all I want for Christmas(2013)

Is Gordon Campbell coming into YVR in leg irons.

Dix sounds ok

but then I see Moe and realize that things will just be more of the same old boys club.

It's enough to make one vote Green which only helps the Liberals.

Note to NDP before election:

DUMP MOE!

Running Out of Time

I remember the last Socred Premier, party disgraced (at least to the standards of the day--nothing like the BC Liberals are now), the vote in a matter of days, in a three-way televised debate and running out of time. In a venue short and tight enough to cramp anybody's style, Premier Rita Johnstone carefully and nervously looked to land a glove on her principal rival, Mike Harcourt, NDP leader. And then, at a moment for which she was so obviously coached, she began her flurry of "Where's the money, Mike?! Where's the money Mike?!...,"over and over. (Mike's deftly responded," Really, Mrs Johnstone...?" waiving off familiarity.)

Liberal leader Gordon Wilson was profitably pithy when he managed to squeeze briefly into the debate. Both Harcourt and to a lesser extent, Wilson, exploited the clock to leave Johnstone insufficient time to respond with anything more than simple, loud shouting, almost name-calling the way she snarled "Mike," (kinda like Bill Bennet used to do: he always said Art Kube's name as if he were about to puke.)

The '91debate was skit compared to 2012-13's long, drawn-out contest but there are similarities: Dix is employing the same tactic of asking questions for which there is not enough time to answer cogently (or honestly, in the BC Liberals' case.) ...And it's six months to go yet. Christy's not gonna be able to come clean on BC Liberal record or policy in the time remaining to her, it's that bad. No problem for Christy, though; she's good at the default response and proud of it. The attack ads are already to air but I'll bet there's gonna be some good old fashioned school yard jeering yet from Christy as Dix backs her toward the chopping block.

Rita Johnstone was obviously uncomfortable role playing what her handlers told her to do. But for Christy it ain't a role and she doesn't mind showing it--hell, she loves it. Dix appears ready and able to exploit this.

@Dannyboy

"but then I see Moe and realize that things will just be more of the same old boys club."

Tis true, its not the socialist party I remember or imagined it would be. Its time for Moe to move on and pass the torch. In the day he was the 'pitbull' an unrelenting force in the legislature. Unlike musicians politicians do have a shelf life. He's got more baggage than ________________ . Seems more of a business type to me.

Strange but not surprising that the closer the NDP moves to becoming gov, they will recrute and attract the help and support of all manner of folk who dont really beleive in socialism or the NDP. The NDP Can't be all things to all people, except most of them.
I wonder if the party hasn't already been hijacked from the inside. It happened to the liberal party of BC....
Doesnt matter Like the rest of my family we always vote NDP its genetic

We've focussed on what I

We've focussed on what I think are significant achievements as an opposition party, where we've succeeded at forcing the government to back down on the HST.

I thought Tieleman was taking credit for this HST success? Oh, wait, Party and Party propagandist are one and the same. lmao

As long as there is no

As long as there is no bleeding of the vote to an alternate progressive party, NDP will feel free to do whatever it takes to consolidate power. It's frustrating to watch it all boil down to an exchange of black cats for orange cats. The world is undergoing dramatic change but our democracy seems to be very slow in recognizing that.

One Last Chance

In 2013, the BC NDP will squeak into government for one term unless they adopt several dramatic policies, not the milquetoast that Mr Dix seems to consume these days. Here's some suggestions for key planks in the NEXT election platform:
1) Raise minimum hourly wage to $15 within 1 year & $20 within 3.
2) Abolish Health Care premiums within 1 year.
3) Immediately make corporate lobbying illegal.
4) Immediately increase corp income tax to 25% on all profits over $10 million.
5) Immediately increase personal marginal tax rate to 50% on incomes over $150,000.
6) Reduce all government & crown corp salaries to $150,000 max.
7) Establish a provincial bank like North Dakota, mandated to give loans to firms hiring new employees.

Not a true Public Servant

A true public servant wouldn't say "I want to do significant things". He would say "We have significant things to do" and then say exactly what they are.
This guy is a proven liar and a F**ing Creep.

Frank Lee

Loser's are always like you sad,sorry and must be a f**K crook to feel like you do!The Liberals like yourself must feel horror,when we demand a good look those books and find how many brown paper bags were passed around.I hope they got a big Island to hold all those responsible for the sell out of BC!

