money grab, it has always been a money grab, and many people (taxpayers) are being put out of work because of it). There was a time when MADD was seriously needed; that time has passed!
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im not schilling for madd larry. not in any way.
i do however take offence to some american right wing loon constantly posting on AGT with completely irrelevant bullshit telling us how to run our province.
i take even more offence when said right wing loon states he has no problem with a leader of a province he does not even live in putting others lives in danger as long as they agree with his politics.
and i especially take offence to said idiot implying he would be ok with others putting his fathers life in danger for no justifiable reason if it would mean he got the government he wanted.
THATS NOT FUCKING CONSERVATIVE, thats not liberal and thats not NDP.
thats a fanatic who is dangerous, plain and simple.
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I must say, Josef lost me on that one, too.
Very week balanced off comment.
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You know that only God can acede to your prayerful request.
I would not trust anyone chosen by this self appointed CONSERVATIVE CASH CABAL to be leader of any old or new party, simply on the principle that one can not serve two masters.
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Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
That’s from Timothy, isn’t it?
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Sermon on The Mount, Gospel of Matthew 6:24
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Thank you for that.
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Timothy discusses covetousness, avarice, greed and the love of money as the root of all kinds of evil. Often misquoted as money is the root of all evil. It is not. Nothing sinful about being wealthy. 1Timothy 6:10
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Tell that to the NDP.
Being wealthy is bad!
Unless you’re Bob Williams, John Laxton, Mike Harcourt or, more significantly, Glen Clark.
There are many others.
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Timothy would be very relevant to many, here and elsewhere!
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Matthew 6:24
Luke 16: 9, 11,13
1 Timothy 6: 9 & 10
are all germane to the issue.
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I don’t get it Sir Alex.
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I’m praying for you. Do you get it now???
You must ease up on the Alise lovefest. She doesn’t want it and it ain’t happening. Ever. I think someone needs to tell you that in stark terms.
And I spoke to her as recently as last week. She acknowledges she neither premier material nor interested in running for office.
But when you get over-the-top, she is interested in running for her life. Let it go, Joe.
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Watch out, AGT.
You are going to break poor Joe’s heart………
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“Must also have experience in AIR DOMINANCE…”
So, Josef, you want a dominatrix that’s a member of the mile high club… but if she drove an Alfa Romeo up a tree, that’s rarified enough for you???
Maybe you just need a better pitch, maybe this will help.
Lowered expectations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQw_caIYmi4&feature=related
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The Mile High Club! LOL!
Oh, the memories…
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You are a reliable source of intel. But look, I had to give my best effort. I had to send in everybody I could to get the Wayne Gretzky of punditry to save BC’s hide.
BC is screwed over royally. I mean ROYALLY. with Adrian Dix in charge. You know this, Alise knows this, I know this.
Thank you for your prayers bro. I got a special operation 0830 Tuesday in Skagitonia to protect my family, so I’ll sadly admit to needing them then. I’ll make sure to return the favour when you’re in the thick of things.
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NW had a friend of John Cummins on yesterday and when confronted with the train wreck of a campaign Cummins ran in Chilliwack the excuses were……….. some mistakes were made, we are new and don’t expect much right away, and blah blah, blah.
It made me wonder why, if the conservatives are running an experimental campaign “just feeling things out” and not worried about winning why are they even muddying the political waters and wasting peoples time? Cummins definitely has to go.
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I heard it.
And you’re precisely right.
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I heard that guy too – delusional!
He rambled on about nothing, utilizing clumsy lateral arabesques and mindless transparent subterfuge; it was obvious he could barely contain himself from not talking about his real agenda – the rapture and the second Cummins – oh Christ!
Hey evangelicals – We all get that your mission with the voting public is to make us all born-again.
All you did was make us bored-again!
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I was once asked if I am born-again.
And I replied, “but I never died!”
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“Borded Again” was a cliche 30 years ago.
JK
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so it has been announced today that if you live south of the fraser and need to commute to work across the port mann it will cost you
750.00$ per year for the first year to go to work and
1500.00$ per year after.
does this sound at all like something that promotes jobs or is families first?
125$ per month in added expenses just to go to work… thanks CC you moron.
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Now all the Surreys will go NDP. Just watch.
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Somewhat of a smart move by the Libs as this is only a band-aid as the fares will have to go up down the road.
What it does do is make the Dix the guy who has to do the deed and either double the cost on the Port Mann or spread it around all the lower mainland bridges. Either way is a lose lose. But if Dix wants to see the second coming of the HST debate he should select the latter, as much as the $3 fare sounds excessive making people throughout Metro Vcr start paying tolls will be political suicide.
The fault actually rests with civic official south of the Fraser as Falcon did mention a $3 fare back when project started and if there was a concern they should have raised it at that time and not waited for the bridge to be built to start complaining.
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A Hail Mary Pass if there ever was one….
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“The fault actually rests with civic official south of the Fraser as Falcon did mention a $3 fare back when project started and if there was a concern they should have raised it at that time and not waited for the bridge to be built to start complaining.”
BS greg. the highways in this province are the responsibiility of the provincial government. THEY decide how it is paid for. the provincial liberals are the ones who decided to put a 500 milion dollar roof on BC place rather than do a cheaper replacement and put that money towards the bridge. they are the ones who decided to put billions into a road to a nearly bankrupt ski resort and not toll that…. yet they toll the bridge thousands of working class people take every day.
funny how people who use the sea to sky dont have a toll…. why is that?
