Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Christy Clark, She`s Come Undone..2017 redux

 Written by grant G

(originally posted March/23 2013....Cheers)

The entire BC Liberal Government and party are in disarray, words and phrases are being tossed around like final death throes, end of a dynasty, thunderstruck, dying days, point of no return and they are all fitting though I prefer to use phrases and words like crime family gunned down, corruption rooted out, zombies exposed to sunlight melt and my favorite, ding dong the wicked witch is dead..

Scandal and organized crime, it`s as simple as that, I still remember the headlines after our BC Legislature was raided by police "Organized crime has infiltrated the highest offices of the BC Government", those headlines were more than eye catchers , it was all true and the saddest part of the last 8 years. It wasn`t quality governance or decisions for the common good that kept the party in power it was a coordinated media effort, a shielding of the sins committed, cover fire for active criminals provided by the biggest media players in the game, Vancouver Sun, Global television and cknw, a radio station that turned stacking calls and promoting red herring stories to an artform..

There is no need to highlight individual crimes committed by this outgoing organization, we lived through the violations and there are far too many to list here.

Gordon Campbell`s operation was no different than that of a criminal gang, he was indeed a mafioso godfather, vast tracts of land given away, revenue sources costing the treasury hundreds of millions of dollars permanently shifted to party insiders, run of river, smart meters, tree farm licenses transferred to corporate donors, communication teams numbering in the hundreds employed to monitor any inhouse leaks, loose lips ostracized, villified and humiliated, on call bought media was quick to respond, willing partners that abetted and enabled the crimewave to continue for far longer than anyone could have imagined.

Maybe it was the departure of Gordon Campbell, maybe some realized it had gone too far, guilt ridden members of the family perhaps thought with Campbell`s departure the cleansing would begin, a renewal, a new path forward not riddled with overt corruption but with the insertion of Christy Clark by the same handlers that placed Gordon Campbell in a position of all encompassing power panic set in, fear for future generations and the health of both treasury and Democracy set in motion a series of events leading to the demise of a corporate Government mafioso, an endless flow of leaks and information that even a corrupt media couldn`t squelch..

We already had witnessed a massive expansion of gaming under Campbell and when he departed the push for more massive gaming outfits was on, players Coleman and Patrick Kinsella, public outrage and leaks prevented these schemes from proceeding, a proposed giveaway and gifted monopoly on liquor distribution was schemed and plotted, Coleman and Kinsella again, names attached to both hideous forestry giveaways and gaming casinos rose to the top again, land, liquor, gaming and revenue streams all gifted to friends of the mafioso, even the backdown on the LDB selloff wasn`t officially gone only postponed until another term of terror was granted, or should I say handed to, by an enabling media....Only with the help of a flood of leaks from an angel with a conscience in the highest office of our province, only with screaming blogging voices, impassioned pleas from those most affected brought this reign of ruin to an end..

Organized crime is very hard to root out and this BC Liberal organization wasn`t going down without a fight, they brought in friendly fire spotters from across the nation, from Alberta, from the highest offices in Ottawa, nasty vicious well-oiled smear machines hired with public money, slimers whose sole purpose was to assist by hook and by crook in controlling and maintaining this criminal gang`s provincial death grip..

Leaks, exposure and bright lights shined open air into dark dank corners where the red eyes of cheese eating rats glowed like the embers of hell..

Christy Clark inserted to smile and wiggle, to distract and confuse, to put on a facade of change where none existed, only with the help of internal firestarters who regained conscience and soul, a one or a group that lit fire after fire in an attempt to force change and force change they did.

Winks, smiles and pearly whites couldn`t hide Christy`s inability to speak or think, a woman over her head, unqualified, uneducated, unelected and unmoving, a power junkie addicted to the sugar of fame, recognition and her own reflection..

Too many fires to extinguish, like the boy with his finger in the dam, once removed the cracks grew and grew until a mountain of water burst through to flood the town, to drown an entire village, Christy Clark possessed not the ability or skill to sell the sham, she failed at faking authenticity, female eyes were first to recognize that christy was not a mother and gender equal, they saw through staged photo-ops to see a power hungry puppet monster..

Christy Clark, she failed to win studentbody presidential elections at S-F-U- she was caught cheating, Christy failed in her power grab of Vancouver city and now she has failed again, leading to a total collapse of the corrupt BC Liberal crime family,..Two years ago Christy Clark was a radio media superstar, big salary, Government pension, huge alimony payments from her millionaire ex and now..

Today the last hopes of any BC Liberal comeback vanished, floodgates are open and the mass exodus has begun, there will be no salvation, no miracles, it`s too late, the party of crime and Christy Clark have both become,....... Undone..

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Sunday, May 28, 2017

John Horgan, Born to Lead!

originally posted March 11th 2010


Time to talk class, time to talk about a born leader, someone willing to speak to the truth, someone who puts common sense before political points, a rebel in his own party, a man who is not afraid to rock the boat, lets talk John Horgan.

It`s absolutely amazing, John Horgan made an appearance on CFAX radio on Vancouver island, John horgan was asked an honest question about photo radar, well, John Horgan gave an honest answer, John Horgan said in fact he is in favour of photo radar...

Well well well, what do you think happened next? Friends you know there are 200 members of Gordon Campbell`s public affairs team, they`re everywhere, listening, blogging, letters to the editor, spinning out the news,churning,  conspiring stories, a group of money grubbers desperate to change Gordon Campbell`s fate, opportunists, Barack Obama has but 42 members of his PAB, Gordon Campbell has over 200 members, unreal!

So anyway, the Liberals spin machine got busy, the story was sent to Canwest, the story was sent to all of Gordon Campbell`s complicit friends disguised as journalists.

Even the BC Liberals web site instantly had the story, a huge headline...Here is the headline the Liberals put on the John Horgan photo radar story.

NDP wants to resurrect failed photo radar plan.

Well isn`t that special, so in reading the press release and story on the Liberals web site...The Liberals say..NDP energy critic John Horgan on CFAX radio wants to bring back photo radar.

Then they blather on and on how BCers hated photo radar and the great Liberal party listened to BCers and removed it...blah blah blah.(In fact read the story yourself, fresh off the Liberal web site)http://www.bcliberals.com/stop_the_ndp/stop_the_ndp__learn_more/ndp_wants_to_resurrect_failed_photo_radar_plan

So now Smyth calls John Horgan, the Liberals sent the lap dogs to chase John Horgan,chase Carole James and get them on the record, of course Carole James stated..."The NDP aren`t going to bring back photo radar, the people have spoken",good on Carole James for standing her ground as well!....And of course Christy Clark ran with the story on cknw, she started her 1:00PM segment with Kash Heed and of course the topic was....

Photo Radar, 20 minutes with Kash Heed, Kash stating how the BC Liberals would NEVER bring in photo radar, Kash stated they have better methods, and apparently those better methods include 144 new intersection cameras coming to a corner near you soon, Kash Heed denounced Photo radar and the NDP....So Kash Heed leaves and Christy Clark asks for callers .....Christy primed the pump, she asked callers to tell her what they think of the NDP wanting to bring back photo radar.!

