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  #81  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2010, 7:44 PM
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Stingray2004 Stingray2004 is offline
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Originally Posted by whatnext View Post
So in other words Finning seems to be the only example people can think of.
In fact, I recall a study undertaken whereby BC experienced a net loss of 469 small and medium-sized businesses between 1994 and 1999 that moved from BC to other provinces. Can't seem to locate it right now.

Quote:
As to the claim someone mentioned about housing prices languishing, I'd bet there are plenty of ordinary British Columbians who wish housing prices had continued to "languish" at the point where they could afford a house, rather than scrimp and scrape just to get an overpriced shoebox-sized condo.
That's also a function of demand as well as supply of developable land considering we are hamstrung by mountains, the ocean, the ALR, etc.

In that vein, my relatives became overnight millionaires with their developable landholdings in Richmond during 1973 thanks to Dave Barrett's NDP gov't when they brought in the ALR and land prices virtually doubled overnight in Metro Vancouver. It's a zero sum game.
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  #82  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2010, 8:10 PM
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SFUVancouver SFUVancouver is offline
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I'm in the camp that never warmed up to Gordon Campbell and yet still supported a fair number of the administration's initiatives, especially on the infrastructure front. However, had the Canada Line, Convention Centre, carbon tax, school seismic upgrades, post-secondary expansion and captial projects, SkyTrain and bus fleet expansion, sales tax cuts, HST, pro-business investment climate, the Olympics, support for InSite, and (eventual, if limited) support for homelessness initiatives and housing, all been initiated by a different government I would have been just as supportive.

I do feel that there were many poor decisions made. Off the top of my head:
The way the HST was implemented.
Throwing support for the the arts sector into chaos.
Building Gateway highway infrastructure with a willful disregard for the effects this will have on land use decisions south of the Fraser and not coupling it with transit.
Reorganising Translink and taking away meaningful local control from the region.
Refusing to direct any portion of the carbon tax to public transportation.
Failing to provide adequate funding for special needs education at a time when demand is soaring.
Failure to build low income and supportive housing throughout the region and in quantity.
The $6 training wage and a frozen $8 minimum wage.
Cutting gaming grants to non-profits and the cultural sector while greatly expanding gambling in the province.
Welfare housing supplements that were frozen for most of the decade and are still inadequate to secure housing outside of the Downtown East Side.
Systemic problems in the Ministry of Children and Families that has put foster children at risk and associated failure by the BC Coroner's service to investigate the deaths of hundreds of children while they were wards of the Ministry.
The Special Projects Streamlining Act that was used to overrule the regulatory authority of the Squamish regional district with respect to the Aslu Run of River hydro project.

I appreciate that no government can please everyone and that fundamental ideological differences account for a lot of this, but I feel that many of the controversies I mentioned stem from an administrative approach that was dismissive of local authority and expertise, and overly secretive. Too many projects, including many I supported, seemed to simply be announced prior to any plan for implementation and then when valid critiscim about the consequences were identified and raised these were routinely ignored or met with demonstrably false assertions.

I think this decade was a prosperous one for much of the province and the Campbell administration can rightfully claim credit for some of this success, but the largess was certainly not tangible to many people and I think that the opportunity costs of the government's spending decisions may prove to be substantial as we move into this next decade. I do not think we are well prepared as a province for increasing energy costs for fossil fuels. I do not think that our public transit system is prepared to meet the mobility and lifestyle needs of very much more of our population than are currently using the system. I do not feel that a child born today in BC will have the same opportunities as my generation (Gen Y) to pursue a career of their choice and live comfortably on their income in this province, nor do I feel that my generation has the same opportunities to do these things as my parent's generation.

There are clearly limits to the powers of government and its ability to play a meaningful, positive role in our lives, but I think that there are countless things that benefit people and businesses immensely that can only be achieved when an adequate portion the limited resources of a society are pooled together via taxation. We have seen, clearly, that there is such a thing as poor administration, crippling economic policy, and too much spending by governments. We only have to look to Greece, among many others, to see the huge peril of going too far down the path of fiscal mismanagement, soaring deficits, and unfunded entitlements. Closer to home we only have to look to the United States to give us a sobering glimpse of the peril of going too far down the path of deregulation, monetarist policy making, and reliance on false economies. However I also think that we can see the cost of a policy of too little government spending by looking to our own province and the ranks of impoverished mentally ill people who are costing us more money living on the street, shelters, or squalid SROs than it would take to house and care for them in supportive housing.