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some questions running thru my mind
if the money men get their way and get rid of the Premier ,,, will they also pressure their choice to bury the BC Rail deal as well ?
with BC having such low tax rates where is all the investment Gordo figured would happen ?
when will the NDP learn you can not tax yourself into prosperity
and a strong economy is the path to prosperity ?
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No. The three I spoke to today believe an investigation into at least the indemnity and subsequent deal is imperative.
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That is definitely not good enough. They have to go back to the original deal. To do otherwise is an affront to all taxpayers in this province and the fox will have definitely gotten away with the henhouse. If they conspired to have the trial stopped, then there is definitely something in the deal that is rotten and that has to be given light.
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Right, but that’s how you would address that. There’s no question that the McLean family were favoured. No doubt about it.
However, if the focus is on the deal, Basi and Virk will take the stand and all will be revealed–trust me.
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Light bulb just went on!!!! Please let’s get them on the stand…..Any how, any way…..
Thanks for that Alex.:-)
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Im not an NDPer but im skeptical of any money handlers looking to continue what we have now in any form its the money suppliers who owned the BC Liberals and its proved nothing short of theft and a complete lack of respect towards working class taxpayers id in fact say the right has waged war on middle and low class taxpayers ill take anything that changes this be it the NDP or the re -incarnated Rhinos let someone else clean house and clean up the mess , then show me an honest slate of candidates who have never had any hands in the corrupt govts Campbell or Clark led and ill look but not till a total purge happens.
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Barring a mutiny Christy will go up in the polls. Look, fear always wins in politics. We have two BC Libs: the unelected Premier and the new finance minister who know how to scare you. I, personally, know! They will scare you to death in the next months by how an NDP gov’t will cause corporate offices to flee the province putting you and your loved ones out of work. It happened in the 90′s and will happen again. Fear, fear, and fear in their eyes will move the polls. You’ll see.
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It won’t be enough. Just watch.
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theres just one problem with your theory…
the liberals will have had 12 years to make it by the time next election happens… and the NDP fiscal record was far better even with their failings.
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Right, which supports my theory that all the Surreys will be gone.
At least. Even if the numbers tighten up, without a new leader for the center-right, Dix will coast to victory.
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Alex,
I can’t help but wonder if Dix today vs. Dix some time ago has drifted closer to the centre.
In the interviews with Glen Clark, he admitted that his outlook today is different than “back in the day”. Clark (as in Glen, not the dummy) is now a proven business success. Mr. Pattison would accept nothing less. I am hopeful that Glen Clark might impart some of that experience.
Dix won’t have the luxury of sniping alternate ideologies from the sidelines. He will have a province to run and will hopefully see what a mess the Lib’s have left by following their ideologies. I hope he listens to the Farnworths and re-assigns the Sihota’s to adminstering the parties Air Miles program
Will anyone in the corporate and MSM world ever give Dix a chance? Like it or not, it BC’rs are likely to.
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I have often thought how the MSM will survive under the NDP.
The advertising dollars will be gone and the left are notorious for vindictiveness that exceeds that of the right.
In politics, sadly, this can be an issue.
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Dix’s left wing agenda is driven by his base and in his DNA. he is not going to change into a Jim Pattison because he talks to Glen Clark.
As for Dix cleaning up the province I question whether the guy is a turnaround expert and has the experience needed to fix a messy situation. If you look at his background its not there. Back when him and Clark were running the province and things were going south I didn’t see any brilliance from either of them to right a sinking ship and I dont expect to see it from Dix now. Dix’s answer to improving the economy is taxing corporations more for that extra tax revenue needed to pay for increases in BCTF and BCGEU contracts. All while business hotfoots it over the Alberta border.
On Glen Clark changing some of his tune after he got out of government, HE HAD TO. If he had taken his socialist dogma to Jim Pattison’s boardroom he would have been out on his ear immediately. It called FIFO. On the other hand being premier means you are the boss and have the keys to the safe and that same political dogma can be rolled out and experimented with with no backlash except for the next election which parties usually dont worry about until the last year. of their term
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Geezzes Jon Evan. “Christy will go up in the polls”.
“Look fear always wins in politics”.
“Know how to scare you. I personally know!”.
“Scare YOU TO DEATH!…..You”ll see”.
Your like a, sorry Alex……..A Fucking scary Stephan King novel.
Maybe Jon “Putting You And Your Loved Ones Out Of Work”. Is not a dream you had. It is the mantra of a corrupt Government. This Government.
Mr White,
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Grow up and watch your language! Who said I support this govt?
I was just commenting on the polls and what the tactics they’ll use!
Of course they’ll go up in the polls. But unless the business community finds a replacement which is my preference CC will lose esp. with a vote split. There is still time for a right of center coalition. Dix is beholden to the unions no matter what he tells the Vancouver board of trade!
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A sensible response. And logical, too!
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I have to agree she is finished.
Even if John Cummins and the BCC disappears back to political insignificance and the BCL’s have 6 months of great press and voter popularity the big question mark she has on her forehead about BC Rail will not let her have the final 4-5% she would need to win an election.
