Liberals BC Agenda
Today the Liberals released their agenda for BC, which can be found here.
I would urge all those who say the Liberals are bad for BC to look at what the party has actually done in the last 18 months and judge for yourself. I understand that Chretien and Trudeau had a tendency to ignore BC, but guess what Trudeau is dead and Chretien isn't leading the Liberal Party anymore, so time to move on. In all fairness to the Tories, their BC agenda is not that bad, although it lacks specifics on focuses too much on economics and law & order. I believe the economy is the most important issue, but I like the fact the Liberals have demonstrated that having a strong economy is not conflicting with having strong social programs and a clean environment, in fact a strong economy goes hand in hand with both. I also feel they are the most balanced party overall who doesn't try to follow an ideology in a rigid fashion.
Hopefully this can turn things around in BC where the Tories are gaining, but unfortunately BC despite being generally liberal in attitude on most issues has since 1993, had a tendency to elect very right wing candidates who don't necessarily reflect the views of most British Columbians. Tories were offside with British Columbians on both the Iraq War and BMD. They were offside on same-sex marriage, and they are offside in advocating a US style War on Drugs, including the cancelling of the four pillars approach on harms reduction which even Sam Sullivan who is a Tory disagrees with. I also don't buy this idea the West is monolithic. BC has about as much in common with Alberta politically as it does with Ontario. In addition I think the Liberal plan on senate reform makes far more sense than the Tory plan. British Columbia is under-represented in the Senate, so electing senators while still being under-represented won't do anything to solve Western Alienation. The senate formula is out of date and therefore BC needs more senate seats, something the Liberals believe in, but Harper seems more concerned about electing senators than seeing BC has more seats in the senate.
Finally I do hope that those planning to vote Tory at least look at their local candidates. There are moderate ones like Stephen Rogers, Tony Fogarassy, Kanman Wong, Tarlok Sablok, Troy de Souza, Robin Baird, and James Moore who I have no problem with. But people like John Weston, Cindy Silver, Marc Dalton, Paul Forseth, Randy Kamp, Darrel Reid, Nina Grewal, Russ Hiebert, Mark Warawa, Colin Mayes, Mike Scott, Derek Zeisman, Stockwell Day, John Duncan, James Lunney, and Gary Lunn have all made statements in the past that I would describe as extreme (Just before the election, I will dig up some past statements of these people on post them here so people have fresh in their mind what they are voting for). One saying one is moderate doesn't make one moderate. I especially would like to draw people's attention to Darrel Reid and Cindy Silver who the former was the most president of the American religious fundamentalist group Focus on the Family (Canada) and Cindy Silver who was a lawyer for them as well as intervened in the most recent court case to deny gays and lesbians from being added to the human rights code. There is also John Weston who was a member of an anti-abortionist group, Gary Lunn who still says we join Bush in his imperialist War against Iraq. In fact many if not most BC Tory candidates want to repeal the SSM law, which can only be done through using the notwithstanding clause, something I strongly oppose. Also many still support the immoral and reckless war against Iraq and argue that our foreign policy should not be one iota of difference between us and the Americans. If these are the type of people you want to represent you, then vote Tory, but if you don't support those type of views, then don't vote for them. If you cannot stomach going Liberal, then go Green, NDP, Libertarian, Rhino, Independent or whoever. I really hope these people don't win as they only further alienate BC by giving it a bad reputation of being a province of right wing extremists, when in fact we are in many ways more liberal than Ontario. Voting Conservative simply because you want change or believe the Liberals are corrupt can be very risky, this is how one gets bad governments. Vote for whose values are closest to yours, not out of anger. That is why I am voting Liberal despite my disappointment with some of the things the Liberals have done.
I would urge all those who say the Liberals are bad for BC to look at what the party has actually done in the last 18 months and judge for yourself. I understand that Chretien and Trudeau had a tendency to ignore BC, but guess what Trudeau is dead and Chretien isn't leading the Liberal Party anymore, so time to move on. In all fairness to the Tories, their BC agenda is not that bad, although it lacks specifics on focuses too much on economics and law & order. I believe the economy is the most important issue, but I like the fact the Liberals have demonstrated that having a strong economy is not conflicting with having strong social programs and a clean environment, in fact a strong economy goes hand in hand with both. I also feel they are the most balanced party overall who doesn't try to follow an ideology in a rigid fashion.
Hopefully this can turn things around in BC where the Tories are gaining, but unfortunately BC despite being generally liberal in attitude on most issues has since 1993, had a tendency to elect very right wing candidates who don't necessarily reflect the views of most British Columbians. Tories were offside with British Columbians on both the Iraq War and BMD. They were offside on same-sex marriage, and they are offside in advocating a US style War on Drugs, including the cancelling of the four pillars approach on harms reduction which even Sam Sullivan who is a Tory disagrees with. I also don't buy this idea the West is monolithic. BC has about as much in common with Alberta politically as it does with Ontario. In addition I think the Liberal plan on senate reform makes far more sense than the Tory plan. British Columbia is under-represented in the Senate, so electing senators while still being under-represented won't do anything to solve Western Alienation. The senate formula is out of date and therefore BC needs more senate seats, something the Liberals believe in, but Harper seems more concerned about electing senators than seeing BC has more seats in the senate.