Well, I was waiting for the barrage of NDP haters to line up and denounce the NDP, but guess what, it didn`t happen, every call except one either attacked Kash Heed, attacked Christy Clark or defended Photo Radar, I was shocked,blown away in fact, Christy ran the segment to 1:45 PM,...An extra long segment, looking for those NDP haters, well friends they weren`t there today, I of course know it was readers of the Straight Goods who decided to call in, new brave voices, friends and warriors who are prepared to speak to truth, to argue, have opinions, not a lame batch of ...boo hoo, NDP bad, Gordo good, brand new voices, voices that I have heard here,contributing, screaming,crying,passionate caring people who have had enough,and I thank each and everyone of you for making the effort!(in fact,listen to the segment yourself, cue up 1:00PM thursday march 11th)http://www.cknw.com/other/audiovault.html the segment runs to about 1:45 pm
I of course sent Christy a story By Andrew McCleod of the Tyee where it shows definitively that traffic fatalities were down with photo radar, Christy failed to mention the stats, and to be fair Christy Clark did say to Kash Heed ..."what is the difference between intersection cameras and photo radar"

To Which Kash Heed responded, "lots of accidents happen in intersections" Kash Heed went on to say that Photo radar in the 90s was set up on highways, the bottom of steep hills, kash heed referred to these placements as "Fishing".......And friends, to be honest there was photo radar traps set up in the past, but the one thing to remember, it wouldn`t matter where the photo radar trap was set up,if you didn`t speed you wouldn`t get a ticket.
And typical cknw, did they ask John Horgan to respond,no, Christy Clark was trying to incite some anger towards the NDP,that wouldn`t work if John Horgan was there to clear the air,you can bet that the PAB will push this story for all it`s worth, slow brainwash, propaganda at it`s finest.
But what I find disturbing is how fast Gordon Campbell`s public affairs bureau was able to turn a nothing little comment on a radio show by John Horgan and in a matter of minutes had churned out a story and sent it out all over the Province and the bought and paid for media ran with it as big news! Unbelievable!

Is photo radar really any different then plain old radar traps that police employ today? Radar traps on the cut on the upper level highway, or the radar trap by the PNE grounds on Hastings, or the radar trap on the Barnett highway, no,there is no difference, except one, a live police officer can check for liquor, proper insurance,warrants etc etc etc when there is a physical stop, but back to those pesky intersection cameras,the same thing, that camera doesn`t know whether the car is stolen, phony insurance,a driver with arrest warrants,so in my opinion photo radar is no different than intersection cameras!And one more thing about intersection cameras,if it isn`t set up to record speed, people can blast through an intersection at double the speed limit on a green light and not even get a ticket.(read about reduced traffic fatalities with photo radar here)http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/BC-Politics/2010/03/11/PhotoRadar/
And I want to be perfectly clear, I am against photo radar where it is used as a trap,a money collector, photo radar should be in intersections,that is where most fatalities occur, photo radar should be in school zones, on bridges, in fact even on freeways but....And here`s the deal, there needs to be posted signage warning drivers that the photo radar is there,photo radar dead ahead, if photo radar was run on those grounds there would be few to none that would be opposed! After all, isn`t our ultimate goal to make our streets and highways as safe as possible? Isn`t that the main goal we are all trying to achieve.
Where was I, oh yea, John Horgan, You see friends, I hope you read the BC Liberal web site propaganda piece on John Horgan, because their story was lacking details, the BC Liberal story on John Horgan stated "John Horgan wants the return of the failed photo radar plan"......But what the story forgot to mention was the rest of the story.
Because what John Horgan said was this....I am fundamentally in favour of photo radar,I believe it saves lives, however, I didn`t like the way it was set up in the past on hills and sides of highways.
That my friends is what John Horgan said, the BC Liberals spin machine tried to turn a mole hill into a mountain, the PAB are so desperate to change the channel on the Gordo song, a song everyone hates.

In fact friends this whole affair upset me on many levels, so I contacted John Horgan and said...What`s up, what is going on.
And this is the response I received from John Horgan....
"Grant the Last thing I want to do is help the Gord change the channel. Was on my local radio –CFAX- and got an honest question about photo radar and gave an honest answer. When Smitty came calling I knew I had stepped in it. Still, the truth is the truth. I am not changing to fit the message box."
There is a place for photo radar, John Horgan is right about limited use of photo radar to make our roads safer, who knows how many lives can be saved from road carnage with some advertised photo radar cameras in place!
Recent road deaths in Pitt Meadows and Maple ridge have local mayors calling for the return of Photo Radar,police want the return of photo radar,as do our Paramedics, as do I, but not as tax collectors, but as lifesavers!
John Horgan, a man who doesn`t backpedal, a man who will stick to his guns, a man who IS THE REAL LEADER OF the NDP!
And lastly, the above story isn`t about photo radar, it`s about the speed and precision of Gordon Campbell public affairs bureau, how quickly they churn and brew and contort stories, it`s about the complicit cknw radio voices, and it`s about John Horgan not fumbling for an excuse, sticking to his principles.

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Breaking news....New NDP Leader...A re-run of an earlier post....Lets have an election !

Originally posted Dec 5th 2010


What a shocker,the complete story here.........

Vancouver Sun March 15/2010

NDP Press conference shocker, John Horgan in Carole James out
Story by Vawn Pawlmer

In a hastily put together press conference, in attendance was John Horgan, Carole James and a handful of other NDP MLAs and all the media, a blockbuster announcement by Carole James followed by a speech from the new NDP leader John Horgan.

A shocking announcement from Carole James, Carole stepped up to the mike and announced that she was stepping down as leader of the NDP, Carole James greeted John Horgan on stage with smiles and a hug in a show of solidarity , Carole James quickly left the stage to John Horgan where he made a speech and laid out the immediate direction of the new democratic party followed by a question answer period.

(Here is the complete speech)

"Good afternoon all, thanks for coming, I would like to thank Carole James for outstanding performance and keeping our party together, we are launching our new direction and policy today, I would like to start out by saying that it`s time to take back the province, the Premier from Point Grey has deceived and let down the entire province, the Liberal party has a problem in truth telling.
The stench from the BC Liberal party has become unbearable, our first order of business is to stop the HST, we are asking Liberal MLAs to vote against the HST, we are asking the Liberal MLAs to listen to their constituents, we hope they either vote against the HST or even cross the floor and join with the NDP in doing what is right.
And it`s not only the HST, we as a province need answers from BC Rail, BC Ferries, we need to look into all the dealings and arrangements set up by the member from Point Grey, Translink is in complete disarray, we are going to look into the P3s, these arrangements are costing our province 100s of million of dollars, education funding is a disaster, the per-student funding formula is all wrong, cuts in health care, the fleecing of money from seniors who built this province.
The refusal to raise the minimum wage has made BC the embarrassment of Canada, 8 years and nothing for workers, the NDP will immediately raise the minimum wage to 9.00$ per hour and abolish the draconian 6.00$ per hour starter wage, families,students,everyone falling behind, that is going to change under a NDP government, people aren`t voting anymore, we are going to inspire the youth, seniors, the hardworking middle class to return to the voting booth, and we are going to save the wild salmon, we are going to remove 1/3rd of all fish farms within a year of taking government, we are going to give the remaining fish farms 2 years to get contained on land or to adopt provable mitigation techniques, the NDP are not going to continue on this ruinous road of losing wild salmon, eagles,bears,trees,the whole eco system relies on strong salmon returns.
We are going to bring accountability back to government, a new democratic party will not sell out our rivers to private power companies, we will review these power buying contracts, we will not sign contracts that will cost the province billions of dollars, and private power contracts will have to be a win,win deal, if it doesn`t make sense then we won`t sign the contract, the province of BC will work for everyone under a NDP banner, not just cozy deals for insiders and friends of the member from Point Grey, we will enact poverty reduction targets, a NDP government will fight to make BC a good place for raising families, a good place to invest,an NDP government will plant trees and change the direction of forestry in BC, under the BC Liberals forestry is almost dead, we are asking everyone to have a second look at the new direction NDP, I would like to thank everyone for attending, anyone needing more information can call their local NDP MLA or check our website, thanks everyone"

A media scrum followed the press conference with a few questions asked and answered,.....