The BCL’s are spinning their wheels with her as leader.
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Interesting you should say that.
I was confronted by an old friend recently, who insisted upon telling me what a loathsome man she now finds me because I’ve “effectively elected the NDP all on your own…with that BC Rail bullshit you keep bringing up.”
I smiled, which annoyed her further.
And then I simply walked away.
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Not your fault but her fault.
Before she ran for the leadership the responsible thing for her to do would have been some soul-searching to answer the question if she could defend her part in BCR and come out smelling like a rose. If she couldn’t answer the question with a resounding YES she should have stayed behind the radio mic doing her blabbershow.
It was irresponsible for her to know she wasn’t bulletproof and still run and risk electing the NDP. Picking up the Gordo pieces was a hard enough job for her without having BCR bullets flying all around her.
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True enough!
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“AGT says:
September 13, 2012 at 10:47 AM
Interesting you should say that.
I was confronted by an old friend recently, who insisted upon telling me what a loathsome man she now finds me because I’ve “effectively elected the NDP all on your own…with that BC Rail bullshit you keep bringing up.”
I smiled, which annoyed her further.
And then I simply walked away.”
typical liberal supporter alex.
the cant see the forest for the trees… its the liberals that have gotten the NDP elected through their actions.
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She’s since apologized.
Properly.
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I’m quite certain what the majority of BC’s citizens fear most these days, is having to endure another 4 years under BC Liberal governance.
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So Jon Evan, what actually happened in the 90′s? You and Товарищ Dix might want to rewrite history, but companies, people and jobs actually left. No fear, just fact.
And I know, it will be different this time. Where do I get in line for the free stuff?
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Hey, that’s ‘Brother Dix’ to you, tough guy.
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Didn’t I say Брат Dix?
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well i dont know what happened for you in the 90′s oo2 but i was self employed making great money and going school. after school i actually had to take a huge cut in pay to start an apprenticeship after i grad’d.
did i mention i could actually afford to put myself through school because tuition was frozen and school was affordable… you know so i could go to school and have a better paying job, and pay more taxes.
you know taxes… which pay for the courts we have that on two different occasion in the last year have been so backlogged by budget cuts they failed to even attempt to prosecute men accused of sex crimes against children.
you know, the extra taxes i pay that are supposed to keep hospitals clean so 40 people dont die of the same preventable infection in a few years.
but hey, i totally understand why you think the ndp were terrible.
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I don’t know where all these people were in the 90′s either…clearly not adding value to goods. My money went a lot further back in the 90′s too…..you will get the same response from all the guys on the shop floor here…and trust me, we are of all political persuasions (counting apathy as a persuasion) ….most of us are long out of school, not a burden on society and have not been “standing in line” for freebies. Complete agreement on too much pay for too little value when speaking of most (not all) government appointed bureaucrats. Waste comes in the form of questionable (an understatement) deals made by these overpaid people for infrastructure construciton and disposal of crown assets. The Liberals claim to be business savvy but not one of them would make it as purchasing agent for even a small business…..where one’s duty is to the employer.
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A very thoughtful comment. As usual.
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As far as the abilities of these politicians and bureaucrats, it was Gordo’s words that still haunt me: loosely stated “If we want to attract the best, then we are going to have to pay to get them.”
Still haven’t seen a one of them that fits the billing. Most, if not all, have been just trough loungers waiting for their golden parachute…
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You smoke too much! Your memory fails you. While the rest of Canada & the world enjoyed unprecedented prosperity in the 90s BC became a half not province!
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well i guess my definition of prosperity is completely different from other peoples.
we as British Columbians used to own BC gas, BC rail, we had affordable electricity supplied by a publicly owned asset not drowning in debt caused by made up accounting practices. post secondary education was affordable to people FROM BC, creating a better future for those who made the choice to get an education.
we had a justice system that actually prosecuted people accused of sex crimes against children.
was everything perfect… HELL NO.
but if your view of “prosperity” is selling off public assets one after another and putting “user fees” on anything that is left to give tax breaks to multi-national corporations while cutting funding to public services.. i respectfully disagree.
that is not my understanding of what prosperity is.
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BC was a have not province once in the 90′s under the NDP, the liberals are 5 out of 9 years since I believe. BTW what’s a half not?
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Very inspirational story whiterockj … but how is it germane to the fact that companies, people and jobs were leaving the province in droves. Look it up.
You know the ones … the ones that pay taxes … blah, blah.
Apparently not everyone enjoys the NDP utopia.
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“Very inspirational story whiterockj … but how is it germane to the fact that companies, people and jobs were leaving the province in droves. Look it up.”
i had a job, i created that job. that was job creation… and that was in the 90′s.
“You know the ones … the ones that pay taxes … blah, blah.”
you sound a lot like my local MLA (he’s a liberal), thats about what he says when asked to compare his governments fiscal record to that of the previous governments.
“Apparently not everyone enjoys the NDP utopia.”
there is no such thing as a “utopia”, but there is a lot better than the government we have now.
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Fight about your political differences AFTER the Liberals have been driven out of BC.
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Nobody has the propensity of missing the point quite like you have. Congrats whiterockj.
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did i mention i could actually afford to put myself through school because tuition was frozen and school was affordable… you know so i could go to school and have a better paying job, and pay more taxes.
