A vote for the Green Party

A vote for the Green Party was a vote for Gordo....

I also wonder if Suzuki is happy now?

Polution

I feel dirty just living in BC, now. Wonder if the Terminator in California will still love us? The biggest source of polution comes from people, and having the highest child poverty rate in Canada, is maybe Campbell's master plan on birth control, yes no people, no taxpayers, and no more socialists. Makes me green thinking about it....That's my Liberal thoughs for tonight.

we won't be fooled again?

I sure hope not. It's time to shake off the washed out colours of the NDP and Liberals and the accompanying sad slogan - "if we join them we can change them." It's time people to put on some real Green and take stand for the future.

A vote for the Green Party

Dan the socialist wrote: A vote for the Green Party was a vote for Gordo....

As my vote doesn't matter anyways, next time I will vote Liberal just to spite the NDP supporters. Or maybe Dan the socialist is just posing as an NDP supporter, but is actually in the Gordo camp trying to divide the Greens and NDP.

Government by hypocrisy.

Give tax breaks then tell us the HST will really only cost us half of what they take in.

Shut down Burrard Thermal for 'environmental' reasons but cry because narural gas royalties have virtually disappeared.

Liquor taxes will go down by 3% of the retail price so jack the price up to cover the revenue shortfall.

This is leadership? These people vote? God help us.

gone soon

At the present rate of global warming,and no place for garbage the hst won't matter for long if we don't have serious changes for a healthy province - world any way. gordo and people like him won't get it until it has a direct impact on their famlies. Or maybe msot of the province will end up with forest fires and only the island will remain. OOPS gordo might be here in Victoria and won't go down with his ship. Well if that happens there are enough non believers on the island to have gordo in hand quickly. HUmm wishful thinking ---

Greenies for Gordo

Three percent was the margin in this last election.

The support some of these fools gave El Gordo has visited an unimaginable environmental and economic disaster on BC. Gordo's second team over at the "Green" party were even saying that the fascist environmental policy was better than the NDP's. The carbon tax/Green Gordo nonsense was an obvious ploy brewed up at the Public Affairs Bureau to give sellouts like Suzuki, Jaccard, Weaver, Berman, and Harcourt an excuse to join the fascist cause.

After Nobel prize winning and progressive economist Paul Krugman showed that the NDP's cap and trade was superior to these nitwit's green tax you'd think they'd be wandering the streets in sackcloth covered with ashes and begging the voter for forgiveness. Instead they are still proclaiming it as the holy grail.

In any event all their "Green" nonsense is really just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

According to an article by steve-kirsch, we need to add-a-gigawatt-a-day of capacity starting today if we are to have any chance of averting a civilization destroying climate catastrophe. His numbers are unassailable.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-kirsch/add-a-gigawatt-a-day-to-k_b_261728.html

Unfortunately, he may be optimistic. Scientists are telling us that there is some chance we are as little as 10 years away from falling off a climate precipice with permafrost methane emissions and ocean acidification forming the leading edge of a very steep slope.

Kirsch lends his voice to the fury of who have studied the issue seeing us wasting time and treasure on too little too late technologies like wind, solar. biomass, carbon sequestration, conservation and silly green tax and cap and trade schemes.

Meanwhile a workable low cost liquid fluorine thorium reactor design is sitting on the shelf at at a government research site in Idaho put there by that philandering fat head Bill Clinton.

US Senator Lamar Alexander advocates building 100 new nuclear power plants in the US over the next 20 years. He is way short. We need to start building one mass produced nuclear plant every day for the next 30 years, if we are to have any hope. Westinghouse's recent sale to China pegs the cost at less than 2 cents a kilowatt hour. In the US,and around the world, it would end the recession putting everybody back to work and would be paid for by ending oil imports. Ten years from now, hopefully thorium fission and fusion technologies like Polywell and focus fusion become usable on an industrial scale.

Instead of encouraging global warming with its expensive and ineffective "green" power buys, it should be approaching Westinghouse with a view to duplicating the China sale in Port Moody, replacing Burrard thermal with nukes and in one installation doubling BCHydros baseload capacity. Failing that it can commit to buying green nuclear power from Alberta where they at least have seen the light.

seth

"The carbon tax/Green Gordo nonsense was an obvious ploy brewed up at the Public Affairs Bureau to give sellouts like Suzuki, Jaccard, Weaver, Berman, and Harcourt an excuse to join the fascist cause.

When I read that, my Cuckoo Clock started to chime and out came the bird.

Viva La BC Visionistas!

green green green

I would have enjoyed reading the "ain't nobody here but us chickens" responses of the several "Green" Organizations who were quoted here were the consequences of their gullibility not so severe.