Tell you what!

Do the Liberals tell us their platform 6mo. before the election?why does the NDP have to say anything until the rite is dropped.I would never tell the MSM anything! Watch,you will see the spin doctors here already to pounce, not for the Good of all the people of BC but to protect themselves!The only people that count in BC for the Liberals are the liberals and corps that donate big money to keep it all.

Frank Lee

You know that because you worked with Dix during the 1990's in the NDP government. I actually know who you are and you have seen up-front what Dix is all about (as opposed to people posting here).

As a matter of fact, within the NDP caucus, many of his own people call him "Voldemort".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Voldemort

Too funny.

At the end of the day, the guy will eventually be exposed for what he actually is. C'est la vie.

BC Rail

Frank Lee - already asked and answered - Dix has stated that there will be an inquiry.

As for Lukie's latest comment - don't freak out dude - Lukie is always making the case that he 'knows' who people are here at Tyee...usually he follows that with some kind of scatological and highly personal remark about those people. And, when he gets called for this kind of offensive behavior and has his handle banned he just changes names and keeps on pumping!

Just because Lukie 'thinks' he knows who you are AND because he sees you as a fellow traveler at this particular juncture doesn't mean that he won't turn on you and attack you personally in the future.

The person I'd REALLY like to see exposed for his vile nature and his mis-information is Lukie...but he hasn't even got the courage of Adrian Dix - someone who owns up to and pays for his mistakes.

Looks like the only thing Dix

Looks like the only thing Dix is doing is fluffing pillows. I agree with Haukin. I want to see some cleaning house in this so called democracy and some people held to account.
What I see is an NDP leader unwilling to do this. Dix can play nice with business all he likes and they will still be sticking knives in his back. You can guarantee the MSM will be chewing away like rabid dogs if the NDP wins the next election regardless how much sucking up they do.
Dix should be telling it like it is, hard times ahead. The liberals have left little if anything to sell off and this province has been left with an empty basket. If Dix thinks a little tax hike for the wealthy is going to fix the problem he has his head stuck in the sand. If Dix wants to be buddies with business it means cuts in services because the resource revenues have dried up and LNG pipe dream isn’t going to save anyone.
Expect nothing more than a 1 term NDP government whose only visible policy remains to be a campfire sing song.

@paisley

Dix 'fluffing pillows'?

Did you read Christy Clark's answers?

She doesn't even know why the party pays her a stipend.

I think the party should be wondering why too!

The current NDP electoral

The current NDP electoral strategy seems to be to make the most anodyne public comments possible in hopes of not offending anyone, while the public gives up on the Liberals in disgust. I do hope the NDP are thinking of real substantive things to be done, quickly, so that most of their energies will not be taken up with the NEXT election.

The Stephen Harper of the Left

This isn't the first time that I have noticed how much Adrian uses the first person. Like Stephen Harper, the Honorary Royal "We" slips away.

That , plus the fact that this is the first time in our lifetimes that an Opposition comes to power after a decade without a significant step forward in the accountability /transparency agenda in its list of "significant things".

HOW DO WE GET RID OF THIS GUY?

a significant act

might be to strap on a treeplanting bag and take care of the biggest backlog of NSR in BC's history, while also introducing some sort of belated cut control on the PMFL before Eastern Vancouver Island looks like it's had too much chemotherapy.

Frank Lee and Cool Hand have convinced me...

...I'll have to vote for Adrian Dix. They actually know each other. I mean what's the choice? From Christy's everything is soooo difficult to Adrian's "I want to do things differently and do significant things.

The pettiness of worrying about whether he uses the collective "we" when talking about "his" role as the premier. Good Grief!

the lists

Along with the Christy Clark entry, this interview lets me compare the leaders' answers and what each found deserving or difficult. Canny follow-up questions test for the brink and showcase interview skills. No seven second delay or mediated re-writes can dodge the style each presents. I'm equally pleased that the Tyee published it. I hope Andrew Macleod interviews other contenders. Please note those who refuse. Political candidates unable to speak and debate outside their circle should no longer be tolerated to represent the public.

SCR

It would be nice to have even more interviews of the same two on a lesser number of specific issues. That way Andrew could make sure they are not evading questions with the usual message box tripe.

