NOTHING that has come out of the AGM for the so-called workers party, shows they are once again going to be the champions of the working class
This weekend, the BC NDP held their annual AGM in Victoria. While reading up on it, I diverged for a few moments to look back on comments, and posts, from earlier this year. That little side trip led me to come across
these words from my friend, and BC political colleague, Ben
Besler.
Read what he had to
say, and then tell me whether you agree, or don't, that NOTHING really has changed
" ... they (the BC NDP) have become a party on cue to simply state “no” when the other says “yes”.
They at one time were the labour party. A party of the working class. A party that stood for better employment opportunities and fair wages. Now they are running amok, appeasing the lunacy that the environmental apparatchiks have become.
Killing jobs, stopping progress. They have partnered in solidarity with folks that do everything in their power to bring ruin on the job seeker and the middle class.
They stand in the way of progress for the iron worker and his blue collar brothers and sisters who - I might add - are the real progressives.
They (blue collar workers) are the heart of this province.
They are the real builders of this province, and they have found no solidarity from the party that simply pretends to have their back.
The NDP have become a weather-vane of double speak. Untrustworthy. All talk, no action.
Are the free-enterprise working-class up against the wall in British Columbia? What do you think?"
I do agree with Ben that blue collar workers -- the ever shrinking middle class -- are up against the wall.
Sawmill
jobs by the thousands have been lost ...millwrights that could be working on
pipelines are idled ... bridge-workers are idled ... thousands of workers in
the Peace River are (and have been idled). Few if any new mines are being developed. Entire rural and northern communities are on life support.
The BC
NDP -- and their Green Party allies ARE NOT friends of the middle class, blue collar, workers. They once were -- BUT NO MORE.
And the
BC Liberals are doing little more than proving themselves to be allies with
Justin Trudeau's federal Liberals. Nearly all candidates for the leadership of
the party come from the capitol "L" side of the party
And
again and again, they simply proved themselves to only pay lip service to the true small
'c' conservatives that have supported them, only because they
had no other option.
Christy
Clark (herself a Capitol "L" federal Liberal) proved that (and with the tacit
approval of the upper echelons of the BC LIBERAL Party) by being happy to say and do
anything to try and stay in power.
Thank
goodness she was thrown out on her butt. Sadly however, the BC NDP, propped up
by the Greens, took over.
A true
working class party with small 'c' conservative ideals, was the Reform Party of
the 90's -- one truly aligned with blue collar workers. I know this because I myself was a blue collar
worker (sawmill and mining), and had been both a shop steward and bargaining
unit representative. I and many others
of the same background joined the Reform movement and came on board.
These
were workers who knew where the wealth of the province came from, who made good
wages, could afford home and families, and who could send their children to
schools of higher education.
These people, men and women across the province, need a home once again!
 |
| The signs say, "Working for You". The truth is, they are not working for the blue collar middle class |
This weekend, the so-called
workers party, the BC NDP, had their AGM in Victoria.
NOTHING that has come out of the AGM,
shows they are once again going to be the champions of the working class -- the middle class -- the blue collar workers.
NOTHING!
If
British Columbians want to have a prosperous province once again -- and NOT one
saddled with burgeoning debt ... low pay entry level jobs ... no additional
money for schools, health care, and seniors (just to name a few) -- then the
status quo of the past couple of decades must end.
Change
has to happen. That's what I think any way.
What
thoughts do you have on the matter? The floors yours, and I'd love to
hear from you!
In Kamloops, I'm Alan Forseth.
In Kamloops, I'm Alan Forseth.
Alan I will comment from a conservative/libertarian view on this statement "Sawmill jobs by the thousands have been lost"
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of factors about loss of Sawmill jobs that the public either doesn't understand, or that the Media inflames without factual basis. So lets look at the Government Disposition of Tenure and Timber Supplies and other factors that are based economic/social/environmental
1) The Forest Industry and BC Government are still using Forest Tenure system that was based on the Socialist Province Building Policies of WAC Bennett(except for the removal of Appurtenance or Social Licence connecting Timber supplies to Processing Facilities) - with More than 49% or 34 384 810 cubic meters under the control of the Top Ten Major Licencee's at the current Provincial Allowable Annual Cut(AAC) of 69 571 429m3 (Which will continue to decline) Concentration of Corporate Control ENABLED by Provincial Governance and lack of "engaging" Free Market Principles to enable a Open/Free Market for Crown Timber- especially in the Interior of BC.
2) Changes to the Forest Act in the context of changing the Interior Scaling and Grading system to "appease" the US lumber producers and the Softwood Lumber Agreement, I'll explain, before the Mountain Pine Beetle Disaster, The Major Licensee's in BC Interior were able to utilize/capitalize on declared "endemic" Grade 3 Volumes derived from Cutting Permits- containing Timber such Lodgepole Pine, Douglas-fir and Engelmann Spruce- they only payed .25$ per cubic m3 to the provincial coffers and that volume was bonus to the AAC- we are talking millions of cubic meters of bonus Dead and Dry Timber that could and did produce High Quality Building Logs to Stud lumber for the US lumber market.
3) Advances in Canadian Sawmill Technology have also contributed to substantial losses of sawmill jobs, A Dimension Mill that could run 2 shifts in 1999 on 500 000m3 now needs 750 000m3 in 2017 to sustain 2 shifts and will still have job losses due to automation.
4) Aboriginal/Environmental/Social and other demands on the Forested Land Base also causes disruptions and loss of accessible timber supplies- keeping in mind that the transfer of Forest Tenure to Aboriginal, Woodlot, Community Licencee's can be beneficial for all British Columbians directly involved in the Forest Industry if managed properly.
5) The lack of a real Small Scale Salvage Strategy and needed change to Forest Act for Interior BC to fully utilize the remaining volumes of Mountain Pine Beetle(MPB) damaged Timber- once again concentration of Corporate control over Public Timber supplies has and will continue to deny small business loggers opportunities for the current underutilized Timber salvage volumes and with the major fires of the summer of 2017, time is of the essence with all salvage operations!