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In their latest propaganda piece the BC Libs are attempting, lamely, to counter research that shows that BC has one of the lowest education budgets per student in the country..not much of a surprise for most of us who watch with dismay as they continue to dismantle our hard-won public infra-structure… and they have the gall to claim that they have spent huge amounts on education, increasing the budget every year…they are the worst bookkeepers in the country, too…
Apples and oranges…when you are pretending to play catch-up it sounds like a lot of cash..but the truth is they have been ‘increasing’ while taking away..Every year, demands are made for trustees to cut billions of dollars from shrinking school budgets, while closures force more and more students into fewer schools, which are then instructed to tighten the purse strings even further…the BC Lieberals don’t bother factoring that in..right up there with ‘increasing’ the disability rate while simultaneously removing the subsidized bus passes..result? A huge loss from those who can ill afford it..
Anecdotally, my SAFER grant keeps disappearing..when I get it at all, and this is because I’ve had to fight twice, hard, fill out reams of paperwork again and again in the last two years to retain what little of it they feel I’m entitled to..last year, my pension went up a glorious $8.00 per month…result? SAFER monthly grant dropped by $24 per month..a head-scratcher, that one..and, in fact, my rent had gone up, and I was paying my own hydro…result? I end up paying around 65% of my total income for rent and utilities…according to the bumpf from the BC Libs, seniors are so much better off than before…oh, and let’s not forget they also took away our free ferry passenger ‘deal’ …the Libs giveth but the Libs mostly taketh away…
I protest the stats that say that seniors are rapidly becoming the largest age group…for why would any senior outside the 1% ers vote for a party that does it’s damnedest to make sure our retirement years are anything but golden? Let’s all try to make sure and encourage seniors, parents and all voters to look at the hard realities of living here…
Left Over 
I partly blame the current BC NDP leadership for BC’s troubles with its governing party. I don’t know what’s happened to it since the 90’s, but the party’s stuck in a rut, handing elections to the BC Liberals with little fight. And right now, there’s little opposition to the BC Liberals in Victoria. And what little there is isn’t even perceived by the voting public.
I can understand, mostly, that it was due to the wipe it suffered back in 2001, but it has never actually truly rebuilt itself. It’s been fifteen years now. The BC NDP needs to renew. What it’s doing isn’t working, and so long as it continues on as it is doing, it’ll keep handing elections to the BC Liberals.
First and foremost, the BC NDP needs to get aggressive. They need to be in peoples’ faces. They need to show off there’s actually two political parties in BC, and they’re both actually different. Right now, people don’t see a difference in the two parties. Then why should they bother voting BC NDP if that’s the case?
Secondly, the party needs to begin adopting actual transformative policies. What they’re currently running on isn’t bringing in new members. I’ve called it bland, myself. I’ve said it before, they need actual policies that would make a difference out here in the real world. There’s a huge opportunity in new technology, right now. There’s also the huge fact climate change is barrelling right at us, with no regard to our well-being. Someone needs to take leadership on that, and begin showing people how to prepare. Why shouldn’t it be BC? And if it’s BC, then it needs to be the BC NDP right at the forefront.
Personally, I’m absolutely unimpressed with the party’s leadership, and have absolutely no problem picking a metaphorical fight with the group as a whole. Either I’m going to beat some toughness into them, or I’ll beat them right out of the party.
Geez, Troy, talking to you is like talking to me…it would be difficult to argue any of your points, and I’ve often said that the NDP, (the only party, up til now that I have ever voted for) had better get their shit together or they will become extinct…However, a couple of points need to be made in what pathetic rebuttal I can muster..the fact is that the NDP has always been a tad too milquetoast for my taste..well, that is, since Dave Barrett lost out to the Bennett Reich back in the day…it is as if they need to counter their philosophy, once viewed as radical and downright scary, with the soothing dulcet tones of a doting grandparent, to soft sell the socialism they should be proud of…but they aren’t capable of it.. and Christy Clark is more than happy to show ’em how it’s done…problem is, in this case, you really can’t teach an old dog new tricks..
The NDP dithers and fumbles between workers and the environment, instead of tying the two together and supporting new energy sources that are comparatively clean and green..even that so-called NDP Premier of Alberta continues to try to shove a pipeline down BC’s throat, when in fact no one here of any political stripe is remotely interested…what does that tell you? When Junior Trudeau refers to Notley as his friend, he’s not just fooling around…she’s no more NDP than Ralph Klein…
I blame the old-timers (and I’m pretty ancient myself..) for being content with losing status as you say, as if it were a badge to be worn with some sort of self-effacing pride..I was really hoping they would learn something from the Bernie Sanders campaign..and the fact that he is schooling the next generation of voters in the art of the fight back…but the Sanders Revolution has had no discernible effect on the New Democrats, at least not that I can see…no one at all has come out swinging yet, and doubt if they will..part of the problem is the semi-geriatric Mr. Horgan, who is leader by default..no one younger or with more fire in the belly was willing or able to take the reins, and that is the kiss of political death..I was really hoping that Nathan Cullen would step up, but he doesn’t seem too interested, and that’s a shame because he is a firebrand when it comes to the environment, he’s a Northerner and that is an area badly underrepresented by NDP leaders of the past, etc etc..and he’s still young enough to have an energetic campaign..but it is not to be, so guess we’ll once again be stuck with Clark and her ilk..hopefully when a new style of NDPer comes around, there will still be some things left un-privatized, but I’m not holding my breath…