Another Reason To Vote On May 2

Good article by the Tyee but if people are worried about this issue then it's time to change the government. Get out and vote and perhaps this might turn into a good news story in the future, under another political administration of course!

I wouldn't hold my hand over

I wouldn't hold my hand over my butt while the decision is happening, it might become a permanent patch.
If Harper ever gets a majority a darkness will descend upon Canada that will be likened to the black plague, will be talked about with horror for generations, and will send the conservative party into oblivion, if we are ever able to kick him out.
VOTE FOR THIS MONSTER AT YOUR PERIL.
Check out this website re voting for any candidate that can beat the conservatives.

http://www.mintzberg.org/
Send it to all your friends.

CGHZG

& Harper says he'll keep the Pacific Fleet in Esquimalt :-o

Below is my response to this CBC non-story that appeared here: http://tinyurl.com/3h9266n

"Vancouver Island to remain part of BC" - Harper.

The Conservative government says it will not allow the Island to slide any further along the Juan de Fuca Plate or the North American Plate.

In a written statement released Thursday, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said: "If re-elected, our government will not cause any tectonic shakeups. I will not allow this move. The Island will stay in BC; I'll tell the RCMP to make sure. And Stanley Park will not be relocated from Vancouver to Toronto."

B.C. Shipyards

Awhile back Quebec "The Block" made the choice to have an alunimum smelter or support Canadian shipbuilding. Norway got to build the ship or ships? Quebec got the smelter?

fed fast ferry scandal?

This is all just a federal equal to the BC NDP's old fast ferry scandal, or before that when Dave Barrett wasted millions trying to start a railway boxcar-making industry. Makes more sense to buy ships from South Korea, but if we need to keep Quebec happy, we'll build them in Davie and just think of the wasted billions as being a cost of keeping Quebec in the federation.

Only the NDP fully support

Only the NDP fully support BC's shipyards. Vote Garrison to keep DeSouza out!

fed fast ferry scandal?

Let me tell you about the 'fast ferry scandal'. Those ships could have been converted for use on the the BC coast, rather than selling them. The cost? 45 million dollars; that's for all of them. And we're talking fuel efficiency, wave control and room for big trucks; which is pretty much everything. Instead the BC Liberal government sent 540 million dollars to a boatyard in Germany for ferries we didn't need and let the faster, better ferries sit at the dock in North Van as a sort of anti-NDP advertisement. Then they sold them at auction without bothering to put in a reserve bid and got a little less than 20 million dollars for the three of them. That is the real fast ferries scandal.

If you have ten spare minutes you can google it and find the actual document with the price to convert those ferries from the company which wanted to do it. It was submitted to the BC Liberal government before they bought the new ferries from Germany. I've posted the link here before.

Why Italian ownership of Davie?

Very simple, our economy has not tanked like other countries. This is why the Italians have bought a failing shipyard in Quebec. They're prospecting for business.

Look at the construction industry. Because we came out of the Wall Street debacle in good shape, major overseas construction companies are competing with Canadian firms. A Spanish firm is constructing the new RCMP building in Surrey and there are many more examples.

Quebecers would not turn away such a contract from the Harper Government, but a few dumb moves have set back the Conservatives potential in Quebec by a decade. That said, will it get them significant votes? The Bloc has an easy time winning more than 70% of Quebec's seats.

The other scenario: if there is Liberal-led minority coalition, this might become a bit of horse-trading over asbestos. The one thing I really commend Michael Ignatieff for is talking about shutting down the asbestos industry, centred in Quebec. Asbestos cannot be used in North America or Europe, so gets exported to third and fourth world countries. And the Harper Government's envoy scuttled the Rotterdam treaty which would have required us to tell the people buying our asbestos how to use it safely. So, if asbestos was shut down, what would replace it? A newly revitalized ship building industry?

NDP

the NDP killed our ferry industry with the fast ferries - we are an international embarassment now

The Game Remains the Same

Years ago it was the carrot of the Polar 8 Icebreaker that John Crosby dangled on a stick in front of shipyard workers - with his 'letter of intent' - - which was simply a hollow decoy to gain votes while Quebec (as usual) got the plumb navy contracts.

The Polar 8 was never built but the Conservatives gained (and kept) power with Mulroney. Votes were essentially bought with that cheap, hollow 'letter of intent.'

Afterward, Westcoast shipyards were simply left to crumble (outside of BC Ferries builds and some highly technical off-shore commercial ship builds).

Jobs were lost - even though there was a healthy reorganization and restructuring happening by all local yards.

A superior local industry was ignored and dismissed. Or worse - meddled with by Glen Clark (good intentions but wrong design).

BC Ferries kept the big yards alive until 1993 - which is when I left that industry.

People from Ottawa wonder why there is such distrust and contempt for our Federal Government - here out west. The saga of our shipyards is but one of many reasons.

The game remains the same.

By the way it was Campbell

By the way it was Campbell that killed our ferry industry when he built them in Germany so as to purposefully weaken BC Labour.

Without taking sides....

Is one to assume the shipbuilding industries in either BC, QC or NB cannot survive on their own merits? Is gov't support based on location required?

This sure puts excess authority in the hands of political opportunists, deciding where an industry should survive or fail.

helping the shipbuilding industry?

You mean the way the Germans do?

I guess it just depends which union happened to be involved - as long as the unions are in Germany Campbell didn't have a problem with 'their' ships.

@guystone

there's no arguing with you because you don't support your posts with even one fact.

BC Shipyards

Seaspan is wholly owned by WMG(Washington Marine Group) a power house on this coast.
Davie& Irving are lickladle has beens, pushing their waning "Upper/Lower Canada" hysterical rights.
Now the insolvent Italians enter to bail out Davie..... What smells here?

It is after all a corporate "war"....
Harper would have to choose a "winner"....if elected.
He backs "Bigger Business".... that means:

Davie&Irving win, and BC gets stripped by resource(pick the one near you) extraction.

Is this a country or an eco war zone ?

PS, Don't forget about Enbridge.

jnewcomb

EDITED FOR PERSONAL INSULTS. WITHOUT IT, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A GREAT POST. -- MODERATOR When BC rail had the boxcar facility in Squamish they were producing 5 cars a day and wanted to expand. The main reason they located the facility on BC Rail property is because BC Rail's orders for cars had to be tacked onto the backend of orders from CN or CP from manufacturers in the east. They had to wait until those railways put in an order. All railways were purchasing box cars and BC Rails orders were not large enough to produce as a seperate order.

BC Rail was expanding and upgrading their fleet of cars and needed need new ones desperately. Therefore the plant. The excess they sold on the open market. When that happened, they were direct competition with the manufacturers in the east. They were out producing them and at a much better price.

No, it wasn't a boondoogle, they were shut down for political reasons.

Thinking of Voting Liberal? Read This

A quote,

"The Chronicle Herald reported on Tuesday that Montreal Liberal candidate Denis Coderre promised on Friday that a Liberal government would extend a deadline for Davie Shipyard."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Vote2011/1238078.html