WHos going to think for the NDP?

WHos going to think for the NDP? The Liberals have the Fraser Institute, Is it going to be the Center of Policy Alternatives?
While I agree with them on many things, I really hope a new government will work hard, our MLAs will think for themselves and represent their constituents. Thats all I ask for. If their symapathies are with the common 'person' we have nothing to worry about.
@vox pop all great ideas especially the 'Bank'

"Sounds reasonable"

You're very deceptive.

Skywalker

Does it matter whether Christy was asked anything at all? She in a non-figure in the upcoming BC election. She and her Party have been rendered invisible to the voters at large.

It is this lockerroom need to compare one branch of the Party machinery against another, rather than providing a platform people can believe in, that has largely made politics as ridiculous as it is.

Why is the NDP cowering in fear of releasing its platform? I immediately imagine it is because any platofrm it conjures up is meaningless in substance. It is entrenched in the free market capitalist ideology which has proven to have zero answers for humanity or our healthy survival.

something worth reading before we proceed to the polls

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30620.htm

any more softball questions?

any more softball questions? Dix & co. are the same ones turfed out last time. Nothing has changed. One can only hope for a minority government.

igbymac

It would make no sense in an election to have any momentum too soon or too late. Elections are about timing as well as substance. You may be one of those who isn't swayed by anything but a thoughtful analysis of issues and policy and the earlier you get them the more time you have. That is not the way most people work.

Most people don't pay attention until the election is called or that month before that defines when everyone is talking about it. It would be foolish to start too early. Christy wouldn't be electioneering if she did not have access to our tax dollars to piss away on silly ads. The NDP won't have the same resources (never does) so they will have to use it wisely.

Peaking too early is a risk. There will be enough time for intelligent folks to weigh the issues before a ballot need be cast. My impression is that the only reason some people want to know "early" is so they have something else or more things to dump on.

The irony is that the very technique that frustrates you, and sometimes myself, is advocated by the experts in running elections.

I can live with it. I find elections go on far too long for me as it is.

leave my payche...

No way! What these crooks have done under Gordon and Christy deserves a complete boot out the door. This bunch needs to go the way of Socreds so a real liberal party can be formed. The NDP got turfed for so much less the last time.

al clear progressive, people first and foremost platform, imo

... coupled with accountability looking forward and back (not like Oshama with his BS) would be welcome if delivered sincerely.

But that's the rub with the Party NDP -- it's never proven itself sincere. Look no further than Fix himself falsifying records in aid of Clarke, was it not?

People don't believe politicians and their rhetoric because of the way politicians and campaigns run for office. Blaming the population for that failure is blaming the victim.

The NDP record vs the BC Liberal record

Actually, Christy Clark's supporters are really afraid to have a real debate about the comparison between the Harcourt/Clark years and the Campbell/Clark years.

And you know why that is?

Because the NDP has a significantly better record than the Liberals do.

I could provide a much longer list of evidence - but perhaps we can start with this:

Average economic growth under the NDP governments of the 1990s was 3% - far better than the BC Liberals' two per cent.

Under the NDP, corporate profits rose by 251%, exports jumped 107% and the provincial Gross Domestic Product increased by $51 billion -- a 63 per cent hike while capital investment rose 35 per cent.

The BC Liberals received five equalization payments from Ottawa in a decade totaling over $2.7 billion. The NDP got just one payoff from Ottawa of $125 million.

Here's one igbymac.

How does one, O-N-E backdated memo compare with the BC Rail sell out scandal? How much did each cost the BC taxpayer? How much did each benefit an "insider"?

Nobody was "blaming the population. I don't know why I bother with you?

Skywalker

...you have to deal with me because I present sound arguments that must be addressed before we move forward. And stop being condescending; it belittles your otherwise good comments.

I said population rather than the voting public. So who are you talking about?

Again, the argument that the Liberals are bigger crooks doesn't exonerate the NDP for their criminal misdeads, regardless of size.

Yes, G West, the NDP has always been a better government than the Liberals in BC. Does that mean there no room for vast improvement?

The problem is that the

The problem is that the advice giving, so called "economists", of both sides have been brainwashed in the same universities with the same monetary garbage.

The only the difference is that the NDP's have maintained a certain degree of conscience, to stick band aids on compound fractures. But they all are stuck on the same monetary crime wave distorting realities.

