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| Premier Christy Clark may need divine intervention to have a prayer of winning delayed by-elections, get out of troubles! BC government photo |
With Port Moody-Coquitlam and Chilliwack-Hope by-election deadlines near and the NDP ahead in yet another poll, Christy Clark faces internal caucus dissent and external problems with own allies - apparently including an BC MLA
Tuesday March 20, 2012
By Bill Tieleman
"For Premier [Christy] Clark to wait so long for political, not practical, reasons is a disgrace."
-- Tri-Cities News editorial on delay in Port Moody-Coquitlam by-election.
It was another week of big problems for B.C. Premier Christy Clark.
Those include the resignation in disgrace of cabinet minister Harry Bloy, and Clark's new communications director Sara MacIntyre's controversial attempt to block media from asking questions at a photo opportunity.
The week also saw more questions about the blown $40-million deal with Telus to rename BC Place and the reappearance at the Port Moody-Coquitlam campaign office of a BC Liberal Party executive member who resigned for bringing a convicted attempted assassin to the B.C. legislature for the budget speech -- on a ticket from the premier's office.
Clark, who counted Bloy as her only provincially-elected supporter during her leadership bid, isn't exactly making new friends in caucus. Victoria sources say BC Liberal MLA Joan McIntyre walked out of the legislature's chamber Thursday while Clark was speaking, and a rumour later circulated that McIntyre was unhappy with the premier's personal attack on NDP leader Adrian Dix when Clark attempted to defend Bloy.
Reports also persist that McIntyre's West Vancouver-Sea To Sky seat is in play. Former West Vancouver mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones has said she won't challenge currently elected candidates, but that doesn't preclude the possibility that Clark would have -- or even has -- asked McIntyre to step aside. Would Clark prefer Goldsmith-Jones, or even former CTV news anchor Pamela Martin, who now works in Clark's office for $130,000 a year doing "outreach"?
McIntyre did not respond to email and telephone requests for comment.
Deadlines encroaching
Reflecting all of the above, it was another week where Clark failed to call two byelections in vacant ridings lacking any elected representation in Victoria.
But don't get the idea that Clark thinks it's a disgrace that Port Moody-Coquitlam hasn't had a member of the Legislative Assembly since Oct. 1, 2011 or that Chilliwack-Hope lost its MLA on Jan. 9, 2012.
Clark's response to media questions on why she hasn't scheduled a byelection more than five months after Port Moody-Coquitlam BC Liberal MLA Iain Black quit?
"Well the holdup is that I haven't called it yet and I will in a couple of weeks, so, probably -- you'll find out. I'll let you know when I know," Clark nonchalantly said on Friday.
We will definitely know by April 7 -- because that's the absolute deadline by law for calling the byelection, where former long-time Port Moody mayor Joe Trasolini is expected to win.
But while Clark hasn't found the time to call the byelections, she has spent a lot of spare hours campaigning in both ridings -- formerly safe BC Liberal seats now threatened by both the New Democrats and BC Conservatives.
Clark was in Hope on March 5 to tour around with BC Liberal candidate Laurie Throness, a former federal Reform and Conservative party staffer facing strong challenges from both the BC Conservatives' John Martin, a criminologist and newspaper columnist, and the NDP's Gwen O'Mahoney, a community support worker who took 33 per cent of the vote as candidate in the 2009 provincial election.
The BC Liberals are hoping Throness' long history with right-wing politics -- including a stint as ex-Conservative cabinet minister Chuck Strahl's chief of staff in Ottawa -- will stem the tide against the party in a riding comfortably held by former B.C. Attorney General Barry Penner.
When asked by local media when that vote would happen, Clark again replied without giving a date: "Every day we're closer... the community needs an MLA sooner rather than later."
Clark must send Chilliwack-Hope voters to the polls no later than July 30, according to Elections BC.
Libs in rocky waters
And Clark also spoke at the Feb. 17 nomination meeting for Port Moody-Coquitlam BC Liberal candidate Dennis Marsden. The reason why voters in both ridings are being denied representation is very simple: the BC Liberals are in deep fear of losing both seats.
Yet another indication came when Justason Research released a new poll on Saturday showing the NDP at 45 per cent support, well ahead of the BC Liberals at just 31 per cent. The BC Conservatives sit at 14 per cent and the Greens at eight.