Mr Horgan, how will the NDP stop the HST ...." We will prod BC Liberal members to vote against the HST and listen to their constituents, barring that we will be working hard on recalling the premier and 8 other MLAs ,the Liberals have deceived and betrayed everyone in the province,from the HST to the massive deficit to all the service cuts and gaming grant cuts, it has been a total betrayal from the Liberal premier and cabinet, we will tell Ottawa in no uncertain terms we want out or a better deal, a made in B.C. tax that works for everyone................Are the NDP going to change the energy policy...." Yes, we are not going to allow private power to bankrupt BC Hydro, we are going to clear up the debate on whether we import or export power, we are going have clarity, we are going to allow BC Hydro to compete and produce new power if needed, we certainly won`t be signing ridiculous one way contracts"........Are the NDP going to reach out to business........" We will be reaching out to business,industry, but we aren`t going to turn our back and look the other way while big industry pillages and pollutes, we will toughen up the environmental assessments and have truly unbiased and independent decision making,no more rubber stamping of projects"............Can the NDP really compete with the great management team of the BC Liberals........" Ha Ha, you mean the myth about BC Liberal fiscal genius?, our BC debt has doubled under the BC Liberals, BC Ferries is drowning in debt, BC Hydro has added massive debt, Translink is a disaster, and the private power contracts that were signed could cost the province billions per year, P3s like the Canada line and Golden ears bridge that are costing taxpayers tens of millions per year, P3s that were supposed to protect the taxpayer,ultimately they are costing us too much and the public bears all the risk, cost over-runs on the convention center,Canada line, BC Liberals as great fiscal managers is nothing but made up spin from Public affairs"........Do you think the public will trust you and the NDP......" Yes I do, we are going to clean house, no more insiders club, no more Patrick Kinsella, Ken Dobell, and others that have exclusive access to the government,no more donating money to the party then to be rewarded with lucrative cash cow deals that cost the taxpayer plenty, a new democratic party is going to clean up the mess in the legislature, we`re going to air out the stench of a rotten and rotting government, a fresh new start for all BCers, I would like to thank everyone for coming out."

And with that John Horgan left the media scrum, a full report tomorrow on Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberal`s reaction.
Story by Vawn Pawlmer

The above story is hypothetical.......Or is it!

The Straight Goods
Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

John Horgan, A Man On A Mission

Originally posted Jan 10th 2011

What an interesting day, what are we to talk about, how about the leadership campaigns, last week Dana Larsen announced he was running for leader of the NDP, the pundits all laughed, then Harry Lali threw his hat in the ring and still the politicos laughed, then Nicholas Simons joined the race and still the media laughed and giggled like school girls....

Yes indeed, when Larsen announced he was running CKNW played it up on every newscast, twice per hour, when Harry Lali  entered the ring again the media laughed, every broadcast trying to incite division within the NDP, so today when John Horgan entered the race, the media went very silent, CKNW didn`t get the story until noon(They could have got the story from me the day earlier), the Vancouver Sun, the Province, they were all very late with the story and coverage, Smyth, Macolm, no one talked about John Horgan today.....CTV flashed Horgan`s picture on the evening news, Global did the same and it was no accident...

Yet CTV had no problem starting their evening news talking to Christy cluck cluck Clark and her new family holiday, yes friends, Cluck cluck is proposing another stat holiday, not that I am a big fan of business but the cost to business for a stat holiday is around $400 million dollars across the Province, why not two days, three days of holidays, 5 days, that move by Crusty Clark is so low down, of course everyone would agree to another holiday, as would they agree to tax cuts, free car insurance, lower transit fares, free daycare services, all the usual desperate moves by a sagging politician.....

The media is afraid of John Horgan, in fact the Vancouver sun is already started their slagging of Horgan...Ooooh, Horgan has a bad temper, Horgan defended Carole James,  well Horgan did defend Carole James and Horgan does have a bad temper when it came to lying BC Liberals, who is supposed to remain cool when in question period you ask about BC Rail and some Liberal lackey talks about fast ferries or fudget budgets, who wouldn`t get mad...

The Howe streeters want Farnsworth or Dix because they have baggage, Horgan scares the hell out of the Campbell store bought media and the Liberals, they know they can`t beat him, ....Can you imagine, trying to paint Horgan as a hot head...And Gordon Campbell is not?...Christy Clark doesn`t have a temper?, Falcon isn`t a bitter little asshole?...We all heard Racist Bill Bennett describe Gordon Campbell`s temper, everyone knows about Christy`s radio temper, how she cuts off callers, talks over them and withholds prizes, remember Falcon and his "Boo Hoo" remark about a man committing suicide leaving Falcon stuck in traffic....George smirk Abbott with his lies about long term care beds, a partisan hack and yes man....De Jong, forget De Jong he is already out of the race, Rafe must be on glue or early onset Dementia...

Moira Stilwell, what a waste of space, the media on mass decided to not play up the Horgan Story, the reason is simple, the BC Liberals still pay for and own the media in BC, the NDP rift is over, the party is united, Horgan wins the next BC Election whether the writ gets dropped this spring or fall, Horgan is a lock....Premier John Horgan...Has a nice ring too it!

I suspect that John Horgan will grant Michael Smyth an interview,   I realize that Bill Good is irrelevant, no point in granting Bill Good an interview, Good is weak, Smyth schooled Bill Good all last week, that performance gives Smyth the nod for a Horgan interview before Bill Good.....

You have to understand how our media works, when the NDP were fighting for a new leader the big media fell in love with Carole James, up is down and left is right, the media.....If the local BC Media can`t say anything bad about the NDP they won`t say anything at all.

That friends is why the media won`t cover John Horgan.....Because he is that good, the blogs, the internet, alternative media, the John Horgan story will start slowly and town by town, city by city the wave will grow and every where Horgan goes the public will think Horgan or Kevin Falcon for premier..."I like our chances".....Christy Clark or John Horgan....A nasty combative egotistical radio jockey or a simple man with clear vision..

"I like our chances"

George bobblehead Abbott against Horgan....Game over, folks there is not one scenario where Horgan doesn`t beat the Liberals in an election hands down....The BC Liberals know it, the media knows it.

And lastly, the personal attacks towards me keep coming, there are a few in Ian Reid and Farrell`s camp wanting to sabotage the NDP, some higher up BC Liberals(Like Brad Zubyk who is working on Christy Clark`s campaign)...There have been cyber attacks, personal attacks against me, we here at the Straight Goods won`t relent..We are going to elect John Horgan and put him in the premier`s chair, momentum, power, advisors, strategic advice is coming from voices of reason....No bad advice, no blunders, only the truth, for the betterment of the people, Damn it folks, we have never had such a talent in the NDP camp, let`s not waste it!...

The future of British Columbia is in John Horgan`s hands, picture in your mind, Christy Clark, Falcon, Abbott  or John Horgan ....Who would you trust with your future.