Anyone who thinks that any major policy change affecting economic policy can be apolitical; and anyone who thinks they can negotiate with neolib capitalists and come away with all fingers intact when the economic wind changes is a simple minded, idealistic, fool. Oh yes, vote Green! Thank you Ms Berman, thank you Mr Suzuki, thank you all very much.

The rule of unintended consequences

Until Lefties and Greenies discover what "regressive taxation" is, as well as what regressive legislation is, they will continue to aid the Fascists in turning our country into a police state.

Each have their own "enemies lists", though each for different reasons, and not suprisingly, each focusses on the easiest to blame, the most vulnerable and the least capable of fighting back, the "common man".

FDR

Perhaps Herman if you took some junior high history lessons you might find out what a fascist was.

For a simple fellow like you, here is a simple definition from that nutball FDR.

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group,”

I think that definition fits government under the Canwest/Gordo regime. Don't you?

The snake

There was a song put out in 1968 by Al Wilson called "The Snake"

During the last election a lot of you so-called environmentalists decided that the carbon tax would save the world and chastised the NDP for opposing this tax. With the help of the main stream media you got more exposure than Lady Godiva on her famous ride. Radio, television and the newspapers sopped up your lambasting of the evil NDP Party, no doubt swaying some voters away from the NDP toward other parties. You got what you strived for, a return of the Liberals and their carbon tax which has had no impact on carbon emissions whatsoever. But, now that it looks as if we will be saddled with the HST, guess what? The biggest exemption to the HST is being applied to automobile fuels. Ain't that a kick in the crotch. Meanwhile fish farms continue to flourish at the expense of what is left of our wild salmon, run of the river conglomerates are despoiling many of our rivers and the Liberals are laying blacktop wherever they wish. You drank the Kool-Aid the Liberals served up, and now you must live with it.

In case you are curious about the reference to the song, just google it and take a listen.

Can't have it both ways

DSF, Pembina, Berman and others aren't as stupid as they pretend to be. They understood the consequences of their election attacks and undertook them anyhow. And now they're reaping the benefits that accrue to willing pawns.

My problem is with the thousands who will be worse off because of their support for this government. Unforgivable. Suzuki should be on his hands and knees begging forgiveness. For my part, not a dime ever again.

Surprise???

This government has been consistent in what it does. It does not match what it says. Except for one carbon tax, everything that these guys have done has been as environmentally friendly as a poorly tuned Hummer. How can anyone who looked at their program and actions over the last eight years be surprised with what these guys do??????

Telling more lies to cover their lies

"That's because we had to put more money into healthcare and education,"

If that statement were true then their would be increases to School Board budgets not cuts. Maintenance would be done not neglected. And Here in 100 Mile House they would stop the systematic closure of our hospital. First maternity then the ER. What a pack of bald faced liars. And the public just keeps sopping it up.

serendipity

The depressed economy give right-wing ideologues a convenient, virtually unassailable excause to further dismantle our traditional social policies.

Now they can privatise and de-fund and eliminate anything standing in their way, with a hand-wringing, "The economy made me do it!"

Wealth can not be created,

Wealth can not be created, only taken from other sectors, the environment and the future.

We can see how "wealth creation" is killing us through the simple First Law of Thermodynamics and the reactions caused by the misuse of energy.

All economic theories ignore and overrule physical laws and the deregulated money creation powers of the banks resulted in gross overcapitalization, which in turn now destroys the Earth, and humanity, to pay for the cost of servicing that imaginary capital.

Our so called "economists" are calling this "efficiency" and "growth of the GDP".

By the way, Seth, there's no such thing as the "Nobel Prize for economics", It is just another fraud, one of the whole slew, destroying us.

Ed Deak.

Suzuki Foundation and Enviro Groups Naive

Neocon think tanks have successfully convinced some people that we can be "environmentalists" and capitalists at the same time, like Jim Hoggan of the David Suzuki Foundation. This is simply false, but remains a driving wedge for real change.

Many environmentalists think we can change the world over lattes in Starbucks. Not gonna happen. Until scientists and environmentalists turn their intellects to that nasty topic of finance and monopoly capitalism, we will remain firmly lost in the wilderness, chasing our tails.

All roads lead to decisions about access to resources, how we distribute or share resources, and who runs society.

As long as scientist believe that pure science and facts drive decisions by governments, nothing will change.

I too avoided studying this unpleasant aspect of human behaviour for many years. I know the tendency very well. Finance and monopoly conduct is unpleasant, appears boring intellectually (surprisingly, it isn't), and is rife with liars and scam artists (it is).

But it boils down to this: scientists have OBLIGATIONS to get things right. If that means turning their intellects to who controls the media and who runs society, then get on it. Without their help and input, we're going to lose the entire system to greed and incompetence. And yes, much of the fault will go to the intellectual classes like environmentalists and scientists.