The other problem is that the NDP never had any communicators, who could explain and point out the crime wave destroying humanity and the ecology.

Ed Deak.

Ed Deak

... the other problem is that the NDP has no desire to communicate the problem or to explain and point out the crime wave destroying humanity and the ecology.

I seriously doubt there are more than a handful of folks involved in the provincial NDP who even understand the spell we are under. It's largely why politicians in general can get up there and say the things they do in all earnestness: they don't know any better and, quite understandably, believe the state's propaganda.

And those who do understand, like Elizabeth May from the Green Party, remain moot when given a prime opportunity to bring it to people's attention.

The system is self-perpetuating. The only way it is going to change enough to counter the speed at which it is running out of control is with a fundamental shift in our understanding of what is going on. As the acclaimed social-democratic vanguard, why doesn't the NDP incorporate this understanding into their platform as a necessary and viable alternative?

I largely suspect it is because they are either covertly part of the criminality itself, or the useful political idiots that keep advancing that cause without understanding.

Of course not - who ever said that

Of course there will always be room for improvement - I was, however, addressing the usual suspects who continually claim that NDP governments in this province have been disastrous. In fact, they haven't been AND all NDP governments in Canada have better fiscal records than do governments of any other stripe.

My objective is simply to point out falsehoods not suggest that any government will ever approach perfection.

Thanks, G West, though to be clear ...

I've always acknowledged the records of comparison being strongly in favour of the NDP.

That said, as something I can stand for, the NDP remains woefully inadequate. I do not expect perfection, but we tend to only hit what we aim at. The NDP is aiming for Liberal Lite territory. I want nothing to do with it.

The reason any progressive

The reason any progressive politicians are reluctant, or even scared, to point out the reasons and perpetrators of the ongoing destruction is exactly the same as Galileo was forced by the Holy Inquisition to swear that it was the Sun that moved around the Earth.

Faiths and religions have been the biggest killers in history and our present deregulated monetary system is not a science, but a religion holding the world enslaved.

Pope Alexander Vl gave and divided South America between Spain and Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494.

Today the same is happening with the banks of certain countries permitted to "create" imaginary money from the air to conquer, colonize, enslave and destroy the world,.

Our newscasts are now full of the horror of that nutcase punk who killed 20 little kids in Newton, Conn.

And so they should be, but perhaps we should also remember the close to 100,000 who are killed every day, most of them also little kids, with starvation and easily curable illnesses, so that some, around the world can collect billions in profits, stolen from humanity.

But to remember them would be "socialism" and we can't have that, according to our betters.

All in the name of "competitiveness", pushed by all parties, who don't have the intelligence to comprehend that war are crime are the ultimate "competitiveness" and if one can use guns to kill, others can do it with imaginary money and call it "earnings".

Ed Deak.

BC NDP Economic "Prowess"

Forget about the silly nonsensical spin. What do BC'ers think?

According to a recent Ipsos public opinion poll:

To put that into further perspective:

http://ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5915

At the end of the day, that's what counts!

Dix Is Vulnerable

From today:

Huh?

Once a used-car salesman - always a used car salesman. Common sense dictates that that Dix is now on very thin ground. At the end of the day, people ain't gonna buy that - not even hardcore NDPer's.

And that's not only on this topic.

I'd certainly think that a factual television ad incorporating Dix in the following will wean off at least 5% of current soft NDP support during an election:

1. Global News Video of Dix sweating and ducking and weaving and avoiding reporters questions;

2. Vancouver Sun newspaper column including the following tidbit:

"But when reporters asked Dix Thursday about the possible fate of the current legislation — would he repeal it? — the NDP leader did everything he could to duck, bob, sidestep and otherwise avoid answering the question."

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/2035/dodging+ducking+dancing+sullies+smooth+performance+Palmer/7311195/story.html#ixzz2FBHTspkF

Will make people very uncomfortable during an election campaign about hidden NDP intentions - esp. the 5% - 10% who are soft-parking their vote with the BC NDP right now. That's BC politics folks.

Cool Hand ....

your claim that "According to a recent Ipsos public opinion poll ..." might stand muster if we lived in a democracy where informed opinions mattered. But we don't. So the flock follows and within the parameters of our corrupt, oppressive society by the very elite decision makers, many still think all is well.