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All I remember hearing from students during the NDP tuition freeze was that even though the course costs remained the same the courses were full or not available and it was taking students 2-3 years longer to graduate which meant students were losing money by not being able to work in those “better paying jobs” as well as paying taxes sooner.
Maybe it didnt happen to you but it happened to a lot of others.
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yeah there was huge wait lists. luckily though many spots would open up when people decided they wanted to do something else when class started each year.
and allthough i would have to check how it is today, the last time i heard about the particualr course i was in the wait lists were actually longer in 2005-2006.
realistically though, if your out working allready as i was, essentially it does not matter an awful lot when you go (within reason) as long as you get the oppurtunity. myself i did not even register for school until a bit into my 20′s as i had no clue what i wanted to do for a long time.
all that aside, waiting for the call to start school gave me something to look forward too and time to save money for when i finally got to go. i think i ended up waiting one year from when i would have been able to start at the earliest… so it was not a big deal. and as to “losing money by not being able to work in those “better paying jobs” as well as paying taxes sooner”…. thats a bullshit excuse for someone who did not want to go out and work. like i said i made great money self employed while waiting for school, and in fact did not make as much money until 3 years into my apprenticeship… which is why i continued that work part time while an apprentice.
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I know this is off topic, but please bear with me. Today the BC Government announced that the tolls on the new Port Mann Bridge would be lowered from $3 to $1.50. Perhaps you, or one of the knowledgeable persons on this site could help me with these questions:
1. As the Port Mann bridge is on the Trans Canada Highway System, is there any other bridge or road, from here to St. Johns, that are tolled? 2. How does the government expect to collect from a touring motorist from Alberta and eastward should they cross the Bridge on the way to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry? 3. Should the answer to #1 be a no, is it even legal for the government of BC to require payment to travel on a section of the Trans Canada Highway?
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I’m totally against tolls. They are just a money grab.
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“… is it even legal for the government of BC to require payment to travel on a section of the Trans Canada Highway?”
Why not test this in court?
It’s time for a class-action law suit against the LIEberal government and their illegal toll.
Maybe, if as I’ve heard suggested, Harper has finally had enough of Crusty Crotch and her bullshit, he might federally over-rule this illegal toll on a federal trans-Canada highway.
Do you think there is a way to sell this concept Harper, as one where there are votes in it for him?
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I would suggest that’s already been offered to him, big time.
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Could be offered to him, but he doesn’t have jursidiction on highways specifically to the point that he would be able to by legislation stop the tolls. If that were true, then he could possibly remove the tolling from the Confederation Bridge which links two provinces.
A better solution would be for him and his Minister of Transport to get busy with a good solid cost sharing programme with the provinces, the source would be the federal taxes on commerical vehicle equipment sales (tractors, trucks and trailers), plus motor fuel taxes, and in addition to inter-provincial trucking road use taxes that also exist.
The revenue from that plus improved cost sharing of the Trans-Canada Highway maintainace would greatly ease the burden of potential tolls on inter-provincial primary highways.
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Apparently there always has to be a free alternative to tolls on Hwy 1 so the one they are offering up is for westbound cars getting off at 176th and taking the new Perimeter Road being built to the Pattulo bridge and then rejoining the freeway at the Brunette interchange. Their claim is that this will not be any more time that it currently is now with a congested Port Mann. Many might not buy this but that is what they are saying. Go to link and scroll to near the bottom of the page.
http://www.pmh1project.com/info-centre/faq/Pages/Port-Mann-Bridge.aspx
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Against tolls and pipelines! Where’s the money going to come to pay for the bridges, pensions, and health care? Where?
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By cutting the incredible amount if waste in govt. You should hear what I hear, and that’s just about Christy ‘s office…
The Ministries are LOADED with hundreds of millions in waste.
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Still wouldn’t be enough on a bilion dollar bridge or other large infrastruture project,.
Where the costs come in is basically just waiting too long for the solution to start to be built. Should be an ongoing thing, keep the costs of improvements down, and yet still provide good paying jobs for the boys and gals on the constrution site, plus the suppliers.
It’s a big problem. Build a big project, wait 15 to 20 years and start another one. The best example is Skytrain. Should have started the next part once one was completed. In other words, Kevin promised the Evergreen Line would be started in final design and start in construction at the same time the Canada Line was but that didn’t happen.
By now it should be the line extension out to Surrey with the route proposal phase starting on the Broadway Line.
I agree with your point there are many parts of government esp. on the political end that need to be dumped.
The NDP will have to be careful not to repeat that kind of wasteful spending.
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Truthfully, the Port Mann and Golden Ears, etc., could all be dealt with through efficiencies in spending and taxation. I
But these are the BC Liberals! They’re great at it, right? Right?! RIGHT???
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Partially. I would blame the BC Liberals, but not exclusively. Over the past 40 years there has been a huge lack of insight on infrastructure, no vision to “build ahead” to meet future demands. Taxation to reley on Big Builds such as the Port Mann can be easily set, but to what expense? People are taxed literally to death as it is.
Consider that at least your Bill VanderZalm and Rita J had the goal of extending Skytrain into Surrey, but they should have started the Coquitlam line when it was advocated for.