Finally I do hope that those planning to vote Tory at least look at their local candidates. There are moderate ones like Stephen Rogers, Tony Fogarassy, Kanman Wong, Tarlok Sablok, Troy de Souza, Robin Baird, and James Moore who I have no problem with. But people like John Weston, Cindy Silver, Marc Dalton, Paul Forseth, Randy Kamp, Darrel Reid, Nina Grewal, Russ Hiebert, Mark Warawa, Colin Mayes, Mike Scott, Derek Zeisman, Stockwell Day, John Duncan, James Lunney, and Gary Lunn have all made statements in the past that I would describe as extreme (Just before the election, I will dig up some past statements of these people on post them here so people have fresh in their mind what they are voting for). One saying one is moderate doesn't make one moderate. I especially would like to draw people's attention to Darrel Reid and Cindy Silver who the former was the most president of the American religious fundamentalist group Focus on the Family (Canada) and Cindy Silver who was a lawyer for them as well as intervened in the most recent court case to deny gays and lesbians from being added to the human rights code. There is also John Weston who was a member of an anti-abortionist group, Gary Lunn who still says we join Bush in his imperialist War against Iraq. In fact many if not most BC Tory candidates want to repeal the SSM law, which can only be done through using the notwithstanding clause, something I strongly oppose. Also many still support the immoral and reckless war against Iraq and argue that our foreign policy should not be one iota of difference between us and the Americans. If these are the type of people you want to represent you, then vote Tory, but if you don't support those type of views, then don't vote for them. If you cannot stomach going Liberal, then go Green, NDP, Libertarian, Rhino, Independent or whoever. I really hope these people don't win as they only further alienate BC by giving it a bad reputation of being a province of right wing extremists, when in fact we are in many ways more liberal than Ontario. Voting Conservative simply because you want change or believe the Liberals are corrupt can be very risky, this is how one gets bad governments. Vote for whose values are closest to yours, not out of anger. That is why I am voting Liberal despite my disappointment with some of the things the Liberals have done.
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 6:49 PM
3 Comments:
Health Care type - I obviously know who you are, but I want reveal it here. Anyways I agree that Stephen Harper's wanting to build firewalls around Alberta will do nothing for the other three provinces. But even Alberta would be better off working with the government than against. The have legitimate grievances against the NEP, but I see that as being more reminiscent of Trudeau and Chretien who did have contempt for the West vs. Martin who has probably done more for the West than any prime-minister in recent memory. Alberta looks like it might go solidly Tory this time, although the Tories got 62% last time around, so they pretty much have reached their ceiling of support in Alberta, so Anne McLellan just might hang on. Remember in 1997, 2000, and 2004, everybody was saying she would lose her seat and in each case she managed to narrowly hang on.
Here in BC, despite the recent Tory gains, in fact the Tories are only around 35% in BC while last time around they got 36%, so they have re-bounded to 2004 levels, not pulled ahead. In addition I think you will see more strategic voting here, which will cost them seats in BC, as people who voted Liberal last time in a riding where the NDP came in second, will go NDP and vice versa. The good news for the Liberals is they got 29% last time around and are now polling in the low 30s here so they are up slightly and I expect them to pick up anywhere from 2-5 seats if the poll numbers stay the same. In addition, the gap between the Lower Mainland and rest of BC has widened, so since the Tories hold all but four of the ridings outside the Lower Mainland (3 of them are on Vancouver Island, which is traditional NDP territory), I think right now the Tories are doing better in the Interior than last time around while worse in the Lower Mainland and since they won all the Interior ridings easily, this is meaningless while their decline in the Lower Mainland will cost them seats.
I agree with you on that it was Chretien and his gang who were responsible, not Paul Martin, but I think the change in numbers has more to do with people feel it is time for a change and although people's opinions of Harper haven't changed a lot, about 5% who were uncomfortable with him last time around are now comfortable with him and that is really all he needs to get in order to win. I still have high hopes the Liberals will win this election, but they are really going to have to get focused and work harder than they've ever worked before. I feel they are coasting too much and not fighting hard enough. At least both You and I are doing our part to support them and thats really all we can do.
I know in my family the few who plan to vote Tory all live in Safe Tory ridings anyways and not mention their MPs are not nutbars either, unlike the majority of their candidates in Western Canada. Actually my Tory candidate Tony Fogarassy is probably the best of the three candidates and I would vote for him if we used a US system where you elect your MP separately from the prime-minister, but since voting for him is indirectly voting for Harper, I will hold my nose up and vote for Liberal, not because of Paul Martin who I like, but because my Liberal MP is Hedy Fry who I don't like and I suspect you would probably feel the same way if you lived in her riding. Anyways it is between her and Svend Robinson, who is even worse.
I find your statements on BC Conservative candidates and the Iraq War to be a harsh generalization. The fact is, many of them favoured it in 2003, some did in 2004. But, who has come out in support of it now? yes, Gary Lunn did in 2004, but what does he say now? Do you have proof that he still believes this? Do you have proof anyone in the Tory ranks still believes this? The fact is, the Iraq War is becoming such a quagmire that many who previously supported it are having a change of heart. Heck, you say you used to support the war, and you no longer do. I initially supported the war, and I no longer do. I know there are many who feel like this, no matter how long it takes them to arrive at that conclusion.
BC Tory, I know many have had a change of heart and there is nothing wrong with it. The problem is many Tories, check out people like Jarrett Plonka, still continue to support the war. Gary Lunn has said anything since so I can assume his opinion is the same. If he has had a change of heart good, but I think there is a fundamental difference between our reason for supporting it initially and his. I cannot speak for you, but I supported it based on the evidence at the time, not because I thought we should blindly follow the United States under all circumstances. Gary Lunn was on the record of saying he thought we should always go to war any time the Americans do, so a big difference here.
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