BC Liberals selected Bruce McDonald as their candidate in Delta South, the riding held by independent Vicki Huntington. The incumbent MLA says her opponent is “an adamant and unapologetic supporter of Liberal government policies.” McDonald told Robyn Smith of The Tyee that when events come down to a position of principle and ethics, “You have to be prepared to walk away.”
Now there is a circle that cannot be squared. McDonald is an unapologetic supporter of the Liberals but implies he would walk away if he noted any affront to principle and ethics. So, why is he not walking right now? Has he not noticed any matters of principle and ethics in the last dozen years?
- Not Premier Gordon Campbell being jailed for criminal behaviour while visiting Hawaii and not resigning?
- Not BC Rail being corruptly delivered to one of Campbell’s pals to have and to hold for 990 years while $6 million was paid to Basi and Virk as an inducement, along with wrist-slap sentences, to end their criminal trial before senior Liberals were called to testify about how the railway deals came to be?
- Not BC Hydro being pointed toward bankruptcy by backroom deals for private power it doesn’t need and cannot afford?
- Not the conversion of South Delta farmland for the sake of industrial development and road construction, with huge profits earned by connected land speculators, not farmers.
- Not the sweetheart deals with foreign contractors to build roads and bridges at triple the cost of earlier bridge and freeway construction after accounting for inflation?
- Not Minister of Graft and Corruption Coleman cutting deals behind close doors to give away millions in tax dollars to people writing cheques in return?
- Not Pavco doing a backroom casino deal with impecunious Liberal friends while competitors with financial wherewithal were forced to the sidelines?
- Not spending millions of public funds for partisan advertising favouring the BC Liberal Party and using taxpayer funded legislative staff and facilities during regular office hours for Liberal electioneering?
I expect that Delta South residents will vote for Vicki Huntington, an MLA focused on issues important to the riding. Whether it involves coal dust pollution, the loss of thousands of acres of prime farmland to port expansion, highways and industrialization, river dredging and flood control, democratic reform, or other issues, Ms. Huntington cannot be told by party leaders to stay quiet.
Had we 20 more independent MLA’s like her, good government would be assured no matter which party forms government in May.
Categories: BC Liberals
IN-SIGHTS 
“Had we 20 more independent MLA's like her, good government would be assured no matter which party forms government in May.”
Yup.
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I lived in Vicki Huntington's riding for six years and never heard a complaint against her. She was a powerful voice for local concerns as mayor and then as an MLA. (I'm thinking of her leadership on the BC Hydro right of way issue.) I believe her constituents would do well to reelect her.
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The “Eye” lives in South Delta and on at least three occasions unfortunately contacted Bruce McDonald on municipal business and on two occasions Mr. MacDonald did nothing, not even returning my phone call. On the third occasion, the councilor berated me for having the audacity to complain about municipal bureaucrats acting in an illegal way!
MacDonald is a pompous politico who believes the taxpayer owes him a living. As well he is firmly in the hip pocket of several local and dishonest developers and dances to their tune.
Though the “Eye” is a lefty, I will vote for Huntington as she has best represented the riding with determination and dignity and not looking for 'sweeteners'.
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Good morning, Norm,
In his column today, Vaughn Palmer did a solid piece “Alliance of the Non-Aligned” on this very topic. Although they do not add up to 20, there are other candidates running as independents who may have a fair shot at being re-elected or elected for the first time:
-Arthur Hadland from Peace River North who did fairly well last time.
-Bob Simpson, a bright and out-spoken MLA who broke ranks with the NDP with its shoddy treatment of Carol James
-John van Dongen who has been a pain in the butt for the Liberals with his dogged desire to get at the truth about the Basi/Virk payoff and used his own money to do so. This could get even more interesting depending on the judge's ruling about accecc to these files at 10 am today.
-Vicky
-Moe Gill who was dealt a blow by his good friends Coleman and de Jong as he was “uninvited” from running as a Liberal candidate. The delicious irony is he is running against de Jong himself.
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I don't think Vicky Huntington has to worry much about her incumbency; there's some pretty good logic on her side: she's already broken through (ask Elizabeth May or Deb Gray how difficult and important that is) and her constituents seem to like her but, more, to those disinclined to vote NDP, a considerable number at home in this riding, is added the substantial number disgusted with the BC Liberals. She's the obvious and natural beneficiary.
