Talk to me Christy

I'll tell you all I want for Christmas is an election.

BC Rail, HST, BC Hydro, BC

BC Rail, HST, BC Hydro, BC Ferries, over priced province, she is an opportunist, never had the people confirm her or her party which is usually tradition after a new leader takes over, she was a Campbell crony, the party has been in 10 years now, maybe the media is not giving her the same love as Gordo?, John Cummins con party is probably taking votes from the far right, even though these are a con party in reality the Liberal name is tarnished nation wide..

Same ****, different pile...

What went wrong (among other things) is that most people are not entirely stupid and most people are certainly not as stupid as Christy and the rest of her fellow puppets think they are. Most people know that despite a new leader, nothing was, has or is going to change relative to the last several years. Most people are smart enough to know that someone else is pulling Christy's strings and, as with the "Gordo Era", they don't believe a thing the leader says. Thus, the status quo remains and will continue to do so.

Then again, judging by the fact that these crooks keep getting elected, maybe I'm wrong about the "most people are smart enough" part.

Christy Clark: Portrait of Power at Risk

This article seems more like an approval of Crusty masked as a critique. Certainly not in the Tyee tradition of telling it like it actually is.

Another attribute

The best description I've heard of Christy and has proven to be true is " a post with hair ". You can paint the post to cover the rot but inevitably the post will fall down in the end.

Looking for Rays of Hope...

I see most comments to here already get it... I mean, it's not really complicated what went wrong, nor does it take any great degree of analysis or profundity. In a word, "Gordon Campbell".

Though it also helps if you can spell "screw up", which was really hard for me to say over "F___ up.", as flows most naturally off my uneducated class tongue. And "screw up" is the economic and class order, which has done so big time since the end of the postwar Social Democratic State of capitalism in the late 70s, with the rise of the Neocon attitude out of the ruling class. (Attendant with which was the failure of the trade union movement, its leadership having rooted itself in being the "labour management" part of Big Capitalism... and maintaining its "co-operation", some might say "class collaboration" with Corporate Capital overlong.)

though there is a real "street alternative" finally rising with the emergence of the Occupation Movement, it is still relatively undeveloped and still struggling to be and root itself. Which means still, as is typical in bourgeois so-called "democratic" politics, the choices are extremely limited, indeed essentially the same. Probably meaning that the capitalist chicken having stood overlong on one Conservative/Liberal leg, will now have no choice but to stand on the other NDP/Liberal leg.

Though, while I don't really expect it, given the NDP commitment and investment in the status quo system of things, a really serious change in the politics of the NDP could change the dynamics of political matters a bit... Especially if, without making "compliance demands" on the emerging Occupation Movement, and or trying to co-opt it and tie it to itself, the NDP actually unselfishly sought to assist its "transformation of society and the economy" aims, and helped to facilitate and "protect" it from within the bourgeois parliamentary processes. Which is I know, expecting to much of ideological Social Democrats, given their long sectarian history.

Otherwise, though I am convinced that the NDP is most likely to be the next choice federally and provincially here in BC, barring a major fuckup/ internal split or witch-hunt etc., they do not have what it takes by way of analysis and policies, or strategic thinking, to be of any lasting use to the 99%. Rather, they are "most likely" to be another disappointment, as has been much of their legacy. (After their one claim to fame of at least providing the initial impetus in the direction of medicare... only of recent years to have been a part of the process of chipping away at it.)

The one real ray of hope is the gathering forces and maturing of the Occupation street movement... rooted in the energy of the young, with the help of oldies (like myself and others :-), as this crisis of capitalism deepens. And make no mistake, it is and will.

Grouchy

A tip of the hat to you, Grouchy. You get that sentiment that seems to underly this Tyee article... likewise in my view. (Though Tyees politics and dynamics have been undergoing a drip, drip change for awhile now.)

No Mandate

Another flaw in Ms. Clark's personality is her ability to lie and think the public will swallow. Case in point: "I'll call an election as soon as possible". Enter the HST debacle. Then comes this gem from her mouth: "Even though my polls say the BC Liberals would win were we to call an election, we will respect the fixed date for 2013". Horsesh*t! If Ms. Clark knew she would have won, she would have sealed the deal with an election! Until you win such an election, you have no mandate from the public except from your Point Grey constituents! Call an election now if you think you have the support. I think I hear a train whistle blowing...and it's getting closer and closer to Victoria!

What really matters here, folks?

What really matters is not whether we like Christy Clark or not. It is nice to have a popular premier, but it is also important that our premier act as an ambassador to the rest of the world on our behalf.

Of course many of Christy Clark proclamations are self-contradictory and of course she is doing things in a seemingly haphazard way. Running the province of British Columbia must be a nightmare proposition. Nobody is ever going to be happy, no matter what she does.

At least Christy is sober when she gets behind the wheel of her car, and she is trying like blazes to bring business to BC. I am not a business-as-usual kind of guy; in fact I am a red-hot conservationist, but even I recognise that before we can have conservation, whales in the water etc., we must have work.

Our problem as a community, is that there are far too many wiser-than-thou retirees with nothing to do but complain, albeit in highly creative ways. We need to realise that all politicians are lizards, not leaders, and that Christy may be the best lizard we've got. Ribbet, ribbet.

P.S.
And she is hott, too.
Not as nice as Astrid Braunschmidt, but who is?