As for the Golden Ears Bridge, it is not a Province project, but rather solely with Translink. Translink was originally brought out by the NDP not the BC Liberals. It’s a textbook case of being in-efficient in many ways, but the BC Liberals have done very little to fix it. So hence the current dilemma of their not meeting public transit demands.
The Port Mann Bridge? It’s not technically a new project, it’s a replacement that should have been done in the late 1980s. It could have been something VanderZalm could have started after the Alex Fraser Bridge was completed.
So yes the BC Liberals, but I also put alot of blame on the NDP, and a bit on BC Social Credit.
I also put blame on the federal Liberals, and now the Conservatives for not coming out with a national highway infrastructure cost sharing programme that would be equivalent in scope to what one sees in the United States, and other places such as Germany and Australia.
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“Over the past 40 years there has been a huge lack of insight on infrastructure, no vision to “build ahead” to meet future demands”
I agree Seymour, the government at most levels lack the foresight for future needs and generations. An interesting story my co-worker shared with me about 10 years back. He met up with this elderly gent that he was taking back to George Derby Centre. The fellow spoke of his working career as an engineer of some sort before his retirement. He was tasked with the design and build of TCH from the Second Narrows thru to 176/ 200 St which included the Port Mann Bridge. He and his team toiled to create a presentation for their bosses that showed the Port Mann’s original draft as a 10 lane super-structure. He told my buddy that they were pretty much laughed out of the room with remarks such as: ‘do you realize in what is on the other side … it is Surrey! There is nothing but farms and sawmills out there! In nobody’s lifetime will there ever be a need for a bridge like that! Now go back to the drawing table and make us a 4 lane bridge’ to which they did and the original Port Mann Bridge was built at a cost of 8 million dollars. The 10 lane lane super-structure that would be still relevant for todays needs was priced at 13 million to essentially have what they are building today for over 3 billion and tolling it too boot to pay for it. Just imagine a government or governments that would use yesterdays dollars to build for tomorrows needs instead of the other way around. And to add the closer .. when the elderly chap got back to his room, he pulled out a drafting tube and showed my friend the original design of the mega-bridge.
And a further case in point, the Abbotsford Hospital was completed a few years back for something like 250 million but the day it was opened it was already overloaded! The damn idiots that decided how big it was going to be, designed it to have one more bed than the old MSA hospital had. I am told by staff there that a number of doctors were so pissed with this that they surrendered their ‘hospital privilileges’ in protest. Sure the rooms are more spacious and the hallways are more fresher as well there is a nice cancer clinic and an upgraded diagnostics tower but hey for those that have been there, isn’t that a gorgeous waste of space in the 4 storey atrium where one can sit and forget about how long they have to wait to get a bed in Emergency?
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It’s not just provincial government. The municipal scene is loaded with management bloat and overall general waste that’s grown like crazy in the last 5-6 years. There’s only so many assistant managers, and assistants to assistants that an organization needs, especially when the 10 years previously it was all done by one person.
If there was no fear of retribution against the workers, you would see so many whistles blown at the municipal level it would sound like a train station.
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I believe it. I KNOW IT! Particularly in Vancouver under Mayor Moonbeam.
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I’ll spare the lengthy detail Alex, but would really welcome you to do a piece on how the operating structure of municipal government has greatly changed in the last 10 years, Not specific to Vancouver city per-se, but it’s systemic throughout the entire region.
There are lots of examples of processes being stuck in the stone age, like a bottomless pit eating hundreds of thousands of tax dollars a year. These types of waste are allowed to continue because of the decision makers, many of which are thinking more about retirement then doing their job. Content to cruise through the days on autopilot, why make disruptive change for the better when you can keep doing what’s been done forever and collect the cheque.
Great work as usual.
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Thanks. And we’re quite agreed.
I will make a note of such a piece and try to get one off soon.
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The reason is the low civic voter turnout.
Civic unions like CUPE have figured out that if they motivate their people to get out and vote for certain candidates as well as support the candidates with donations of money and volunteers on election day they can pretty well win the election and get their wage demands for their members at the next negotiating session from these same friendly politicians since a majority with 20%-30% voter turnout is not hard to get if you are even slightly organized and funded.
What might be the answer to increasing civic voter turnout is to schedule it with other elections like the provincial election which would guarantee a lot more than they are getting now.
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That is why an inquiry into each of these ministries is so necessary. It must be done and the NDP as well as the BCCP must pledge to do this. It is after all BC taxpayer money.
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Lorne: Regarding your point number 3, why wouldn’t it be legal? The B.C. government has jurisdiction over the highway in B.C.
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Just another form of the stealth tolls we now have on the Sea-To-Sky Highway that all BC’ers pay to a PRIVATE CORP. for 25 years or more.
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1. The Confederation Bridge is tolled. It is on a branch of the Trans-Canada Highway that passes through PEI (the eastern end of the route is a pay for it ferry). The Trans-Canada is not a true National Highway, the federal government does not provide annual funding for its upkeep but does provide assistance funding for major projects. The TCH is for its entire route managed and maintained by the provinces without any annual subsidies or cost sharing from the federal government as is done with the Interstates in the U.S.