Sorry for being the bearer of bad news...

Never a promise unbroken

Why doesn't someone just make a button that says" Campbell Liberals: Never a promise unbroken"? Should be a big seller...

A tad late enviros!

Some of theenviro groups, and especially Suzuki have the gall to cry now!

I also agree that green capitalism will not work and is a sham and a delay tactic on the part of those that want to continue the plunder (with occasional pauses for glorified elite parties like the Owelimpics!)!

Would it be unfair to say

I told you so.

Just roll back the clock to the stories here at Tyee about Suzuki and Berman and Andrew Weaver and the rest of them supporting Campbell for his environmental 'record'.

At the time I suggested that the whole Campbell program was a sham - I hope they'll all be wearing donkey's ears for the next four years.

If you want positive change you don't vote for a corporatist CEO - especially a drunken one.

Can we demonize you NOW David Suzuki?

What you and your group did

What you and your group did during the election is not water under the bridge, Jeffrey Young. I guess you're learning now that when you lie down with snakes, you get bit.

Sorry ... not water under the bridge

Sorry, Jeffrey Young, it is not water under the bridge. The consequences of your organization's support for the BC Liberals is that you helped them to four more years of their rule. What did you expect would happen? The sad thing is that the "carbon tax" will do little if anything to mitigate people's driving habits and will do little to make our environment any healthier. Your organization has lost all credibility in complaining about anything the BC Liberals do over the next four years. That's where you hung your hat ... you made that choice and you'll have to live with it.

Truth in advertising

It's rumoured that the Campbell government will soon be changing the provincial slogan from "The Best Place on Earth" to "Not as Bad as Mississippi".

NDP failed environmentalists, for starters

I was never under any impression that the Liberals were going to be environmental saviours. I hoped it would be the NDP, but their baffling anti-renewable energy, anti-carbon tax stance cost them big time. Carole should have had MORE renewable energy and a BIGGER carbon tax if she wanted the green vote. Well, the intelligent green vote anyway.

Suzuki's Fault

Ok, maybe not 100% but his hands are certainly dirty. Dirty with oil and carbon emissions. Nice one Dave.

All-candidates meeting in Suzuki's riding

A friend lives in the same riding as David Suzuki. My friend attended an all-candidates meeting and he said Suzuki delivered a stunning endorsement of the Campbell Liberals. Apparently, none of the other candidates dared to challenge his endorsement.

It's time for certain people to eat some crow... ...Mr. Suzuki... ...Ms. Berman... ...etc....

Effectiveness of the carbon tax cannot be proved or disproved

If you do not see the carbon tax a a brilliant PR sham, read below.

Carbon tax no cash cow in its first year

DERRICK PENNER,
VANCOUVER SUN
JUNE 10, 2009

The provincial government paid out $38 million more in carbon tax breaks to British Columbians than it collected in carbon taxes in the first year of the climate-change initiative's implementation.

However, how much British Columbians reduce their carbon production won't be known until the province starts reporting its emissions figures to the federal government in the coming years, a conference on the carbon tax heard Tuesday.

"That [reporting] hasn't started yet," said John Robinson, one of the
conference co-chairs. "The next few years will tell the tale."

Another difficulty, Robinson added, is that it will be difficult to tell
how much of carbon reductions that B.C. sees will be related to the tax, and how much should be attributed to other factors.

The simplest measure of reduced carbon emissions will come from a reduction in energy use, Robinson said, and there won't be "a flashing green light saying [this part of the reduction] is caused by the tax."

The conference, titled Decoding Carbon Tax Pricing, is being staged by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solution, a collaboration of the University of Victoria, University of B.C., University of Northern B.C. and Simon Fraser University around the first anniversary of the controversial tax.

The intent of the conference, which began Monday and runs through today, is to review what industries and institutions are doing in response to the tax and to other B.C. climate-change initiatives.

Robinson, a professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC, said B.C. appears to be coping fairly well with the carbon tax in its first year.

Although the tax is intended to be revenue-neutral, British Columbians actually received more money out of the climate initiative's attendant tax cuts than the provincial government received in carbon tax revenue.

Glen Armstrong, assistant deputy minister in the finance ministry outlined those numbers from the February provincial budget.

The provincial budget showed $300 million in carbon-tax revenue for fiscal 2008-09, some $38 million less than estimated due to factors including lower than expected gasoline consumption.

