BC Liberals were once a vibrant and progressive political party. BC Young Liberals once had a Provincial Membership Secretary named Norm Farrell. After working successfully to have Paul St. Pierre elected to Parliament, and working unsuccessfully to have Bert Forest elected to the the BC Legislature, my ties to the Liberal Party loosened. They were tossed aside completely during the time (1968-1972) that Pat McGeer led the party in BC.
McGeer was a high-level athlete and a brilliant physician, UBC professor and medical researcher. He was a less than brilliant politician. With fellow Liberal MLAs, McGeer joined Bill Bennett’s Social Credit Party in 1975. The right-wing SOCRED coalition aimed to defeat Dave Barrett’s NDP government. They did.
BC Liberals remained unimportant until the 1990s when a small group of wealthy businessmen decided that Vancouver Mayor Gordon Campbell could head the party and serve their goals. In 2001, Campbell’s party of big business formed government. He resigned in 2010 when his approval rating fell to a single digit. The BC Rail giveaway, the corrupt world of Basi and Virk, $60+ billion in sweetheart deals with private power producers, and a drunk driving conviction played parts in Campbell’s decline.
Christy Clark was next in the Premier’s office. She beats John Horgan as the least principled Premier in recent decades. Clark led the BC Liberal gang during the 2013 and 2017 elections. The party had one win and one loss at the polls, but its financial supporters were big winners throughout Clark’s time as Premier.
Successor Andrew Wilkinson was Liberal leader for 2½ years but the fumbling politician had little success in the 2020 vote and resigned.
Kevin Falcon returned to politics from his job with one of BC’s largest real estate developers. Falcon lied about BC Rail being bankrupt and said it was therefore good that the profitable railway had been gifted to a BC Liberal donor in a deal complicated enough that only wonks could understand it.
Falcon’s new group took on a new name: BC United Party, sometimes referred to BCUP.
The rebranding was unsuccessful. Many members shifted to the Conservatives. A large number of BCUP supporters remain unfamiliar with the current name. As a result, the BCUP is asking Elections B.C. to include “formerly B.C. Liberals” in brackets next to the B.C. United name on the ballot in October.
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” – J.K. Galbraith
It’s time for me to examine the policies of BC United:
| PROMISES | COMMENTS ————— | ———————————– |
| Build the Massey Bridge. | The Highway 99 Tunnel Program has been underway for some time. Transit and cycling projects and the new Steveston interchange are either complete or under construction. | It is nonsense to suggest the tunnel project should be stopped so that a bridge can be constructed instead. Serious delays would result and tens of millions of dollars would be thrown away. |
| Replace Ironworkers Memorial Bridge across Burrard Inlet and extend SkyTrain to the North Shore. | This is an easy promise for BCUC to make, but no details are provided. The Province is already reviewing tunnel and bridge options to allow rapid transit and improve vehicle movements across Burrard Inlet. | Does BC United plan to reinstate tolls to transfer billions of dollars from the pockets of commuters to the overseas accounts of foreign infrastructure operators? That was their preference before their 2017 defeat. |
| Reduce property transfer taxes and sales taxes on certain residential projects. | Reducing costs faced by developers does not guarantee lower housing prices. It may only increase their profitability. There are no simple solutions. | Housing is unaffordable because of low wages, low density, property taxes, utility costs, interest rates, insurance premiums, and lack of competition among developers and building material suppliers. |
Eliminate carbon tax and end this program. | BCUP has joined BC Conservatives in opposing climate actions. They are climate change deniers. In 2024, Canada, Russia, the Republic of Korea, and Saudi Arabia are the G20’s worst-performing countries. BCUP and BC Conservatives want Canada to rank even lower. For 13 consecutive months, global average air and ocean temperatures were probably the hottest they have been in human history. This streak of extraordinary heat ended last month, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported, as July 2024 was only the second hottest ever recorded – 0.04°C cooler than a record set the previous July. | Denial has increased the risk of catastrophic global change. Economic and political leaders can no longer pretend it is business as usual. Whether they actively induce environmental harm or just ignore the existential threat against the survival of the human species, states and corporations must be held accountable for their actions or inaction regarding climate change. |
| $10/day childcare for everyone | Federal and provincial funding has been increasing availability of affordable childcare. The pledge of $10-a-day service for everyone is no different than what the NDP promises. BCUP would face the same shortages of suitable facilities and childcare workers that limit rapid growth. | BCUP plans to cut taxes, which means program and spending cuts. Kevin Falcon’s party doesn’t talk much about the cuts they plan to make to public services. |
| Offer up public lands to private developers | When Kevin Falcon was a Cabinet Minister, his BC Liberals sold valuable public lands to developers for less than market value. Holborn bought property at Little Mountain from the province in 2008. Good public housing was bulldozed and years later not replaced. But Holborn enjoyed spectacular increases in land value. Had Public Housing been built on the site, hundreds would have enjoyed affordable residential units. | Implementation of the Housing First policy resulted in Finland being one of the only European countries that registers decreasing homelessness numbers. The country’s goal is to end homelessness in Finland all together. Ara is a government agency responsible for, among other things, financing affordable housing production. |
| Kevin Falcon says BC United will implement largest tax cut in B.C. history if elected. | Eliminating carbon taxes and cutting personal income taxes as proposed would result in a revenue loss in excess of $25 billion over the next three years. | Since Falcon also promises no service cuts and a balanced budget, his tax proposals clearly rank as false promises These are more commonly called LIES. |
| BCUP promises to end vaccine mandates. | A major landmark study to be published by The Lancet reveals that global immunization efforts have saved an estimated 154 million lives – or the equivalent of 6 lives every minute of every year – over the past 50 years | Anti-vaccine or anti-vax refers to an active opposition to vaccines and vaccination. The contemporary anti-vax movement took root in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It is popular with radical right-wing adherents who masquerade as “conservative.” |
| BCUP promises to hire and train more healthcare workers, build more hospitals, set healthcare targets and give individual access to their health records. | Each party promises the same policy goals. Two want to maintain public healthcare, while BCUP and BC Conservatives want to Americanize and privatize the system. For them, there are too few personal bankruptcies in BC. | If BCUP plans balanced budgets and to make radical cuts to provincial revenue, adding healthcare expenses will result in huge service fees and reliance on private healthcare operators. |
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Categories: Election BC 2024
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Thanks Norm for your breakdown of BCUP election promises. They have absolutely no credibility when it comes to building out social programs. In fact, the opposite is true. Falcon has a long track record of dismantling. Expecting Falcon to care about strong social programs is equivalent to a lion going vegetarian. It isn’t going to happen.