Jaded, disillusioned and frustrated voters decry the “party system” which, it should be noted, only exists within parties and only nominally in parliamentary terms (the sovereign's concern that a majority of Members commit to voting as a bloc to pass legislation is often, but not always, satisfied by what we call a “party”; that majority can of course be made up of more than one “party”, some of which might be Independents.) It irks me that some reject voting at all because that vote is supposedly nullified by a supposed “party system”. Perhaps, especially if they've never voted before, they hadn't noticed the number of Independents among the choices offered on almost any ballot for almost any election (I certainly can't recall seeing a ballot–and I've marked plenty–that didn't have at least one Independent.) One could speculate endlessly on the legitimacy or efficacy of Independents up to and including the hypothetical parliament consisting entirely of Independents (it's a fun exercise.)
Funnin' aside, there will be more Independents this time, mostly on the right of the political spectrum, recruited from the group of courageous (or delusional) souls who otherwise run as BC Liberals, but for their disgrace, or for the Conservatives, but for their ineptitude. They'll all proclaim freedom, free thought, free votes, free enterprise and free anything else they think might get them elected (while really being politically informed by corporate interests.)
The late Chuck Cadman is the icon of what many would like Independents to be, principled and important (he was the rare Independent who was reelected as such and he held the balance of power in Paul Martin's Liberal minority, which he supported despite being formerly a Reformacon.) Less exceptional Independents are otherwise most effective by holding the balance of the votes in an election, that is, they potentially split the vote on one side or the other in tight races between the big parties, an important point to consider should one wish to cast his or her vote for one of the several Independents usually found on most ballots.
As for Vicky, I expect she'll thrash Bruce at the polls.
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SNC Lavalin's business interest for the new Evergreen line,has an investigation ongoing in Montreal with allegations of transactions with former Dictator Gaddafi's son and the company. Makes you say hmmmmm.
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Yes, politics is a game, albeit, a “rigged ” game. The manipulation of the electorate in most jurisdictions, by corporate or other self serving interests, is the downside to our system. We have “allowed” this to happen, whether by design or simply complacency. With the revelations of backroom malfeasance and
outright corruption, over the past 11 years in this province, Basi-Virk and BC Rail, being only one example. It would appear that a set of “rules” needs to be established. While some say that it would lesson, the supposed freedom,( their freedoms ), it is widely accepted that these political parties simply cannot police themselves. The lure of dollars from vested interests is simply too overwhelming.
I am a firm beleiver in the Quebec model of an Anti-Corruption Commission, as it is currently being used. However a more wide ranging role in terms of ethics and electoral oversight, would make a far more applicable to our particular “problem”, here in BC. Such an improved commission, would become the ” watchman at the gate” of a system that has gotten way out of hand.
Coupled with new laws on advertising, ethics, formal MLA standards of how and what can be done, in serving the public's ( all of us, not simply friends of the government), needs, and complying with these standards, would be a major step forward in “improving” a system that is currently “dysfunctional”, to say the least.
Without these and other changes that bloggers and political commentators generally agree on, we will only see “gangs of theives ” elected to office, and occasionally a principles group, that tries to ” right the wrongs”, committed by the former.
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The other thing about the evergreen that gets me is the price, $890 million est. $millions and billion spent on stuff while BC is in a deficit with a big debt. Deeper and deeper into debt.
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Speaking of pushing BC Hydro into bankruptcy:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/01/30/bc-site-c-environment.html
The ESTIMATED cost of Site C is $7.9 billion!
Site C is only about backing up IPP power and supplying LNG plants. Private gain at public cost.
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@ Hugh
The $890 million does not include the track or reaction rail, nor the cars and station furniture. I would also wager that cost does not include the consultant fees and alike.
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Site C is also for the millions of gallons of water the oil and gas industry needs for fracking,tax payers should foot the bill for that too I guess.
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Taking out of reservoirs water, which was meant for producing clean, renewable hydro power, to use for fracking. That's f#cked up.
http://www.cbc.ca/daybreaknorth/interviews/2011/07/29/talisman-energy-gets-20-year-water-license-for-williston-resevoir/
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i think you misunderstood Macdonald. He meant you have to be prepared to walk away from principle and ethics, not from the Party!
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