However, the income tax cuts associated with the carbon tax to make sure the initiative was not a cash cow for government totalled $338 million -- 70 per cent of which went back to individuals.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/Carbon+cash+first+year/1680872/story.html

Oh Come On Now

Poor baby, every bodies crying foul in BC as the arts communities and environmentalist etc. as told later for you by BC government.
Where were the environmentalists during the last election when Campbell won his majority while keeping the public from the true state of the economy? Backing Campbell despite the real harm the added tax would do to already struggling Canadians. Campbell has made it quite clear Big Business can have its way with the province as Tyee readers weren't fooled so what's with the environmentalists?
And the carbon tax is so over rated as there was no need for tax as the rest of Canada is also cutting back on their gas consumption do to the recession. Gas prices are also about to rise.
The environmentalist are about as full of it as when endorsing the Liberal government because there was something in it for them. Its what happens when you lie with dogs you get flees.

Not all enviros supported the Libs

Rather than slam the movement as a whole, the grassroots of which were 90% opposed to the Campbell government, perhaps we would do better to focus in on the faction of the professional wing of the movement that did endorse the government. Groups like Sierra Club, Raincoast and the Wilderness Committee (all parts of the professional wing of the movement) did not support the Liberal agenda, and it's wise for us to remember that and draw some distinctions within the broader movement.

Mr. Horter, for all his protests to the contrary, did endorse the Campbell government and its agenda. The evidence is here: http://www.conservationvoters.ca/endorsements/
He endorsed "Anyone But Carole" in Beacon Hill. He endorsed an ineffectual Environment Minister who has done nothing on resource extraction, endangered species, the Gateway Program, etc. Will Horter and Dogwood, Tzeporah Berman from Power Up Canada, Matt Horne from Pembina and the like should have to answer tough questions about their support. They aren't politically naive, and they bear some responsibility for what is happening now. I would love to see some follow-up on this issue with those folks. Can the Tyee do such a follow up?

Yes, please Tyee do a follow up with Berman and Suzuki!

Please, I want to hear their arguments; current times I could use a laugh!

Response from MLA Lana Popham

What can we do now but pick ourselves up and keep pushing for government actions that will help the environment? Here are a few excerpts of what MLA Lana Popham said in the Legislature yesterday in response to the Budget:

...We heard talk about the oil and gas industry. It's shocking to me that we would consider supporting one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gases, the Alberta tar sands. These tar sands rival even the most polluted cities in China. By entertaining the northern gateway pipeline project, we are compromising our morals and our environmental standards.

...Something we didn't hear anything about in the throne or budget speech was the state of our wild salmon stocks. Will the historians of our time look back at this moment and define now as the time when our west coast wild-food fishery collapsed? There has been mismanagement of these stocks. Current practices by fish farms have undoubtedly contributed to the potential complete destruction of wild salmon.

...I believe that this government would make better decisions if it takes the criticisms and suggestions of the official opposition. We have all come here for our own reasons. We are all here because of democracy. I hope we're all here because we have a vision, and we're developing actions which will help us create a sustainable society. If this is the case, then democracy is alive and well. If it's not, then it's sick. There is no argument that we need to work together for our own survival.

Check out her blog to read the whole speech: www.saanichsouth.ca

Surprise! Surprise!

I continue to be amazed that people still don't get it and keep on voting Gordo and Crew back in, time after time. The NDP position was consistent with other jurisdictions, and yet Suzuki and Friends damned them. Having been lied to and screwed by Gordo over and over since he first got into power, I didn't think for one minute that this government had any honest committment to the environment, and Gordo has proved it. With the current uproar, it looks as if people might have finally GOT IT, but they will probably have forgotten all about it by the time the next election happens! I consider myself to be a small-"L" liberal and yet I wouldn't vote for this bunch of Un-Liberals if my life depended upon it. This government does not have the mandate to what they are doing, since this was not what they committed to doing or not doing. What a joke!

Suzuki

Well, now we have the Suzuki organization walking around with noses that are growing alongside Campbell and his band of merry girls and boys!

I hope dear David is really happy he facilitated the election of the Campbell right wing nuts. Berman too. I guess we will have real climate change in BC now for the next 4 years.. Thanks a lot. No more donations from me.

So who really elected the Liberals?

I see various commentss like "you voted for them, so you got them". Has anyone actually calculated by what % of total possible voters the Liberals got elected?

I recall a few years back the PC party getting their candidate elected on 20% of those voting, but that was only about 50% of possible voters. Isn't that getting elected by 10% of eligible voters?

Wake up folks, that's not democracy!

So much to say!

Many, many very good points.

Sierra, Raincoast and WCWC will now get my money and support. Dogwood, you are going to have to earn it back.

NDP self destroyed with their "Axe the Tax" bit. Although fundamentally right, they gave you nothing to chew on. There was so much wrong with the Libs game that they could have had a true field day. The tax is worse then useless, it has no teeth, it is negative in results, and makes people think that something is being done. But that is standard political issue, 'don't do anything just make the gullible public think that you are'. And they are, for their friends!