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We should not get into a battle with other parties to promise the biggest tax cuts. Low and middle income people can benefit from better government programs to help them. We already advocate for more tax on corporate profits and high incomes. Those revenues will pay for the upgraded programs.
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The BC Liberals/BC United/Social Credit cannot agree on an acceptable name ,never mind an acceptable platform.
BC united , currently running last in division one, is the party of realtors and land developers; everything else is secondary.
The shameful sale of BC Rail will always stick in my throat as I gag at the thought of their return.
But return they will in the guise of John Rustads conservatives who will conserve nothing.
TB
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Falcon?
BC Liberals or BC United?
Utterly and totally corrupt. They destroyed this province.
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tb–
Last in Division One and soon to be relegated to a league where even R. Reynolds and that guy from a sunshiny Philadelphia can’t save them?
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Looks like “BC Untied” might be a more accurate name.
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The way I always explain the resurrection (& the beginning of the end) of the BC Liberals is that Campbell was looking for a broader horizon after his time as Vancouver’s mayor. Provincially his choices were limited. Vander Zalm et al had scuttled the Social Credit name. At the provincial level, “Conservative” was an albatross. But there was this little organization brought together by the other Gordon, the BC Liberals. So Gordon “DUI” Campbell and his deep pocketed backers bought bulk party memberships, stacked constituency votes, and used the party constitution to force a leadership review. Naturally they were successful. All that time and money had bought him a vehicle to gain the premiership.
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Kevin Falcon clearly illustrates how remote the BC Liberals were/are from the realities of BC politics.Too many people, especially in the “Hurtlands” absolutely hate Campbell and Falcon over the sale of BC Rail. That bad taste is lasting a long time.
The Massey Tunnel debate has nothing to do with traffic congestion, rather it was all about dredging the Fraser to allow Cape Max tankers and oilers to load American Braaken Coal and Montana Oil to load at Surrey Fraser docks. The Massey tunnel needed to be replaced has it acted as an underwater dyke, preventing deepening the river.
The Carbon Tax was nothing but a slick politcal scam to replace the monies lost due to large tax cuts given to the wealthy as the monies collected by the Carbon Tax goes into “general revenue.
The deadly results of Campbell’s and Falcon’s tax cuts and privatization was the explosion of MRSA infections at BC hospitals, when Falcon’s mob privatized hospital cleaning staff..The minimum wage cleaners that the hospitals were forced to hire from private companies, did the minimum amount of cleaning, both in hospital rooms, Emergency and the operating theaters, with the result of an MRSA epidemic.Hundreds died of this decision and as always, the mainstream media, especially the Vancouver Sun and Dead Dog 98, ignored this tragic event.
And Falcon wonders why he is in 4th and last place?
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Kevin Falcon was a major player in planting the seeds of destruction that eventually critically wounded the BC Liberals. He ran away from the scene of the crime (or in my view, the good deed), but all too soon returned to deliver the coup de grace. Divide and conquer is an effective strategy in warfare, but usuallynn only if you divide the other side, not your own.
However, while many are circling to give the all but dead and desperate dog a well deserved kick, they might give some thought to the fact the polls show there are more ready to vote against rather than for the NDP, and it is only the political divide between the interior of the province and Metro Vancouver/Vancouver Island coupled with a lack of charisma on the part of the Conservative leader that has the NDP feeling cocky. A couple of bad debates, the apparent lack of NDP bench strength, and a BC version of the feared US October surprise could conspire to give Mr. Eby second prize. Right now, the more life left in Falcon’s dog, the better it is for the NDP. They shouldn’t try to kill it right off while it’s still capable of biting Conservative ankles.
The NDP has let me down too many times in the recent past to get my vote, but the election is still theirs to lose. And they’ve proven before they can do just that.
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Falcon is a cooked goose BC “Whatever” maybe only able to retain 1 or 2 seats.
As a lefty, I too am more than disappointment in Eby’s NDP or better known as Vision Vancouver Provincial.
I think Eby is going to pull another “Skelly”, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
I think their “rapid” transit fiasco in metro Vancouver will come back to haunt them like the FastFerry fiasco did a generation ago.
https://www.railforthevalley.com/latest-news/zweisystem/the-ndp-just-love-fastferry-projects/
Then there is the $8 million land flip in Surrey (taking land out of the ALR and selling it for a massive profit), which reminds me of the “Duke Point” scandal two generations ago.
https://www.railforthevalley.com/latest-news/zweisystem/omc-5-who-made-8-million/
The next provincial election will be decided in Metro Vancouver and the NDP’s growing ill will amongst the voters with Eby and the NDP, may bring about a shocking loss.
On the Island, if Fursteneau plays her cards right and uses the E&N as a wedge issue, they may be able to gain 2 or 3 more seats, further embarrassing Eby and the NDP.
And then there is Site C ………………………………..
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Well, I warned them…
B.C. United suspends campaign to join forces with Conservatives | CBC News
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