Without reporting anything on the BC Liberal HQ purge beyond the party line, Vancouver Sun reporter Jonathan Fowlie provides the pols an uncritical platform to assure us that all goes well in la-la land, Clark’s senior staffer to run B.C. Liberals 2013 campaign cleanup “[Newly appointed campaign director Mike] McDonald
Continue readingTag: BC Liberals
Northern Insight: The car-crash-that-never-ends
Liberals across Canada are being hoist with their own petard, Brian Topp, The Globe and Mail, Apr. 29, 2012 “Meanwhile, the car-crash-that-never-ends that is the premiership of British Columbia’s Christy Clark is now apparently thrashing around to the view that it needs to scrub the Liberal brand off itself, to
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Some positive messaging from Christy Clark in BC – but that name change…
I wrote earlier this week about some lessons I hoped BC Liberal Premier Christy Clark would take from the experience of Alberta PCPremier Alison Redford, who was able to win election and beat back a threat on her right by moving to the centre and appealing to progressive voters. And
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Worksafe BC, not net-zero land
In its mandate, Worksafe BC lists a cardinal purpose: “To promote the prevention of workplace injury, illness, and disease.” Following the Burns Lake and Prince George sawmill explosions, both in 2012, it is certain that Worksafe failed in this purpose. As a result, four forest workers are dead while others
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Covering for mistakes, folly & stupidity
Palmer: Taxpayers overpaid by millions to prevent more Liberal dirty laundry from being aired in court, Vancouver Sun, April 24, 2012 “After months of delay, the B.C. Liberals finally released Tuesday a trio of evaluation reports that predated their $30-million payout for the cancelled Boss Power uranium mining claim. “The
Continue readingNorthern Insight: A new new name?
A twit from Victoria reports: I thought they’d already changed. It is the BC Christy party now, according to the LINO website.
Continue readingNorthern Insight: I’ll tell you what I really, really want
Is Times Colonist becoming BC’s newspaper of record? It might be the go-to place to follow BC current events, except for political commentary provided by that guy whose son toils professionally for the BC Liberal Party. RossK offers applause to TC writer Lindsay Kines in This Is What Public Service
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Toward a certain end
Lights are out on election night My point to radio reporter Shane Woodford in the twitter exchange discussed in an earlier post was that too little attention has been paid to the reasons why public approval of BC Liberals has dropped from a high of 58% in 2001 to 31%
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Willing buyers, willing sellers
“There are two things that are important in politics. The first thing is money, and I can’t remember what the second one is.” – Mark Hanna, campaign architect, ca. 1900 David D. Kirkpatrick of The New York Times wrote in 2010: “Private influence-seekers shower big contributions on politicians because they
Continue readingNorthern Insight: $30K+ Liberal donations involve Charles Jago
True intermediary needs impartiality, Editorial Peace Arch News, April 11, 2012 “Wherever one stands on the current teachers’ dispute, it must be recognized that it is crucial for all sides that the mediator appointed should be considered by all parties to be independent and impartial at the outset. “Unfortunately for
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Liberal MLA Bloy embarrasses the Legislature
John Horgan, critic for energy, mines and petroleum resources, spoke to the Legislature Monday about directing the B.C. Utilities Commission to do a full and comprehensive review of the Smart Metering Program: ” …during the budget estimates in 2009… I asked [the then Minister of Energy] to give me an
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Canada’s most transparent government
Ian Reid is reporting that thousands of pages of BC Rail documents are newly released under FOI rules. All but five are blank. The word ‘five’ is not a misprint but I think there was a misprint in the BC Liberal platform document that said: “It’s time for a New Era
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Serving the greedy, not the needy
Wading through financial reports of BC’s two main political parties leads me to the conclusion that BC Liberals have lost interest in honest and ethical government and are now focused on lining the pockets of friends and insiders. Private power producers, the oil and gas industry, mining companies, real estate
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Scrub, scrub, scrub
TRIUMF, located at the University of BC, is a laboratory for nuclear and particle physics research and related sciences. It is funded in part by the Government of British Columbia. In addition to directing TRIUMF, Nigel Lockyer is a professor at UBC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. So, why is
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Go away, we have something to hide
Benjamin Alldritt, North Shore News reporter invited by the North Vancouver-Lonsdale Liberal Association to “A North Shore Evening with Premier Christy Clark”, gets disinvited by one of Clark’s minions: “I’m sure you can understand that we don’t want comments made in front of a private audience made public,” said Garfinkel,
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Questions for SFU and Wilf Hurd
April 5, I sent an email to Wilf Hurd, Simon Fraser University’s Director, Government Relations, (Contact info), posing three questions: Have you issued a public statement responding to Jonathan Fowlie’s report in the Vancouver Sun stating you caused SFU to pay more than $2,000 spent in BC Liberal Party Fundraisers.?
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Has dam protecting the Libs now broken?
Ex-MLA expensed over $2,000 to attend party fundraisers, Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun “VICTORIA — A former B.C. Liberal MLA now working as a director at Simon Fraser University has been giving public dollars from his university expense account to the B.C. Liberal Party. “Documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun show
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Hypocrisy "R" Us
According to cash strapped TransLink, senior executives are eligible for bonuses of 15-20 % as part of the company’s incentives plan. Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom is outraged, sort of. He thinks a public organization struggling to fill funding gaps should not be paying bonuses. Premier Photo Op added her voice,
Continue readingBC NDP ahead of Libs and Cons by a whopping 20 percent popular support. Media: Look at those Conservatives rise!
The news, in terms of rest of Canada, is breathtaking. In a survey by Angus-Reid, BC’s NDP is not just far ahead of the Cons and Libs, but gaining with 43 percent popular support while the the other two parties are tied at 23 percent. The rising predominance should be
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