The NDP and Greens have a lot of blame to share over this mess. Despite some very good and honourable people in both parties, and maybe even among the liberals (although that is hard to imagine). The parties dropped the ball, and actually helped the Liberals. The Liberals are actually the only honest party.

Please get off the floor and listen.

They have been, and we know they are, devil spawn who have sold their souls (if they had any) to big Corps. and personal buddies. They have lied over the last 6 years. They have said that they want to privatize and give away all the assets of the province. They are acting totally consistently with who they are. No surprise there. So in fact anyone with 'eyes wide open' as opposed to 'eyes tightly shut' knew exactly what we were going to get. And we got it, in spades.

But fundamentally the blame must go to "we the people...". The general electorate chose to remain ignorant. It is not as if the information and the truth was not out there. It was just inconvenient.

Congrats and condolences to the Tyee. It is a mixed blessing to be right when you predict a disaster. Where were the rest of the Media...in Campbell's back pocket perhaps?

Fool Me Once

Revelations of the the Liberal's latest election cons seems proof that the more you fight against something the more you become what you hate.

It's now former Socred cabinet minister Rafe Mair who is championing the protection of wilderness watersheds while Berman and her ilk shamefully recite the old jobs, jobs, jobs mantra and support the privatization and industrialization of our watersheds in the name of their fantasy future green economy.

Full circle.

unbeliever

Politics and deceit, why would I ever think it's about anything else, it's such a shame. It good be a much better world, but some of the wealthy wouldn't like that. Would they?

@Dr Alexander

You might find the following interesting - especially in light of our somewhat protracted 'discussion' with Professor David Scoones last week.

Here's an economist who's not at all enamoured with the output and claims of his fellow dismal scientists.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06Economic-t.html?_r=1&hp

Thanks for the heads-up on Krugman

The beginning of the first section which he titled:
I. Mistaking Beauty for Truth

Got me to thinking about one of my favourite poems by Keats:
Ode on a Grecian Urn

The final two lines, of course:

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

Oddly enough T.S. Eliot had great dispute over these two lines.

Carbon Tax???

Well Campbell takes my tax money on Monday and gives it back to me on Friday. (I don't understand, maybe I'm stupid?) but when I get these rebates I take the family out for a drive, because BC is such a great place, we should get away from the house and see it! My hydro bill is down by $20 per month! How did I do that? I burned 10 cords of firewood to heat my house. I used an electric chain saw to cut some of the wood! My biggest green move was to have one child then I went to the Doctor, if I need more kids, then I have a few billion to choose from. I'm looking forward the my GST rebate and Carbon tax rebate and my new HST rebate and child tax rebate and, and, and a few more rebates, from that masterrebater Mr.Campbell..............

Voodoo economics

Very good analysis, GWest, but Krugman avoids mentioning a major facet of the Keynesian economic theory which was so successful in pe-War Britain:

Keynes had Gold-backed money (pound) as a tool to work with.

But today all currencies are Fiat-based, meaning that with nothing solid being needed against which to value them, both Gov't and financial interests can create money out of thin air.

Gov't can cover then its trade disparities and other foreign debt by issuing dollar-backed T-Bills (since world finance is based on US dollars) which today might be worth their face value, but tomorrow worth consideably less. It has been through this stratagem that the US has been "exporting its debt". That has worked just fine as long as other countries could be strongarmed into playing the game, but today other countries - notably China - are theatening to cash in their T-Bills. The only thing stopping that is that doing so could cause a crash of many other economies too.

The financial interests have discovered how to do the same, through the smoke-and-mirrors game of Derivative creation, by which criminal organisations like AIG and Goldman Sachs have been able to kite the value of their NOMINALLY-valued derivative assets by as much as 50x. Obama has been forced to donate tax dollars to bail these crooks out, but without thereby solving the problem.

In his NYT column, Krugan notes:

"Economics, as a field, got in trouble because economists were seduced by the vision of a perfect, frictionless market system."

IMO, Mainstream economists, seduced by various forms of self-interest, have championed the notion that greed, and especially the modern type of theft which can be pursued without fear of retribution, is "rational". It is little wonder that modern economics has been called "voodoo economics".

Campbell government dashes hopes of environmentalists

I corresponded with the Pembina Institute director Marlo (until he stopped answering my email). He is in the environmental business, he is not an environmentalist.
Besides Daniel Bouman

founding member
Sunshine Coast Conservation Association
Sunshine Coast Water First Society
Tetrahedron Alliance,
wrote a letter to all the environmental organizations, before the election that I will place it here so as you all can judge for yourselves, that all these so called environmental leaders where advised of Gordo's real intention:

Campbell dashes hope

"An Open Letter to BCs Environmental Leaders:
Over the course of the Provincial election campaign, posturing from BCs
major environmental organizations has been embarrassing. As the executive
director of a regional conservation association with 20 years experience
working with local governments and with the public on regional environmental
issues, I wonder if my upper-level colleagues have gone completely daft.