That means Clark's party has dropped 15 points since the 2009 election victory under ex-premier Gordon Campbell.
The polling results and lengthy delay are raising concerns in the BC Liberal caucus about Clark's tenuous future.
The reports about McIntyre being asked to give up her seat so that the party can win at least one of the then-three ridings needing new MLAs are indicative of a desperate mood in the premier’s office.
But is even McIntyre’s riding still safe enough to hold?
Another poll that makes it more questionable was released by Forum Research in late February and put the B.C. Conservatives neck and neck with the B.C. Liberals, at 22 per cent versus 24 per cent for Clark’s party. The NDP were at a comfortable 42 per cent.
If Clark convinced a sitting B.C. Liberal MLA to step down and then lost a third by-election, it wouldn’t take a shark to tell there was political blood in the water.
And that could mean either a provincial general election or a B.C. Liberal leadership challenge – or both.
This already interesting year in B.C. politics is going to get even more fascinating in the next few weeks.
Another poll that makes it more questionable was released by Forum Research in late February and put the BC Conservatives neck and neck with the BC Liberals, at 22 per cent versus 24 per cent for Clark's party. The NDP were at a comfortable 42 per cent.
If Clark manages to lose both byelections she delayed to the last minute, it wouldn't take a shark to tell there was political blood in the water. And that could mean either a provincial general election or a BC Liberal leadership challenge -- or both.
This already interesting year in B.C. politics is going to get even more fascinating in the next few weeks.
Note: This is an updated, edited version of my Tyee column.
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35 comments:
I like the picture . . .
Premier T & A at the Golden Temple studying how to be a "pious" woman!
Next thing you know she will be learning how to mix diesel fuel and ammonium-nitrate in the proper ratios.
At that point, Dix and the NDP are history . . . and in more ways than one.
The GREAT SATAN
Hail Great Satan!
Haven't read any comments from you for awhile. Glad to see your comment.
The longer she waits, the worse thing get. Call them now or expect to get blown out of the water
So who is she praying to, her Anglican Conservative god or her Catholic Liberal god?
"Hail Great Satan!
Haven't read any comments from you for awhile. Glad to see your comment"
Agree there. Comedy statements from B.C.'s best known Devilled Ham who is a die hard Trudeau-era fiberal Liberal - probably one of the last surviving specimens - is better than a night at Yuk-Yuk's.
Wonder if this guy does side shows at federal Liberal conventions.
The longer she waits, the worse thing get. Call them now or expect to get blown out of the water
Too late DPL.
The torpedoes are already in the water, on their way.
One from the left, and one from the right.
Not a fan of the BC Liberals but even less of a fan of the old boys club that is hanging her out to dry. There is a corrupt group of people as they come.
Torpedoes from the left and from the right?
Let's make sure they hit their target. If they miss, they hit each other.
Thanks for your writings Bill!
Ah... a sad commentary...
A little late for "redemption", at this point, I would think. Out of her depth and out of her league, this premier has hopefully learned by now, that an electorate scorned, deceieved, and manipulated, is an "angry" electorate. The torpedoes are indeed in the water...Ray Charles can see this coming.
Call the elections now Christy..
the longer you listen to the "backroom drivel"...the worse
the outcome. Make a decision on your own for once, a "common sense" decision, and end the "farce" now.
I doubt CC will call the by-elections until the last minute, or while she expects the other 2 parties to be "sleeping".
Whatever way she goes, it will still be out. CC's list of "errors" continues to grow & her unwillingness/inability to deal with it all will sink her faster than the torpedos.
I am sure she is waiting to make a few more deals such as the one in the Purcell mountains & then she'll go. Her time collecting a premier's salary will boost her pension & all will be well for her. The citizens of B.C., not so much.
Wed. evening. seems the by elections have been called so things should heat up quickly
"WE ONLY CHEAT WHEN WE CAN'T WIN" . . . the unofficial motto of the 1997-2003 Martinite Filth in BC, and the same motto for BC's current Harlot-in-Chief.
So expect every dirty trick legal and otherwise to take place.
