Mike Harcourt has done some god things, however harcourt let the media play him like a violin, a common problem with the ndp in this province. Harcourt helped lend poor bashing legitimacy in bc by referring to those who came to bc looking for work, but who ended up on welfare instead as "varmints," a shocking remark for the head of the ndp to make. Mcphail was little better as minister of human resources, although the actions of both pale against the genocidal assaults against the disadvantaged under the gordon liar junta. I also found harcourt's quitting over bingo gate absolutely GUTLESS; it was 20 years before he was premier and had absolutely nothing to do with him. If you can't stand the heat, harcourt, get out of the friggin' kitchen- oh, that's right you did, leaving the door oopen to glen clark's breath-taking stupidity. (I am an ndp supporter.) I once bumped into harcourt on the street, dressed in work clothes, and he gave me a look as though he feared I might mug him. Harcourt has also being disappointedly silent on the assaults on the disadvasntaged by gordon backstabber, the artificial crisis manufactured by the utterly unjust and economically unproductive taxcut for the rich and many other travesties, that his continual refusal to speak out for the disadvantaged have helped facilitate. In my opinion harcourt is not a particularly admirable ndp politician, despite all the elder statesman obsequetiosness. If harcout and clark had stood by ndp policies instead of letting canwest editorialists play them like sock-puppets, the bc liars would not now be in office. Hey MIKE! Try using your influence to speak out for the reestablishment of the CANADA ASSISTANCE PLAN, the gutting of which, as you well know, painted a big BULLSEYE on the backs of the disadvantaged all over canada. But I guess that would take GUTS, and actually involve standing up for the less fortunate. What's mike's yearly salary these days?

binette that is a bit low even for you! Are you gordon campbell hanging out on the tyee anonymously, that would be rich!

Actually vick it's not low at all and the message was for him. There are a few things about Harcourt that you couldn't know. Ask him about the Hatzic Rock and the Eagle Feather. The answer to your question is no!

Mike Harcourt did bring a lot of optimism into the province when he was elected premier, but like Lewis, I too was disappointed with his quick exit over Bingogate, a trifling matter compared to what Glen Clark endured later. Today we have a premier who has put the lives of many at risk with his dangerous drunk driver while in Hawaii, but who absolutely refused to do what he should have and follow Harcourt's lead. I can appreciate the fact he may feel he was the sacrificial lamb offered up by others in the NDP, but it was he who walked away. Perhaps he was too nice to be premier, but then he carried that middle-class aura around with him,(just like Dosanjh several years later), that said I know what's best. Although both men had advocated on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised for years, I truly believe neither of them really had a grasp on the needs of workers nor the poor. It was the stereotype rather than the individual that both were championing. Now, it appears both have gone home to that nice middle-class heaven in Ottawa.

If the noose was to loose for Harcourt then I would suggest gordo face a much harsher fate for what he has done to the residents of this Province! Him and his brother mickey!

You never know vick, the Premier may have to be fitted as well, but as far as I'm concerned his brother is a private citizen and I have no idea what he could have done wrong.

There are alot of people especially those employed in the media industry who would make Mike out to be some kind of elder statesman. Give him credit for recovering from his injuries as well as he did, but that isn't enough to make him any kind of icon. His performance as premier just didn't cut it.

Yopu got that right!

Oops! You got that right!

Gheez, too bad Gary Collins wasn't right this time either when he said “Fidel Castro is no longer in power in British Columbia.” Cause I know that if Fidel was in power in BC we would already have a child care system that was valued and funded through the government. We would have had a glowing report from the OECD, not like the Oct 2004 report on child care in BC. We would even be able to remark that through tough and very difficult economic times, BC child care was supported by the government and has seen some much needed expansion to meet more and more needs of today's families.

Mickey campbell has written endless neoliberal fraser porkstitute gibberish praising his brother's policies in the canwest monopoly newspapers, jean, JUST LIKE IN A THIRDWORLD COUNTRY, ONLY THE SAME, but then no one here really expects you to be bothered by that jean, after all you're a moral imbecile...

Whatever

Gheez - that's the word I was looking for before. Castro is almost dead.

So Dianne, how do you know, we never had it before, and there was 10 years worth of opportunity.