Clearly there is a balance that needs to be achieved and I feel that this balance has been achieved unevenly in this province.
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Last edited by SFUVancouver; Nov 4, 2010 at 8:36 PM.
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  #83  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2010, 8:30 PM
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The prosperity that this province enjoyed in in the past 10 years. Has more to do with the increase in commodity prices and less to do with the policies implemented by the liberals.

As for the increase in infrastructure building. Most of that happened because of the upcoming Olympics. Which gave an incentive for the federal government to help put money into some of them. If there had been no Olympics there would not have been that incentive and chances are the federal government would not have given the province any money.
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  #84  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2010, 9:11 PM
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Originally Posted by SFUVancouver View Post
I do feel that there were many poor decisions made. Off the top of my head:
1) The way the HST was implemented.
2) Throwing support for the the arts sector into chaos.
3) Building Gateway highway infrastructure with a willful disregard for the effects this will have on land use decisions south of the Fraser and not coupling it with transit.
4) Reorganising Translink and taking away meaningful local control from the region.
5) Refusing to direct any portion of the carbon tax to public transportation.
6) Failure to build low income and supportive housing throughout the region and in quantity.
7) The $6 training wage and a frozen $8 minimum wage.
.......
1) Agreed.
2) In a recession, you have to prioritize. I don't think that Campbell slashed arts spending without looking at other areas like health and seeing what the needs are.
3) I'm mixed on Gateway. We do need some road infrastructure (the GEB is a very fast and reliable way for containers to go from the Pitt Meadows intermodal yard to Hwy1) and the rapidbus intitiatives are appreciated, as with a new toll on the PMB. I only wish that rail transit was hardwired into that mix somehow.
4) Disagree. If we left translink the way it was, it will likely be a bickering hornet's nest of mayors with Derek Corrigan managing to usurp control and with precious little being done.
5) Politically, it would be a very difficult sell outside the lower mainland/victoria to convince ppl to pay carbon tax for transit in southwestern BC, or having a pot of money to spend on tranist initiatives in smaller centres just b/c we have the money, without doing route/corridor analyses
6) see frances bula's article on Rich Coleman, a linked it on page 1.
7) Agree. It shouldn't be the highest, but it shouldn't be the lowest.

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I do not feel that a child born today in BC will have the same opportunities as my generation (Gen Y) to pursue a career of their choice and live comfortably on their income in this province, nor do I feel that my generation has the same opportunities to do these things as my parent's generation.
But that's a common concern throughout the developed world. Is that due to anything that Victoria does, or due to world-wide forces on the economy? You cannot get $20 hr jobs in the mill easily anymore. Can we as a province aim for something new and different?

Quote:
Obama expressed frustration about the gridlock in Washington. "I have one simple question: How long should we wait? How long should America put its future on hold?" he asked. "You see, Washington has been telling us to wait for decades, even as the problems have grown worse. Meanwhile, China is not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany is not waiting. India is not waiting."
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/03/15/the-troubles.html

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However I also think that we can see the cost of a policy of too little government spending by looking to our own province and the ranks of impoverished mentally ill people who are costing us more money living on the street, shelters, or squalid SROs than it would take to house and care for them in supportive housing.
Tread carefully. How/where in the GVRD do we do that? How would you define a success? I'm unsure how any govt in Victoria can impact significantly. That's like a certain mayor of a BC city promising to end homelessness by 2015.
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  #85  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2010, 9:50 PM
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Thanks for the reminder, I'd forgotten to add destruction of the domestic shipbuilding industry to Gordo's list of "accomplishments".
Well, the NDP gave our shipbuilding industry a chance, and we all know how that went..
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  #86  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2010, 11:02 PM
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If you think Gordon Campbell did an overall bad job for BC do the following:

1) Read up on history with regards to the past 20 years in BC
2) Travel down to the US and hop through some of the major cities there
3) Head east and talk to Canadians on the other side of the country

The truth is most people have a beef with GC because of the lying. I mean let's face it, he even lied about stepping down. For the past several months he has continuously said he won't step down even up to a few days ago then blamo btw I'm stepping down. You don't just make that decision in an hour, so that means he even lied about that.

That doesn't take away the fact he did some really good things nor the fact he did some very bad things. At the end of the day we're better off than almost every other province in this country and we're in a country better off than almost every other country on the planet so let's be a bit more realistic.