@Fishcounter

Ah sorry fishy, you too have fallen for the illusion, there is nothing real about Christy Clark, she has been re-packaged and remade, do you really know Christy.

The movie "Devils Advocate" with Keanu Reeves comes to mind.

http://www.theprovince.com/5455446.bin?size=620x400

Cheers

Dix the Populist?

Good article. But if Christy Clark has some populist instincts and can't follow through, Dix lacks even the instincts of anything other than a professional political operative.

In an internal memo I wrote about the NDP government in 1998, I described Dix as a "grim-faced thug"--remarkably similar to the "dour Stalinist" countenance attributed to him a decade later, although I saw no need to insult the memory of a great wartime leader.

As for Clark, she needs to face up to the fact that the Liberal Government is nearing the end of its natural life--having alienated a good part of its rural and conservative bases with its taxation policies, for example, it can no longer easily undercut NDP support without losing ground to John Cummins.

In order to extend the government's natural life, she needs to take some more drastic steps--such as scrapping the carbon tax and offering to merge with the Conservatives (and making a few of them Cabinet ministers). Since not a few members of her government might find that threatening to their own sinecures, that will be easier said than done.

Good but not all the way there...

This was a decent article but I think it only just touched on the important parts.

Clark has a good personality and is good at self promotion but the party is failing by attacking itself constantly and reversing itself (create BC Ferries Corp, attack salaries, create Assisted Living, attack salaries and how it works, micro manage Hydro, attack how it's run, implement HST, remove it and say I didn't do it, etc...).

It's whack-a-mole time. Stick your head up and make a mistake and Clark will hit you to make herself look good. Nobody is sticking their head up anymore. This is how you dismantle a party, not run it.

Fishy: my dad gave me some great advice

many years ago. He said, "in business, never put your c**k and your pen on the same table".

For obvious reasons well exemplified by our mandate-less premier, you should never vote with your pecker, either.

Such a big land... such a

Such a big land...
such a small people

Christy soon to be gone

Corix is in town installing so called smart meters even though the union of BC municipallities have passed a resolution asking for a moritorium on this program yet Rich Coleman and Chirsty clark say we dont care we will do it anyway. I can't wait for an election. These so called smart meters have been out right banned in many other jurisdictions yet we will be getting them no matter what. If we put the billion $ in a interest bearing acc at 3% we would make as much money as Hydro claims they will make. Don't forget the money they will make will be from time of use billing and getting rid of many jobs like meeter readers to start.This government's actions are nothing short of criminal. Gordon Campbell went from drunk on booze to drunk on power.BC Rail Bc Ferries Hst stupid meters. ELECTION PLEASE

She can't position herself against the elite...

...while in an open alliance with it. The mask lies in shreds on the floor. Most people in the province, both supporters and enemies, know her allies. That probably explains her falling numbers.

She's always aspired to populism, ever since her days at SFU. The problem is that her naive, simplistic view of small-l liberalism consists in nothing more than twisting with the political wind in the views she espouses.

She'll gravitate towards any policy that she deems popular, whether it has the support of an elite, or the masses.

She's stuck now though, as she needs the elite to stay in power, at the same time the people of the province are turning against it....

Christy just doesn't have it.

I have never suffered from the illusion that Christy has the smarts to be the head of a government. Just listen to her when she tries to sound like a premier. She thinks that if she surrounds herself with loyal fans, everything and everyone will fall in line. She has reached well beyond her level of competence. The signs were there when she did Campbell's bidding as the worst Education Minister in BC's history.

When I got to the reference

When I got to the reference in the fifth para of one of Tom Waits songs I stopped reading for the most part.

To reference this one-of-a-kind prolific writer, singer, and performer in an article about a mediocre, milquetoast, prissy pants, milk- and -cookies type like Clark is a complete insult to the artist and diminishes the unique value of his works.

It is also my understanding from the previous weekend Vancouver Sun reporting that the provincial court judges do not make 231K per year but have taken the government to court in order to obtain that raise.

Unless since Oct 15th the government has caved in to the demands.

Strut her stuff Christy

This line in Sean Holman`s article sums it up perfectly.

"Clark has always been content to focus on being the brand for a team of supporters who are responsible for everything else -- in some cases, since the beginnings of her political career"

Christy wants to be the focus of attention while others work and take the blame.

I listened for years to Christy on CKNW for years, all her years and..

There wasn`t any subject on which her original position couldn`t be twisted by the elites with degrees, with the exception of her non-stop verbal assault on teachers, she was also very partisan, an NDP basher at every opportunity.

An actual Transcript of the Christy Clark show on cknw

This is an actual transcript I received from the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council after filed a complaint against Christy from the CBSC...I filed against this episode.

____________________________________

The Christy Clark show ....The transcript.....Christy Clark`s words...

Clark "How much of a difference has his leadership made at BC Ferries? It`s a company that now delivers a half a billion dollars in profit back to you and I !{sic} the taxpayers and don`t forget, we didn`t start making this profit until after David Hahn took over and started cleaning it up. So how much is that worth to you? And to me, the people who pay taxes in this Province? Yes, we could cut David Hahn`s pay. We could save the corporation maybe a hundred, two hundred, maybe three hundred grand a year. And then when he leaves and is replaced by somebody who`s willing to work for less, how much profit will there be left for the taxpayer to garner? Would we be earning four hundred million instead of five? Three hundred million insted of five? Maybe we`d be earning the same amount. The fact is no one knows. But are you willing to take that risk? Are you willing to risk hundreds of millions in profits to save perhaps a couple of hundred thousand dollars in salary?
The fact is that leadership really does matter. And in the case of BCFerries, it`s pretty easy to argue David Hahn`s leadership in particular has made a very, very big difference. Is he overpaid? I don`t know. I `m not really sure what the job is worth. But I do know that five hundred million dollars in profit back to you and I {sic} the taxpayer, is a pretty good deal.
What do you think...604-280-9898...*9898 on your cell.