2. There is receiprocity agreements in regards to motor vehicle registrations in North America. That means if someone from Saskabush bips the toll on the Port Mann, he will be sent a bill. The same rule would apply if you drove past the automated tolling system on the 520 Bridge in Washington State or through another toll system in the U.S. If you bip the toll system on the 520 bridge, you’ll get a bill,
It’s the same system if you get a speeding ticket from one of Sherriff Bulford T. Justice’s sherriff’s deputies in Texas.
3. The Provincial Government like all jurisdictions in North America have the legal authority to impose tolls on routes (some Interstate freeways are tolled) as they have sole responsibility for the maintenance and managment of all highways (there are no “national highways” under sole ederal jurisdiction in Canada).
Tolls have become nessesary (sorry Alex, but government cannot pay 100% of the cost of infrastructure such as bridges these days, the money has to come from some where unless B.C. is swimming in oil or the Salish Sea has alot of salmon swimming around.
The Coquihalla was tolled, but the revenue collected was to pay for the costs associated for the accelerated completion, not the entire route as Judith Reid and her stupid M.A. had everyone believe when Campbell stupidly decided to agree to the sell off of the route to private interests. That proposal didn’t last very long.
The Patullo Bridge, Lions Gate, Second Narrows, Oak Street Bridge, Massey Tunnel, and Queensboro Bridge were all toll at one time or another.
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I bet you could fund all of them if you slashed waste from the rolls.
Otherwise, you risk an immediate backlash. Over
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Again wer’e talking a billon dollar project. reduction of waste would leave about $200 m if that.
But I agree the excessive waste that has accumulated over there in Victoria and also those cushy chaired offices downtown have to go.
If an equivalent existed in a small business, the small business would collapse under the weight of the excessive costs.
I mean honestly if we have MLAs who are suppopsed to be out there reaching out to their respective multicultural communities, why does the BC Liberal Government need a Multicultural Outreach Office stuffed with a staff of political hacks? For example, why does Pamela Martin actually need to be paid $130,000k a year for outreach? I mean what exactly does she do each and every business day to earn $540 per business day? This thing didn’t exist even under The Gordomatic
never mind The Shovel or Premier Bonehead.
Does Victoria honestly need Assistants to the Legislative Assistants?
(and yes folks they do exist).
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ok lets take 200m/yr savings x 5 years = 1 billion and im sure if we really trimmed the fat in government it would be a lot more than 200m. Personally I have no problem with the government taking on debt for a few years to pay for a major infrastructure project so long as:
1) they have the revenue to pay it off
2) they don’t have to raise taxes to do so.
When i look at my pay stub and see the taxes and notice waste like gordo’s selling off the fast cats for example. we got less than scrap value just so he could earn political talking points. shit like that makes me rage and thats just the first example in about a decade of bad decisions.
Sure they might not have been worth much but they were worth more than we got. oh and I realize that was from a decade ago but I figured I’d take a page out of christy’s book and bring things up from the past.
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Or deny them! Like BC Rail!
Great comment.
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Talking about the fast cats, has anybody ever ridden on any of the new ferries that were built in Germany a few years ago? I’ve traveled to the island may times and have yet to ride on one of these new boats. Where are they?
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I ride the ferries often enough. I don’t like to fly. I believe I’ve been on the newest ones and found them great but the steps were too steep for older folks and there were too many decks, I think.
I was also surprised by the prices! $15.00 for a very simple salad and soup bar??? Outrageous.
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I’ve been on the new ferries as well and they are nice but far too extravagant for an hour and a half journey. All we really need is a ship with some shelter and maybe a small sandwich/coffee shop, no gift shop none of that nonsense its an hour and a half journey.
On the northern routes it makes sense to have the full kitchen and kitchen staff, gift shop etc but to nanaimo/victoria? not so much. So much waste so much overhead just like the rest of our government.
PS. Was I the only one to notice that when bc ferries “lowered their rates” they also separated the ticket for the car and driver so you’d have to pay for the drivers ticket separately? I knew they were doing this on northern routes but last year it was a surprise to see they did it on horseshoebay—>dept bay.
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“I was also surprised by the prices! $15.00 for a very simple salad and soup bar??? Outrageous”
Ya, but our corporate taxes are so low; just look at the huge influx of new major head office corporations racing to locate in British Crustovia!
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The are on regular service between the Mainland and The Island routes.Two are in scheduled service, the third is held back for
periodic service.
Gordo did not sell off the Fastcats at first sight. The NDP originally tried to sell them but failed. A second attempt was made, but that to didn’t go anywhere. Those were asset sales, not auctions, and when
that failed, the auction was used.
The simple reason is that there wasn’t enough market demand for them
I wouldn’t blame Gordo on that one. The blame must go to the NDP and has (as the NDP admitted to it), it was a dumb idea to begin with. They should have continued on with the larger steel hulled ferries after the Spirit of Vancouver Island was in service, but the NDP true to form, didn’t see the benifits of doing that.
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I do wonder where the “gentlemen had lunch”? It might have helped, if they are planning the province’s future, they take a look at what children are eating in schools in “at risk areas”.
We have to very large problems in b.C. One is B.C. has had the highest rate of child poverty in Canada for 8 consecutive yrs. Problem 2, the government can’t get hospitals clean so people don’t die of “il deficle” while in hospital from infections they didn’t have prior to being in hospital.
We need to keep the enviornment in some sort of decent shape for future generations.