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

John Horgan, A Cut Above the Rest

originally posted Jan 10th/2011

Well well well, the big gun is throwing his hat in the ring tonight, perhaps our island readers will want to join his rally....The place..7:00 pm in Langford...

For those not familiar with John, he is the current energy critic for the NDP, nobody knows more about what is going on with run of river than Horgan, buy high and sell low, our rivers, our water, our salmon and now private interests control  these resources and were subsidizing it, from conversations and interviews done by Horgan, he knows this file, no one in the media is talking about residential hydro rates, home owners paying $3 $5 $6 thousand dollars per year on hydro, Horgan is aware that Campbell`s energy plan is so flawed that the net result is taxation through Hydro rates, a two tier formula that nails every home owner and the proposed smart meters, 2 $billion dollars for meters that tell you your using power...That same money could generate power, a lot of power, that is if we needed power....

There is no one more on top of that file than Horgan, ........I have been watching the legislature for years, after a while you get to know MLAs on both sides of the house, who is friendly, who is smart, who is partisan, who lies, who tells the truth and more importantly, who is the Alpha male, who walks the walk.

In estimate debates Horgan ran at Blair leckstrom to the point that Blair Leckstrom resigned, that`s right folks, Leckstrom was Horgan`s guy in estimate debates, many say Leckstrom quit because of the HST and deficit lie, the truth be known Leckstrom quit over the clean energy act, Blair Leckstrom was very unsettled during estimate debates, Horgan pounded on Leckstrom.....

Horgan is quick on his feet and is by far the best public speaker in the NDP caucus, John doesn`t harp or whine, he lays out the facts, makes his point and moves on, he also adds sly sideways humour, in other words Horgan can make mincemeat of his opponent crack a joke while easily  being three steps ahead of the competition...

Some people are talking about Adrian Dix, Farnsworth, even Raulston.....All three of those men are talented, Farnsworth is made to be house leader, a bull in a China shop, the problem with Farnsworth is, he can`t speak onTV or radio without using the words eerrr and ummm...He pauses and delays and can`t think fast enough on his feet, Farnsworth was also a little too close to some skeletons with Glen Clark...Even me, it pains me to listen to Mike Farnsworth.....

Adrian Dix, a good speaker although he is very fidgety, Dix is born to be health minister and again, the BC Liberals will punish Adrian Dix to no end over that memo he altered in the 90s, we don`t need those distractions, there is also rumour that Bruce Raulston might toss his hat in the ring, ....No offense friends, Raulston is milky white soggy toast, even his emails are soggy, Raulston has about as much appeal as a bad rash, Raulston would make Carole James look exciting, Sorry Bruce, I have been watching you for years and you as boring as ever.

All I can add is, John Horgan scares the hell out of the BC Liberals, Horgan is respected by both sides in the house, Horgan would make a fantastic leader, he`s honest, responds to my calls and emails, he knows what is really important to BCers...

I`ll have more on John Horgan a little later....

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Thursday, May 25, 2017

John Horgan and Andrew Weaver, Paths Merge to Create a New British Columbia, a Province where people come first, not corporate looting

BC's hottest political talk.....Blogtalk radio featuring Canadian Glen and yours truly...

First 50 minutes Glen discusses Nova Scotia's provincial election, they go to the polls on May 28th....the remaining 1:05 minutes is BC's Hottest political talk....Green/NDP merger, or possible coalition and just how many knives are firmly stuck in Christy Clark's back.....


The Straight Goods

Cheers Ears Wide Open

Friday, May 19, 2017

Andrew Weaver and John Horgan, a Call for Reasoned Collaboration

Written by Grant G

What a politically delicious paradoxical box we find ourselves in, paralyzed waiting, wondering who will boldly lead us to the promised land...

A minority government in the waiting, that is if one can charm the illustrious Green leader Andrew Weaver, an invigorated club wielding leader, holding keys to the castle, keys that can be acquired if the price is right.

I remember the 90's, very well, a working man could afford to buy a house with a medium income, those are the facts of the 90,s economy, yes mines closed in the late 90,s but not because of BC,s government but because of the Asian flu... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Asian_financial_crisis

that bothers me, BC Liberals spin like a wurlitzer bragging about BC's economy while making up lies about the 90,s...I had many friends who left BC to go work in the Alberta tar sands in the 90;s, not because there was no work here, because menial labour paid 100,000 plus a year in Fort Mac...jobs in BC have never been high, even today wages in BC are low, too low too survive in a runaway real estate market..house prices in the GVRD have exceeded worker's ability to get in...BC Liberals over the last decade used an out of control dark money, criminally laundering, investor speculating housing market to fatten Government's bottom line....along with fattening the BC Liberal Party bank account...How..or should as I say why did our current government allow this blatant activity to destroy the fabric of our populous cities...

If and when we have our next election, it would be nice if fake facts and fear mongering didn't highlight the campaigns...

In my world, bad governments need to be punished, "Today's BC Liberals" are a bad government, scandals galore, quick wins, health firings, supreme court loss, David Eby is still waiting for the BC Housing documents, the documents Rich Coleman refused to hand over until after the election....election is over Rich Coleman...

How can the BC Liberals say with a straight face that they didn't squander $millions of taxpayer dollars on partisan ads...our auditor general said just that last month...BC Liberals were presented 6 legislative Bills brought forth by John Horgan to ban corporate and union donations, 6 times these BC Liberals said no...BC Liberals have raised $7 million dollars from corporate donors in 2017..$2 million in the last week of the election, how can anyone believe anything Christy Clark and her gang say about campaign finance when the last week of election 2017 BC Liberals raked in $2 million dollars from corporations...

How on earth can we ever make the GVRD affordable for young working families, I don't think it can be done, not without crashing the market, crashing this market will leave countless underwater...BC's housing situation should be declared a provincial emergency, it's that bad..It will take a herculean effort to find a solution to BC's housing crises that doesn't hurt a lot of innocent people, only a government with ideological will can find a solution and with BC Liberals, a party that rakes in $millions monthly from major corporate developers, a party beholden to their financiers I don't hold out much hope..

Economies rise and fall, BC is no different, a vibrant movie and tourism mecca when the dollar is right, we have a record number of cruise ships plying Vancouver Harbour, tourists from around the world flocking to see British Columbia's natural splendor, millions coming to see nature, not bitumen laden tankers...British Columbia has so much going for it.

We need a government, a caretaker government to nurture what we have, not a caretaker that ventures into every corporate dark money venture...

"There is none more blind than those who refuse to see"

That is how Christy Clark governed for the last 4 years....dark money blind, deliberately blind, only when public pressure built did she respond with loophole filled sop, pillar to post, then only to make matters worse with a down-payment helper, an election gimmick that merely exasperated the problem, pushing our housing crisis further afield..

John Horgan has been railing against this corporate blind governance for near a decade, Andrew Weaver you too have railed against this no rules, anything goes, bad bills, provincial sellouts and environmental assault...how can anyone not be outraged over the recent governance of our province...and yes, BC Liberals have a core base of 35% that will blindly vote for them no matter what sins they commit...NDP has a slightly smaller 30% core base and Weaver's Greens have a 10% core...

Christy Clark governed so bad that even $12 million spent in campaigning and media blitzing couldn't lure in enough votes...

Andrew Weaver holds the keys to the kingdom, a kingdom that both he and John Horgan want to see changed for the better..Green Party philosophy is so diametrically different than BC Liberal's gaseous oily corporate ideology....BC Liberals want to embrace sunset industries, chase riches that will never accrue...

