The BC Liberal Party and some media have been in a near-frenzy over the "news" that the BC Federation of Labour is meeting with the New Democratic Party to discuss a labour platform for the 2013 provincial election.
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| Mike McDonald, BC Liberal Party Campaign Director on Global TV |
The document obtained by The Province newspaper was in fact widely circulated at the BC Federation of Labour Convention last week, as President Jim Sinclair pointed out, but no matter - it makes for a great tabloid front page screamer, with BC Liberals like cabinet minister Mary Polak chiming in with shock and outrage.
So let's see if The Province reacts similarly to this news: I have obtained a document that shows the BC Liberal Party is meeting behind closed doors with the Business Council of BC to develop its own election platform!
And unlike the BC Federation of Labour's Convention, this meeting is not open to the public or media. Nor do there seem to be plans for the BC Liberals to meet with labour and get its input, even though the NDP is regularly meeting with business as well as unions.
So - big business tycoons will meet in private with the BC Liberal Party's Campaign Director Mike McDonald to hear a "campaign update" and then offer their "policy ideas" to help develop the Liberals' "election platform."
Sounds like a story to me.
Here is the full email I obtained that was sent out by longtime BC Liberal backer Victor Vrsnik - a communications consultant and lobbyist and ex-Canadian Taxpayer Federation staffer with strong ties to business, with personal information removed for privacy reasons, and key parts in bold type added.
From: Victor Vrsnik
Date: 30 November, 2012
Date: 30 November, 2012
To:
Subject: Meeting invite with Mike McDonald, Campaign Director, BC Liberal Party
Dear Xxxxxx,You are invited to a stakeholder meeting with Mike McDonald, Campaign Director of the BC Liberal Party, on Friday, December 14, 2012, from 10:00AM to 11:00AM at the boardroom of the Business Council of British Columbia (1050 West Pender St., Suite 810).A renewed Cabinet, combined with seasoned returning MLAs, and an impressive slate of new candidates, the 2013 BC Liberal team is looking strong.
The grassroots of the party are energized from the successful convention in Whistler, and they are stepping up to get the party campaign ready.
Sold out fundraising dinners have been held around the province, most recently Wednesday night's Resource Dinner in Vancouver that will net a record-breaking total. Campaign preparations are well under way, but there is still much work to be done.With the election fast approaching, Mike wanted to provide you, and other industry and business associations, with a Campaign Update and a high level overview of the Party’s plan over the coming months.
He would like to structure the session so there is plenty of time for discussion and feedback, and also an opportunity for you to offer up policy ideas to feed into the election platform.Please RSVP by email xxxxx or by phone xxxxxxx.Thank you.Yours,Victor Vrsnik--
Victor Vrsnik, APR
Principal
SPIRE Public Relations
.
18 comments:
BC Liberals also sought policy ideas from all British Columbians through the "Ideas Lab" a few months ago and at Free Enterprise Friday, the open part of the Whistler Convention in October. No news here.
Mr. Rogers--
Which is the point, right?
That it is NOT news, I mean.
.
what the meeting will be about, is giving the lieberals their marching orders for their anticipated next term in office. The lieberals will most likely will have their hands out for the checks to finance their caimpaign & check to see what provincial assets their business friends would like them to sell them next. I am sure they won't be talking about how to keep hospitals clean, children feed, seniors housed, etc.
Just another fun day for the lieberals & their friends at tax payers' expense.
Mr. Rogers misses the point. On purpose.
Exactly Bill. I bet you dollars to donuts the MSM will hardly mention it.
Where is the BC Liberals big to do about, Campbell's theft and sale of an entire railroad? Christy was Campbell's Deputy Premier at that time. Their cheating to win elections. The HST wasn't on the BC Liberals radar either. What about Ida Wong bringing more Chinese workers, to take the BC mining jobs? Harper's betrayal to Canada, by selling us out to Communist China?? Christy works for Harper, as Campbell did before her.
The list of the, lies, deceit, corruption, thefts and evil, the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals did to BC and the people, is three football fields long.
One has to wonder where exactly in a public domain is the NDP "regularly
meeting with business". There were business types at the Dix Fundraiser held most hypocritically at the new Convention Centre, but that's not the same as a meeting with business to develop policy.