What we have is a situation akin to a guy with his arms spread wide and thinking he can fly because he is 30,ooo feet in the air and doesn't see the ground coming. The reality is he will be met with death unless there is some real intervention. Most folks may well think there is nothing or little wrong. But a million wrong people still aren't worth following.

Lukie!

Why would I care that many British Columbians don't know, understand or appreciate the level of deception and obfuscation used by fellow travelers such as yourself to pretend that we have had anything but bad government from Socreds and BCLiberals for the last century.

Hitler, remember, was always VERY popular as polling in Germany showed - right to the very end.

The NDP has a record of solid achievement which, in the three terms it has been in power in this province, will always outweigh and outshine the record of the 'free enterprise' parties who've ruled the place the rest of the time.

Quoting poll results is only meaningful to a polecat.

I think Kuhlie

..forgot to report the rest of the poll question

"Nearly six-in-ten (59%) British Columbians think the BC economy is in ‘very good’ or ‘good’ shape compared to the rest of the world"

Which is how people I know view things these days. We're better off than some poor schnoock in Tempe or Schenectady or Piraeus or Barcelona or any of a thousand cities in the world that have significant overhangs of debt and no resources to sell to get them out of their immediate jam.

BCers are living in a time when the horseshoes up their asses are making them uncomfortable, but feel the cold steel is still better than the alternative - dead broke under a criminal government that has watched head offices flee the province along with unpaid royalties on lumber, water, gas, minerals, unprocessed logs, not to mention opportunity, and leaving behind only unsatisfactory restocked forests, cyanide waste dumps and drained and dirty aquifers.

No, Ms. Christy hasn't fooled anyone at all, and neither have the "polls".

People "believe" because

People "believe" because they're scared.

Hitler wasn't only popular in Germany and Austria , but people "believed" that he'll win the war till the very end.

I've spent the last 6 months of the war in nazi Germany and have heard it all.

If Hitler had been alive and running in the first post war elections, both in Germany and Austria, he would have won with a big majority.

In the hospital, among the most mutilated and amputated wrecks, I've never heard a word against Hitler, only that he was "misled" by his advisers.

The human race is the most gullible and stupid form of animal life on Earth and we have thousands of years of history to prove it.

Our present governments are the living proofs.

Ed Deak.

Hitler's downfall was honing in on America's declared right

.. for hegemonic control of the planet. What other white nation has America attacked?

The untold history shows all these political bastards are of the same stripe, given the chance. The myth of our national identity alone is enough to make one gag.

Zalm

Huh???!!!!

Ipsos poll question from the detailed tables:

"Right now, how would you rate the condition of the BC economy?"

Reading comprehension gone bad? How on my planet Earth did ya come up with the "rest of the world" bit??!!!

What happened? Did your inter-galactic battlestarship run out of ions in the Andromeda sector?

The disastrous failure of

The disastrous failure of present day neoclassical economic theory and teaching.

http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue62/Fullbrook62.pdf

Ed Deak.

What we Believe

Why is it that so many in the face of truth choose to maintain belief in untrue concepts adopted through misinformation?

Economists are still believing that the start of all they preach is to be based on the GDP. The GDP does not take into account the well being of the populous of a country or region, only the amount of so called dollars or wealth generated for the companies operating in that country or region.

Should we believe the "Economist Class" B.C. with it's Liberal "Free enterprise" government is rolling in wealth, we should therefor not see any food banks, child poverty or homeless people, let alone the many who cannot find the medical attention they need or the education required to right the situation that our populous is now living with.

The profits being shipped offshore through foreign ownership of our resources are of course being counted as a part of our local GDP and are seen by the ignorant as wealth for the people. This is of course untrue.

Mr. Dix, is more than a politician trying his damnedest to not offend any block of voters, therefore he will not openly support the unions (vilified in the main stream media as destroyers of wealth), will not stand for increased taxation on foreign (or out of province) corporations and will not stand against the so called "GDP economists" that are ruining our country by advocating the selling of our wealth (resources)at wholesale unrefined prices, all at great cost to our domestic well being.

So much for our Mr.Dix

The poverty Side of Things.

I've read the Fraser Insitute paper on charity giving, Canadians give $9 billion per year.