Mike Harcourt has demonstrated integrity through all his challenges, both physical and political. Site adminsitrator, posters that dont even bother to refer to the posted articles, as in now, or in other threads in past are spammers. Can we have some site management of these perennial spammers, as in logging their IP and taking it from there?

So this Binette person...is this a liberal backbencher trying to worm a way into Gordie's cold, cold heart? "Why can't I free your doubtful mind, And melt your cold, cold heart."

Mike's absolutely right, you know. I still have a hard time finding a way to forgive provincial NDP and labour power structures from flinging him to the dogs so eagerly. When I joined the national NDP and found out I was also de facto, and contrary to my wishes becoming a member of the provincial party my anger knew no bounds. I cancelled the whole thing. I still voted NDP federally. I certainly will provincially. But I have not forgiven their craven, callous, irredeemable, shameful treatment of Mike.

Neither will it be forgotten that their follow up to Mike, and who they supported balls to the wall and guts to the mast, was the guy who then led the party into the most ignominious defeat in their history.

On the political judgement scales the NDP has not had a glorious history in BC. Some great men and women on the front lines but some very dubious, shady, self-serving, self-protecting assholes (just no other word fits) in the board rooms.

Don't blame me Kit. Hardcore NDP party members don't respond to the usual stimuli thus the unusual is necessary. In the meantime, I'm still waiting for Mr. Lahey's response.

I might also have said, I disagree with your assessment of Harcourt.

Well Dana, he ain't no Saint! that's for sure, and 'ditto' on the word that fits.

My advice is to ignore binette all together. He lacks the basic intellectual wherewithal to even launch a coherent argument. Hence his constant attempts to change the subject. Dana, I'm not even gonna start on all the Prescot Bush types who inhabit, or perhaps infest and infect, the bc neoliberal party. Posters should relax and ignore binette and just post on the thread subject matter, if they want. The only reason I personally bother with binette is that I can invariably count on his unending elmer fuddness, which at the end of an already well discoursed on thread can offer some comic relief, especially when it becomes evident that jean's only strength is his moronic inability to know when he's losing an argument...which is pretty much every time he opens his mouth...last I heard three year olds in jean's neighbourhood were telling him: "Shut up, stupid!"

I thought this was about Harcourt and the future. . . Binette and the rest of that BS is unimportant.

I don't think it would be very just for me to sick back in the cozy shelter of my abode and judge Mike Harcourt's withdrawal from "premierhood" or judge the magnitude of his bark for a cause I think he should be more vocal about. I have a voice, and I've learned to fight my own battles rather than begrudge someone not taking up arms against my sea of troubles. Our society is less likely to tell a saint from a sinner - and it may depend on which end of the political spectrum you perch. Personally, I find it refreshing that someone who appreciates sustainable and socially progressive government actually projects a future worth moving towards rather than preaching doom and gloom over an economy that is just too robust to suite the needs of our keeper to the south. It may be insidious - but we are more a successful product of a socially conscious government - especially in Vancouver - rather than a victim of a shortsighted and shortlived moment of conservative insanity bent on destruction.

Al- In my view Harcourt is as unimportant as unimportant can be, and as far as the rest of that BS goes, there are no 3 year olds left in my neighborhood Lweis, I ate them all. Its my way of conributing to early childhood education.

Binette your such a bullshitter. If Harcourt is as unimportant as a unimportant why have you already posted 12 times on this thread?!!? I won't argue that he is or isn't but posting 12 times on a subject and then claiming said subject is unimportant seems a little hypocritical.

Just answering the other posts. - I still think the noose was too loose!

It seems Binette gets bent out of shape anytime someone left of Micheal Campbell gets any positive media coverage. A few months ago he nearly flipped out over an article on Metis living in BC's northeast. Mention Carole James and he soils himself in The Tyee. Take him to task and he slides into juvenile antics that would at best draw yawns in a class of 12 year olds. It just goes to show there is a price to pay for everything, even free speech.

Yup. Troll=Binette. Settings now on full bozo.

allan - out of curiosity - how did you come to the conclusion that the Jean with the loose noose and logic of a goose is male (other than the fact that females are far too logical to sit so far off the left of centre to be free falling off a cliff and into the the sea of bliss where ignorance reigns)? At first glance (without the verbal vomit that ensued), I had assumed it was a female.

