Campbell Misled Public on NDP Finances, Will McMartin, The Tyee, April 20, 2005:
In 2001 the incoming premier called NDP finances “worse than we anticipated.” His briefing binders, gained by The Tyee through an FOI, told him the opposite.
Mere days after winning the 2001 general election with promises of honesty and accountability, incoming premier Gordon Campbell misrepresented the province’s finances by portraying the massive surplus he had inherited from the defeated NDP as an enormous deficit.
He had every reason to know otherwise.
The facts were plain to read in the transition binders …obtained by this writer through a Freedom of Information request.
In the third binder of seven, prepared by finance ministry bureaucrats, was an up-to-date accounting of provincial finances.
The numbers in the binder confirmed the strength of B.C.’s economy at the time, and the astonishing transformation of the province’s fiscal situation. It was a financial picture even better, in fact, than the rosy scenario the NDP had based its budget upon three months earlier…
In 2005, BC voters were treated to a new set of whoppers:
British Columbia has huge reserves of green power that could stimulate enormous economic development and employment opportunity, with as many as 400,000 new jobs over 25 years, and establish BC as a leader in renewable energy, according to a report released today…
In 2013, the BC Liberal Party prepared scripts for another election campaign. Big lies had worked before; they would work again.
Premier Christy Clark today announced the establishment of a new British Columbia Prosperity Fund …from the development of a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.
…LNG development is poised to trigger approximately $1 trillion in cumulative GDP within British Columbia over the next 30 years and that means more than $100 billion will flow directly to the Prosperity Fund.
Province-wide, LNG is expected to create on average 39,000 annual direct, indirect and induced full-time jobs during a nine-year construction period. As well, there could be as many as 75,000 full-time jobs required once all LNG plants are in full operation.
Categories: Campbell.Gordon, LNG
IN-SIGHTS 
The BC Liberals claim balanced budgets, while at the same time, the BC provincial debt and government contractual obligations get bigger. Much bigger.
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Yes, the B.C. Lieberals tell lies, or their version of the truth and the people of B.C. are dumb enough to believe them. Given the length of time the B.C. Lieberals have been in office, if all their “annoucements” were truthful we ought to have no child poverty, the disabled would have at least triple the monthly allowance, schools would have the latest equipment, adequate teachers, and all would have been earthquake “proofed’. None of this has happened and our “taxes” go up every year: electricity, ICBC, MSP, fees at school, etc.
You can not save those who will not be saved. In B.C. people must like being “screwed” because they keep bending over for the B.C. Lieberals and the MSM just keeps it all rolling along, like pimps.
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You continue to berate your fellow citizens with the facile, cynical accusation that they are principally responsible for the government who exploits them because of elections. You base this belief upon the “facts” that have been supplied to you by the co-opted media and similar accomplices who themselves are owned and controlled by the perps. As someone who has been educated in and worked in politics, let me be very blunt with you (since subtlety does not work); “you” are the liberals’ greatest tool. You are aggressively assisting them in the creation and maintenance of the profound plausibility required to usurp control and hold it indefinitely. You actually have a lot in common with Christy’s bosses in that you think “people” are too stupid to make quality decisions. If not for you and people like you, it would be almost impossible to have a pretend democratic system like what exists right here right now. Blaming the victims helps to perpetuate this disgusting, ruthless kleptocracy, and as much as I would like the Liberals held accountable with extreme pejudice, I would also like the enablers (like yourself, et al.) held accountable similarly.
I realise that you are angry, frustrated, and hurt in ways that words cannot describe by the Political reality. Our community needs people like you who are willing to think analytically and vigilantly pay attention in the context of one’s civic duty. You have clearly and consistently proven, however, that your acumen is not ready for primetime when your conclusions orbit around “voting the buggers out” – – – if only people weren’t so stupid, lazy and self-absorbed. **No one can be voted out who was not voted in in the first place**.
I am pretty sure that a person like you doesn’t think my hypothesis about rigged elections and the dynamics required to rig and maintain them is very convincing. (I have had this conversation too many times to count. My degrees and career experience also means little to them, usually because of how infatuated they are with their own belief-system.) But perhaps if you read some of the countless books documenting incidents of what I am describing, maybe that might enlighten you. Why not start with this one: https://www.amazon.com/Votescam-Stealing-America-Forbidden-Bookshelf-ebook/dp/B013S42V92/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466533241&sr=8-1&keywords=votescam Trust me, lol, it’s pretty appropos.