HST? Just loads of FUD and a lot of people not reading into facts. "I spent thousands on HST" said above is just crap. Means that person spent over $30,000 in the past several months. Stop spending that much or yay must be nice to be that rich. Truth is HST affects you WAY LESS than you think.

BC Rail sale? That had some major issues related. But the Olympics went pretty well. Gateway will be good, in 10 years it will be like the Alex Fraser bridge in that those against now won't be able to dream of how they would function without that bridge. Same with Gateway in 10 years most people will go "How could we have functioned without all this!" Not to mention most people I've heard and talked to who are against Gateway seem to miss the key concept that our population is growing yet our infrastructure is stagnant.

MORE ROADS MEANS MORE CARS! No... more people means more cars.... durrr what a concept.

Heck the fact that many of Surrey's top accident intersections are along HWY 1 means the improvements to interchanges alone will save in health care, insurance costs, and lost time/gas usage (less crashes, less injuries, and less time waiting in traffic due to said crashes).

People need to look more at the big picture than at their little finite gas receipt for last week or their day-to-day job. That's why I'd never want to run this province. While you're thinking big picture everyone is thinking only about what they're going to eat tonight and losing perspective with regards to reality.

Is it good he is gone? Maybe. I think it could be bad because what's the alternative? The NDP? Do you want James as our Permier? At least Gordo stepped down when he was unpopular. She is just as unpopular as Campbell and her party is even vocal about it yet she won't step down. That's the making of a great leader. </sarcasm>
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  #87  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2010, 11:36 PM
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Originally Posted by SFUVancouver View Post
The Expo Line extension from Scott Road to King George and the Millennium Line, off of the top of my head.
Expo Line extension to King George was approved by the Socreds and started construction just before the election they lost. If the Socreds had won that election, it would probably would have been built out to 168 St by '99.

The NDP did build the Millennium line, but cut off both ends. Everyone in the region called it the line "from nowhere to nowhere" and were very critical that it didn't terminate at Granville Street. This region would be quite different today if they had bit the bullet included a Granville terminus in Phase 1 (while construction costs were as cheap as they'll ever be again).

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Originally Posted by Yume-sama View Post
The BC NDP lead by James shouldn't be trusted to run a community board let alone a province.
I wouldn't let them run my Strata. The guy living in the building that trims the hedges gets paid enough already, I wouldn't want to see him get an assistant, both with 12 weeks paid vacation a year.

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Originally Posted by vanlaw View Post
The only person/people who caused the destruction of the domestic shipbuilding industry, was the domestic shipbuilding industry itself. They sat around with their attitude of entitlement to contracts and couldn’t deliver anything on time or on budget, because they felt there was no incentive to do so (fast cats).

Is it really so bad that we got three new beautiful ferries built overseas at the best price given the great quality. Kudos to the Germans for being internationally competitive and offering a great product, shame on the BC industry for sitting around on their asses – I don’t see them as being domestically competitive, let alone internationally. Is Gordo really to blame for that????
Well put.

Another thing to remember is that there never was a SHIP building industry. Except for some WWII era supply ships and the occasional ferry, BCers never built ships. The BC Ship building industry died in 1949. We build tugs and fishing boats, and we REPAIR ships. And that industry is still going strong. In fact, that's why their bid to build the new ferries was so high, because all shipbuilders are actually employed building private boats, or repairing cruise ships. To build the new ferries in a timely fashion, would have required paying them enough to attract them away from the jobs they already had or bring in migrant workers from other ship building locals. But the local ship building industry was used for what it's good at: the ferries arrived empty and were completed in BC. Same with the other ships that were acquired internationally; local industry was used to modify and complete them.

The NDP tried to start a ship building market, not save one. They overpaid the workers, who had other jobs to fall back on, and were unexperienced working with the materials for the Fast Cats, so they weren't very motivated (and knew that their unmotivation would actually bring them more money).

The NDP tried to use taxpayer money to start a crown corporation that would sell fast ferries on the international market, whose construction cost was subsidized by the BC taxpayer. Basically creating jobs and happy voters at a net loss to the taxpayer (IE exporting money in exchange for votes).