I was the first caller up..Part II

And then I was first caller up....."Hi Brian"

Brian..Hi Christy, you know, I don`t know where you get your facts from, but you know BC Ferries has a $1.4 billion dollar capital debt. In the last fiscal reported quarter, April, May and june of this year, they didn`t even make enough money to cover their operating expenses and interest payments, which is fifty million dollar per year on their capital debt. Plus the Province subsidizes BC Ferries to the tune of almost two hundred million dollars a year. Where do you get this $500 million dollar profit amount from?

Clark--They, they return that to the taxpayer. It is on, you can find it in public accounts.

Brian--Yea, well, I suggest that you do a little more scanning and talk to Gary Coons, uh the, ferry critic....Because BC Ferries is in, is right now, is in a financial disaster.uh!

Clark-but they don`t have a fi, they don`t have a capital debt, though. Brian, because

Brian--Yes they do!..$1.4 billion dollars!

Clark-No, hold on, hold on, listen, listen, listen! listen. They don`t have a capital debt. though, because of David Hahn. They have a capital debt largely because we spent so much money on the fast ferries that there was no money left over to actually look after the ferries that were going to work in british Columbia. They had to build new ferries.

Brian--No, your wrong on that. Christy, because when Hahn took over, all the debt that BC Ferries had was retired by the Province. Hahn came in there was a clean slate. And this $1.4 billion dollar debt has been gathered up since Hahn has been at the-

Clark-But he, but, Brian, my point is he came in with BC Ferries that were, a fleet that was, in such a bad state of dis-repair, I mean, some of the ferries were, I think, thirty or forty years old

Brian-Christy-

Clark-They had to be upgraded

Brian-No, no no

Clark-and there was no money to do it because it had been misspent in previous years. That money for the fast ferries should have gone into upgrading the fleet over those years.

Brian--Christy, I have been riding the ferries for thirty years. The, the Langdale run, the island, there are no more sailings than there ever was {sic} The schedule`s been the same for three decades on the

Part III

Sunshine coast. Uh, they sunk a ferry under Hahn...The fast ferries were a bad design and, and is at issue, but, that the fast ferries had nothing to do with maintenance of the fleet-

Clark-YES!

Brian-Or money taken away from ferries-

Clark-Of course it did!

Brian-No it didn`t!

Clark-Of course it did, all those years-

Brian-Look at the convention center--

Clark-All of, oh, come on! Leave the convention center out of this! That`s, that`s crazy. The money that went into the fast ferries was diverted from BC Ferries budget and it shoud have gone into replacing the ancient archaic, old fleet. And it didn`t! That`s why there`s a capital debt at BC ferries. Make no doubt. There is absolutely no doubt about that. The convention center doesn`t have a whole lot to do with that Brian.

_______________________________________

Christy Clark was then forced to retract, on air!

It wasn`t a very good retraction but she fulfilled CBSC`s ruling.

Cheers

And to further the story..

Look at the fiscal shape of BC Ferries and where is David Hahn today!

And where is that $500 million dollar prfofit!

At this time in BC History David Hahn`s wage was just revealed, it was revealed that he was making over $500 K a year..Clark was sent in to defend Hahn and the BC Liberals..

She made false claims, false facts, she spun and twisted defending Hahn and his wage..

She refused to accept all the facts and links I sent on the True state of BC Ferries, therefor the complaint was filed..

Christy`s on air retraction was lame.

I contacted BC Ferries after Christy made her subtle retraction late on a Friday afternoon, I asked Debra Marshall where Christy got the information she used in her subtle retraction..

Here is the complete letter from Debra Marshall at BC Ferries sent to me.
_____________________________________________

" The government used to own the controlling interest in BC Ferries, which had a book value of $503,178,000.

On April 2,2003, the government issued BC Ferries a debenture for $427,701,000, which BC Ferries promised to pay in cash.

In addition,at that time,the government was issued 75,477 non-voting preferred shares in BC Ferries,valued at $1000 per share.

On may 27,2004, BC Ferries paid the debenture of $427,701,000 to the government.BC Ferries had also paid the government interest on the debenture of $25,879,191.49.

For the government`s preferred shares, BC Ferries pays an 8% dividend per year of $6,038,160. We`ve paid that annually for six years for a total of $36,228,960.

In summary,BC Ferries has paid the province $489,809,000."
_________________________________________

Honesty, no way...Another bullshitter politician towing the corporate line!

Good Day

For the record..

The retraction Christy Clark made..

Christy`s retraction tried to connect the $489,000,000 from the debenture paid to BC`s general revenue and make it sound like profit, it wasn `t, it was borrowed money, money that BC Ferries borrowed through the debenture, money that BC Ferries pays interest on, money that went into General revenue.

Smoke, mirrors and plain old dishonesty.