Expect the 40 cup coffee pots at NDP and BC Conservative meetings and events to be spiked with 60-70 crushed up Ex-Lax unflavoured pills. (no joke here, its the real thing and done many times before, just ask the Spiderman)
Campaign office locks filled with crazy-glue, volunteers' cars and vans with numerous flat-tires and pints of cheap and foul smelling liquids sprayed under the door during the early hours of the morning.
On and on this bunch has done it . . . and it will all happen again.
The GREAT SATAN
""WE ONLY CHEAT WHEN WE CAN'T WIN" . . . the unofficial motto of the 1997-2003 Martinite Filth in BC, and the same motto for BC's current Harlot-in-Chief.
So expect every dirty trick legal and otherwise to take place.On and on this bunch has done it . . . and it will all happen again."
and BC's Best Devilled Ham will continue with his idiotic commentary which is a result of being too close to the Trudeau era Liberals which caused nerve damage to the front cranial region as a result of excessive exposure to toxic political materials emitted by the Trudeau Cabinet
Wed. evening. seems the by elections have been called so things should heat up quickly
Only if DPL and others get off their fat asses and heat up their shoes by walking a few long blocks in canvassing for the NDP, rather than spending up squishing butt cheeks in the chair writing drivel to a blog.
Prediction:
NDP wins Port Moody by a large margin, the Conservatives make it through in Chilliwack Hope.
The BC Liberals lose a huge volume of support in both ridings from where they were in the last election.
So in short, the BC Liberals lose big big big in both ridings.
Splash both ridings for the BC Liberals. The BC Liberal campaigns in both are blown out of the water like a cheap wooden boat that sends splinters flying everywhere.
Unfortunatly, that means nauseating gloating from both the NDP and the supporters, and in particular from those who write here and yet did not go out and walk a few polls to help in the win, but rather "support" by writing more drivel.
So if you really want to do something in these by-elections, get off your fat ass, move your can into either Port Moody or Chilliwack Hope (or both if you're up to it), pick up a damn canvass kit and get out there.
Writing crap to a blog isn't going to contribute to the win.
Get out there.
The excercise will do you good. Will get rid of those handles above your ass.
irony:
"Writing crap to a blog isn't going to contribute to the win."
Anon seems to have a fixation on fat asses.I simply reported on this blog that a few minutes earlier the CBC had stated that the by-elections would be called today. If that bothers some anon, well tough shit fella. Lots of us have spent a hell of a lot of time, and some money in elections including by-elections. many of us don't live in the riding where the by-elections are called, but still support a certain party and it sure as hell isn't the BC Liberals
I think anon 12:49 does have a point. Just sitting on our butts listening to Right Wing propaganda from NW and Global and commenting on blogs is not enough. We, the 99ers need to become vocal. We are mad as hell over the lies and corruption. We need to shout from the tree tops and the streets. Enough with the bull! April 19 is a perfect opportunity to get out the vote. So is May 2013! Do it!
"We, the 99ers need to become vocal."
we need a general strike
think anon 12:49 does have a point. Just sitting on our butts listening to Right Wing propaganda from NW and Global and commenting on blogs is not enough. We, the 99ers need to become vocal. We are mad as hell over the lies and corruption. We need to shout from the tree tops and the streets. Enough with the bull! April 19 is a perfect opportunity to get out the vote. So is May 2013! Do it!
Exactly. Get out there, and forget the honking from the tree tops. Get into the NDP office of choice and grab a kit and go door to door.
and the poster does NOT speak for the so-called "99%ers". Many are NOT NDPers.
Move your can and get out there.
Enough with the personal insults. This blog is a free speech blog - but it is not a place to call each other stupid names based on physical attributes.
Calling other people names for no reason will be reason for your post to be rejected, as on in this thread just was.
Make your points with facts.
"and the poster does NOT speak for the so-called "99%ers". Many are NOT NDPers."
Please show me where I posted that.
99ers are voters disgusted with corruption all around, not from one particular party. Thanks.
I also agree with Bill. Personal digs towards differing opinions is trash talk...along with trashy language. You want that, tune to a "Rush" broadcast.
"Please show me where I posted that.99ers are voters disgusted with corruption all around, not from one particular party. Thanks."
No need to. You wrote a generic statement, generaliing. As in:
'We, the 99ers need to become vocal. We are mad as hell over the lies and corruption. We need to shout from the tree tops and the streets.'