Many know the NDP does meet with Labour in secret, Sinclair does have a direct route to Dix as he and many other Labour leaders supported Adrian's leadership.
Labour does "donate" labour and resources to NDP campaigns and have done so for decades.
The NDP will receive their marching orders from labour.
Nothing new there.
What would be new would be for the NDP not to endorse the idea of scrapping the secret ballot for union certification votes and to keep the Labour Code, and to just have the NDP focus on reducing dependency on welfare and let small business grow without bothering them with excessive taxes.
I am sure Bill here would endorse that idea.
But Bill, you forget that dem nasty Union folks are a greedy special interest group while the barons of Howe Street are only interested in the public good, like a bunch of boardrooms filled with re-incarnations of Jesus!
you can be certain there will be no fULL front page story in the Province about this meeting writen by m smythe
Koot has it right. The Union folks are indeed greedy. They figure they have this sense of political entitlement. How else can one explain why a few unions are always front and centre at NDP policy sessions? The NDP should tell them the privileges are over.
@Anonymous 9:26 am:
One has to wonder where exactly in a public domain is the BC Liberal Party regularly meeting with labour unions. There were no labour types at the BCChristy “women only” town halls hosted most hypocritically by the Chamber of Commerce around BC and that's not the same as a meeting with labour to develop policy.
Many know the BC Liberal Party does meet with business in secret. Winter, Kinsella, Hochstein et al do have a direct route to BCChristy as they and many other business leaders continue to support BCChristy’s leadership.
Big business does "donate" labour and resources to BC Liberal campaigns and have done so for decades.
The BC Liberals will receive their marching orders from big business.
Nothing new there.
What would be new would be for the BC Liberals to endorse the idea of scrapping the secret ballot for union certification votes and to return the Labour Code that was fair to labour before they came to power in 2001, and to just focus on reducing dependency on corporate welfare and let us live without bothering us with excessive taxes.
I am sure Bill here would endorse that idea.
So what makes a democratic element such as secret ballot vote being unfair?
If there is a vote for union certification I would want it to be secret so people can vote in confidence and not know exactly who was or and who was against it.
If the unions are that scared of it, it tells me that they aren't exactly organized to win such certification as they should be.
Unions have donated to the NDP in one way or another so nothing new there.
Anon anon anon why don't you folks pick a handle and stick with it?
We want an honest government. So tell us the truth about B.C. Rail.You have forced many families to suffer, your motto "Families First" was so meaningless, just as your party has become!Let's bring on the full BC Rail fraud inquiry and uncover the fraudulent details about the Basi -- Virk payoff.Hope to see you charged with fraud after your party loses the next election. Ironic in that the province is broke, and still issuing massive royalty credits to liberal supporting non resident gas producers. Maybe if they had all the revenue from natural gas instead of giving most of it away they could assist with some other programs. Maybe ensuring that the most income tax revenue is generated by natural gas service jobs, rather than evaporating into china and the USA would also help on the revenue side.Maybe not giving a way dividend paying assets like BC Rail would help with the revenue side.
Sorry previous poster I only know the truth about BC Rail from what Tsakumis has written. Read what he has written and you'll get the story.
and wait.. You'll have an "honest government" starting in June of next year, the New Democrats.
You'll have to live with them as government, even when they do things you don't like.
Which they will. Every new government makes errors. The NDP will too.
Be around when it happens.
But Bill here won't write about those errors.
Boy Bill, I'm sure glad our first past the post partisan political system is still around to ensure meetings like this determine the future of our province, rather than forcing parties to appeal to a broader base of electoral support.
Oh right, but voters in BC are not smart enough to figure out anything but FPP - which leaves mandatory voting as the only way forward. so that everyone's forced to pay close attention to these secret meetings.
great idea. your faith in the electorate and the evolution of democracy is inspiring.
It sure is. The STV vote would have been a done deal if the idiots supporting it did not keep going on about multiple member ridings. STV does not mean multiple member super ridings.
Australia has STV and so forth, but none of the electoral areas are multiple member at the State and Senate levels.
The parties can appeal to a broader spectrum of support, but choose not to in order not to get the core support mad. The NDP for example can do a much better job of appealing to those who support business development, but the NDP tends to lean towards labour and unionism and the poverty industry as it has always done.
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