Thoughts on BC Politics and More

A BC Conservative Party Annual General Meeting is about to get underway this Saturday (September 30th) in Langley.   The last AGM I attended for the party was four years ago -- and it was also held in Langley.   That was the one just months before the 2013 Provincial Election -- and the one that spelled the end of the party fortunes, which until then had them neck and neck, in the polls, with the BC Liberals. A lot has happened since then, and while nothing is perfect, there are a number of people working hard to rebuild the party, and former members (who left for a number of reasons) are beginning to rejoin the party, along with many new ones. Policy -- principles -- beliefs are the basics needed to create an entity -- it's the people who lead it however that can create -- or destroy that said entity. What draws people to the BC Conservative Party are a belief in low taxes, small government, and efficient service delivery. Party spokesp...

I have just struggled through Cheryl Ashlie's column ( MacDuff’s Call: A political novice with a sizeable ego ), in the Sept. 22 edition of The Maple Ridge News. To say the least, Ashlie's comments are naive and show just how totally out of touch she has become with political reality. Ashlie lauds the decision of Darryl Plecas to accept John Horgan's invitation to become the Speaker of the House, a move described by almost everyone else as self-serving and a betrayal of the trust of the constituents who voted for him. Ashlie claims Plecas' turncoat move will help provide good governance but in making this claim, she fails to explain how he will achieve this lofty goal.

To fund or not to fund, That is the question. Whether tis nobler to fund, thine own election campaign, or drink of the trough called gluttony, called taxpayers money. No more; and by a sleep (or until the bill is passed), to say we end the heart-ache (to taxpayers). And the thousand natural shocks, as money is siphoned from General Revenue. 'Tis a consummation (of our money), devoutly being wished by the GreeNDP  who never once campaigned on it. With apologies, of course, to William Shakespeare.   I don't know where that came from, but there you go, my very bad poetry will be what gets things underway today. Last week of course came news that the GreeNDP led by Andrew Weaver --- Oooops I mean John Horgan --- (no, wait a minute, who is in charge anyway?) decided that taxpayers would fund political parties to the tune of $2.50 per vote received.   That, my friends, would amount to roughly seventeen million do...

What do I think about the taxpayers of British Columbia chipping in millions of dollars for the election campaigns of Andrew Weaver and his Green Party?   John Horgan and his NDP?   Whoever is the next leader of the BC Liberals?   Or even for the party that I support -- the BC Conservatives?   I was honestly speechless earlier on first hearing, and reading, the news!   Friends of mine on Social media certainly had thoughts; here's just a few of them: ... I'm pretty sure John Horgan explicitly said there is no way that a ban on corporate and union donations would result in taxpayer funded campaigns ..." " ... brutal ..." "... because its so much more important that they take from everybody, rather than just those who are looking for favours ... we are sooooooo screwed ..." " ... the bull shit NDP and Green conspiracy reveals its true nature in their campaign financing rules ..." "....

While I will freely admit that my blog is 'generally' read by people who are centre-right, I actually do have friends right smack dab in the center of things ... and others who I would consider to be center left.   Mondays blog post, " At least those deaths came with the possibility of providing continued life for someone else " was for the most part accepted by all sides of the political spectrum as fairly reasonable, although one of my political friends indicated, " not sure I'd want an organ donation from someone who died of drugs.  Rest is right on ." (this individual is NOT center right :)   One of my friends however, and this individual is in fact one of my many media acquaintances, did take me to task.   One for selectively quoting the article from Kamloops This Week (although I did provide a link to the entire story) ... second that because the pills were stamped Percocet it could be said that Hickson indeed may not have known they...

DAVID CHARBONNEAU, in his Armchair Mayor column says, "Help fentanyl labs make a safer drug" I however, will continue to say, "Arrest, charge with attempted murder, and throw the manufacturers of this deadly poison in jail for a VERY LONG TIME!"     In his commentary he quotes the Dr Tyndale, of the BC Centre for Disease Control, as stating that the, "... manufacturers don't know what they're doing and they're putting out ridiculous concentrations of these drugs ."   Seriously ... that's what a university trained mind comes up with?   The reality is these turds ( I really wanted to use something stronger but held back ) simply do not care, in the least, about the death and misery they hand out in the dark spaces they inhabit.     The Fentanyl crisis really only started to show up, as a possible upcoming problem, in 2011.   Yet in just six short years it has become critical. That despite supervised in...

John Horgan has been peeing all over himself lately, explaining how he ended up in a team photo which included Maninder Gill, a person convicted in a shooting incident. Gill has been sentenced to four years but is out on bail, pending an appeal of his conviction.   Horgan said he'd be much more careful in future about who he is seen with in photos. I wonder if Horgan will apply that standard to turncoat Darryl Plecas, justifiably stripped of his Liberal membership, who accepted the NDP/Green offer of appointment as Speaker of the House. Dr. Darryl Plecas was elected MLA for Abbotsford South on May 14, 2013 Of course, Plecas hasn't been convicted of any crime but he appears to have sold out the Liberal party to pursue his own interests. Do you think Plecas is being truthful about why he didn't accept the first offer from Horgan? I guess Plecas himself didn't grasp how upset his constituents would be with this bit of treachery and deceit. D...

A post on Twitter this afternoon (Sept 10th), from Mike Hudama (@MikeHudama), stated, " BAM! Hundreds out in Vancouver to stand-up against # KinderMorgan # tarsands pipeline. BC says NO " I hate to deflate your big city -- rose-coloured glasses   -- cocooned life Mike, however, BC does not say "No" -- at least not all of BC --- in fact not even the majority. Your are part of the loud a vocal minority of people who by sheer numbers tend to live in the Metro-Vancouver area; ... with hillsides clear-cut to make way for tens of thousands of overpriced homes ... with thousands of acres paved over with concrete for all of your designer stores selling more of the same crap with a different label ... that you drive to in over-priced vehicles with huge engines that can never be driven to capacity (but still burn huge volumes of fossil fuel) ... who live miles, and hours, from work that require huge expensive transit systems to get you around ...

The opioid crisis, as government officials currently describe it, is really nothing more than a manifestation of the ongoing incompetence at every level of government, in dealing with a relatively simple problem. The Justice Institute of B.C. is about to launch yet another attempt to deal with the problems created by drug addiction. The Justice Institute course, “ Understanding Substance Abuse ”, will kick off in mid-September and it won't be cheap. Applications alone will cost $75, and the course an additional $3,000. The course is described by the Justice Institute as a 'bio-psycho-social-spiritual model which will be grounded in harm reduction .” I must point out that this psychobabble description is in the words of the Justice Institute, not my words. I have a much easier to understand description. I would describe it as utter bullshit. For the past several decades the high priests of the Four Pillar approach to solving the problems a...

It's been a while since I've written a blog post. Much has transpired in BC politics since, and I am usually one to write about my thoughts on the topic. Especially now, as we have an unholy union on the left and no voice what-so-ever on the right. Let me ask you a question. Honestly, do you think that the BC Liberals can elect a leader who can bring the common sense conservative base back to the coalition? Or will the BC Conservatives, I mean ... and I beg your new brandings pardon... the Conservatives of BC, do it instead? Well that topic is already depressing me, so I am going to go over to the medicine cabinet, pour a drink, and read the Vancouver Sun. Could it get worse?   Well look at that.   What did I find, you ask? Just look at how we protest and make things happen, beer in hand, compared to the rest of the world. “Beer on the Beach: Vancouverites plan to protest liquor laws by drinking at English Bay” Despite the madne...