Their campaigns to punish Carol James, or the anybody but… campaigns, or
the one calling on the NDP to re-consider their position on IPPs are just
three examples of their misguided approach.

The Liberal government has used a common theme to address environmental
policies; deregulation, public disempowerment, destruction of
accountability, elimination of transparency, and disdain towards the
democratic processes.

Campbell dashes

It started with the gutting of the BC Environmental Assessment Act and the
conversion of the BC EA Office from one designed to safeguard the public
interest, to one that only serves project proponents. This Act was once a
key tool for assessing and mitigating climate change impacts - but is now
little more than a source of orchestrated industrial advertising.

What happened to the Forest Practices Code Act under the Liberals tells a
story: The old prescriptive code was replaced with a new results based
code which is impossibly vague and unenforceable. As one example, a
result specified by government is the protection of drinking water,
unless this unduly restricts the flow of timber. In the end, transparency
and accountability in forestry - and participation of the public in forest
planning - have been willfully destroyed. The Act now stands as one stark
example of the supremacy of private interests at the expense of the public
interest; the Liberal governments legacy.

The Private Managed Forest Land Act (PMFLA) offers a similar illustration.
A Council of private landowners enforces the Act with no accountability to
the public. A person can make a complaint but the Council doesnt have to
acknowledge the complaint or notify the complainant of an investigation
(remember CNIs instant municipality). The complainant has no right to
participate in, or even to be notified of, a hearing into the complaint. In
the case of a finding against the landowner, the owner has the right of
appeal. The complainant has no such right. The whole process is remarkable
for its starkly anti-democratic orientation.

Campbell dashes hope

The PMFLA Council views its
mandate to be the protection of forest landowners from the public, local
government, and environmental regulation.

There are many other examples of legislation that has been passed to
insulate private interests from public scrutiny;
the Integrated Pest Management Act comes to mind, as does the new Health
Act which has stripped away the powers of Local Boards of Health.

According to a West Coast Environmental Law survey in 2007, environmental
law enforcement has been brought to a virtual standstill in BC. This was
achieved primarily through budget cutbacks to enforcement agencies like the
BC Conservation Officer Service. Cutbacks have also been used to curtail
the activities of most of the independent agencies of the legislature like
the Forest Practices Board, the Ombudsmans office and the office of the
Auditor General.

The above are not esoteric legal issues. Community advocates see the loss
of environmental assets as well as a constant parade of conflicts between
private interests and the public. Meanwhile fish disappear, species-at-risk
continue to drift toward extinction, drinking water sources are compromised,
and carbon emissions continue to rise.

Campbell dashes hope

One approach that offered a comprehensive venue to address these and many
other issues was Land and Resource Management Planning. Three regional
districts, four municipalities and about thirty citizens groups in the
Sunshine Coast Forest District campaigned strongly for this higher level of
planning. The Liberal government initially agreed to proceed, but reneged
about a year ago when it became clear that land use planning could get in
the way of private hydropower development. The Liberal government
deliberately scuttled one of the most important tools to mitigate the
effects of climate change due to opposition from private corporations.

The common theme of the Liberal Party is the well-orchestrated destruction
of progressive democratic processes. In British Columbia we are seeing the
rise of a plutocracy; government for the rich. My friends working in other
social justice fields advise me that the same pattern of destruction of
accountability, transparency and public empowerment has occurred in many
other areas such as health, education, housing, poverty law, labour
relations, social welfare, management of the judiciary etc.

There is no backlash against green power or climate change mitigation.
But there continues to be a concerted assault against the rights of the
public and against democratic process. The so-called backlash is really
just people trying to defend their families and their communities against an
empowered corporate agenda.

Campbell government dashes hopes of environmentalists

Unfortunately some misguided environmental elites have responded to this
situation by trying to punish Carol James, by supporting Plutonic Power and
General Electric, and supporting the re-election of the Minister of the
Environment! These are absurd responses that show BCs environmental
leaders are politically naive at best and likely just plain indifferent to
peoples experiences under Liberal government.

Just to make my views perfectly clear, I believe the NDP is right to oppose
IPPs because environmental and social impacts have not been openly and
properly considered. However crass the NDP's messaging has been, they are
also fully justified in opposing the Liberals' approach to climate change.
The Liberal government has been consistently imposing legislation without
debate in the legislature and without public consultation that genuinely
considers the impacts on all parties. The NDP, which has always stood for
democratic progressive principle in Canada, cannot possibly support
fundamental change when it is brought forward in an authoritarian manner,
and in a manner that protects the interests of the rich at the expense of
the poor.