Whatever

Your endless desperate and pathetic attacks on schreck leave me little doubt as to his effectiveness, mr lahey. Lynn has also provided you with an excellent rebuttal. Once again, stupid, I never mentioneed conspiracies ONCE. ALL you have to do is LOOK AT SIMPLE SELF-INTEREST, AND YOU KNOW THE BANKS ARE NOT ABOUT TO LOSE THEIR TOTALLY ECONOMICALLY UNJUSTIFIED 25% taxcut by CONTRADICTING THE BC LIARS. ONCE AGAIN, THE BC LIARS (AS I HAVE JUST SUCCESSFULLY POSTED IN THE A SOUND OFF POST ON THE UPCOMING MAY ELECTION, IN BOTH THE SUN AND PROVINCE, NOT IN THE REGULAR SOUND OFF SECTION OF THE SUN AND PROVINCE) THE BC BACKSTABBETRS LOST 22,600 WELL PAYING, FULL TIME JOBS LAST YEAR!!! AN ECONOMIC DISGRACE!! THEY ARE, OF COURSE, AN ETHICAL AND SOCIAL DISGRACE AS WELL, AND BOY! ARE THE LAWYERS GOING TO BE BUSY AFTER MAY 17, 2005!!! IT MAY NOT BE TOO LATE TO BEG FOR YOUR GRANDCHILDREN'S FORGIVENESS FOR SELLING THEM OUT FOR NICKLES, LAHEY, BUT I DOUBT IT. Add your comment:

I remember now, it's Allan the Indian expert, so how's that Metis claim coming along? You ought to ask your pal Harcourt about the Penticton roadblocks if you happen to see him.

Shirin, I seem to remember Binette displaying a male chauvinist attitude and mentioning something about a wife some time back on another topic. But you may well be right, Binette could simply be an it. Oh, I see it's back and still blathering in the wind.

This is a little like the PNE game where the peg heads pop up and you bang them down with a mallet. If you can't be a little more original Allan you ought to give it up. So how's the historic Metis land claim doing?

My apologies to all, my above post was supposed to be on the alberta thread. I was hoping this thread would calm down as more people deserve and probably want to comment on Mike harcourt. Once again, sorry, my rebuttal to Mr lahey was not on the alberta buying bc mcmartin thread where it belonged and where I intended it, but appears above, instead. I guess I should have had the second cup of morning coffee....sorry.

My god! - Your syndicated

Attention, please, TYEE EDITOR. On further examination, It seems to me THAT I DID NOT POST THE REBUTTAL TO MR LAHEY at 4:33 pm. I note that it has a ragged "add your comment tag" on it's end, I'm afraid, that MR. CUT AND PASTE, JEAN BINETTE, IS UP TO HIS OLD TRICKS....jean must have copied it from the other thread, it was my hope this thread would calm down, hard to do with jean, psychic parasite onboard...

Ah, to be so proud of so little jean, here, and wherever you go, I imagine....you must be a continual disappointment both to yourself, and pretty much everyone else.....

Shirin, jean once referreed to "his wife," when I first encountered him, on the "reinventing the old folks home thread" which still may be google-able on the tyee home page feature. I don't know shirin, I could be accused of winding binette up, I suppose, but it never takes him to long to cross lines, whoever has the misfortune of his company...ls

allan and lewis - I still don't buy the gender theory. Are you trying to tell me someone married it? Must have been a socialist act of charity....

Not wanting to stray from the topic at hand - but I just noticed an eerie resemblance between Harcourt and the dear owl in wilderness committee calendar - both esthetically and at the level of treatment. We just don't know what we had until its almost gone....

shirin - or a financial arrangement. Things are tough, you know.

In some societies the appearance of the Owl is not a good sign - "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot".

Mike Harcourt is one of those rare, principled men who don't fight the usual dirty political fight, but who try to lead by example ... and we don't recognize this until we've lost them. Remember? Woodsworth, Stanfield, Pearson, Douglas, Harcourt ... ? Let's try not to make the mistake again, come May 2005.

Thanks BC mary, do you know him personally?

LOL! someone is fascinated with Harcourt (or at least his story on the tyee) - "IT" doth protest overmuch. allan - why would anyone want to support it? (It's highly unlikely to be productive member of the work force).

there's still a little bit of free cheese left in the mousetrap. Grab it while you can.