Yes, she's ineffective

...but she'll have no problems in 2013.

Just look at the alternative: equally spendthrift, equally micro-managing, equally "populist", equally in the pocket of "stakeholders" and interest groups...

Contrarian View

The previous Ipsos poll had these results for "Who Would Make Best Premier":

Clark: 47%
Dix: 29%
Cummins: 17%
Sterk: 6%
For a total of 99%.

That's a considerable gap.

http://www.globaltvbc.com/Pages/Story.aspx?id=6442492787

Even a recent ARS poll of provincial premiers placed Clark up in the mid-40% range (and still climbing) tied for 4th place in Canada just behind Manitoba's NDP premier. Compare that to ARS' previous approval rating for Campbell at a dismal 9%.

Clark leads her party in popularity and that eventually brings a political parties' numbers up. OTOH, Dix trails his party, which conversely eventually brings a political parties' numbers down.

The Liberals still have to make up ground from some of the negative effects of the HST debacle and Campbell himself, which I suspect will occur over the next 6 - 12 months.

OTOH, Dix has been making promises that would add up to $billions$ in additional annual expenditures, upto $9 billion/annum by some calculations with BC currently in deficit status. And he's from the left-wing of the NDP. Dix neither has the populist appeal of Barrett nor the moderate appeal of Harcourt.

Moreover, Dix has some heavy political damage
from the fraudulent memo to apparent cheating to win the NDP leadership race. (Bags of $100 bills and memberships allowed after deadline). Seems that the ends justify the means with Dix and he's known to be a political animal, not premier material.

BTW, just today federal NDP federal leadship contender Brian Topp (whom Dix recruited to run its next provincial campaign), promised to increase corporate taxes, income taxes, and the GST.

That flies in the face of the Manitoba NDP gov't which has reduced corporate taxes, eliminated corporate capital taxes, and introduced corporate tax credits.

For all intent and purposes, the Manitoba NDP government operates as a small "l" Liberal government and just won a historic 4th mandate. Because they were popular and attracted centrist/moderate voters who otherwise would have voted PC.

If the Manitoba NDP operated akin to the BC NDP, they would have been turfed from office long ago. But the BC NDP never seems to learn from the secrets of the Manitoba NDP's success. And that's always been the BC NDP's Achilles Heel.

Christy Clark is supremely

Christy Clark is supremely self-confident, loves to be the centre of attention, loves the image of princess warrior, so it is plausible that she might confuse popularity with populism. Yes, she increased the minimum wage but that was low hanging, overripe fruit ready to fall anyway. Beyond that her populist score card is empty and she looks to have been completely cowed by the same elites real populists take to task.

Not to say that she doesn't have some populist instinct. She was right to question BC Hydro over rates but immediately had that taken away from her (you know, Rich Coleman's "reviewing" it). Her "Families First" slogan could have easily been more than only that. Yet no sooner than she had recited it an irritating number of times without in the least bit fleshing it out, she swerved off in another seemingly unrelated direction with a new slogan, "BC's Number One Salesman." Then there was the "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" tour. All of these should and could be popular except for the apparent lack of staying power. One thing that is never beyond her attention span is belief in herself. The problem, however, is her habit of using singular superlatives for more than one thing in excessively exuberant language: "absolutely, without a doubt, swear on the Bible my absolutely number one issue" on one thing then "my very, very very, first, absolutely highest priority" on another. This might not seem impossible for a warrior princess but it belies something that Sean alluded to: she can come off as insincere. An affable engaging person who listens intently until the caller is gone; then they're gone gone. It would seem she'll give you the time of day as long as the eyes are on her. As soon as they're not, she needs to find another audience and repeat the process, find out what they like and gush about how that's her highest, numero uno priority. That's how important popularity is to her. Just try make populist policy out of this ever changing minutiae of audiences.

Caucus has tolerated this so far without much commitment to cooperation. In as much as they represent elites, populism is a pretty much a non-starter for them. So far they haven't had to worry too much about it. For sure they'll have none of it if they can avoid it. Which exposes the fact that the BC Liberals are two camps.

That fact became manifest with Randy Hawse's criticism of his own government. This could be deadly for the BC Liberals come election time. Yet they pretty much have to keep the princess warrior out on the road lest she try to win a popularity contest on this one.

Caucus never was down with populism and might at last find Christy's quest for popularity seriously threatening their already beset position. With less than eighteen months to go, time is running out to do anything about it.

Dream on, Luke

Clark's "Happy Face" image is becoming ever more brittle as the pressure builds. She also has a rather ugly nasty side, derisive and very unattractive - as demonstrated by the recent anti-Cummins ads, which she must see as a good tactic but which make a joke of her "new" approach.

If Campbell is dragging her popularity down why did the Libs peak in the polls right after Gordo left and then drop like rocks the past few months? The only sensible answer is that all attempts to distance her from Campbell's gang have failed. The public sees she is just another shill for the same old gang. How long has her guru Pat Kinsella been feeding from the Socred/Lib trough anyway - he's been around longer than Willie Nelson, for God's sake!

With a self seeking, well connected, power hungry little right wing tool like Kevin Falcon lurking, Clark had best wear a Kevlar suit, with extra protection in the rear. Her act isn't going over with the people of the province and I see no great personal affection for Clark among the old caucus members, who may resent the way she bailed on the party only to return when she could reenter at the top!

