Tuesday 26 February 2013

So which is better?.

The NDP built some fast ferries. They didn't work well and had to be sold. Gordon Campbell moored them in North Van for years instead of getting a proper price for them. They were so politically useful for the Liberal chant of "Fast Ferries fast ferries". So the three Fast Cats cost 450 million dollars, squandered, say the Liberals Clark and Campbell. A waste of taxpayer's money. Really?


Built in Germany
But then the Liberals needed 3 ferries too. They went and got them built in Germany, snubbing a competent BC shipbuilding industry and paying the Germans 430 million!

And what's the difference? Well, let's see. The Liberals simply sent 430 million taxpayers' dollars to Germany. None of that money went into British Columbia worker's pockets. None of it supported a BC industry. All of it went to German workers. For their cars, TVs or retirement savings.



So the difference is ... that of the 450 million spent by the NDP, all of it went to British Columbians! To support their families and communities and benefits. The NDP also had extensive training programs to support BC shipyards! Over 300 people got training as welders and over 200 can work anywhere in the world because of their certificates! 

And the Liberal Government today is even allowing Translink to build a new Seabus harbour ferry. In the Netherlands! At the cost of 25 million dollars! ALL of which once again goes out of BC. It could have been built here in BC with BC workers for 27 million bid. False economy to save two million but spend ALL of the money outside of our own country! A recent Translink interview ended with the executive saying that Translink had NO obligation to support workers in BC! Can you believe it?

So which is better?


Sunday 17 February 2013

Strategic action

Here's what the BC Liberals might do; 
Wait until the May election is in fast and furious mode, then you might hear the beginning of odd dialogue from the candidates, they'll start making strange choices, quote a lot of polls, and pretend to know what is best for the people of BC. Christy Clark might be the first leader of a Provincial Party in BC to be in hiding during an election campaign!
Then we might see Christy Clark suddenly step down as Liberal leader. Christy will say she has family concerns and name her candidate to take over the party.

There will plenty of back room dealing to establish an uncontested new leader, someone who will guarantee to protect the party against corruption charges, but they'll say they did it for the noble good, to keep BC out of the clutches of the NDP. And obviously the voters of BC are not going to vote for her, she might be lower than her mentor, Gordon Campbell right now, so a renewal of the party was important. 

The BC Liberals will then go gung ho into May spouting the NEW Liberals dialogue, even though it is the same old bunch all over again with new faces painted over their paper bags, but still with the 'what's in it for me,' attitude.
Some will fall for it. Many will not.
Will the voters want a bunch of old candidates who were responsible for the current image of Liberals, and the state of British Columbia? And will the people want a clean sweep. Or will Christy be too stubborn to go? Ah, it's all politics isn't it?

So who COULD be your next premier of BC?
Kevin Falcon, King of the sidespeakers?  Mary, we're looking into it, Polak? oh no John Les. OMG Kash Heed? De Jong? Bill Bennett?  maybe even Gary Farrell-Collins will return for a shot so he'll never be called to testify.  Rich Colman, now there's a worst case scenario.  Pat Bell! (joke)


Or Adrian Dix?

Which is better?

Saturday 16 February 2013

Fictions or Facts?

Taxpayer paid ad from BC Liberals: Our jobs action plan is making BC strong!

Fact from Statistics Canada: British Columbia lost 16,000 more jobs in January.

Canada ... er ..starts, um .. stops, uh ...hesitates here!

Which is better?


(they lost another 14,000 in March!)
 

Sunday 10 February 2013

current BC Liberal campaign ad

Personal TV and radio ad aimed at Adrian Dix:    Dix did a bad thing. Changed a date or something while working for Premier Glenn Clark. Fired. Owned up to it, got severance from the NDP party of 70,000. dollars. Says he has moved on. Now trying to be premier himself. Bad Adrian Dix?

I'm alright Jack.
BC Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell. Was plunging his party into oblivion because of nefarious  buddy deals and suspicions of corruption. His personal rating tanked to single digits. Stepped down in a cloud of controversy over BC Rail and other things. The most unpopular Premier ever. Gordon Campbell moved on too, got a send off pension of $98,175 PER YEAR! EVERY year! About 1.7 million lifetime, and to top that off, an Order of British Columbia. Then to smack the people of BC in the face once more, got an appointment to the diplomatic post of High Commissioner to Great Britain at a huge salary. And didn't own up to anything.

And Golden handshakes too? This is what it cost the BC taxpayers to get rid of these people -
Alan Seckel - Deputy to the Premier - $549,776.   Martyn Brown - who served only days as Deputy Minister -  $416,191.  Lesley Du Toit - $330,000.  Ron Norman - $323,917.  Lara Dauphinee - $192,000. as a 'retirement bonus'.  (=1.81 million)

Dix - seventy thousand dollars. Campbell - several million dollars. No wonder he's feeling smug.

