Give me an
Effing Break!
Effing Break!
In exactly 365 days BC voters will have the opportunity to vote on something (who knows what) to do with the HST. In other words we have 52 weeks of garbage and propaganda to look forward to before we can exercise our franchise in a perhaps meaningless NON-Binding vote that according to the invisible man (Craig James) will cost $30 million, or maybe $24 million. This in spite of the fact that almost as many people as voted for the Lyin' Campbell Crime Family last May already said that they didn't like the HST or the way it was imposed on them.
Then to my amazement I heard that according to someone at Elections BC (could it be the invariably unavailable Craig James) that one year was too short of a lead time for them to prepare properly for the vote - but they would do their best to get it together. Now let me get this straight - if I'm not mistaken until Gordo Americanized our election process with the fixed election dates Elections BC never knew when there would be an election (A WHOLE ENTIRE GENERAL ELECTION TO ELECT 80+ MLAs and any referendum issues such as STV) until two or three months before the election date. Now Craig, or someone speaking for him (he only likes to communicate by letter to "special" idividuals, like Bill VanderZalm or Leonard Krog and doesn't feel obliged to explain his reasoning about anything at all. The thought that the putatative CEO of a NON-PARTISAN public agency should have to answer to the public is apparently demented.
Oops, silly me, apparently Craig James does speak because according to John Fowlie in the Vancouver Stunned:
Recall in British Columbia is expected to cost taxpayers at least $500,000 per campaign, acting chief electoral officer Craig James said Thursday.
So maybe he talked to Mr. Fowlie, or maybe Mr. Fowlie got a letter from the man who likes to fire people and then run off to Africa with the Okanagan MLA (and potential recall target) Bill Berisoff. I would like to remind Mr. Fowlie and Mr. James that bye-elections are necessary anytime there is a VACANCY in the Legislature and there are other means of creating such vacancies - though why is another question because the Legislature rarely meets anyway and then there is no real debate of any substance there anyway. A bunch of juvenile cat calls and then a bunch of bills pushed through in the last day or two and off on vacation again. This year it seems likely that the House will have sat for a total of 46 days - nice work if you can get it.
Fowlie concludes his piece in the fish wrapper with:
James was cautious about his remarks because he plans to return to his regular job as a non-partisan clerk of committees once a permanent chief electoral officer is selected. As a result, he sat for an off-the-record interview Thursday, and then issued a lengthy written on-the-record statement.
I guess you could rephrase that to say "he plans to return to his regular job as a non-partisan clerk once he is done with his highly partisan re-structuring of the previously non-partisan Elections BC!
Campbell's PR man Vaughn Palmer chimed in today with a piece in the Sun quoting Carole (Ms. Invisible) James claiming that "Direct Democracy not the best way to set tax policy" - well if we had any representatives that actually, you know, represented us, we wouldn't have to resort to direct democracy.
Actually the entire NDP caucus isn't silent and complicit in this assault on democracy - it's just that you wouldn't know it from the MSM, Glow Ball, CTV, the PostMedia crowd and CKNW. John Horgan was interviewed on CFAX and here are some of his comments, which you won't hear on Glow Ball.
John Horgan on CFAX<
I think it's a shame that we haven't had more attention drawn to this
issue. I've had a number of meetings with Linda Johnson over
the years when I worked in the government and also as an MLA
, and I could describe her in no other way than the ultimate
commensurate professional, and for her after 28 years to be
summarily dismissed by a guy who's just passing through, has
been in the job for two and a half, three months in the
middle of the summer....../snip
....he's not even in the country when she's dispatched or he
leaves shortly thereafter, I think that's just
unconscionable...../snip
.....what are you thinking, Craig?
I mean, you're there to sit in the chair
and administer the act on behalf of all British Columbians.
You're supposed to be the most impartial person in the
province when you're in the role of chief electoral officer,
and to dismiss your number two without explanation to the
public and then to leave town....../snip
This is the part that really rubs me the wrong way.