You're right, but she'll still have problems

"just look at the alternative: equally spendthrift, equally micro-managing, equally "populist", equally in the pocket of "stakeholders" and interest groups..."

Yes. Clark and Dix are equally macabre by-products of the information age. Media-savvy, and little else.

But Dix has a big advantage: he has not been in government for about 12 years. Never over-estimate the electorate's long-term memory, even with a little jog. Christy has to corral those alienated conservatives while still keeping the educated urban professionals. Easy to do when you're in opposition, more difficult when you've been in power for a while.

Skywalker

Wasn't the same said of (the late)Qaddafiduck....?

Desperately seeking populism.... not to mention, substance -

Holman, I think, is being intentionally satirical. How can anyone not read these lines from his article and not laugh out loud? This is funny tongue-in-cheek stuff. If it wasn't meant to be, for me at least, it's provided great comic relief for a grey day on the coast :

Quote: "So perhaps one of Clark's problems as premier is she has the skills to be a populist but might not be surrounded by those who have populist instincts, represent the commons or, at the very least, are in tune with the concerns of the commons.

That might explain why the premier said earlier this month British Columbia has a "thriving middle class," even though a recent Conference Board of Canada report suggests otherwise.

Or could it be that Clark simply hasn't had an opportunity to really take on an elite?"

Poor Miss Christy, indeed...searching for an opportunity to take on an elite... especially when elites are such a hard thing to find these days. ;-)

Despite those humble Burnaby beginnings Christy seems to have become quite crazy-glue-attached to her Room At The Top... with a view, of course, of the "thriving middle class" milling about below.... far, far, beneath her Peter Principle built perch.

Really, where is the sympathy, folks? It must be ever so hard to pretend give up a tiara (willingly) that has been so hard won -

As Cleveland Amory once observed....try as you might.....:

"You can't make the Duchess of Windsor into Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm".

Power at risk?

Christy Clark has little personal power, and clearly the BC Liberals are in deep trouble. Fish Counter, I am quite surprised at you - in other threads you have railed against women who dress as 'sluts', yet apparently you fail to see the lack of elegance and class in Ms. Clark. She reminds me of the high school cheerleader - the one who wasn't really pretty,and was given bad fashion advice by smarter girls.

However, yesterday I learned a new (coined) word: sapio-sexual, someone who finds intelligence sexually attractive. Clearly this isn't you.

Dix Is Our Holy Grail?????????

Chrispy Clux is obviously a basket case. So what is the alternative? Adrian Dix?

Frank Lee says:

"In an internal memo I wrote about the NDP government in 1998, I described Dix as a "grim-faced thug"--remarkably similar to the "dour Stalinist" countenance attributed to him a decade later, although I saw no need to insult the memory of a great wartime leader."

So we all agree that Chrispy Crunch is a write-off. But Adrian will be the beneficiary with his background? Go ahead and convince British Columbians of that.

What a friggin' mess BC politics is right now.

CC

Under all that phoney tinsel, there's real tinsel.

same old

First you guys complained abour Carole and now you complain about Dix.

Must be tough that the carbon tax isn't being loved by all and Tzeporah isn't electable eh?

Puppet Master

People need to google "Gwyn Morgan Encana" to see who is the real puppet master pulling the strings (& directing the bagmen) on both Christy Clark AND gordon campbell.
Stop being dazzled by the surface noise & glamour, dig deep to find out how global capital controls BC.
PS Also checkout Bilderbergers.

Frank

C'mon Frank. You know better than that!

The City of Winnipeg won the NDP its historic 4th term. Compare that to BC NDP insiders who stated that the BC NDP shouldn't have even won their 2nd term in 1996. Don't believe me? Look it up on Google.

Back to the Manitoba NDP, which won its historic 4th term! Why? Mostly due to the City of Winnipeg. Now what's goin' on in Winnipeg?

During the May, 2011 federal election the City of Winnipeg voted as follows in terms of seats:

1. Con - 5
2. Lib - 1
3. NDP - 1

One would come to the conclusion that the City of Winnipeg is small "c" conservative, n'est pas?

Now to the Manitoba provincial election and the same City of Winnipeg:

1. NDP - 26
2. Con - 4
3. Lib - 1

All the right-wing types voted Con federally - obviously. The Cons almost sweept Winnipeg.

Yet, provincially a HUGE chunk of federal Con voters in Winnipeg are also "swing" or "centrist" voters and voted NDP provincially. Are these voters also left-wingers or socialists? haha

And you are right. The Manitoba NDP guvmint policies work!!! And I wouldn't personally feel uncomfortable under a Manitoba NDP guvmint - Really!!!

Now the Manitoba NDP guvmint has these policies (I've re-iterated them ~10 times already):

1. Lowering of corporate income tax rate from 17% to 12% to 10% when financially permitting; (same as the BC Libs)

2. Elimination of corporate capital tax rate; (same as BC Libs)

3. Institution of corporate tax credits; (same as BC Libs)

4. Manitoba Hydro building environmentally-destructive dams for export; (same as BC Libs)

5. Manitoba Hydro purchasing expensive IPP private power; (same as BC Libs)

6. Permitting mine development in environmentally sensitive areas; (same as BC Libs)

7. Permitting oil/natural gas fraccing; (same as BC Libs)

Now the BC Libs have virtually the same taxation/energy/natural resource policies as the Manitoba NDP. Yet the BC NDP seem diametrically opposed to these same Manitoba NDP's policies.