I've been Disabled for 15 years and have not collected one cent out of all that cash raised in my name!

Fact is no charity could hand me $10. without welfare deducting that same $10. from my next benifit cheque.

Solution for charities is to keep all the cash and provide a service, like a big smile and tell me Jesus loves me, and if I believe then I'll get my big reward in the next life.

Fact is I don't need help...thank you... but it bugs me to no end all the begging. On TV, in my mail box, at the food store with bell ringing, makes me feel guilty. I alway want to stop and ask, can I see your books, LOL.

I want to ask the volunteers, do you know you are collecting that money in my name. Do you know the Sally Ann for Canada is based out of BURMUDA (look it up!) Offshore Banking at it's Best!

Dix could improve my life by doubling disability welfare rates just like Alberta has done under a Conservative Government.

Towing the Green Party line is not the way to go

While I have always supported the NDP, I am very suspicious that this time around the NDP may simply be shills for extreme environmental groups. It seems the NDP is doing everything it can to out green the Greens, despite the fact that the Greens might have 7 or 8% of the vote as a political party. It has nominated several candidates who are single issue green candidates.

Why am I suspicious? There was the total opposition to the Northern Gateway Pipeline well before the review process reached any conclusions. There was no independent analysis of that project upon which the NDP based its conclusion. Opposition to a project such as this should be based on more than the extremely unlikely doomsday scenarios being peddled by environmentalists and natives.

There is the NDP opposition to net-based fish farming. This was based on a very flawed legislative review process led by an NDP MLA. The later Cohen Commission found no evidence to support any of the numerous accusations made by Alexandra Morton and other green advocates regarding the relationship of fish farms to wild salmon. So why is the NDP blindly jumping on board the green bandwagon on this one?

Adrian Dix states above that he would implement a ban on cosmetic pesticides. On what basis would he do that other than lobbying by Greens? The most common household pesticides used for weed control in the garden have been studied for decades and there are no credible studies that point to any potential for harm. Again, this is a case in which the NDP is blindly jumping on board the green bandwagon.

Frankly, if the NDP is intent on simply towing the environmental party line they will lose a lot of support amongst the moderate swing voters whose votes it must have to win an election.

So Christy and her gang ...

...have dug this great deep deficit and debt hole for British Columbians. They've done it by a whole series of policy decisions, even some messing around in crown corps. When the NDP take over they will have two options. One is that they can cut services to balance the books. Two, they can raise revenue (taxes, fees, etc.) Now if I was a Christy fan I would be advocating the cutting of services to clean up my mess. What could be better than to have the electorate angry that they voted in the NDP who cut all these services and made the business interests happier than a porker in his doo. The same electorate would blame the NDP for the cuts and that would distract from the truth about who really got us into this crap. If I was not a Christy or BC Liberal fan and a reasonably intelligent person, I would think that the second option might be better, especially if the weight of generating more revenue fell on those who had benefited from the tax cuts and business subsidies and loop holes in the last decade that, clearly have contributed if not created that massive debt and deficit hole left by the BC liberals.

You are now going to see all kinds of pressure on Dix to say exactly what he is going to do when he takes over. This is demanded before he even knows the full extent of the deficit and accumulated debt hole, before he knows the full extent of the commitments that Christy and her crooks are making to business interests.

The BC Lieberals announced their New Era platform shortly before the election in 2001. Then they promptly gave away BC Rail after promising not to do it. They also promised open and honest government and we know how that turned out. Then after telling us that HST was not on their radar they introduced it right after the election. At the time they knew exactly what financial shape the province was in. Now they and their fans here are shilling for a sneak preview of Dix's platform? That is so that they can divert attention from their own record and can focus on what the NDP will do. Wouldn't that be cool...?

Yeah right, Dix should get right on that?

Besides

".. for hegemonic control of the planet. What other white nation has America attacked?"