Which is best?

Friday 8 February 2013

Latest Liberal attack ad

Bad Adrian Dix. Ba-ad man. Trying to be Premier of British Columbia. Ooh Bad. Did bad things years ago. Bad Dix. You bad man Adrian Dix, we Liberals good. You bad. Adrian Dix bad.





Once Liberal Premier of BC

Saturday 2 February 2013

The Art of Lying

Well now an election is looming. We're about to be inundated with spin from all the political parties. We hear people expressing their concern over attack ads, and yet others are professing that they work, and all parties will use them.

The first one I have been hearing is about the NDP. The Liberals just can't let go of the Fast Ferries. Telling us about 460 million spent on them. Only 20 million returned with the sale. But someone told me that building those ferries in BC resulted in that 460 million being spent WITHIN BC by the shipyard workers. The BC Liberals sent 430 million to Germany to build three more. ALL of those millions went into German workers' pockets! So which is better?


drill core samples
I heard one the other day disguised as a news story. They were talking about the Chinese mine with the imported Chinese miners, and how the unions have fouled it up for everyone. Because the company, HD Mines International, has taken their initial 30 Chinese miners home again. They talked about the start-up and how they needed to analyse the drill core samples. The Mayor of Tumbler Ridge expressed concern that the unions had caused the stop of construction of homes up there. The construction company owner said the work may not be completed. This was news. They even had a woman holding up a nice shiny piece of black marble that might have been a sample for a kitchen counter. Now I am not sure if you know what a drill core sample looks like, but my memory tells me they are cylinders of granite like rock, not polished flat slabs of marble.

Well was that lying to sneak a stealth message into the newscast?
During that very morning a spokeswoman for the mining company had been on the radio to say the reason the mine stopped work was that they needed to return the drill core samples to China for analysis. This was standard procedure. They would resume production in about one month.
One would assume that the story about the unions screwing up the production was way too good to dump for the truth if you are inclined to favor the Liberals. So the TV station went ahead with it.  Was that the art of lying?

So now we have Probit, a firm owned by Ekos, a public polling company, about to make Robo calls about the election to every person in BC! At an estimated cost of half a million dollars! Suspected to be paid for by the pro-Liberal group calling themselves Concerned Citizens for BC.  (who knows where they are getting the money?) But that's not for sure, they could be calling on behalf of the NDP. They are going to be calling you and asking questions about your vote anyway.

In case you didn't know, you are under NO obligation to reveal any correct answers to ANY polling company. EVER. Indeed, if these kinds of calls bug you at all, this is where the art of lying comes in. It's your teeny finger-poke back at corporate and political manipulation.

Questions may be, 'Who will you vote for?' 'If you're Liberal and will you vote Liberal again?' 'Is the government doing well in your opinion?' 'Who did you vote for last time and who will you vote for this time?' 'Is the present leader popular with you?' 'Is the government on the right track?'
We saw a huge furor in the East during the last general election over Robo calls harassing people.

Robo calls are computer generated automatically dialed phone calls with a message. If you don't answer, they could call you back forever. Forever. But you can fight back. Take the call.    Lie.     All political polls are similar. They seek information ahead of something so the poll indicates a direction for the client to proceed on. The client being the political party who commissions the poll. The results may not be in favor of what the party wants, but polls can tell you how to go ahead and influence the public opinion. Or how to stab your opponent in the back.

So you can lie. And this is apolitical. It spans the process. If you want more calls about polling, go ahead and tell the truth. You will be validating the poll. If you want less then go ahead a fudge the truth. If you are going to vote Liberal, tell them NDP. Greens going to get your X? Tell them Conservatives are your choice. Are you man or woman? Change gender for a day. Your salary? Go ahead, put yourself into that cloudy tax bracket! Ethnic background? Tell them you're Ainu, the Japanese still don't even know who they are! You might hang up the phone with a grin on your face.

voter versus pollster
Do you see? By telling the pollster a lie, you are diminishing the validity of polling! It applies to street polls too. They don't know you, you don't know them, so look them straight in the eye and fib a fabrication. Why are you obligated to be truthful? You could be doing a great thing by eliminating polls altogether because they begin to have no impact. And besides, a lot of people don't trust them already. Some can predict the results of certain poll companies before their conclusion.

So telling the truth to an anonymous person or a political Robocop on the phone is a non starter for me. It's none of their business how I am thinking. As long as they have paper votes I will be putting my X on the candidate who looks prettiest and has nice eyes, man or woman. And it's none of the political party's business if I am gay or straight, black or white, alien or human.

In the polling booth I am honest. Outside when asked, I am a political prevaricator. Almost sounds important, doesn't it?

It's the Art of Lying and it works for the politicians, why shouldn't it work for you?