Ergo - kindly give me a straight answer - Do you support the policies of the Manitoba NDP guvmint? Yes or No? Simple as that.

In BC, swing, moderate, centrist voters have always supported the Socreds/Libs. In Manitoba the same voters support the Manitoba NDP and the Cons federally.

That's about 5% - 10% of the electorate (in the minimum). And that's always been the diff between winning and losing elections.

Deeby, and folks in general:

Haven't you figured yet that the political leader of this province is just a figurehead? The real leaders are the civil servants who tell the leaders, "Excuse me, but we don't have the money to make even one of your election promises come true, Tinkerbell".

Yes we vote, and we vote often, but the cold hard fact is that we might as well elect an American bullfrog to office for all the difference the premier makes.

If you are worrying about politics, you have already lost the war. The way to win in politics is:

a) Don't worry about them and
b) Get a good hobby or
c) Get a life.

There is no politics in nature; just the laws of nature itself.

The latest hissy-fit is whether it was morally right to shoot Gadhafi before putting him on trial. The answer is that only a lawyer would worry about that in the first place. He is dead, and the people of Libya saved a bundle in legal fees. Too bad for the high-pricerd lawyers.

Christy Clarke is a ditz but she is relatively harmless. She has no direction, but she does decorate the legislature with her cute little buns. What more can you expect from a lizard?

Christy Clark's job is to

Christy Clark's job is to distract the media and voters while the fat cats go on about the business of privatizing, lobbying, bribing and selling us out to foreign corporations. She's like a rodeo clown with a painted smile.

Portrait of Power at Risk article by Sean Holman

Sean says:

"In part, that could be because the Clark administration doesn't have the fiscal wherewithal for boldness."

Huh? My understanding is that she had the financial backing of many of her puppet masters (Patrick Kinsella, Gwyn Morgan et al) which is part of the reason she is now Premier.

So did everyone suddenly decide to withhold their "fiscal wherewithal"?

What am I missing here?

The most important thing about democracy is that it have a

human face. We need to keep up the illusion for our own peace of mind. I even wonder if the bean counters are in charge or not, in the sense that so many financial transactions are probably done by programmed trading. Not only are the computers actually doing all our banking these days, they are making some of the decisions too.

I have heard - and this was over ten years ago - that if we all still paid by cheque, it would require half of all the workers in North America to process them. Whether this is true or aphocryphal doesn't matter, you get the idea.

We have progressed sufficiently far down the road to computer contorol over our lives that most provinces now have a law against driving with a cell phone in your hand. This is a great idea, but there are still drivers, and they are all women, who cannot drive without being able to talk to their next door neighbour about the traffic conditions or the price of sugar. Do you doubt that technology is running our lives?

George Orwell foresaw government control through the television and video monitors. What he missed is that we would willingly pay for surveillance and control out of our own pockets. (He also missed the $900 million spent on security for the 2010 Winter Olympics and the Stanley Cup Riots too, but that is off-topic).

So stroll on Christy. As long as you are 'in charge' we can all pretend it is so. Please keep up the illusion. It is all we have.

Thank God the Tyee is still run by humans!

Stale dated liberals

First and foremost, the liberals have used up their ten years of in the lime light. They are out of touch with the election voters. In question period, Mrs. Clark turns answers into attacking the NDP. She appears as a mad individual hoping yelling and screaming will convince the public that she is right. I can not understand why more liberal MLA s are not standing up the her in public. Finally, Mrs. Clark claimed to seek a voter approval as the duly elected leader, she read the tea leaves and stated voters do not want an election. She just wants to remain hoping her popularity will increase. Fat chance!
As for BC Ferries and the CEO, I remember he stated,on Mr. Palmer's TV program the following. To justify his salary and pension, he claimed the NDP made BC Ferries such a mess,his (American) expertise was required. That was a truly a political statement. In my opinion, justification to be fired without benefits. It is not too late to punish this gentleman for political interference.

It would be entirely fitting if the words "Queen of the North"

were branded with a red-hot iron, into David Hahn's backside, so he remembers it until the day he dies, but that has very little to do with Christy Clark.

Christy should sell off articles of her unwashed intimate personal items on E-Bay to generate revenue for her retirement plan. This would obviate the need for corrupt and dirty under-the-table deals a la Brian Mulroney. Hey, there is a market for dirty laundry.

Luke

Luke : "The City of Winnipeg won the NDP its historic 4th term."

So Winnipeg isn't part of Manitoba? Since when? Winnipeg voted NDP, again. That's not news.

Luke : "Compare that to BC NDP insiders who stated that the BC NDP shouldn't have even won their 2nd term in 1996. Don't believe me?
Look it up on Google."

What does this have to do with what I said? Why would I care? It isn't relevant. Its like saying Russian scientists confirm the existence of Yeti... so?

Luke : "One would come to the conclusion that the City of Winnipeg is small "c" conservative, n'est pas?"

Hah, no you wouldn't because one election does not a trend make. As you call yourself a federal Liberal you of all people should know Winnipeg has often bucked the trend seen in the rest of Western Canada. They were electing people like Lloyd Axworthy for years when other Libs in Ab-Sk-Mn couldn't even come in third.

Luke : "Are these voters also left-wingers or socialists? haha"

It would certainly appear so since they've been voting NDP provincially for most of the last 4 decades.