Besides, the serbs?, the americans beat on themselves. My Father who served in WW2 said they were often dropping bombs on themselves, or other allies (friendly fire). It still goes on....
While my parent's opinions were jaded by circumstance, I feel fortuneate to have a father who was around during the depression and served in WW2 before arriving in Canada as a dispalced person.
Ed verifies some of the stories I have been told. Hitler and facism was popular before and during WW2. Spain a good example. Anti semitism was alive and well in Canada prior to the war.
While war crimminals flocked to Canada unnoticed, many moved to BC, displaced people and immigrants from Great Britain were not always welcomed. Fear being that they would be union organizers or take away jobs from the locals.
During the 50s,60s, 70s immigrants escaping eastern block countries moved to BC. With strong anti-communist, anti-socialist sentiment they fueled an already polarized BC political climate. (cant blame them)
I had the honor of meeting some of the Japanese fishers whos parents who were interned. Bad enough they stole their property, but nutters in BC destroyed a thriving boat building industry in BC. If one explores the history of Queensboro, you will find some ugly @#$%!. Havent touched on First Nations perpective..........
Everyone has their own history and perspective. BC is beautiful but it doenst have a pretty history. No amount of effort searching the internet will give anyone a true picture of politics in our dark history.
My own ideology has been formed by my father's experience working for the provincial government, my own experiences and education, plain logic and a little intuition.
The NDP is hardly a socialist party anymore, I hope they appreciate just how polarized or rather diverse, this province is.
The more I think about the upcoming election, it looks more like a coin toss as to who wins. I'll be critical of the NDP yet they always get my vote. Again genetic

touche, freewilly

Empires tend to be destroyed from within, and this American one is doing the same.

But is America a white nation attacking itself, or is it being exposed for what it has always been? Recall the Philadephia days where the class struggle culminated in the mythological 'peoples' Constitution -- always and forever dominated by the Federalists.

Our saving grace, imo, is that the people have not awaken and thus we have not even began to fight back against the oppression or the long entrenched manifest destiny undercurrent disseminated as truth.

The NDP does not put people first ...

it puts capitalism first. Capitalism is rooted in profits and growth, which by the laws of nature cannot be sustained. On that premise alone, is it not clear that one cannot face in two directions as the same time?

Skywalker, you sound like a clip from Eddie Bernays -- gaining political power is a question of marketing and the people can be damned.

You appear to play them for fools but I think it is because you don't see how to operate beyond the throws of the conventional dogma.

Of course people tune out of politics when the same tired, white-washed and stiffled sound-bites -- calculated for manipulative purposes alone -- are delivered on que election season after election season.

"Reasonable" Red Riding Hood

While under-promising and over-delivering is probably a wise policy to follow, there is an unspoken third rail to NDP politics at this point. And that is control and spin. Not only be more careful than Barrett or Harcourt, but also spend more time spinning what little they do actaully do.

I expect the NDP's own version of the mind-numbing campaigns that have come from Campbell and Harper. Do less, spin more.

And I actually agree with Frank Lee, that it historically significant that this will be the first time in our lives that there will NOT be a great Leap Forward in accountability or transparency in a New Government out of power for a decade.

"All the better to spin you with, my dear."

Short history of the USA

@igbymac:
Scary stuff! Based on this article, I don't believe it's too far fetched to suggest the USA may promote an all-out war between India and China, using India as the scapegoat. That way they would kill (literally) two birds with one stone.

igbymac and mark Crawford

Stop pretending you know something. right now the BC Lieberals are campaigning on your dime. They have not announced their platform and won't until we get closer to and election. Then it will most likely be something like "we'll continue to do the same." The Greens have not announced what they will do on anything. They just say they are "Green". The conservatives have not either and they will simply say that they are not Christy and "we are the free-enterprise party". Now you are hung up on the NDP platform. Why doesn't Dix publish a booklet like the New Era?

Get a grip on yourselves, that would be stupid this early in a campaign with the BC Lieberals having access to our taxes for another ad campaign. What are the alternatives? Since you never offer one but are quick to pontificate on politics ad nauseum, I can only wonder about how progress will ever be made. It sure won't be made voting BC Liberal. That is step one. After than you can split hairs all you like.

As for Crawford you obviously didn't follow Barrett's tenure if you think he was "careful" and you clearly don't remember the early 90's if you think Harcourt was sitting around spinning. At least Under Harcourt the public was engaged in consultations which hasn't happened since.

The enemy is and has always been the federal government which sets the parameters under which the Provincial Government must function. There has not been a progressive federal government in Canada ever, yet you guys seem to think that a provincial government has the power to be progressive without limits.

You might advocate BC separation from Canada, it would lend some credence to your statements.