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Originally Posted by whatnext View Post
So in other words Finning seems to be the only example people can think of.
How about the almost complete devastation of the BC owned forest industry? While it's still taking hits, it's nothing like the sell off of assets to foreign interests we saw in the 90's. Kelowna, use to be an industry town, but their industry, like building trucks, left town (and is now some weird wine tourism supported construction based economy).
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  #88  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 1:39 AM
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The latest horse race numbers for potential Campbell replacements from a new Ipsos-Reid poll based upon a net score of positives/negatives:

Dianne Watts: +30%
Carole Taylor: +21%
John Furlong: +19%
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Bill Bennett: -16%
Mike Deyong: -20%
Rich Coleman: -22%
George Abbott: -29%
Kevin Falcon: -32%

So it's obvious that if Watts goes for the brass ring the Liberals will have momentum in their favour. If it's one of the current MLA's/cabinet ministers, not so much.
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  #89  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 1:53 AM
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...Another thing to remember is that there never was a SHIP building industry. Except for some WWII era supply ships and the occasional ferry, BCers never built ships. The BC Ship building industry died in 1949. We build tugs and fishing boats, and we REPAIR ships. And that industry is still going strong. In fact, that's why their bid to build the new ferries was so high, because all shipbuilders are actually employed building private boats, or repairing cruise ships. To build the new ferries in a timely fashion, would have required paying them enough to attract them away from the jobs they already had or bring in migrant workers from other ship building locals. But the local ship building industry was used for what it's good at: the ferries arrived empty and were completed in BC. Same with the other ships that were acquired internationally; local industry was used to modify and complete them..
Really? That will come as news to the British Columbians who built the entire BC Ferries fleet up to the misguided Campbell years. Of course, in keeping with the typical anti-NDP hysteria, some like to focus solely on the fast ferries.
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  #90  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 2:31 AM
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I thought that the reason the new ferries (mainly the Super-C Class) were constructed outside of BC was that they were too large to have been accommodated by the shipbuilding infrastructure here. They are the largest double-ended ships to ever be constructed after all.
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  #91  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 4:24 AM
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You know what guys, whatsnext is right.

The NDP are the best to run the province. They can handle the economy far better than the Liberals, its their pro-union, subsidize dying industry stance that attacts so much talent. After all, during their tenure they only chased out ONE multibillion dollar company out of the province! Thats amazing! and it only left because of... well... im sure there is some excuse that makes it not their fault! And they almost induced some to come to the province! What an economic dream team, we should be so lucky to be under their brilliant stewardship again.

We all know that the NDP is better for business, its just so obvious!

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  #92  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 4:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BCPhil
Those jobs could literally be anywhere in North America, but successive liberal federal governments over the years have made sure that those jobs are in Ontario, so that they get the votes from voter rich Ontario. That's why there is one or 2 in every town. Go anywhere outside Toronto, and any town over 5,000 people has some kind of manufacturing plant, whether it be a boxing plant or a place they mix toothpaste. Breakfast cereal use grain grown in the parries, sent to China to be turned into hard lumps, then sent back to Ontario to be put into boxes. How many times does it pass through Vancouver before you open it to eat it?
Thank you for this post. This has opened my eyes up ... and I don't know what to say. There aren't enough facepalms in the world right now for how I feel...

This is also why I've often seen Ontario/Toronto (or even other provinces, particularly Alberta) as the "enemy". Sure, we all benefit if we all do well economically but only to a certain extent. I have always loathed Ontario for how the federal government has favoured this province over others in every way, and how Ontario itself wants to expand its dominance across the country (can't blame them though) .... so for our own good, why are we being so passive about it? There's much truth behind the whole anti-"centre of the universe"/ant-Toronto sentiment.
You should also know that transit projects in Ontario pretty much always gets 1/3 federal funding, compared to the $413 million we got for the $2 billion Canada line, lol. They've started construction in fact, of a subway extension to a parking lot in Vaughan for $2.6 billion, 1/3 paid for by the feds. That's like building a underground subway to Maple Ridge, lol. In Quebec, they expect the feds to pay up to 45%...
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  #93  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 4:58 AM
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Really? That will come as news to the British Columbians who built the entire BC Ferries fleet up to the misguided Campbell years. Of course, in keeping with the typical anti-NDP hysteria, some like to focus solely on the fast ferries.
Did they put the spirit class vessel contruction up for tender? Has the industry been able to build similar-sized vessels for other parties other than BC ferries (ie. can BC shipbuilding build similar ships competitively?)

Are we as taxpayers ok with accepting higher costs (fares and subsidies) for BC ferries to keep shipbuilding here in BC?