Luke : "And you are right. The Manitoba NDP guvmint policies work!!!"

Yep. And they work here too which is why the 1990's were better economically than the last decade under the Libs.

Now the Manitoba NDP guvmint has these policies (I've re-iterated them ~10 times already):"

List of cherry-picking and fudging ignored. I've posted 20 links for you and innumerable quotes from people in Manitoba explaining why their Hydro policies, as one example, are different than the BC Libs but you ignore them because they don't fit what you want to believe.

In the end what it comes down to is that the NDP are the most left-wing party running in Manitoba and they consistently win. You keep claiming its because they're not left-wing. Yet whether you think so or not doesn't matter, the people of Manitoba do in fact see them as being more left-wing than either the provincial Liberals or Conservatives.

Manitoba votes for the most left-wing party available. They aren't voting for them because their corporate tax rate is lower than what a BC NDPer might want. Your wish to believe that is ridiculous and does you no credit. They're voting on a whole range of issues and selecting the most left-wing option available.

If they were voting based on lower corporate tax rates, for example, why wouldn't they choose the Liberal or Conservative option? After all, they promise lower overall taxes than the "socialists". Your consistent refusal to address this is why you are not winning this point.

Luke part deux

Compare the Manitoba NDP with the Manitoba Liberals and the Manitoba Conservatives, not with the BC NDP or the Nova Scotia NDP. Its what the people of Manitoba do and its what you must do if you want to understand Manitoba election dynamics.

I don't compare the BC NDP with Russian Bolsheviks from 1917 and say that's why Dave Barrett won in 1972, yet to you that would, I assume, be rational. It isn't.

Luke : "Now the BC Libs have virtually the same taxation/energy/natural resource policies as the Manitoba NDP."

No, they don't. You've convinced yourself they do because you want to believe this for some strange reason. Again, I've psoted links and quotes from actual people in Manitoba disproving your point over and over again. I even had them bookmarked for about a year because you kept bringing it up. But you ignored the evidence because it doesn't fit with your ideology.

Luke : "Ergo - kindly give me a straight answer - Do you support the policies of the Manitoba NDP guvmint? Yes or No? Simple as that."

Do you support the policies of the Manitoba Liberals? The Ontario Liberals? The Saskatchewan Liberals? And when you're answering that, also tell me why I would care if you do.

Luke : "In BC, swing, moderate, centrist voters have always supported the Socreds/Libs."

You couldn't be more wrong. The 2001 election aside, "moderate, centrist voters" have, for the last 40 years always supported the BC NDP.

Any analysis of federal voting patterns compared with provincial voting will illustrate for you that its BC's large federal Conservative base that wins elections for the Right in BC.

Probably why I've been saying for a couple of years now why a provincial Conservative party would spell the end for the BC Libs. You continue to laugh that off but I doubt you'll still be laughing come next election night.

NDP revolts are much more lethal for leaders

The "revolt" within her caucus Christy Clark has to face is nothing compared to the revolts, civil wars, & leader-destroying that BC NDP caucuses have perpetrated against their own party leaders, even their own NDP premiers. The NDP ousted sitting NDP Premier Mike Harcourt in a treacherous palace coup led by thug Glen Clark, who replaced Harcourt, & promptly began to roll back as many environmental advances as possible the forward-looking Harcourt gov't had brought in.

Most recent NDP casualty of the NDP's barbaric, ingrained "eat-your-own" cannibalism is Carole James who was ousted as party leader by a caucus revolt, despite the fact the NDP rank & file had just given her an overwhelming majority vote-of-support in a formal vote on leadership. So much for the NDP party respecting democracy. Who's replaced James as party leader? Adrian Dix, Glen Clark's former right hand man! Just what BC needs? I don't think so. I'll likely decide a pox on both their houses, & vote Green. I got fooled into voting NDP under thug Glen Clark. Not since, & not again.

bringing in the new

With the same old crew
is a difficult task especially
since all of Campbell's Ministers were hand picked for what they wouldn't do. As cash rewards go to those willing to screw with the public first.
Hardly the families first type which Christie can attest to since she was once once part and parcel of Campbell's eager crew.
So far its a great message with out any teeth not necessarily a winning strategy as we all can see.

lynn

Have you ever had the opportunity of being the only one in a movie theatre to laugh.....?

Skyhunk Ponders:

"In part, that could be because the Clark administration doesn't have the fiscal wherewithal for boldness."

Huh? My understanding is that she had the financial backing of many of her puppet masters (Patrick Kinsella, Gwyn Morgan et al) which is part of the reason she is now Premier.

So did everyone suddenly decide to withhold their "fiscal wherewithal"?

What am I missing here?
------------------------------------

Well yes, she has the financial backing of the puppet masters. But good heavens, you don't expect them to back grandiose projects a la Gordon Campbell, don ya??!! Those things need PUBLIC MONEY going in to private pockets - not PRIVATE MONEY going into public works! And that particular cupboard is quite bare (and getting "bare-er").

Christy Clark: Portrait of Power at Risk

It must be tough being a shallow, semi-sociopathic hypochristy. I really do hope her reign of error heralds the end of the BC Liberal party.

Jane Austen would have loved this one:

"After all, Clark, despite her reputation for being the life of the party, was also among the first to turn in at the parties she and her now former husband Mark Marissen once hosted, retiring at around 9:00 p.m."