John Horgan in his election platform promised to bring forth a referendum on electoral reform, proportional Representation, an electoral change that he vowed to campaign for, and that brings us to where we are today, Andrew Weaver is demanding that John Horgan bail on his election campaign and impose proportional Representation through legislation, and yes, many if not most of BC NDPers want electoral change to PR...But how can one hold their head up, how can a potential new premier pretend to be any different from any other lying politician when a key election plank is abandoned for keys to the kingdom, for power...

If I was John Horgan....I would say to Green party leader Andrew Weaver....

Doctor Weaver, you railed against politicians who break promises, you talk of fairness, of keeping your word, of treating voters and all members of society equally and fairly, yet you are proposing imposing a my way or the highway ultimatum, and you are asking me to break an election promise and demean my word for your acceptance, almost asking me to bow before you....

Andrew Weaver... to allow Christy Clark and her BC Liberal gang to carry on assaulting Democracy and law, not to mention our splendored environment is not acceptable.

Andrew Weaver.... you are asking a man, asking John Horgan to make a decision, a decision to leave a corporate sick government in charge, to leave a BC Liberal government riddled with scandal, graft and in my opinion unfettered corruption in charge of caring for our still beautiful province or to bow down and accept your PR by legislation demand, asking John Horgan to surrender his word...

Andrew Weaver....you talk about working with others, collaborating to come up with solutions that work for everyone....and believe me, I understand your desire to improve government, to bring in representation for all, the goal is not only laudable but desperately needed...

I believe in collaboration too Andrew, Doctor Weaver, and compromise, I see no reason why you can't agree to a referendum on electoral reform, we can have the referendum this fall, before the next election, certainly in this wired society a 6 month campaign is plenty of time, ..a referendum campaign can start almost immediately and a scheduled referendum vote day for November 2017 is not out of the question, and if true, if NDP voters 40% and Green voters 17%  want electoral change the referendum will pass with ease, the only thing stopping this from happening is a government, a government that can last through to the referendum, for if passed, the next election will be held under a new PR electoral system....a win win, you Andrew Weaver will be on the good side of history by assisting in improving BC's governance and John Horgan could keep his word...

Pink shirts, seems they have no meaning to most...

Andrew Weaver.....I like the John, and I could forgive Mr. Horgan for caving to your pressure, he loves this province so much he may well bow down for the sake of removing a clearly corporate controlled government that's strayed too far..


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Time to End Tyranny Rule, The Case For Proportional Representation

Written by Grant G

I remember when British Columbia owned a profitable rail line, thousands of miles track, we owned right-aways, rolling stock, we owned a profitable freight and cargo rail company.....BC Rail

In 1996, in our 1996 B.C. Provincial Election BC Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell went up against upstart businessman and NDP leader Glen Clark....NDP versus Liberal...Gordon Campbell versus Glen Clark.

Gordon Campbell's 1996 campaign manager was a man named David G A Mclean...

Gordon Campbell in the 1996 election, a key election BC Liberal plank was....Campbell campaigned on privatising BC Rail, meaning sell it off...Gordon Campbell told voters he was going to sell the profitable BC Rail..

Gordon Campbell and his BC Liberal team lost that election....

before I get into the nuts and bolts of the article....here is a little more detail on who David Mclean was/is..

Born in CalgaryAlberta, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959 and a Bachelor of Law degree in 1962 from the University of Alberta.
In 1972, he founded his own real estate investment firmThe McLean Group and is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. The McLean Group owns Vancouver Film Studios, one of Vancouver's largest film industry companies.
In 1994, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Canadian National Railway Company (he was also a member of the Board from 1979 to 1986) and became Chairman in December 1994.

So...Gordon Campbell and his Liberal(Social Credit) Party lost in 1996..the voters spoke...Gordon Campbell didn't go away, he stayed on as an effective opposition leader and led his team into our 2001 Provincial election...
Campbell and the Liberals promised B.C. voters in that 2001 election two very specific things..
"We won't sell BC Rail"....."We won't tear up negotiated contracts"
Gordon Campbell won...BC NDP were reduced to three seats, ...BC Liberals denied the NDP Party status....

Then Gordon Campbell and his BC Liberal Party tore up those signed negotiated contracts, the same contracts he promised during the election not to tear up...Then Gordon Campbell sold BC Rail for a song.....a long 8 year BC Rail corruption trial ensued, ...a trial where the guilty got off scot free, a trial where everyone's memory failed, a trial that cost the taxpayers millions....(details linked below)

Gordon Campbell's 2001 campaign manager was ....David Mclean..who just happened to be the Chairman of Canadian National Railway....Chairman of the company that ended up owning BC Rail..."I won't sell BC Rail"
We no longer have a provincial railway, and we never will, it would be next to impossible to find land, a route, lay track, cut through mountains, skirt rivers, rolling stock, to replace BC rail if we had to would cost 10's of billions, in other words, impossible..we now have nothing. 
Proportional representation electoral system would have stopped Gordon Campbell and his BC Liberal Party from betraying voters..would have stopped the BC Liberals from tearing up contracts and worker's rights, ..that betrayal too went to court, the Supreme Court of Canada..where the BC Liberals lost, it cost BC literally hundreds of $million to settle that contract shredding case ...

The HST betrayal...in our 2009 B.C. Provincial election....Gordon Campbell was still there as BC Liberal leader, the BC Rail trial was still going on, so was the contract shredding case..all still going on...Gordon Campbell, and finance Minister Colin Hansen in the 2009 election campaign told BC voters that "the HST tax was not on our radar" and ...Gordon Campbell and Colin Hansen said that the budget deficit for 2009 was going to be "$495 million maximum"....
Well, after the election it was revealed that the budget deficit going into election 2009 was not $495 million maximum..it was this...

British Columbia will have a record deficit of $2.8 billion, according to a budget update Finance Minister Colin Hansen presented today. That's five times greater than the $495 million projected in February and insisted upon by Premier Gordon Campbell during the election campaign


Then, immediately after the 2009 provincial election Stephen Harper's federal government offered Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberal government $1.4 billion dollars to ram the HST tax down our throat, a tax that would shift over $2 billion dollars from corporations onto average BCers each year...
Then we learned that Colin Hansen was in talks about adopting the HST with the Stephen Harper federal Government before the election... BCers raged....The first ever successful recall campaign ensued...every riding in BC had to sign up a massive amount anti HST signatures....The people won..a referendum was called, and despite no money for the repeal campaign we won....
However, we in British Columbia had to endure the betrayal tax and pay for 2 years until the referendum was held and HST repealed...a slam dunk....BC Liberals spent $millions campaigning for the tax,,,,Wasted tax money...The people didn't speak, they roared...

Proportional Representation electoral system and we BCers would never had to pay the BC Liberal betrayal tax for two years, in fact the HST would have never been foisted on the people at all with a PR electoral system....in other words, PR protects the public from lying betraying politicians...no group of 40% can ram a corporate screw through our thumbs..

Gordon Campbell was forced to resign after his latest betrayal....That brought us Christy Clark, the new BC Liberal Leader..
Christy Clark in 2013 campaigned on "families First" and "a $trillion dollar LNG bonanza, create a 100,000 LNG jobs and not only debt free but no sales tax and a $100 billion dollar prosperity fund"
I'll let you readers decide on the "families First" part....I can tell all about the LNG fantasy..
We have no shovels in the ground, no FIDs, the market is glutted, saturated with LNG until 2030....the price has tanked and Greenfield LNG projects are not getting built, only brownfield projects, in other words...BC LNG fantasy is dead and buried..