Lastly; it’s pretty obvious that we cruise the same handful of relevant blogs. Every time I see you shamelessly metastasising your poison I am going to do my bit, too. Nobody needs insights laced with arsenic.
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This won’t become a forum for invective that targets people who voluntarily participate in public debate. Lacho, you make worthwhile points that can be made more effectively without insulting people who don’t echo your entire points of view.
Both e.a.f. and Lacho make statements that are worthy of consideration. I agree that many Canadians pay too little attention to politics. Some are disinterested because they are already winners in this economy and care little about non-winners. Others are entirely consumed by the rat race, struggling to keep up, trying to maintain a roof over their family’s heads.
Some believe that a single voice cannot make a difference and they don’t understand the importance of democracy in sustaining our land and culture. Others just don’t give a damn; they’d rather drink beer and bet on football.
But yes, the political system is rigged. The rich and powerful don’t intend to give up their advantages and it’s been that way forever. That’s one reason they aim to control media, which is proven by wealthy corporations and governments investing money to sustain Postmedia to keep them in service to economic elites. In BC, you don’t do major business with government unless you contribute to BC Liberals. Corruption has grown so blatant that our province is the worst in Canada, perhaps ranking with the worst in third world regions.
However, we only need to convince 5 to 10 percent of voters to mark their ballots differently and we can be on the road to change. To do that, we must find other ways to communicate the facts and we must keep our eyes on the prize. Let’s not get sidetracked and demonize people who share common interests.
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Having lived in this province since 1951 I have always found it “entertaining” that between elections we could not find any one who voted Socred, yet each election they were re-elected. Those times were well before “vote scam, etc” were written. I’m well aware of the articles you refer to. I’ve followed politics in North America and to a lesser degree in Europe since the late 1950s.
As to “shameless metastasising”, please give it a rest. there is a difference between “blaming the victim” and people who ought to know better, who do nothing.
Given the state of education in this province and its continued decline in B.C. over the past 15 years, you’d think, with all the protesting going on, at some point people might have put their children’s education first. They didn’t and then they’re surprised things turned out the way they did. (when Dave Barrett was elected education was also an issue and we know how that turned out for WAC)
As our health care system declined and our premiums rose, you’d think people might vote for their health, but they didn’t. Most people in this province are well aware of how the health care system doesn’t work. The MSM and others have been vocal about the lack of doctors in this province and its not a new thing.
when el gordo said he wouldn’t sell B.C. Rail, he leased it for 999 years,. after all the scandals, etc. he was still re-elected. As child poverty rose, the B.C. Liberals were still re elected. It reminds me of that old line about first they came for the Jews and I was not a Jew.
In the case of B.C. its people weren’t effected by the 9K women el gordo fired, so they didn’t complain. they didn’t complain when 87 people died of il deficile in 2 1/2 years at Burnaby General. What it all told the B.C. Lieberals was they could do what they wanted and now today, almost everybody has been negatively impacted by them either by lack of doctors, tolls on bridges, low min. wages, etc. At some time people need to put on their big people pants and look after themselves or else we are looking at a province of people who suffer from the Stockholm syndrome.
It doesn’t take much to affect change. You go on voting day and vote. As in other places the number of people voting has declined, expect in the last federal election and yes, change was good. I’m not saying the new federal government is great, but it sure is better than the last one. People voting for their own needs and against bad policy does kick things up a notch.
What happens in this province reminds me of my misspent youth when friends would complain their “one true love” was cheating on them. they’d forgive the other person several times, but they were always “surprised” when it happened again. At some point you have to kick that other cheating person to the curb and face life and change to make it better. I’m waiting for the citizens of B.C. to do that. If they don’t like the other parties, they can always run themselves. It isn’t that hard. At least they tried to change things.
At this point in time I am not expecting great change come the next provincial election. I’m hoping but not expecting……….
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This blog is the finest of its kind in BC, and probably in Canada. I have immense respect for the essential service it provides to all of us who are interested in civic dynamics and how they affect our individual lives/pursuits. It is also an invaluable conduit for relevant political expression, and its content constitutes a worthy archive for posterity that also elucidates in real-time. Further, the interaction between yourself and participants, or participants with the information you provide is crucial, textbook post-analog democracy. I don’t know how you do it, Norm. What you are doing here verges on Platonic magnanimity. Thank you X 1000. I apologize if my comments were inappropriate.