Quote:
“What it comes down to is that some decisions are too hard for politicians to make,” said Stefanson, the BC Ferries vice president. “It was time to divorce from politics and let business people make business decisions.”

One of the most critical of those moves was acknowledging that keeping shipbuilding jobs in B.C. was a luxury the organization sometimes could not afford, Stefanson said.

Perhaps the greatest benefit to the British Columbian system since partially privatizing has been the overhaul of an aging fleet.

“They seem to have cracked the nut on revitalizing their fleet,” said Walt Elliott, chairman of the Kingston ferry advisory committee and co-chairman of the overall system’s ferry advisory executive council, which supports a look at what benefits could come from some kind of privatization.

Using its profits to float bonds, the company has since bought many of its vessels from a shipyard in Germany, spending $1 billion buying seven new vessels and extending the life of three others in the past three years. BC Ferries says it saved about $80 million by going abroad for the vessels.
Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/j...#ixzz14NeiS194
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  #94  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 5:41 AM
Phil McAvity Phil McAvity is offline
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You know what guys, whatsnext is right.

The NDP are the best to run the province. They can handle the economy far better than the Liberals, its their pro-union, subsidize dying industry stance that attacts so much talent. After all, during their tenure they only chased out ONE multibillion dollar company out of the province! Thats amazing! and it only left because of... well... im sure there is some excuse that makes it not their fault! And they almost induced some to come to the province! What an economic dream team, we should be so lucky to be under their brilliant stewardship again.

We all know that the NDP is better for business, its just so obvious!

The NDP also took us to have-not status for the first time in BC's history. It just amazes me what selective memories NDPer's have.

It seems than Campbell started out so well but gradually got worse and worse culminating in the HST boondoggle, although the province also experienced a great deal of prosperity under his leadership so his departure to me is a mixed blessing.
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  #95  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 5:50 AM
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Originally Posted by Phil McAvity View Post
The NDP also took us to have-not status for the first time in BC's history. It just amazes me what selective memories NDPer's have.

It seems than Campbell started out so well but gradually got worse and worse culminating in the HST boondoggle, although the province also experienced a great deal of prosperity under his leadership so his departure to me is a mixed blessing.
The commodity bust took us to the so-called "have-not" status. Anyone notice that ON is now a have-not? Its a totally artificial creation, used as a bogeyman by various political parties at various times.

And anyone who thinks Gordo's destruction of our shipbuilding, forest products and other union-friendly industries were done in the name of "efficiency" rather than pure political pandering to his Socred-Retread party's corporate masters needs their head examined. But I guess massive subsidies to the tourism industry in the form of the 2010 Olympics, or tax breaks for film production is "efficient" too?
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  #96  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 6:39 AM
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Its so true, the NDP is the best for business, its so obvious. I dont know why anyone would ever question it.
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  #97  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 7:51 AM
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Wow... I'm surprised this forum gets so hot like this so fast when news breaks out... xD
But anyway, for those who dislike Carole James, here's a story to add fuel to your cause:

CTV News: With Campbell gone, is James the best leader for NDP?

Quote:
With Campbell gone, is James the best leader for NDP?

By: ctvbc.ca

Date: Thursday Nov. 4, 2010 5:30 PM PT

Now that the B.C. New Democrats have lost their favourite target in Premier Gordon Campbell, all eyes are on leader Carole James -- and not everyone thinks she should continue to head the party.

James was unable to defeat Campbell in the 2005 and 2009 elections. In the end, it was the premier who defeated himself.

Pollster Mario Canseco of Angus Reid Strategies told CTV News that Campbell's decision to resign is a bad omen for the New Democrats.

"It's not good for the immediate future because they do not have anyone they can criticize as much as they were criticizing Campbell," Canseco said.

Although Campbell's approval rating plunged to a historic low of nine per cent last month, James's numbers aren't that much better.

"Basically, one in four people see her as somebody who can run the show in Victoria," Canseco said.

But James has been hesitant to comment on her struggling popularity.

When asked why she was unable to boost her own ratings while Campbell's fell, she answered: "Well, in fact I'm very proud of the record of New Democrats and the work we've done since the election."

Former New Democrat strategist Bill Tieleman wonders if Carole James is the right person to unseat the Liberals.

"It's unusual for any political leader in this day and age to get three tries at winning an election. That's up to the NDP delegates and members. Clearly it's going be a challenge," he said.