Site C dam project....Christy Clark and the BC Liberals rammed through the Site C dam project with no business case, dozens of expert economists have told BC Hydro that the project is not economically viable....BC Liberals refuse to send the project to the British Columbia Utilities Commission..an independent body created to protect the ratepayers of British Columbia..

A $10 billion dollar project, if it's on budget, with no market for the power, with BC's electrical demand flat over the last decade, over the last 10 years, despite a big increase in population BC's electricity demand is flat....This vanity project is a political project, BC liberals spending $10 billion dollars, backstopped by BC hydro customers for the sole purpose of luring in LNG companies with the promise of free power....there is o free power, this is a $50 billion dollar project after finance charges, to lure LNG companies..they are not coming here...and even if they did...Site C power would only produce enough power for 1 LNG project....Petronas for example...and LNG carbon bomb proposed to built on the Skeena River Estuary...Canada's most prolific wild salmon river, thousands of miles of coastline and the BC Liberals permit Petronas ....On the Skeena River estuary...Thank goodness Petronas walked away from British Columbia...

Proportional Representation would have stopped Christy Clark and the BC Liberals from ramming through that very expensive Site C Dam project...PR electoral system....The legislature under PR would have sent the project proposal to the BCUC ..and a non-partisan committee would have been created to investigate the dubious power need claims...PR would have forced BC Hydro and the BC Liberals to make the economic case.....Christy Clark and Bill Bennett absolutely refuse to send it to the BCUC...because they know they can't make the business case! 
Norman Farrell has everything you need to know on BC Hydro, Site C and run of river IPPs....


In other words if we had a Proportional Representation Electoral System Christy Clark and the BC Liberals could not ram Site C Dam boondoggle down our throats...A clear concise business case for expending that much taxpayer money would have to be made, and proven in our legislature...PR Electoral system protects the public from vanity projects, photo-op projects....
BCers wouldn't have wasted 2 years doing nothing on transit except waiting for a referendum on Translink...PR would have forced the BC Government to figure out how to pay for transit...
Right now ...The Patullo bridge is at the end of its life....A report came out this year that a severe windstorm could blow the bridge down...The bridge is old, narrow and dangerous...and falling apart..

All the Metro Mayors are in favor of replacing the Patullo bridge now....but no, Christy Clark and BC Liberal Tyranny....Christy Clark and only one mayor(Lois Jackson) want the Massey bridge built..at a cost of $3.5 billion and another $8 billion in finance charges....when a Massey tunnel twinning could save the Province $12 billion and relieve rush hour gridlock in the tunnel...twin the tunnel with $billions leftover to replace the old dilapidated Patullo bridge....A win win..
And more...the reason why BC Liberals want a Massey super high bridge instead of a tunnel is so LNG supertankers can go up the Fraser River...again, monies wasted chasing an LNG industry that isn't coming to BC...
All of these headaches and the $billions of dollars being squandered by a corporate BC Liberal government...money wasted chasing white elephants...These boondoggles and boondoggles to be can be prevented if we had a proportional representation electoral system..

Our BC debt was $28 billion in 2001...in 2017 our BC debt is $70 billion(not counting Massey bridge), ..with another 110 billion in contractual debt, BC Hydro debt(before Site C) is another $18 billion..
With Proportional Representation all those BC Liberal betrayals and boondoggles would have been stopped...can be stopped...We would not have had to endure two years of paying HST..3 years fighting the HST through recall and referendum...a Transit funding referendum...

With Proportional Representation we the voters are protected from tyranny no matter who is in power..Bills and Legislation will have to be passed on merit, on debate, on research, on the facts not just rammed through by an ideological corporate government....or rammed through by a small minority..

It's for that reason why I believe it's time B.C. adopted the PR electoral system...or as I like to call it...

An anti Tyranny Electoral System

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Canada`s Cold Blank Stare

 Canada`s Cold Blank Stare

Written by Grant G

"It looks like a war zone"...Those were Stephen Harper`s words describing the Quebec town of Lac Megantic, his description is correct, yet his actions, and Canada`s actions after this crime were no different than that of a fender bender car accident...

Quebec(The Province) sent in 200 police officers and are treating it as a crime scene, which it is, how come hundreds of armed services were not sent in to assist, how come a 1000 armed forces aren`t on the ready to rebuild every destroyed building, and at the Federal Government`s expense, the public shouldn`t be required to deal with insurance agents or await compensation offers, and to be clear, trauma, pain and suffering does not need to be proved, literally hundreds and hundreds of people deserve a minimum of $2 million dollars apiece..The Feds can chase down compensation from MM&A and Railworld

If  Ezra Levant`s and Sun News media`s earlier suggestions and soft allegations of eco-terrorism were true...If eco-terrorism had vapourized an entire Canadian town and caused 60 to 70 individuals to turn to ashes would not the army, CSIS, Federal agents have locked down the town, conducted raids into environmental cells, First Nation`s communities, rounded up all the usual suspects,... what did Joe Oliver and Stephen Harper call those opposed to Enbridge and Kinder Morgan expansion, I believe they were called environmental radicals, enemies of Canada, enemies that go by the name of GreenPeace, Forests Ethics, Tides Canada, WestCoast Law, all British Columbian First Nations societies, had this crime been a result of terrorism from members of these groups would not the army and all available forces instantly raided their head offices, rounded up the leaders of these groups for questioning?

Vivian Krauss claims American millionaires are funding environmental dissent in Canada to the tune of a few million dollars, yet Vivian ignored the fact that Enbridge spent $30 million dollars on propaganda ads pushing their pipeline agenda, running propaganda ads years before the NEB review has even rendered a decision, shouldn`t ads run after the NEB(National Energy Board) made a decision, for if the NEB says no the ads are toilet flushed money, it`s almost as if Enbridge knows the result of the NEB review..

Last year Stephen Harper gave the Canadian Revenue Agency(CRA, also known as the taxman) $millions of dollars to target these same environmental groups the Federal Conservatives labeled enemies of Canada.


In Canada, conservative “charities” like the Fraser Institute are free to use the tax-deductable “donations” they receive to engage in political activities like attacking public healthcare, unions and environmental regulations (helping their rich “donors” get richer) while maintaining charitable status.
Conservatives groups can continue to rely on public support for their rightwing agenda without any “political” interference from the Canada Revenue Agency.
It is another matter, however, for environmental groups, or as Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver likes to call them, “radical” groups that “threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda.”
In June 2012, the Harper government brought in Bill C-38, which injected $8 million into the CRA to investigate charities to make sure they are not spending more than 10% of their budget on political advocacy. But the “political advocacy” the government is concerned about is the “radical ideological agenda” of environmental groups.
What the Harper government thinks of as “political advocacy” might also be called “science.” Internationally renowned scientist David Suzuki resigned from the Suzuki Foundation for fear that his science-based criticism of Big Oil and the Canadian Conservative Party’s environmentally destructive tar sands project could subject the charitable organization to unwanted attention from the CRA.



 And the result of that Federal Conservative witch hunt was one group in non-compliance, non-compliance by a hair, and that group was not an environmental group per say, it was a group called..: Doctors against the proliferation of nuclear arms:....