I am always a little skeptical when politics is “arranged” but hey if they come up with a good candidate, one who will take every citizen’s concerns into consideration, who knows……
In my opinion there isn’t anything in the lieberal party which is suitable. They all sat around while things tanked. I guess that means if we could clone a combo of Carol James, Carol Taylor, Olga Illich, Peter Ladner, Joe T., Horgan, Farnsworth, & Diane Watts, we might have a really good candidate. given this isn’t going to happen, I will vote NDP. well I”m a leftie anyhow.
The right needs to get its act together because we do need people to have a choice when they vote & without a good opposition democracy doesn’t work all that well. I just hope whomever gets the nod does something about the child poverty & the dirty hospitals because if they can’t do that, then they shouldn’t be running a government.
It will be somewhat entertaining to see what happens because I don’t believe CC will give up her current position. I think she is just going to sit there & wait & collect all the perks until its the end of the term. She knows she is finished within the party but there isn’t much to make her leave. They can refuse her funding but if she is out of politics anyhow after an election, why leave early, unless there is something very beneficial. I don’t see that happening either. Which one of the “gentlemen who lunch” is going to pony up a mil or so to give to her. I’d just let the party go into defeat & start using the mil towards rebuilding a new one.
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All it would take is a handful of liberal MLAs to not show up for a confidence vote.That would be a huge slap in her chubby face. The embarrassment would be monumental IMO. However, I won’t hold my breath. In for a penny, in for a pound.
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You continue to beat the same drum. Bill Whittle on poverty:
http://www.youtube.com/v/OkebmhTQN-4?version=3&hl=en_US
I know, it’s different here.
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Sorry Alex,
I know you don’t like off topic comments. I think you should have a rant section on your new site.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Christy+Clark+cabinet+keep+life+affordable+families/7196485/story.html
One of the party’s has to ask CC how she has made life more affordable since she stole office!
Some things that I pay more for now!
Hydro
Gas
Insurance ICBC
Property Tax
I don’t use the Toll bridges, but you may!
MSP
HST on everything
I know we need to pay taxes to have a province to serve all, but call it what it is “Taxation to death through government waste and over spending”
IPO, Big O party, Golden pensions and high wages, Top heavy management in every area of government and crown corp, Big corp sweet tax deals, Wasted money on blocking access ie.. BC Rail, IBM, and on and on! all this shifted to us via fees and taxes. This is making live affordable for the average joe’s family!! PLEASE
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Christy is shameless, as are her people who concocted this absurd media stunt.
She was no more sincere in that letter than I would be in sitting through a Michael Moore movie.
It was designed for this precise type of release. Pathetic.
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Can’t access the column because I used up my freebies alottment and would have to subscribe, so no more Sun for me (spoken in the tone of the Soup Nazi). Or the Province either.
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I haven’t had the opportunity to check this site out for awhile but I am very disapointed. This site used to be open to people of all political beliefs. But now I see it has changed to another site of CONS who spend most of thier time attacking the NDP. I can get that on Global, The Province, The Sun, etc – so what is different here?
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Really? Well, then you don’t read very well.
I get a ton of NDP traffic with lots of comments. It also depends on the posts I put up. Just because I’m reporting that Christy might be replaced and that this would challenge the NDP’s chance of winning (and it would) doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with that, or that I will like the replacement.
If I’m supportive of the Prime Minister in his quest to shove Quebec into line and protect the rest of us, it doesn’t mean I Agree with his stance on the pipeline or the shutting down of the Coast Guard station either.
Because I support Romney over Obama, doesn’t mean others don’t have the right to come here and explain what Obama has done in four years (that would be a very short sentence, likely one word: ‘Nothing’).
If you think this should be a forum about right vs. left, it’s not and never has been. It’s your choice to be here, but if you don’t see the vast difference between what we do here and the MSM, then I can’t help you.
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get off the pipe bruce. alex offers everyone the chance to speak. unless you are a crazy mass murderer, even then he lets get in one post which is more than can be said about global, the province, the sun, etc. unless you like hearing, reading about all the ass kissing that baldery, palmer etal.,do for the unelected lair. the msm is about selling ads and ass kissing. don’t like the site do tough, lots of things i don’t like either, go away. but do yourself a favour and put down the pipe now and open up your eyes.
the truth is on this site.
go alex go
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Bruce A,
I come here because of the firmly supported information that I can find here. Information that is available to the mainstream media but they are willfully blind to and refuse to report on – ostensibly for partisan reasons. The BC Media (and national) show contempt for democracy.
As for political leanings, these pages look like a drunken forest. Not a bad celebration of democratic expression. I have never been an NDP supporter and would say that I was a capitalist. I can’t support what capitalism, particularly in BC has become where they have been feasting off the teat of province and her resources all while milking the middle class with fees while they enrich themselves with tax cuts. Over the long term, all third worlds that wish to get out of it want a middle class. The BC Liberals have been waging more than a decade of warfare on that middle class with the seeming intent of turning BC into a third world shithole that wishes it had a middle class.
Also, the potty-mouth filter for comments here is more relaxed.
