Tuesday, May 07, 2013

After HST Betrayal, Why Trust Christy Clark and BC Liberals on Oil Pipelines? Or anything else?


The BC Liberals made a big error choosing Christy Clark as their leader – voters shouldn’t make the same mistake
BC Premier Christy Clark - trust me!
Bill Tieleman’s 24 Hours Vancouver/The Tyee column

Tuesday May 7, 2013

By Bill Tieleman

"We've got tankers going up and down the St. Lawrence for heaven's sake. I don't know why we'd ban them necessarily off the west coast."
- Christy Clark, Feb. 24, 2011.
If you liked how the BC Liberals betrayed voters by imposing the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) after the 2009 provincial election, you'll love what they will probably do with bitumen oil pipelines if they win again in 2013!
Premier Christy Clark's position on the Enbridge Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan pipeline proposals from Alberta is short and anything but clear: "Trust me!"
This from a leader whose party told voters it had "no plans" to bring in the HST -- and then did exactly that mere weeks after the election.
The BC Liberals said in writing to homebuilder and restaurant owner groups who were worried -- and asked about an HST -- not to worry.
Then after the 2009 election, their financial throats were slit when the HST was brought in!
So in this election, why would voters be suckers once again and reward Christy Clark's party for breaking trust?
And Clark herself had a clear choice when she became premier: she could have scrapped the HST and saved British Columbia an enormous amount of time, trouble and money.
Instead Clark led the government's expensive pro-HST campaign against the grassroots group Fight HST, which I helped form with ex-Social Credit premier Bill Vander Zalm, that forced Canada's first ever citizens Initiative vote on the tax.
Bill Tieleman and former BC Premier Bill Vander Zalm
during Fight HST campaign
Even after 705,000 people signed the Initiative petition, Clark spent $6 million taxpayer dollars on HST advertising.
And Clark removed financial disclosure regulations in the binding referendum, so we will never know how many additional millions the big business coalition spent.
Whether you were against or for the HST, it was clearly a political betrayal of trust.
And now in this election whether you are against or for the Enbridge and Kinder Morgan pipeline projects, can you trust the BC Liberals?
Clark plays both sides
Why won't Clark commit to being either against the pipelines, like New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix and Green Party Leader Jane Sterk, or in favour, like BC Conservative Leader John Cummins?
Then look at her comments on the record -- on both sides of the issue.
Clark said during the BC Liberal leadership campaign that oil tankers travelling our ecologically sensitive coastline were no problem:
"We've got tankers going up and down the St. Lawrence for heaven's sake. I don't know why we'd ban them necessarily off the West Coast. I think that's a step too far, way too soon," Clark said in February 2011. "Let's not foreclose our options here before we even decide whether or not the Enbridge pipeline is going to be built."
But later Clark said she had five conditions that must be met before B.C. would agree to the Enbridge pipeline, including that the province get "a fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits".
And that proponents provide: "World-leading marine oil spill response, prevention and recovery systems for B.C.'s coastline and ocean to manage and mitigate the risks and costs of heavy oil pipelines and shipments...."
Who would interpret whether all the conditions were met on oil pipelines after the election? Christy Clark -- trust me!
Voting NDP carries power to stop pipelines
For anti-pipeline voters this election offers a critical choice -- because only one opposition party can form a government -- the New Democrats, not the Green Party.
And both the Enbridge and Kinder Morgan pipeline decisions will be made in the next four years by whoever is elected May 14.
That means those considering voting Green have a tough choice.
That's especially true in closely fought ridings like Vancouver-Point Grey -- where Clark faces NDP candidate David Eby, who nearly defeated her in the 2011 by-election and could do so this time.
Voting for your beliefs is important but so is considering the consequences for the province if the BC Liberals are narrowly re-elected and have the power to approve both Enbridge and Kinder Morgan.
That makes this election environmentally time sensitive.
But whether it's oil pipelines, B.C's $11 billion debt increase in just two years, job losses or claims this year's budget is "balanced," it's abundantly clear the BC Liberals made a big mistake when they chose Christy Clark as their new leader.
Voters should not make the same mistake on May 14.

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16 comments:

Anonymous said...

IF you want to continue with a government that is arrogant, deceitful, incompetent and corrupt, be sure to vote Liberal on May 14.

Anonymous said...

.. and if you want a government that panders to Labour be sure to vote NDP on May 14.

regardless of your choice...

... on May 14, get out and vote.

Move your can.

rachel mcdonnell said...

I can identify with what you are saying Bill as I am in the riding of Oak Bay Gordon head. I like many of the voters here want to give Elizabeth May a colleague to team up with in parliament but not at the sacrifice of having Liberal leader Ida Chong come up through the middle. Perhaps you could expand on this further how much in danger is the NDP vote since we have a strong showing of the greens here with Andrew Weaver. thanks, Rachel McDonnell

Not anon DPL said...

Rachel, the idea that MS.May will get a seat is about as likely as you and I going to the moon next week. She has said that if not elected she will resin, so not too much commitment on her part and a strange thing for a candidate to say with less than a week to go.

Anonymous said...

DPL:

You wrote "She will resin"?

She'll coat her self in liquid resin plastic?

Kinda goes against being green doesn't it?

"To the Moon, Alice!!"


Anonymous said...

DPL said:

She has said that if not elected she will resin,..."

So Elizabeth May according to DPL will ooze resin if she doesn't win?

Ewwwww....

Does DPL resin too?

Ewwww..


Anonymous said...

I believe if this had been part of the NDP advertising campaign it would all be over except for the crying. But no ... got to play nice. When is the NDP going to get it that you can't play nice with the devil. If you come close to losing blame the back room boys for a lacklustre performance and if that's any indication of govt. to come.. well it'll be over in 4 without a doubt.

Not anon DPL said...

NotAnon says.Sorry folks I got the provincial Green leader mixed up with the federal one. I'm a lousy one finger typist but sure as heck know how to fill in a ballot, unlike our present premier

Anonymous said...

Can you write a memo and date it right unlike our Premier to be?

Anonymous said...

Remember your ABC'S
ADRIAN BEFORE CLARK

Anonymous said...

For the NDP's position, go here.

http://www.bcndp.ca/sustainablebc

john (ex DRO) said...

The whole Ms. Clark advance poll fiasco was wrong in that the DRO did not do his/her duty as set out in the Election Act. When Clark put her name on the ballot, that ballot should have been immediately declared a spoiled ballot, and a new ballot issued to the voter.

Anonymous said...

Correct

but remember it's not her name that spoiled the ballot, it was two names.

The other thing, the counterfoil strip was torn off, and Christy had the stupidity of showing the Poll Clerk an open faced ballot.

Anonymous (ex: Poll Clerk)

Anonymous said...

I have to correct John (DRO). In provincial lingo it is a VO or VC firstly.
Spoiling a ballot can only be done by the voter. VO/VC teams cannot do that because they CANNOT see who the voter voted for. That would be a violation. Only the voter can make that decision.
VO/VC teams can only reject a ballot during initial count or final if a blank ballot.
Christy is an idiot for exposing her ballot, but it was her choice, not the voting team. (She voted absentee).

DPL said...

Ms.Photo Op is not the sharpest knife in the block, or to put it another way.Dumb as a bag of hammers.

Anonymous said...

Ha Ha Ha...

she done gone soiled her own ballet

-jethro