Ezra Levant and fellow hate speech freak Greg Renouf went on attack all this weak against every disgruntled group, Ezra was even more offensive than usual, ...Ezra and Greg slung mud, lumped everyone into one big radical pile...In fact Ezra Levant cited, talked about and lumped the Oka Mohawk blockade from 1990 into this Quebec tragedy..He picked a few lines and quotes from a magazine called :Redwing:...That`s a First Nations and First Nation Prisoners publication, that publication was in 2006 and is was funded by the Federal Government...7 years ago..The Mohawk First Nation Oka blockade happened in 1990...23 years ago..And that blockade was about a golf course being constructed on First Nation land, one person died in that blockade..

Ezra Levant and Greg Renouf in talking about the Quebec crime scene dragged the :Idle No More: movement into the train tragedy, they also suggested the G20 protesters and the occupy Canada protesters are all cut from the same cloth, all linked, the same people at all these protests, all against the tar sands, against pipelines and apparently....Trains..

1990 Oka Blockade...2006 prison publication, and more ...Ezra Levant and Sun News media`s editing room was very busy this week, they cut, spliced and cherry picked 5 written lines out of that 2006 publication, they aired one line snippets from First Nation speeches, everything presented out of context and crafted to inflame...So a golf course protest, a prison publication..Idle no more..The occupy movement was about the Wall Street crimes and bailouts..G20 protests...All lumped together in one eco-terrorism pie..

Am I missing something here...I understand that the very first reports about the Lac Magantic holocaust were sketchy, a simple unfortunate derailment, then we learned the one railway employee was less than honest in his initial account of events, then the owner of the railway Edward Burkhardt told fibs about fireman causing this accident, then he fibbed about mythical vandals, fibbed about the trains braking condition...All that fibbing meanwhile a town was vapourized and 60 to 70 people are turned to dust...If this act was terrorism or even suspected terrorism wouldn`t the federal Conservative environmental targets be interrogated, under hot lights, made to sweat, made to talk, maybe even tortured and yet...And yet Edward Burkhardt is free to roam the streets, shouldn`t his railway office been searched, raided by authorities, wouldn`t American Federal authorities cooperate, shouldn`t Edward Burkhardt have been arrested and held without bail...

"It looks like a war zone"  If someone dropped a bomb and blew up a Canadian town shouldn`t they be arrested, ...Or in this case shouldn`t employment records be searched, employee logs, executive minutes from meetings, shouldn`t authorities need to know what effect one employee trains had on personnel, how many hours the employees were forced to work each day, if this event was terrorism wouldn`t every person, every entity involved be searched, interrogated and scrutinized and if those offenders or alleged offenders were caught fibbing, changing their story everyday, altering, twisting the facts and found to be completely wrong day after day, would that or those persons still be free to walk the streets?

British Columbia`s media..Global news, CKNW, ..Even our daily papers have barely touched this story..Our (false flag) Canada Day bombing..The court appearances by the defendants, every media was there, the courtroom packed, near standing room only, and I remind you, CSIS and the RCMP controlled the bombs, they picked up and dropped off the defendants, their phones were tapped, the defendants followed and...And police agents were working directly with the defendants for months, the public was never in danger, and what I find interesting, these defendants were followed, trailed, phones tapped and had committed offenses(according to the charges) before the Boston marathon pressure cooker terrorism event even happened...I wonder what terrorism plot those two were hatching way back when..

Where was I...Yet no British Columbia media correspondents that I know of went to Quebec to cover the worst rail disaster/crime in Canadian history..It`s like this event was put on British Columbia`s media back-burner...Could it be because Kinder Morgan ads are drowning the airwaves, Enbridge ads promoting gateway and talk of many LNG plants all stacked up close together...All potentially being placed in Kitimat and Prince Rupert, and if one thinks oil goes boom and burns, the amount of energy in one LNG plant is more than a nuclear bomb...


"It looked like a war zone" 

And unlike the tragic landslide at Johnsons landing, that has been ruled an act of God, and since it`s an act of god the BC Government is refusing to compensate the victims, 4 people died, many homes destroyed and the area is unsafe, the people can never return to their homes and legally can`t, the area is deemed to dangerous, and they can`t sell their homes and the most delicious part of this event, these people who lost their homes, those other people who have homes there, they are barred from returning, these people can`t sell their homes and....

And they are still obligated to pay property taxes, and who can forget last year Christy Clark promised to fully compensate those affected, well, that was then and this is now..


NELSON, B.C. – A so-called act of God is allowing the province of B.C. to cut off compensation for residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the Johnsons Landing landslide.
An avalanche of mud and debris rolled over the tiny community of about 35 residents in southeast B.C. last July, wiping out five homes and killing four people.



Those Johnson Landing victims are getting nothing but a cold blank stare from the BC Government ....

Those alleged Canada Day bombers have their courtroom loaded with media, and each and every court date will receive the same generous media coverage meanwhile a Quebec town is gone, criminal negligence, that is mass murder by any other name....

And what theme is the media playing, the media that now receives their biggest portion of advertising dollars from oil companies...Well you know, how pipelines are so much safer than rail...It`s a good thing this Burnaby pipeline that spewed flammable diluted bitumen didn`t catch fire, or it too would have been a hot vapourized disaster

 Yet when Stephen Harper, Joe Oliver and Edward Burkhardt look at you with that cold blank stare, when Ezra Levant and Sun News media promote more pipelines as a way to keep the public safe from railed oil..

A Cold Blank Stare as Stephen Harper orders CSIS and the RCMP to spy on and infer that those concerned with the environment are "radicals..Eco-terrorists--Enemies of Canada"


What these oil industry pimps aren`t telling you is....

Even if Kinder Morgan, Enbridge and pipeline line 9 is reversed, and the keystone XL pipeline are all built, all pumping oil, there will still be a doubling of oil transport by rail over the next 5 years, the railway companies have geared up for it and now depend on that revenue..

So even though..

"It looks like a war zone" 

The only thing future oil spill accident victims will get is.....

A cold blank stare 

 The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Andrew Weaver and Dancing With the Devil

Written by Grant G

I have never voted for the Green Party but can freely admit that many of their goals are laudable, essential, vitol to preserving life on a finite planet...

I read an article in the Financial Post, it was titled...

"Dear British Columbians, what were you thinking? NDP Influenced Provinces are Where The Economy Goes To Die"

Article was written by American Diane Francis


Diane was amazed BCers didn't hold their nose and vote for BC Liberals(her words)...Diane says that gas, oil and pipelines are the source of BC's wealth, and how BC was the darling of Canada economically because of those industries...

It was at that point I tuned Diane Francis out...her garbage column wouldn't get printed anywhere on merit, or facts, even as propaganda spin it fails in the absurd, like I said, it wouldn't get published anywhere on merit, at least anywhere reputable........Financial Post, Canada's number one business newspaper..."least anywhere reputable"...

Diane Francis is educated, unlike Christy Clark, Diane Francis probably even graduated...

It amazes me, a newspaper, Canada's number one business newspaper allows falsehoods, no, allows economic lies to be peddled like a penny stock....