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Bruce, you need to look at the issue here. It has little to do with one form of government over another. What it is about is the substance. Belief in standing for something. The current government only cares about themselves. Not the people. Not small business. Not the fact that they have given upper level management enormous raises. Not the fact that the Liberals have ignored British Columbians over the Carbon Tax or the HST or the Smart Meters. It has ZERO to do with how you perceive individual politics. It has everything to do with how the current intrusions of the current Government has played things (More government intrusion and less interference with their “cronies”).
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Listening to Sean Leslie shovelling the Liberal press release on the deficit out the door, word for word, is just pathetic.
These Liberals refuse to take the blame for any of their mismanagement of the province’s finances, and the MSM refuse to challenge them on it.
The bleeding continues, and one wonders how anyone can still support this government based on its performance. Simply put, not fit to govern.
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it wasnt just him it was all the media. Not one outlet delved into why there was another massive deficit AGAIN when it was going to be balanced. I can only imagine how bad things really are if this is their pre-election budget projection….
I want to say I cant believe nobody reported on the fact that our provincial debt, including deferred accounts is increasing at massive rates that the socialist hordes in the ndp could only dream of getting away with but I can.
No reporting at all either copy/paste “journalism” or reading the liberals pre-written script. I seriously feel like we have imported the north korean/chinese media to report for us.
Nothing is wrong, all is going as planned, all hail her “honourable” BAHAHAHA christy clark..
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I listened to John McComb this afternoon and he detailed how the Leberals made BC a have-not province for 5 out of their 12 years in power while the NDP during the 90′s were a have-not province ONCE.
The NDP ran deficits for 8 or so years, but only had at debt of 20 some billion when they left.
The Liebs are gonna leave BC with a 66+billion dollar debt and more with the news of more than their ‘guestimated’ deficit.
So much for hoew these Liebs can handle the business of gov’t better than the NDP.
The only way to stop the theft of taxpayer dollars is to make the elected ‘officials’ responsible for their mistruths and thefts by taking away their pensions and jailing them when caught in malfeasance.
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BC fall sitting may be cancelled again .Democracy or dictato /non open and transparent.Families first.? how about 24k pensions first, on both sides.
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I would love to see a column on what it costs to run the legi,considering nobody does any business there it must be costing us a fortune to keep a building no one uses.
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Christy reminds me of a child playing house, but she doesn’t play fair or nice.
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Heather, oh Heather. The Unelected one is not playing nice, your right
The House is OUR backyard….To forever pillage is HER Direction.
If She is a nightmare…………Wake Up!.
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Fully awake here, unfortunately the nightmare is real!
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It will continue with the NDP.
Be here when it comes.
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That was funny. I will be here when it comes’
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Right again, it’s madness.
Mr White.
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The ‘bad news’ quarterly report by de Jong concerning the province’s financial position probably does not include the impact of Independent Run of River projects on BC Hydro’s bottom line (another Liberal boondoggle) and other crown corporations losses. If those were included, the bottom line would be even worse. And rather than encouraging all out development of Northeast gas at a time when world prices are so low (and royalties), wouldn’t it be prudent to slow things down until world prices rise and, along with prices, royalties? And time to put a halt on the Site C Peace Dam until it is really needed, or let NE gas produces and Prince Rupert and Kitimat LNG plant operators fully fund it if they really need the power. I don’t know if the NDP can do any better, but the Liberals have to go anyway and give someone else a chance.
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Nothing some creative accounting can’t fix!
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LOL!!!
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Ok, Here’s something new. I just heard that Ashton (Penticton’s Mayor) may decide to go for Barisoff’s post. All I thought was ….Ha, Ha, ha …
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PS we just had Jobfest in one of the places where I reside and all I could think was…what a colossal waste of money this ridiculous PR stunt was. I may not have been as jaded walking in as I was when I left to be sure.
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Well we pay a 10cents a litre federal gas tax that taxe hundreds of billions every year out of BC to Ottawa supposedly for roads and infrastructure but it probably goes right into general revenue like the EI money. We could use that money because we have already paid for the bridge over the last 6 or 7 years . How about those apples.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/advocacy-group-files-complaint-over-bcs-record-on-freedom-of-information-requests/article4542769/
For those that missed it, I thought I would share this link. Don’t you just love Clark’s promise of an open, transparent government and her dramatic statement that her winning the Liberal leadership race would usher in a new era of doing politics in British Columbia?
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The way I see it is BC will continue to go nowhere but around in boring, unproductive same-old same-old rapidly spiralling downward circles until many more of its citizens take their right to vote much more seriously.
The BC Liberals were voted into power by the majority of BC’s voters 3 consecutive times.
As such, the BC Liberal Party does not top my list when it comes to a group of people in BC I am most disappointed about.
For me, they come in (a distant) second.
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And now there has be an offical announcement that there will be no Fall sitting of the Legislature>
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/09/13/bc-no-fall-legislature-sitting.html
No doubt the Libs will use every means conceivable until next spring to try and resurrect their pathetic “brand”, including Coleman’s sale of LDB (without transparecy) or a objective business case (have to make up the budget shortfall somehow). Alex, if Christy wanted to push back the election date, with no fall sitting, would she have to recall the Leg to amend the BC Constitution Act or wait until the early Spring sitting and do so with the introduction of the 2013/14 Budget?
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I suppose she could alter or change the legislation at any time, although, from a strategic perspective, she’d be better off moving on this sooner as opposed to later.
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meat
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