Shirin, I don't know if fascinated is the correct word. Perhaps obsessed or fixated would better describe ITs spammer-type approach to dialogue on The Tyee. Even fellow right-wingers now try to distance themselves from IT.

Jean, your parents didn't love you because you were both an exceptionally ugly child, and a little, backstabbing, cut-and-paste sneak...Get over it! Harcourt, for all his faults, was something you'll never be: an essentially decent human being.

Ok peg-heads, I can see I need a larger mallet!

Poor Jean, in need of a larger mallet?! Indeed.

Hi! little one - can I interest you in a Liberal party membership, or would you rather be broke?

what do you know about members at large? yours is proportional to your head the size of a peg

A very large peg indeed!

Jean, why not emulate the premier's daddy, and do the RIGHT thing, instead of just the rightwing thing? It'll be a far, far better thing you do now, than you've ever done, and, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YOUR LIFE, you'll actually be displaying some GUTS, you'll be in the company of hemingway, plath and many others...do it on your front lawn, the shotgun in the mouth trick works well...perhaps the premier will even be following in your footsteps after may 17, 2005, as I understand there's a lot of mental illness in his family too, including psychopathy, and obsessive compulsion delusions of grandeur, just like your own case....

Stop Lweis, you've had way too much free cheese!

No jean, the free cheese all went to the RATS earning in the top 5% of incomes, after May 17, we'll be taking it back out of your skankly little hides...with interest.

Ok Lweis - YOU WIN!!! ----(%#$%@%$!!)

BOB WILLIAMS, B.C. TRADE CORPORATION AND VANCITY CREDIT UNION R. Neufeld: My question is also to the Premier. In a letter dated January 12, 1995, on B.C. Trade Development stationery, Bob Williams wrote to the executive director for Canada at the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines. This was a follow-up to a meeting that Bob Williams had with an individual in Vancouver. He said: "The co-financing opportunities you referred to are matters that I will discuss further with my colleagues at Vancouver City Savings Credit Union and its wholly owned trust company, Citizens Trust." Can the Premier tell us why on earth he paid Bob Williams $750 a day to drum up business for VanCity through B.C. Trade? Hon. M. Harcourt: Hon. Speaker, I would appreciate receiving a copy of that letter from the member, and I'll get him an answer to his question. I haven't seen that letter before. The Speaker: The member has a supplemental question? R. Neufeld: It is a new question, also to the Premier. In his efforts to peddle the B.C. Assessment Authority's tax assessment technology, it appears as if Bob Williams abused his position at B.C. Trade to help his pals at VanCity. Does the Premier agree that it was highly inappropriate for Bob Williams, of all people, to be using B.C. Trade to further the interests of his buddies at VanCity, as suggested by the letter?

I'm not that well informed about bob williams, binette, but if there'd been all that much to your allegations, the press, would have made the most of it, they didn't, so there obviously wasn't much substance to your allegations, as the press, and the liberals corporate supporters were bankrolling everything from failed recall efforts, to the ndp is in league with the devil rumours. HOWEVER, IF YOU WANT REAL GRAFT, LIKE THE HUNDREDS OF ONCE VOLUNTEER POSITIONS AT HEALTH DISTRICTS ALL OVER THE PROVINCE, THAT ARE $100,000 PLUS GIFTS TO FRIENDS OF THE BC LIARS, THAT REQUIRE AN ABSOLUTE MINIMUM OF WORK, LOOK AT THE BC BACKSTABBER RECORD!! THE FUNDS FOR THESE GIFTS COME DIRECTLY OUT OF BOTH THE HEALTHCARE BUDGET AND RESOURCES AND OUT OF TAXPAYERS POCKETS. THE BC LIARS HAVE CREATED THE MOST CORRUPT AND GRAFT-RIDDEN PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT SINCE THE DIRTY THIRTIES IN CANADA, AS EVERYONE, BUT BACKSTABBING SHILLS KNOW ALL TOO WELL....

Fast Ferries, Island Highway, BINGO.....

It seems that stories on socialists hold about the same relationship to idiots as lights at night do to flies.