BC's wealth in the long ago past was derived by a mere handful of industries, forestry, fishing, mining, limited natural gas(not LNG) but that was the past....commercial fishing is a shadow of its formal self, so is forestry, since the BC Liberals were elected in 2001....35,000 forestry jobs gone.... 150 lumber mills shuttered....Mining profits today, in 2017 are so bad the people of British Columbia have to pay big mining companies' electricity bill.....BC's wealth over the last decade has been generated through taxation on residential and commercial construction in BC's southern major urban centers, not in our north...and that's not to say our northern BC populous doesn't contribute to BC's economy, they certainly do...diversification is key, ..BC's movie industry is also a huge economic driver, however, BC's movie industry can go ice cold fast, movie industry is very mobile....Greater Vancouver movie studios enjoy the perks of a 75 cent dollar...if Canada's dollar rises to 95 cents or higher, or above the US greenback...our movie business literally evaporates..The same reality exists with tourism...low Canadian dollar and tourists flock here to see natural beauty.

Diane Francis failed to mention BC's ballooning debt, a debt rising by $5 billion per year on average under BC Liberals, that too, like unfettered resource extraction, is unsustainable..

Diane Francis failed to mention that Christy Clark, and Gordon Campbell before her sold public assets to claim balanced budgets, raided crown corporations of imaginary profits....

Diane Francis talks about BC Liberals being the only "free enterprise government"... she(Diana Francis) must be confused, does she mean free enterprise or Socialism....

Tax dollars wasted, $10 billion plus for a no-business case hydroelectric dam, being paid for by dollars generated in our cities, tax dollars, ...a vanity project, like building pyramids, 1000's of workers paid to build Site C pyramid...

$12 billion dollar Massey bridge(3.5 billion build cost and $8 billion in interest charges), more taxpayer money..more socialism...Port Mann bridge, same thing, the private sector said no to financing that project, BC Liberals in an 11th hour bailout was forced to finance the boondoggle, more and more tax dollars are required to maintain these money losers, by any definition that is socialism..money losing BC Place (with a non-functioning retractable roof)...money losing BC Convention center, both went 100% over budget, both bailed out with tax dollars, all losing money,  this is socialism not the free market...Vanity projects

No business case for Site C Dam...what business savvy entity spends money they don't have without a business case..BC Liberals do time after time...therein explains BC's ballooning debt..a massive increase in BC's debt, with Moodys ringing the alarm, with others rating agencies telling us(BC) that we've reached the end of our provincial creditcard.

Business savvy is AltaGas not building a LNG liquefaction plant in Kitimat because they had no buyers....BG(British Gas)...Shell Canada...Petronas and Woodfibre...those companies all tried to make a smart economic business case, they all made the right decision...no customers, no FIDs, those resource extractors, those free enterprisers walked away from BC because no profit was to be had..and it had nothing to do with who was in power, it was purely an economic decision

Massey bridge proposal....only Christy Clark and one local mayor(Delta Mayor Lois Jackson) want that Socialism project to move forward...all other BC mayors oppose, so do the people of British Columbia....Diane Francis, isn't free market supposed to be private money?..not government make work...hmmm, and considering we have a major bridge(Patullo) connecting New Westminster to those South of the Fraser that is at the end of its lifetime, a dilapidated 75 year old bridge that could be toppled in a windstorm....shouldn't that needed replacement be priority? before the wind blows it down?

I could go on embarrassing you Diane Francis.....no reputable publisher would allow a mistake riddled column that bad to be aired, it's almost like you know nothing about British Columbia, appears you merely went to stock/archived Conservative attack ad memes as a source, your article would fail as a thesis, fail as a homework project...it's almost as bad as Warren Kinsella's work(almost)....Financial Post...only thing missing in their newspaper name is the word.... Com

If the NDP signed longterm IPP contracts that bleed money from the public year after year, contracts going out decades, if the NDP tried to ram through a vanity bridge project that no one wanted, if NDP proposed indebting BC Hydro for 100 years while driving up residential rates without a business case....Howls from the business savvy would never end..

Like I said, never voted Green, not because of their policies, not because of sustainability or long-term vision, i've never voted Green for reasons of survival, to remove Harper one had to vote for a contender, to remove BC Liberals the same applied, unfortunately, for many reasons including financial the Green Party was not a political force under a first past the post electoral system...we can change that..but not with a BC Liberal Government.

Mines, existing mines, if they can't profit with low ore prices than they need to shutter too, like buggywhip factories, they are no more....Mines need to clean up their messes, 10's of billions in reclamation and clean-up costs stare the British Columbia taxpayer in the face, taxpayers left to clean-up the Robber Baron's messes again, with taxpayer dollars, not just here, everywhere, Alberta and Saskatchewan need $hundreds of billions of dollars to clean up the poisonous mess big oil n gas left behind....Free market...indeed..

We need to make what industry we have work, be profitable, sustainable, if technology threatens the viability of an old sunset industry, so be it...the world is transitioning to a cleaner world, renewable power, some say 10 years, old industry pundits say never...if a town is crowded, fix gridlock before you expand, the days of extracting a mountain side and polluting a river valley for the sake of creating work for those who come here is over too...planet earth is finite..how many pipelines..1..2..3...Pipelines east, west, south, north, pipelines more, and more again as more workers come here..how many more pristine ecosystems will corporate greed extinct.

Old growth clearcutting, that horrific practice was halted(mostly), thanks goodness...factories spewing acid rain, stopped...on a finite earth, like a city bus...once full, there is no need to stop to pick up passengers as there is no more room...

As a British Columbian, I would like a Manhattan type project to restore our great forests, curtail raw log exports and demand value added milling or big forestry Corporations lose access to our trees, we can also clean and rehabilitate our mighty once filled to brim with wild salmon rivers..bring back the fish, bring back a sustainable commercial fishery..let's grow food on quality agricultural land...I could ramble on with ideas as to how to create a better world..

I'm a late to the game green at heart Canadian who votes in a first past the post electoral system to remove a corporate cronyism government that is not free market but rigged to serve a select few to the detriment of both human and environmental health...Socialism for Corporate Greed, that's not a healthy Government, and it's not the way to run a country,

Andrew Weaver...... I do like you personally, think you are quite clever....I've seen 16 years of lies and betrayal from these BC Liberals/Social Credit white old man dynasty...I won't sell BC Rail, I won't tear up contracts, ..IPP money losing pits, bloated infrastructure vanity projects that are never on time or on budget..seen debt rise to over $100 billion under these so-called BC Liberal "Free Market" business experts...I have also seen too many average people fall through the cracks, seen children, teachers treated as a burden, seen morality and fairness decline..seen such blatant corruption I cringe.....watched as salmon run after salmon run vanished, watched diseased filled farmed fish destroy more wild salmon..the most fertile farmland being developed, seen BC Liberals massacre our agricultural land reserve...I've seen and heard Christy Clark blather about fracking and LNG as the future of British Columbia, witnessed the BC Liberals appoint their corporate friends to positions of power throughout our province, extending corruption to near every authoritative body....

Christy Clark and the BC Liberals won't call the legislature to session until this Fall(2017)..in the meanwhile election campaign dollars are once again rolling into the BC Liberal Party...a few $million dollars more before a urgent election issue is manufactured and a snap election called, a new platform message delivered by a new BC Liberal Leader...Kevin Falcon

Andrew Weaver, you must support John Horgan and The New Democratic Party, your Green initiatives are not far removed from NDP values, very close on most issues, not the cavernous ideological divide between Green ideals and BC Liberal Corporate cronyism...black and white, Green and Orange, good versus evil.....lastly, Andrew Weaver, if you think you can make a trustworthy deal with those Social Credit carpetbaggers....

I have an LNG Fantasy to sell you...

Latest Mainstreet Poll confirms BCers are overwhelming against a Green/Liberal coalition


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open