The 99%ers do not reflect 99% of the entire voting population, at most just 0.99%. Don't agree? Carefully review the public's reaction to the Occupy Movement in Vancouver. Examine which groups were present at the so-called 99% camp. Not reflective of the entire demographic.
The so-called "we, the 99%" could not even manage themselves.
But if you figure "we, the 99%" is reflective of 100% of the voting population, or even 65% (an average good day election turnout), cite examples as to show how that is true.
Good luck with that. Let us know how you made out.Thanks.
"I also agree with Bill. Personal digs towards differing opinions is trash talk...along with trashy language. You want that, tune to a "Rush" broadcast."
Better yet end the trash talk from the left, which will end the trash talk from the right.
Rush Limbaugh wouldn't last two days in BC politics.
We, the 99ers need to become vocal."
we need a general strike
Sure. 0.01% of the entire voting population is out there, and of that 99% agree with a general strike. So what happens:
Can't get to work or university or college because the transit operators and Skytrain/Canada Line operators walked out. The general strike happens to be on payday so you can't get your paycheque (you did not opt for automatic deposit).
Can't get groceries from Safeway or other unionized stores so that means a trip to IGA or other non union stores which have "information picket lines" set up by the UFCW. But that won't work for too long because the food deliveries have stopped because The Teamsters (truck drivers) are out on this general strike.
You try to get medical care. Great. Can't the nurses have walked leaving minimum service levels, so you're stuck in the waiting room next to a bawling baby with an infected gum, and the guy next to you has a gross looking boil he wants looked at. Great.
You get a phone call from your Mom on Vancouver Island wanting you to hurry over because Dad has gotten sick. You make the run to Horseshoe Bay only to find out there's only 2 ferries running the entire day because the Ferry Workers are part of this general strike, and they've walked out but leaving essential service levels.
You know today is the absolute last day to get the funds in demanded by that Collection Letter. You managed to tell the Collections Agency that you will have the funds in the mail by today and will show them that you did. But you can't get into the post office because the CUPW local has struck.
You go back home and find that the internet works, but the phone does not. You try to contact Telus, but they reply by email that they can't do anything beause the TWU local is out on the general strike and it will be a week before they can come out to fix your phone service.
Tonight's Cancuks game, an easy win for the Boyz in Blue and Green, is what you're looking forward to, you earned a pair of tickets. Somehow you managed to get there, on;t to find the game is cancelled and there's no refund.
Or..
You had hoped for and paid for front row seats for KISS at BC Place. But Gene decided to cancel because the union at BC Place walked out on the general strike. There's no refund on your ticket.
Yep, a general strike is just what everyone needs. One headache on top of another.
Nice.
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Better call the Whambulance!
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Better call the Whambulance!
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Better get help to the poster
who wrote that!
we need a general strike
as the essay above shows
To the copy and paster: instead of pasting stuff you dissagree with constantly and critiquing, how about some positive alternatives?
To those who just don't get what the 99ers really means, how about learning about the movement. Not with the Fox noise propaganda machine (etc.), but with more intelligent media such as "Media Matters.com". You might actually learn something. Maybe not.
"To the copy and paster: instead of pasting stuff you dissagree with constantly and critiquing, how about some positive alternatives?"
Simple. Grow the province, and crete jobs and wealth and show respect to those you disagree with.
There's been too much of a tendency for bloggers here to label all alternative opinion holders as members of the BC Liberal PAB, which is crap.
"To those who just don't get what the 99ers really means, how about learning about the movement."
There isn't much to learn. It was more of a manifestation of the problems in the United States which had no direct counterpart here in Vancouver.
The Vancouver one could not figure out what exactly they were for. There were Iranian Communists, labour, the Militant, and many other left wing groups, and not to mention the 9/11 Truthers. So how does all of that manifest itself to the problems coming out of Wall Street in New York? It doesn't. Even many unions buy into corporate stock offerings for its pension funds, even the BCTF.
"Not with the Fox noise propaganda machine (etc.), but with more intelligent media such as "Media Matters.com". You might actually learn something. Maybe not.
Not much to learn from there. It is a U.S. based "alternative media" supporting website. Media analysts are 10 for a dollar.
and no I do not watch Fox News and never have. If I need news from the States, the CBS, NBC and ABC stations in Seattle do me just fine, but that's my decision.