In the 90’s I worked on an early crypto-currency project with Diebold. We were all away from home for quite awhile for the job, and after work there was always food and drinks, followed by whiskey and war stories before crashing at the hotel. Typical stuff, except that it was a bunch of Diebold engineers, programmers, systems architects, etc. I think you know where I am going with this, so I’ll just say that what I learned there eclipsed most of my preconceived beliefs about the sanctity of the Suffrage.
Ironically, while technology makes it easier than ever to game the system, that does not mean that it isn’t loaded with Achilles heels, some of which are analog-ish. For example, just off of the top of my head (I haven’t looked into legality), there has been a trending problem with exit polling correlation “irregularities”. Much speciousness and sophistry has been bloviated regarding this without resolution and to the extent that many have lost confidence in its accuracy and therefore its utility. One hypothesis is that exit polling is as accurate as it ever was but that which it is being compared to is not. Hence discrepancy. How to prove this? An app can be cheaply and easily designed where every voter takes a picture in the voting booth of the final screen that shows who you voted for (with enough redacting) and then securely forwards the data to an objective (I know, ha-ha) third party where they can then be correlated. This can even be done redundantly with several third parties to demonstrate veracity. An app like that could be designed for less than $10K (approx), and be completed in a few weeks. We can begin to solve our problems, but first we need to truly understand what they are.
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Thanks for the compliments and for the worthwhile contribution. The subject is vital. Many of us have relatives who laid their lives on the line, hoping to preserve and protect democracy. I fear that now, too many people take it for granted. They should read history to see what happens to ordinary citizens when the elites rule without constitutional and democratic restraint.
Yes, I understand your reference to Diebold and have learned enough about mechanical and electronic voting to be absolutely against any change from the old system of hard copy ballots, marked by hand with close supervision by scrutineers representing all candidates. We must stop private financing of political parties beyond a low threshold and work to return citizen involvement in public affairs. Election officials should not be appointed by politicians as they are today. We should have a diverse blue ribbon panel that directs and ensures election officials are non partisan. (In BC, we have had partisanship at Elections BC.)
We cannot trust political parties financed and controlled by a tiny segment of the population and we cannot trust mass media with ownership concentrated to a group of people so small they could all fit in a single vehicle.
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Thanks for this Norm.
The status quo MSM have gone very quiet on the most recent LNG industry developments and lack of development in BC. Grant G. also has an updated post on the BC LNG bust with current news and links that detail the failed reality, the slow deflating of this biggest bubble promise of Christy and Co.
For some time all we have heard is ‘crickets’ instead of ongoing research, news coverage and analysis on the failure of LNG. The BC Libs and their water carriers have mostly moved on to new stories (storyies not yet tainted by broken promises and failure). Not actively reporting and updating is as effective as actively deflecting in the Libs and media friends ‘spin to win’ play book.
I very much appreciate the excellent comments posted to your site and how thoughtful and civil the tone and discussion is. The level of respectful discussion set by you greatly adds to the value and weight of your work. I appreciate the passionate (and prodigious) postings of e.a.f here and at many other sights I read. I also appreciate Lacho’s experiences and perspectives. We are all here to become more informed in the hope that we can make more positive changes for a better future for all British Columbians.
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I’d be interested in Lacho’s — or Norm’s — review of the political blogosphere in other areas of Canada. Are we the best-served in BC? If so, is it because of the lack of bite from our MSM and/or the level of corruption in our government?
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The 2016 BC Budget on p. 132 shows BC’s Total Provincial Debt at about $68 billion and growing, on average, 6.2% per year.
This is exponential growth of debt, doubling in 11 years, if you divide 6.2 into 72.
This debt doesn’t include BC govt contractual obligations of over $102 billion, for things like P3’s and BC Hydro IPP power purchases.
For some reason the Vancouver Sun doesn’t think this is headline news.
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“When a B.C. home is sold, the government takes a percentage cut. The higher the price, the more the government collects.
With prices soaring, the government is making a transfer-tax killing: an astonishing $1.49 billion in the last fiscal year, a 40-per-cent increase in one year.”
“The transfer-tax take was $562 million more than the government budgeted at the start of the year, allowing the Liberals to balance the books and giving Clark a key re-election talking point.
How big is this pot of money? It’s more than the government got from lotteries and casinos. More than the carbon tax. More than tobacco. More than liquor. More than royalties from forestry, mining and natural gas combined.”
From:
http://www.theprovince.com/business/smyth+politics+metro+vancouver+real+estate+money+votes+rule/11988848/story.html
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