The Liberals deliberately sent messages to Harry Neufeld,
the outgoing, the former chief electoral officer saying they
were not going to reappoint him. And that's fine. If they
want to take a partisan position on a non-partisan civil
servant, that's fine. But they had, then, an obligation to
strike the committee of New Democrats and Liberals, and I
suspect maybe even the independent would be able to be on
the committee, and pick a new one. And if they're going to
pick a new one, then I'm certain -- I'm certain -- that
Harry Neufeld would have stuck around until a replacement
was found. They plucked Craig James out of the Legislature
without consulting the opposition. They did it arbitrarily
because they didn't like Harry Neufeld, they didn't like
that he had given approval to the initiative petition on the
HST. They didn't like Linda Johnson because she was the one
that was responsible for disallowing people to participate
above or below the $5,000 limit, and that of courses is the
infamous HST pamphlets.
So I say Recall in the Fall and in the Spring. Recall enough to make the BC liaR government fall and recall Ms. James and Leonard Krog as well and let's see where we can go from there. By the seldom seen Craig James napkin calculations for just a few million we could rid ourselves of both the HST and the Campbelloids as government and then just cancel the HST referendum, because any government that listened to the people doesn't need to spend $30 million to answer questions already asked and answered.
posted by kootcoot at 2:34 PM
6 Comments:
A great post Kootcoot...I have nothing to add.
Cheers
Funny thing Koot. He says that it will cost the taxpayers $500,000 but the base rate for the proponent and the MLA is $25,000 each, give or take factoring in population and area.
So where does the other $450,000 go? Is that what the salaries will be for a few scrutineers? Say there are 10, that means $45,000 each for 42 days work. Over q grand a day. I think I want to work there.
Your point about the time it would take to hold a referendum or a vote in this province is well taken.
Elections BC has to be prepared to get their troops up and running, ballots printed and distributed, electoral lists updated and distributed and church halls booked within approximately one month's notice.
The suggestion that a referendum couldn't take place before the end of 2010 is sheer nonsense. James knows this, De Jong knows this and Campbell knows this.
It is a question of will and direction, not a question of inability.
As for the costs involved, you can look at the price of the last general election and discount that significantly because only one ballot and no candidates are involved.
If Campbell had the balls to cut to the chase on this issue he knows perfectly well Craig James would shuffle his feet, tug his forelock and respond with: 'Yessir, yessir, three bags full!' - if you catch my drift.
Campbell? Balls? Good one!
Campbell has to be very careful, who he selects for positions. Anyone who is honest and, won't lie and cover up for him, they get a Campbell vendetta, and, their jobs are gone. Craig James, is just another, lying, lap dog of Campbell's. We can never trust Elections BC, ever again. Campbell tampered there, the same as he tampered, with the FOI papers. The BC Liberal government, is bogus, Campbell is a Conservative, he works for Harper. That is blatantly obvious.
Nice work, Koot.
Just wanted to say to Anon 11:43 that I don't think Gordo is a Conservative ... any more than Harper is a Conservative.
Each of those men have taken an old traditional party banner and double-crossed the previous leader before giving their creation a confusing new name.
Harper is an original Reform Party person under Preston Manning. Aided and abetted by Peter MacKay, Harper sucker-punched David Orchard and the traditional old Progressive Conservative Party ... to become the CPC -- an acronym which legally belongs to the Communist Party of Canada -- but which now, we're told, means Conservative Party of Canada headed by Stephen Harper.
Gordo, on the other hand (or is it the same hand, which pretends not to know what the other hand is doing?) simply deployed his forces (goons, media) and destroyed the reputation of Gordon Wilson who was former leader of the BC Liberal Party. After calling the faithful home ... Gordo sucker-punched Gordon Wilson and used a mixed bag of former Reform Party members, Alliance members, Socred Members etc., to bolster the BC Liberal Party. Gordo continued calling it "BC Liberal" which he managed to ride all the way into the BC premier's office.
But in my view, both of them are imposters. Fakes. Treacherous, double-crossing Opportunists.
I think you're far too gentle with them, Koot.
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