The NDP must oppose authoritarianism -- no one would support them if they
didnt. This is a political reality that seems to have escaped the handful
of myopically focused environmentalists that speak for the likes of PowerUp
and the BC Conservation Voters. Unfortunately, Tzeporah Berman and Will
Horter, et al., are incredibly out of touch with the concerns of the public
and, as today's polls show, have had limited or no measurable impact on
voters. We must not blame the NDP for our own failures to communicate. I
fear to consider what may come if the Liberals prevail for another four
years.

Campbell government dashes hopes of environmentalists

A progressive and democratic process offers us the best hope for creating
effective and enduring responses to climate change. If we continue down the
current authoritarian path, we will all be dead before any effective changes
are made. On Tuesday May 12, Ill be voting with a perfectly clear
conscience for the NDP; they are our best hope.

Thank you very much!

Daniel Bouman

founding member
Sunshine Coast Conservation Association
Sunshine Coast Water First Society
Tetrahedron Alliance

************************************************

this letter was sent to all environmental leaders. Marlo told me he never received it. I sent to him and he was gracious to humour me for a while.
However as Derrick Jensen says: Environmentalists are not it. Very few are activists and very few understand that they cannot work with the polutters and expect to come out clean. Like suzuki, Marlo and Berman, they are not activists they "behave like celebrities" and as such they have a DIVA complex, which makes very difficult for them to be honest brokers.
In my opinion they are sell outs.

It's about the press.......

Why does the blame-game usually seem to ignore the fact that this province's worst enemy is the press, CanWest, Black Press, Palmer, Good, etc., etc. If they ask any meaningful questions they usually get lies from the B.C. Liberals and knowingly accept their answers without further questioning. What people heard most were the billions of taxpayer dollars spent by the B.C. Libs telling us this is the best place on earth, and the bad old unions who donate to the NDP and nothing about the B.C. Liberals and there multi-million dollar war chest (approximately 7 times more than the NDP) going into the May/09 election from corporations who get paid back by Campbell, again with our tax dollars, 'cost over-runs', buying our assets, etc. Remember when Campbell was in opposition and all the coverage the media gave him and how little, if any, it gives the opposition NDP and usually edited and cut to suit their goal, to elect the B.C. Libs. I do agree the Greens also played a big part by backing Campbell, the worst environmentalist in the 'free' world. To make it even worse they also backed him in hopes of taking votes away from the NDP in order to pick up a few seats. It's a good thing they got no seats, can you just imagine if the Greens ever got elected? Suzi and Sterk et al should hang their collective heads in shame....and don't expect any B.C. Lib MLA to look after your interests, Campbell already bought them out with his and their $800,000+ pensions and a total of 109% increase in wages (not sure about this number but waaaay up there anyways) since 2001.

Good reporting on the c-class ferries too....

Most people don't know anything about this Campbell fiasco, the press and B.C. Libs are still too busy 12 years later reporting on the Clark ferry fiasco. Campbell's made in Germany three ferries complete with cost 'over-runs' is never mentioned by the press. These boats are gas guzzlers, top heavy making the top deck unusable, propellers that sit too high in the water, causing destruction to the homes nearby, and very noisy and the vibrations will destroy them in short order. They cannot run on idle so when they dock to load and unload they must run on full throttle and are destroying the $11 million plus worth of docks we paid for and soooo many more problems, too long to go into here. These three boats each sit in drydock 4 out of 7 days a week in order for the great new ferry management to make it appear that they use much less fuel than they do and also because they are a real disaster. The good old wooden made in B.C. ferries still do most of the work, using much less gas and not destroying docks and nearby structures and they also carry almost the same amount of passengers and vehicles. I know most people here know about stuff like this but because of no press coverage I do not know one person who knew about this and I have asked many people. We can only wish, that if they were made properly in B.C., how much more the working people of this province could have spent here to help OUR economy. That's just one example....

Here's just one more....very briefly!

The press never mentions that the B.C. Liberals, when they were elected in 2001, inherited the largest surplus ever passed on in B.C., from the NDP. Excluding sites like this, few people even know this and the real tragedy was how fast Campbell gave it all away to corporate welfare and the likes to make the NDP look bad and put us in a deficit for most of the time they have ruled. This is good economics????

To Suzuki and same, you

To Suzuki and same, you honestly believed this government was going green? I guess when they tell you what you want to hear, you support them.
It all comes crashing down once they're elected.

Going to build pipelines, reward the oil and gas companies with lower taxes. Ruin our rivers and wildlife habitats to export power. Pave over agricultural land. Spew more poisons into the atmosphere when ships enter the Straight heading towards the container port. Yes, real enviro friendly goverment.

You played right into their hands! Shame on you. They now have 4 years to continue destruction of what they started and to go even further.