MLA Bob Simpson has openly questioned James's leadership, but he was kicked out of the party caucus for his criticism. He believes that she has been unable to endear herself to B.C. voters, despite seven years of trying.

"She hasn't captured the hearts and minds of British Columbians to date, and now with the Liberals having an opportunity to renew themselves through a new leadership, maybe the NDP needs to look at that as well," he said.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Shannon Paterson
The article is pretty much bang on at what I feel are Jame's weak points. Criticizing a lot, but not producing anything that could counter the problem. In fact, both parties are probably suffering from the fact that they no longer have very clear agendas ever since the resignation occurred.

For the next election to be of any use, I hope that both parties can breathe in new life by creating new party objectives and agendas as well as electing good leaders for the premier's office. Heck, I don't mind if another party was even formed to offer a bit of competition to the two existing camps. But something different is definitely needed.
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  #98  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 9:07 AM
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Its so true, the NDP is the best for business, its so obvious. I dont know why anyone would ever question it.
What your not getting is just because something is good for business. Does not mean it is automatically good for the average worker.

I'll say it again the biggest reason for the good times in the past 10 years was because of the much better commodity prices. At one time even Alberta was a have-not province years ago. It wasn't until the price of oil started to rise that things changed. If you want someone to thank for the good times. Thank the Chinese for buying all our raw materials.
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  #99  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 12:09 PM
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No I certainly get that... I dont know what I said that implied that I was not getting that. All I have said is that The Libs are better for business.

There is a certian modicum of balance needed when adressing the needs of the business and the needs of the workers. Though the libs may often neglect the needs of the workers in favour of the businesses, it is in my opinoin that the NDP neglect the needs of business far more egregiously than the Libs to to the workers.

There is no doubt that without businesses there is no work for the workers and without workers there is no labour for the businesses, so the two must be both nurtured. THe NDP has shown in its past however to have little regard for this balance and is little more than a policy insturment of a few very powerful unions.

That is why the libs will likely get my vote next election, that is until someone in the NDP party can convince me their platoform has moderated from its staunchly anti business stance of the past. It certainly is not impossible, I have just yet to see any semblance of a coherant economic plan from the NDP.
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  #100  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2010, 2:29 PM
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Location: White Rock, BC (Metro Vancouver)
Posts: 3,145
Quote:
Originally Posted by whatnext View Post
On keeping with the typical anti-NDP hysteria,
Whatnext, this post is all in good jest, but you leave me scratching my head. You say you drive a BMW and always rail against "Mayor Moonbeam" and his Vision Vancouver cohorts at City Hall, which leads me to believe that you are centre/centre-right on the political spectrum. Mayor Moonbeam and Vision are mostly comprised of moderate New Democrats and some federal Liberals compared to COPE and it's left-wing loons.

Yet, you paradoxically seem to support Carole James and the NDP. Fair enough. But some of the Vancouver NDP MLA's are complete left-wing nutbars compared to Vision Vancouver. I'd take and rather vote for Vision Vancouver any day.

Take Vancouver-Kensington NDP MLA Mable Elmore, for example. She's a proud anti-Zionist, anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist. A real nutty loon. Here's Mable at an anti-war rally on the steps of the VAG in complete shrill mode:

Video Link


BTW, I've always had the utmost respect for former North Coast NDP MLA Dan Miller who also served a stint as interim premier during the late 1990's. As one First Nations chief once confided in me during the late 1990's "He's a good businessman". As a union guy, Miller also came from the federal Liberal wing of the provincial NDP.

Miller was also the architect of the tax credit regime for the northeast natural gas industry in the late 1990's that resulted in the later natural gas boom. Kudos to him. Miller also supports the offshore oil and gas industry, the Enbridge pipeline, the turned down Prosperity Mine in Williams Lake, etc. Certainly not NDP positions. Miller understands that a vibrant economy and government revenues from a healthy business sector is what pays for our health, education, social services, and infrastructure, for example.

BTW, Dan Miller also sits on the board of directors of BC Ferries that made the decision to outsource the C-Class vessels to Germany. Why? Because of the fixed-cost contract and superior quality at a time when steel costs were surging, etc. As a further aside, Dan Miller has come out in support of the HST because it's good public policy. Go figure.

FWIW, I don't see any "Dan Millers" on the current NDP bench with his business acumen. And that's unfortunate for BC.

Last edited by Stingray2004; Nov 5, 2010 at 5:22 PM.
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