B.C. Energy Minister says clean power projects aren’t the priority
Premiers’ exclusive fundraisers violate conflict of interest rules, says Democracy Watch
Charging $10,000 for exclusive access to premiers violates Canada’s conflict of interest laws, says group
By Mike Laanela, CBC News Posted: Apr 01, 2016 7:29 AM PT Last Updated: Apr 01, 2016 8:33 AM PT
Ancient glass sponge reef discovered off B.C. coast
Rare ecological find by industrial LNG project
By Betsy Trumpener, Carolina de Ryk, CBC News Posted: Mar 31, 2016 12:23 PM PT Last Updated: Mar 31, 2016 3:54 PM PT
OUR VIEW: As coal diminishes, will the plan die?
New West Record
March 31, 2016 10:01 AM
– See more at: http://www.newwestrecord.ca/opinion/editorial/our-view-as-coal-diminishes-will-the-plan-die-1.2221148#sthash.gnoTd9r8.dpuf
The BC news today? Lowest minimum wage in the country, Christy Clark is illegally and secretly gathering donations from rich donors, and now this…feeling like we’re living in what has become the worst Province for our environment, our workers and our politics. Between the Cite C Dam, the ‘new’ Massey Tunnel/Bridge, the fact that we have the lowest minimum wage in the country coupled with the most expensive real estate in the country, it’s a wonder any of us can even get up in the morning and get on with our lives…and to think that Clark won with a majority, that this party of divisiveness and pre-election super-lies just keeps going and going..depressing isn’t the word for it…
While our MSM trumpets ‘new’ discoveries such as the glass sponge reef, found by a company sure to have a valid explanation for its imminent destruction, inadvertent though it might be; archaic industries being eliminated everywhere but here (coal) find support from our Provincial Libs and they just can’t wait to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to make it so..Vancouver Island, heavily NDP country, subjected to Third World environmental ‘policies’ with toxic dumps allowed by the BC government to spread their poison willy-nilly and in super sensitive areas like Shawnigan Lake which are now under the microscope, figuratively and literally, for potential problems..why? Why to all of this insanity?
The people of BC really do need to wake up…all of this reeks of the failed Con politicians who have ’emigrated’ to BC and been welcomed with open arms and wallet by Clark and her band of corporate stooges..the more the merrier. After losing Alberta to the most rightwing NDP party I’ve seen so far, it’s sadly true that they have gone West, and found a new home here in LaLaLand..and their regressive policies have come with them, and found a kindred spirit (sorry, Ms. Montgomery..) in Christy Clark, with her toothy smile so very reminiscent of the Zalm, and her policies so redolent of Harper…next election, we really have to lose these losers or ask ourselves if there is anyway we can all become US refugees in Bernie Sanders’ American Dream…
Left Over 
Wouldn’t it be great if the NDP could find its ass with both hands – or either? They’ve turned B.C. into what has effectively become a one-party state with the oh-so predictable outcomes you’ve listed.
I know..snatching defeat from the jaws of victory over and over..
I’ll let you in on a little secret..well maybe not much of a secret. In the past, I worked hard for a few constituency offices on the provincial level and could not believe (naivety on my part) the absolute control vested in the geeks in the back room who not only dictated policy, but were absolutely Stalin-like in their inability to formulate any sort of agenda that realistically could be acceptable to the voters that supported the party. On some philosophical level that these young men (exclusively) could never relate to, the thought of actually allowing anyone to get off-message was such a taboo that I stopped being so supportive..even when we were phoning, we had a script that we were not to deviate from..I often wondered what they expected us to say if those we called actually wanted to talk about something, to engage ..nope, just a polite goodbye, hang up, and go on to the next one..the only thing worse was robo-calling.
But really, the biggest turn off for me was their inability to decide where they stood on key issues..jobs are not the only thing that matters, even in our economy..since you are a Greenie, you understand that better than most. The irony is that many of us avidly support environmental issues (Nathan Cullen comes to mind) but are constantly stymied by those aforesaid ‘boys in short pants’ who have abandoned the social justice principles of the original party platform for the idiocy of centrism..a loser if ever there was one…
I mused today, CP, on what I wouldn’t give to be able to resurrect David Lewis. The old crew, veteran labour lawyers like Lewis and Jean Marchand who fought from the picket lines, Trudeau the Elder who wages a fierce battle against Duplessis. Those guys were tough as nails but they also had a pretty strong measure of decency. Why is no one standing up for organized labour any more? Capital has been allowed to prevail over labour at every turn since neoliberalism was ushered in during the Reagan/Thatcher/Mulroney era and it has been bolstered and entrenched with every global trade deal we’ve inked ever since. Now it’s the TPP.
The union movement has only itself to blame for much of it..the union members that are left mostly don’t participate in their union’s work, and few if any bother to vote for their own officials..kind of a mirror image of voting patterns generally for the most part..I was briefly a table officer and even President of my own local, and, aside for showing up when they had a specific issue, it was almost impossible to get more than a bare quorum..there’s an old saying, that members get the unions they deserve…”Big Yellow Taxi” has always been playing in my head when it comes to unions…
I am, and will always be grateful for what my union job did for me..good (and equal) wages, benefits and at least mostly acceptable working conditions..but the workers themselves need to get off their butts and participate, holding union pork officials’ feet to the fire..every time I read that someone somewhere in a regional or country wide capacity has been re-elected for the zillionth time, unopposed, (BC Fed, etc.) want to tear my hair out in frustration with the ‘go along-get along’ attitude..it’s sickening, encourages corruption, and gives enemies the fodder they thrive on