Hey, plodding clark, hands and mouth off the Island highway, it came in on time and on budget, a bargain compared to the Coquihalla and a long list of Socred-Fiberal projects. AND it employed union workers who kept their wages in the province, AND those witherdicks currently squatting in the Leg would dearly love to take credit for it. Even so, I'm not going to rant and rave in support of the ndp during their tenure, they made some blunders; even so, they left a surplus without needing to totally gut our social programmes.

Did the bright lights blind you Tired, or have you just lost your way? I think it really says a lot about the impact The Tyee is having out there when neocons like you are being attracted to it like like those flies you mentioned. I sense a bit of fear in your posting. Could it be the buildup to May 17?

Premier Gordon Campbell should be hung by the neck, till dead, for high treason to the citizens of British Columbia. Jean Binette- get a job you lazy slob.

JYD - But should we castrate him first, or at least mutilate the body afterwards? . By the way you have just topped the stupidity list.

Gary Collins has used the Cuba reference more than once in reference to the NDP. Having spent a good deal of time there, I'd say the BC Liberals form of governance, patronage and selling off of the public wealth is more like Cuba"s than the NDP. The Cuba prior to 1959 that is. I wonder whether Collins has ever toured the island, talked to its people and then compared his experiences to other parts of latin america?

My second submission: I wonder whether Harcourt's love of expensive rail projects has anything to do with his trip to Davos Switzerland in 1992. I hope his hosts, Bombardier Inc, provided him with a wonderful experience. By the way, remember Hydrogate? Who bailed out the chair of Hydro and his family from that embarrassment? Was it Bombardier or SNC/Lavalin? Given the awful shape of Bombardier these days, will SNC/Lavalin buy back their SkyTrain and use it for the RAV Line? And while we're on the subject of the sale of SkyTrain...is there any truth to the rumour that the present CEO of Translink Pat Jacobsen, the 1/4 million dollar a year woman, orchestrated the sale of SkyTrain from the Ontario Government to Bombardier while she was deputy minister there? Is the picture becoming a little bit clearer...Mr. Harcourt, the only two potentials so called rapid rail transit has in the Greater Vancouver region is to further diminish the bus system that has increased its ridership by 24% using the same old 1000 bus strong war horses. The other potential is for the suppliers of rail transit equipment. Since the opening of the Expo Line in 1986, a further $750 million of public capital has been invested in the line with less than 20 years of service. The same $750 million would have seen an additional 2100 buses operating throughout the region and a multitude of B-Line rapid bus routes. Before the Expo Line's initial public debt is fully paid off, in another 12 years, a further minimum of $500 million of capital investment will be needed to replace the original 100 Mark I SkyTrain cars. The suppliers of these technologies love it when you build one of their lines. Just like cocaine, you keep needing to find your next fix. Potential? for whom? If you take 400 buses off of Granville Street during the rush period (which RAVCO and Translink propose) and force those transit users to use RAV, taking them further east from their destination, the potential here is to see a further five thousand cars per day filling the lane space down Granville. Now there's some potential. During the 2001 Transit strike, non-dependent transit users from the burbs, were driving their second cars into town and marvelled at how well traffic moved without the buses. That additional traffic on the major North South arterial roadways pushed local traffic onto the residential side streets. If you had been riding your bike during the 2001 transit strike down the side streets of Vancouver you would have noticed this Mr. Harcourt. On another more serious note, I'm sure Mr. Glen Clark could provide you with a name of a good contractor to put a guard rail up around your summer cottage's sundeck.

Hey, Mikey likes it!!! RAV fan indeed. Love the pic in this article, Say Cheese Mikey. I wonder how often Mikey will use RAV to get to the airport. Or for that matter, I wonder how often the other Campbell who voted to proceed with RAV will use it? In a recent "get a life O.D. "get a life" research project, this author walked from both Mikey and Larry's (that's Harcourt and Campbell) homes to the nearest bus stop, got on a bus travelling east to Cambie Street to the nearest proposed SkyTrain RAV station, took the time estimates that RAVCO has submitted to the public and calculated all boarding and disembarkment times. From Harcourt's house an 18 minute cab trip turned into an 82 minute walk and transit ride using feet, buses and RAV, Larry Cambell's 20 minute cab ride turned into a 91 minute transit ride hoof, bus and RAV. In addition, a UBC student from West Richmond will see his/her transit ride time increase by 15-25 minutes one way (that's if there's room on a bus originating from the Commercial Broadway transit hub to pick them up). The thing about the RAV line is that the political and politically sustained boosters will not be around to be held accountable for their more than enthusiastic support of yet another debilitating and stupid transportation decision.