Ya gotta love Gordy

I read these posts and think of my friend who never had children, but never-the-less, she's a better parent than the rest of us - so she believes.

All these pointing fingers at Gordon Campbell, or David Suzuki, or, or... are an investment of energy in the wrong cause. If you want to go green then go green with your thoughts and emotions at the front lines and let that process change the world around you.

It does not support your cause to blame others because you are simply investing your energy in the game. If you don't like the game Gordo is playing - then get out of the game and invest your energy in the social and ecological environment that you want.

You want politicians to take self responsibility for their choices... well, you have to start the process yourself and begin with yourself. What are you doing in thought and attitude to make a change for the better?

That's why I love the big G. He has shown me everything that is wrong about political leadership that cuts deals to feed a greedy appetite - his or his buddies.

But you, who would blame him for this, what would you do if elected Premier of this province? Could you be trusted to provide good leadership and not blame someone else after you've stolen from the cookie jar?

When we, as a civilization, start to take responsibility for our own thoughts and feelings (which leads to our own actions) then we will find political leadership to match our own needs.

For instance, how many times have we taken the easy way out and just bitched about a problem instead of taking the problem on as something real that we can change for ourselves.

If Gordon Campbell has fucked up, then it is our fuck up and we need to take the responsibility upon ourselves. There are no victims here. We get the politicians we deserve.

Do you get it?

We have more power and influence over what goes on in our reality than most of us realize, and for "green" changes to take place around us we need to think green thoughts. But we don't need to blame and argue as that simply perpetuates the established game.

Love the man for what he has shown us about ourselves - for we, as a whole, have agreed to his greed.

"If Nothing Changes... Then Nothing Changes"

We all know that we cannot change anyone else, we can only change ourselves. So why all the bitching about Gordon Campbell when there is real work to be done from the ground up? All the complaining and finger pointing is a distraction from the real work that each and everyone of us could be doing.

Ya Gotta Love Gordy

oldstyle

Last time I checked this was still nominally a democracy - despite the way it operates.

Individual responsibility is certainly necessary - but the suggestion that our current system represents the efforts and wishes of the majority is nonsense.

We need to start working together as communities again - and becoming aware of who's been stealing the silver is a first step toward accepting that resposibility.
Finger pointing is an absolutely essential part of that process.

G West.. Finger Pointing and....

Finger pulling.

Without a bit of humour, then we are all lost.

Actually, I was living in Europe when Gordo got the big "Aloha". I got his mugshot off the internet, blew it up, framed it, and put it on my office wall.

My colleagues and associates would come in and naturally comment:

"Who is that?"

"The Premier of my home province"

"Ach! You Canadians! We will never be able to figure you people out!"

.......more than one way to skin a cat

You are absolutely right Dr Alexander......" Without a bit of humour, then we are all lost."

And it is no accident that Ridicule, esp if if is funny - like Gordo staring though bars - is the very best attack of all.

I remember reading in Saul Alinsky's book Rules for Radicals, of how the union in a Rochester NY Eastman Kodak plant broke a deadlock in contract negotiations with that company.

The city has just built a brand new airport, of which it was justly proud. And so was as the company, which had figured prominently in lobbying for it, and was featuring it in its promotional brochures.

So the union found out all the arrival times of the airline's flying into Rochester, and then organised groups of people to create long lineups for the biffys just as a flight was due in, blocking access for passengers looking for relief after a long flight. (planes didn't have on-board faciliies in the 50s)

The stratagem tickled the fancy of the US national press, and Kodak quickly capitulated.

No more sewage plants in Victoria!

Last election, all parties ganged up kto agree on forcing the Capital Regional District into building more - unnecessary - sewage plants. At least $1.2 billion will be absolutely wasted but NONE of the usual political hacks dared cross the line and admit that its all a mammoth mistake.

More sewage plants will impair our land and air environment, while doing nothing for the marine environment.

What a waste!

Read the evidence: Responsible Sewage Treatment Victoria: http://www.rstv.ca

I was one speaking out

I was one speaking out against the carbon tax, not because I don't want to help save the environment but because I recognized Campbell's ploy for what it was. He used the gullible public by giving the impression of being sympathetic to the environment while using the carbon tax strictly as a money grab. I would have been totally in favour of this tax if Campbell had gone the distance and applied the money back to environmental causes.

On Gordo and responsibility

"If Gordon Campbell has fucked up, then it is our fuck up and we need to take the responsibility upon ourselves. There are no victims here. We get the politicians we deserve.

Do you get it?"

It's not our fuck-up. Our society operates under the impression people are as good as their word. That a signed contract is not to be broken. That individuals will tell the truth as a rule, especially when acting as our representatives in the political process. If we can't count on people to observe these ground rules, it's not our failing -- it's the individual without integrity that must bear the blame.