Thanks.
we need a general strike
no we don't. General strikes never work unless the majority are in support, and right now you'd be lucky to get 5% of all of those who actually work for a living.
Critique requires something more intelligent than simply repeating someone else's point of view and then sneering at it. Critique requires unique insight - not mer scripted talking points.
"Critique requires something more intelligent than simply repeating someone else's point of view and then sneering at it. Critique requires unique insight - not mer scripted talking points."
Certainly lack of that here.
What scripted talking points? Easy there bub. I am not a PAB member, and don't want to be one. I am not interested in short term employment with the BC government
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As least someone understands my points. The 99ers have nothing to do with the Occupy movement. If you did some research you would understand that. Occupy Vancouver was nothing more that a bunch of unemployed bums and druggies from Surrey. "Shit disturbers".
The others are not. The other thing you miss is that what happens in the US has LOTS to do with Vancouver and all over the world. Unless you were born recently, you should understand that when the US screws up as they did in 2008 and beyond, the rest of us suffer. I have a large portfolio in the TSX. It has yet to recover completely since the US messed up. So don't tell me or anyone else that the US matters not here in Vancouver. Thanks.
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As least someone understands my points. The 99ers have nothing to do with the Occupy movement.
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Except in the name.
If you did some research you would understand that.
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No need I did go there and geezus
what a dump. No direction, Confused people, patronizing people
(the Elder Tent was a joke, how many times have these protestors actually gone on to a FN reserve and actually helped them fix their problems to the point that the FN reerve is much better off because their helping fix a major problem?
The fact that one supporter of theirs died is also interesting to say the least.
Occupy Vancouver was nothing more that a bunch of unemployed bums and druggies from Surrey. "Shit disturbers".
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Not correct. Many were from various places including Vancouver.
The others are not. The other thing you miss is that what happens in the US has LOTS to do with Vancouver and all over the world.
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Well yes and no. Much of the bankruptcies and foreclosures happened beause of a faulty banking system and too easy access to mortgage lending in the United States. The banks here are more conservative. There was no financial downfall here in Canada as there was in the U.S. and in particular Europe.
Unless you were born recently, you should understand that when the US screws up as they did in 2008 and beyond, the rest of us suffer.
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Again, yes and no. The U.S. has screwed up the forest industry here in Canada, but other industries to varying degrees, I'd say somewhat to yes, and no. Depends on what it is. It's not 100%.
I have a large portfolio in the TSX. It has yet to recover completely since the US messed up.
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So that means you have share ownership in Corporations, the very same instutions that the Occupy Movement and many bloggers here hate. Corporations are not only your large towered companies. Any company can be made into a corporation and many are.
So don't tell me or anyone else that the US matters not here in Vancouver. Thanks.
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Never said it. There's alot of trading back and forth and economic influences, but you missed the mark on that statement.
Go easy on the Red Bull. Thanks.
" I am not interested in short term employment with the BC government". Perhaps a long term contract with the B.C.Liberals might suit you better?
Copying and pasting on a left wing blog seems rather silly seeing is that you have nothing good to say about the "left". I really think you would do better writing for the Province or Sun, flooding NW with support for Christy and letters to the editor of your local Black Press. Good luck with your new career!
"Perhaps a long term contract with the B.C.Liberals might suit you better?"
Sorry not interested in that either. I don't accept contracts from the governing BC Liberals.
Has to be permanent, and with automatic deposit. That way I don't have to bother with anything.
Copying and pasting on a left wing blog seems rather silly seeing is that you have nothing good to say about the "left".
There is good from the left, but I have yet to see anything about that here. Seems be more whining and complaining rather than coming up with positive workable solutions.
So tell me something good from the left and let's work something out from there.
"I really think you would do better writing for the Province or Sun, flooding NW with support for Christy and letters to the editor of your local Black Press."
Sorry, ain't going to happen. Christy and her blindly loyal supporters can do that themselves.
"Good luck with your new career!"
Thank you. Glad to back
The load of 20 packages
of 20' 2 x 6 fir from Western Forest is on the truck tonight to make the intermodal to Seattle on Tuesday. Do you need the trailer number?
Let's see there's also this Hitachi hydraulic shovel coming up from Tacoma tomorrow by Puget Sound Trucking.. EAC has some containers coming in from Long Beach...
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