When I started reading the Tyee, I was optimistic that a point of view other than Canwest Global / Pacific Press was going to further intelligent and informed debate. That seems to be true for a fair number of the submissions on most articles, but not when B.C. politics comes up. What I've read here so far is a lot of posturing and name-calling, and your reference to May 17, Allan, sounds a lot to me like some sports fan in the bar before the big game, already into a few pops, mouthing off about "his" team. It's a little discouraging. Maybe we deserve the Asper empire feeding us reality. And why assume I'm a neo-con (whatever that means exactly)?

I asked that question long ago, (apparently they think your related to George Bush.) But don't worry pretty soon you will be too tired to stay awake.

GARY COLON FERRET HAS JUST RESIGNED AS MINISTER OF FINANCE, NO DOUBT ASHAMED OF RECEIVING EQUALIZATION PAYMENTS FOR THREE OUT OF FOUR YEARS, A SIGN THAT BC HAS BEEN A HAVENOT PROVINCE FOR THREE OUT OF FOUR YEARS IN OFFICE!!! OR PERHAPS HE'S ASHAMED (DOUBTFULL!) OF A BUDGET THAT CONTINUES TO ASSAULT THE DISADVANTAGED WHEN HE KNEW MONTHS AGO THE TRANSFER PAYMENTS TO MAKE UP FOR THE BACKSTABBERS FAILED ECONOMIC POLICIES WERE COMING!! Or PERHAPS, the finance minister is CRAPPING HOMSELF about forthcoming news due to be released to the media....

For crying out loud, neverending squabbling defeats any discussion. It's tiresome, rude, unproductive. Couldn't you guys just e.mail each other privately?

I asked you some time ago BC Mary, do you know him? (harcourt I mean).

Tired, you're tiring. Really. Your post yesterday, where you whined about "socialist" stories drawing people like you to the Tyee, sort of tipped me off why you might be a neo-con. But then, I wonder why you've come back the second time. Those dang bright lights caught you again, eh. As for my "team", I'm afraid you'll have to clarify. I don't remember ever stating I was on any team. If you can find one on the Tyee where I did, please bring it to my attention. Hey, look at the bright (pun intended), side Tired. A search like I suggested will give you a real education on "socialist" stories.

Well Carlos Bud, I predict that on May 18th 2005, Government officials will conduct an electronic sweep of the Tyee, and will discover faint, but intelligent life forms lingering behind - Premier Gordon Campbell (in a moment of unprecedented compassion), will call up Carole James and request she send back the two chickens they stole.

You continue to be about as funny as a fart in a space suit jean....

Wow my first reading of this and I am shocked and turned off. What is this? Today Mike Harcourt is still working in the public’s service, but “without all the hassle.” It’s not entirely the life of a black in Alabama, notwithstanding Finance Minister Gary Collins, who once compared B.C. under the NDP to Cuba and demonized Harcourt at the B.C. Liberals’ annual convention. What kind of crap am I reading? I thought this would be good forum to get informed keep up to date with peoples views, but how could I even want to read this. No one has posted a thing about such a racial comment. I had family in Alabama and I am black. I am offended. How could someone just write something like that, do you not know who your audience is, or because it is in this type of format it doesn't matter????!!!!!!!!! I have never participated in anything like this before and now how can I in good conscience. I won't write what I am thinking, this was done in poor and tacky taste and to me a discredit to all the valid points and issues made. I am having a hard time getting past the comment to focus on the real issue. Charles Campbell it looks like wrote this article. Is this what I can look forward to?

I just happened upon this site wanting some constructive conversation....and I must have interrupted a children's quarrel....wow there is no info here just personal opinions...bunch of garbage from you big babies...go argue elsewhere.

Could I just vote Jean Binette off the island, please?

MEga dittos to"amused in BC" One upmanship or womanship is not conducive to the article on Mr. H. I found the article ok if slanted,no one will laud the panhandler who gets ill and survives. Not that that's relevant,if u get my meaning.