There had to be a twinkle in your eye when you wrote that, Mr Holman....;-)

A pretend populist who believes the eradicated middle class is "thriving", little indication she puts families first....and not even the 'life of the party' as promised.... but a party-pooper to boot.

When...where.... will the travesties/ trivialities embodied by the reign of Miss Christy end?

The "around 9:00 p.m.", by the way, was particularly delightful.

Rick W -

I can understand why you might feel that way but I find Sean Holman the best kind of investigative journalist because he doesn't tell us what to think.

What he has presented here is a search for substantiation of reputed "populism" as well as a search for substance in itself. In one example after another, Ms. Clark is shown to come up short and constantly disappoint - from her days as a talk show host to her days as education minister in the Campbell government, her associations personal and professional with Marissen and Kinsella - right down to the most trivial of observations that she was no reputed 'life of the party" either.

What cannot help but be noted is that it is often someone else, and not Christy Clark, shouldering the work and the responsibility, someone else making decisions and policy, someone else keeping in contact with people, someone else who has not 'gone to bed' early on the job. Finding Christy Clark in all this is like that old cartoon "Where's Waldo?"

What Sean Holman reveals over and over again in this article is that trying to find any real evidence to substantiate a reputation for populism....indeed, trying to find any real substance in the trail of Christy Clark is like trying to nail jello to a tree.

Jerry, Deeby:

Christy Clark IS irrelevant if you forget that her party was elected three times in a row in provincial elections. Apart from that small detail, Christy is totally irrelevant and just so much decoration on a birthday cake.

"To be free is nothing. To become free is everything"

I forget who said that, but he could have been a Libyan. Get it? We ain't got nuthin ter complain about here in Canada, eh?

Jerry Munro,

Just as we move from day to night, there is that period of uncertainty when the time seems neither. If in a slumber and quickly woken up, could one immediately decide the time? Most likely that would be uncertain.

I tend to think politically, as our masses arouse during this period of uncertainty, the collective is trying to find its bearings, to determine the time.

As the political day crawls along, we have been moving from a more social-democratic state toward a more corporatist one. I think this truth is essentially uncontested.

In the future, no doubt, we will be able to look back and more precisely say we irrevocably entered the corporatist-fascist age in 1973, or 1980, or 1991, or 2004 or some other future date, or perhaps not at all. But at the present time we cannot agree with certainty or consensus. So what does this mean?

To those who retain the belief that we are still operating within a social-democracy, that a person is engaged for the betterment of our collective state of affairs by voting, they urge everyone to follow their lead. Go select a candidate who will serve your interests and things will get better. This is just how democracy works. It may be slow, but it ultimately moves in a utilitarian fashion toward the greater good.

To those who believe we are now a corporatocracy, a state of fascism by definition, voting is no longer a weapon of the people against the state. Voting has become a legitimating tool of the state. Its simple deployment co-ops the voters support of the state's politiks.

We are no longer selecting a candidate or a Party who serves our interests, because none of them do under a corporatocracy. Rather, our vote endorses the system of governance by giving the state's behaviour and its laws of conduct legitimacy. Our participation itself says quite affirmatively that we not only accept the game but we are willing to play it as well.

Let's assume these are revolutionary times, which they may not be. But assuming they are, systemic success will depend on having the guards of the system change their allegiances. The police and the military will stop defending the state and stand with the people.

But before then, before the formal guards surrender to the will of the people, the people must first not unwittingly guard the embodiment of state themselves.

The question we must ask ourselves is when does our faith in voting, under these non-theoretical circumstances, stop? Must it become night before we can agree night is inevitable?

It ain't fair

Canada now has three female Premiers and we get stuck with the one that makes nothing but a mockery of the position. Christy Clark is totally out of her element and she continues to prove it everyday. The sooner we get to vote her out, the better.

Photo Ops

It seems that Christy Clark is always ready and waiting for a photo op. I think the media should realize that SHE knows the value and power of these opportunities. When will the media wake up. Quit falling for her photo ops and keep the bare bones ... what she says and does...before the public's eye.

These photo ops appear to be a no brainer .. don't play her game.

Christy Clark is an above-average woman in an

important position. She is not a Margaret Thatcher, nor an Evita Peron but she is a competent leader who has an aura of charm about her. I anm not a Liberal supporter but I appreciate Christy's attributes far more than her predecesor's love affair with ethanol.

Christy is trying to make the best of a bad situation. I don't think she would have sold off BC Rail under such shady conditions because she is basically an honest woman. I won't vote for her party in the next election, but I do feel she is a decent person.

British Columbians have ALWAYS been unhappy with their leaders, from Amor de Cosmos to that Campbell guy. I blame it on the weather and the fact that our mountains foster feelings of isolation. I get somewhat claustrophobic in BC, and I am only glad that I live in Nanymo (sic) not Vancouver. I can't begin to imagine living in an apartment in the West End, even if it were a $1 million rabbit hutch of a condominium.

Any Libyan would be overjoyed to have Christy clark as premier. The Syrians are looking forward to their first vote in living memory. We are ticked off that Christy Clark doesn't dress like a school-marm. She is not as hawt as Johanna Siggurdartsdottir but she is heterosexual and that is enough for me. You just can't have everything you want in this world.

And there is nothing wrong with lesbians either. It takes all sorts...