Skywalker, you are hopelessly lost

It is abundantly clear that politics has long been reduced to mass marketing in this world. We do not even have representative democracy any more, let alone participatory democracy. We are not the state's constituents except at its convenience to coin us as such for manipulative purposes.

Your engagement by voting for a Party is all the support of the status quo that it needs. The state can now reiterate its democratic ideals to the drones.

But this system of governance is failing terribly. Maybe you've not heard of the currency charade, the propaganda war for your mind, austerity, or about the Libor inquiry, the BIS, PNAC, Goldman Sachs, our perpetual war machine, the propagandized need for relentless growth and consumption, the population explosion, global warming and the like, but they all trace back to power and control through a fraudulent monetary system.

It is laughable you accusing me of 'pretending I know something'. Admittedly, I don't know much. But I do try to steadily evolve my understanding to fit the world we actually live in, not the one sold to me through the news, TV, sporting venues, movies, state mythology etc -- all perpetuated by mass delusion about what is going on.

I can actually trace my learning curve backward, reflect on your ideology, and see how long ago it was, and how many years (decades actually) of formal and autodidactic study I have behind me, since I held such juvenile views. Conversely, I know you cannot do the same.

I've often offered ideas and possible solutions. I've said many times to insist on world peace, to vote independent, to think global but act local, the need for all workers to unite, to be a good neighbour, to seek out answers and be well read, to seek out the true history and not the fables of our existence, to avoid hypocrisy at all costs, and to demand principled behaviour from those in power by not rewarding them with your support.

We need accountability and a vision to get out of this mess. Your views offer neither. Assuming you hold no seat of power, you are the worst type of unaccountable supporter of repression and oppression of the masses. You feign enlightenment but march to the drum of the Party. Accordingly, the Party supporter is proudly complicit in the crimes of state, the classic guardian.

Try this: http://metanoia-films.org/the-power-principle/

I shant waste another moment on you.

Igbymac -- once again you are to be commended

for pointing out the outrageous system under which we live, not only in the States, but also here in Canada. Unless we rebel against the corporate control of our government we may as well hurtle ourselves off the nearest cliff, for our life will have no meaning.

Your video will be passed on to all of my friends and acquaintances with the hope that we will refuse to be consumers of "stuff" just for the benefit of banks and corporations.

send Dix your ideas

Will you be able to change back the harsh things the lieberals have done to the province. Adrian why not make this province as safe place for the people. ALL the people. I'd like to see those on low income have enough basics so it doesn't cost them their health Give those on very low income a raise would be a good start including the senior

Why not let us help you pick out the things we would like you to be aware of

@igbymac

Well that is a relief. So how's your strategy for change working out so far? Yeah, I thought so. Philosophy without action is meaningless.

The Tyee

Well Mr. Dix, the Lieberals and their media buddys are going to bad mouth you big time until the next election and you'll need some media help.
Now I get e mails from the NDP because I'm a member, and have been off and on since little fat Dave. All I get is requests for money but ya know it would be in the best interests of the NDP to e mail it's members and ask them to give The Tyee and other progressive sites like Rabble.ca a look, that way when the MSM starts ragging your ass the membership will be better informed and can come to your defense.
You know I would just bet one of the reasons The Tyee was formed was to get some input into the NDP brass which was and is a very hard thing to do.
Why I can remember talking to one of the guys that was running the office in the lower Lonsdale riding in North Van, and we talked about the subject of how to get some things across to folks running the BCNDP and he said ''Join the party,work for it for 25 years, and maybe, just maybe someone will listen to you''. Could be The Tyee is a better way...

@igbymac Power Principle

Thats a great doc! Ive also sent it out to a few friends.
I watched a pacifist doc created in the 1930s about treaties broken after WW1 and weapons
manufacturers building more weapons across europe all leading up to WW2. Its really hard to find , if and when I do I'll leave the link. They should be viewed together.

freewilly

Great to hear someone enjoyed the message.

Did the documentary you refer to have anything to do with the international kellogg-briand pact of 1928 that outlawed war?

Three other quality documentaries, for anyone who cares, are these:

Human Resources, also by Scott Noble/Metanoia -- http://metanoia-films.org/human-resources/ ;

The Century of the Self by the BBC -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmUzwRCyTSo ; and

The Secret of Oz -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swkq2E8mswI

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