Making a Point of Missing the Point

"Under the Graves Strategy, it (Bill C232) would ensure that the West, the fastest-growing region in Canada, is shut out from yet another national institution. And any Westerner who objected could be called a bigot and a rube and "anti-French", to the delight of those more cosmopolitan ridings where Ignatieff might have a chance."

"In one of Graves' private briefings to the Liberals, that he later boasted about to the Globe and Mail, he outlined a strategy to demonize Western Canada …"

"… To Ignatieff, forced bilingualism (like Bill S220) is a tool to beat up anglophone westerners ... to the delight of Liberal voters in Montreal and Toronto."

"Sort of like Keith Davey's Liberal strategy that he articulated for Pierre Trudeau: "Screw the West, we'll take the rest.""

Now, I have all the time in the world for Alberta’s Ezra Levant, but he is a Federalist. That means that while he may fulminate against Count Iggy and Taliban Jack for 'beating us up' to win votes in Upper and Lower Canada, he’s not quite going to mention why that’s such a winning tactic, why it “delights” voters there. Its like he'll give you '2+2' but he's hoping you'll join him in skipping the '=4' bit.

But that’s okay, you have me to do that.

Ontario and Quebec like it when Ottawa 'beats you up' because those people do not regard you as their compatriot; they have no warm all-in-it-together feeling for you, nothing like that, in fact if they consider you at all, they dislike you.

Your purpose in life is to be their ATM, just dispense the cash. Quietly.

There ya go.

Picking Our Next Dictator, BC

The distinguished delegates

Its just a damn good thing BCSTV got shot down. I mean, how could anyone think there could be a better system than we have now? *snort*

All She Wanted For Christmas

Good news, Christy, it looks like you've got the "familiars" vote nailed down at least.

As G-d Is My Witness

Had Enuff Yet?

"To ME the Important Thing is

Right? Right?"

The Important Thing, Right, Right?

Oh, what a tangled web we weave ...

If you missed Christy Clark's epic fail on Global BC's News Hour on Wednesday, it starts at the 27 minute mark here: http://www.globaltvbc.com/video/index.html?releasePID=kTEy0ztIEtrXGeDpaWPCPW1MUkDnKcYo

And in case you've missed it, the documents Global's Marisa Thomas refers to in the clip, which contradict Christy's version of her role in the sale of BC Rail, are laid out at the blog of the courageous Alex G . Tsakumis, who is doing the vital but dangerous (gets you threatened, makes you unpopular) work the sunset media don't have the sack for.

Methinks She Doth Protesteth Too Much

Former Gordie Campbell Cabinet Minister, liberal party du canerduh apparatchik, and erstwhile CKNW show host Christy Clark seems more and more desperate to avoid a full public inquiry into the sale of BC Rail, the stench from which rivals the raw sewage Victoria dumps into the saltchuck. BC Rail was of course, sold off (like so much of BC) by Gordie and his crew, during Christy's time aboard.
In the unlikely event you're beginning to suspect Christy's leveling with us on all this, then you clearly haven't been following the Basi Files series on the (highly recommended) blog of the courageous Alex G. Tsakumis. Here's the latest installment - Chapter X: A Done Deal. The earlier posts are in his Archives.
Read it all and then start demanding a full public inquiry; hell, let's get out and march in the streets.

Mr Delaney Comes A'courtin'

and he wants your vote

By now you've heard of the new BC First Party. I don't know what to make of these guys. They seem to stand for everything, which usually winds up meaning they stand for nothing in particular.
I like the name. That won't surprise anyone. I like the first principle stated:

1. A BC first approach that will protect and promote the interests of British Columbia and its "citizens" (quotes mine) as the first priority.

If they mean BC's answer to the PQ, without all the socialists, great, I'm all for it.
Then they come with:

2. Limited constitutional government based on consent of the governed.
3. Government that is accountable to the people with workable Initiative, Recall and Referenda enshrined in a BC Constitution.
4. A free, open and competitive private sector as the primary engine of economic activity and growth.

Well, we were going just great until "primary engine" caught my eye. This would seem to indicate a 'mixed' economy approach, that old canerdian 'just a pinch of collectivism' thing. Mix a quart of ice cream and a pint of dog shit and the result will taste more like dog shit than ice cream. Then, blame the bad taste on the ice cream and add more dog shit ...
Same old same old.

5. A social conscience that protects the most vulnerable in society and provides care for those in need.

Oh good, they're 'compassionate'. I was frightened they might not be. /sarc

6. A universal health care system that is efficient, affordable and of the highest quality.

They can make that work at last. Uh huh.

7. A world class education system that is accessible, affordable and respects diversity.

See above. And you gotta love the 'diversity' bit. If by 'love' we mean 'feel faintly nauseated by.'

8. Fiscally responsible government that lives within its means.

No problem, aside from 5, 6, and 7 above making that impossible. Really. Sounds good. *snort*
Not a great first impression I'm afraid. We'll see. Heaven knows I'm desperate for an alternative.


http://www.bcfirst.ca/

Happy BC Day!

Okoke naika illahee, okoke maika illahee, okoke nesaika illahee.
This is my country, this is your country, this is our country.

Happy Canerduh Day, BC!!

Hey, BC, you sure love Canada don't you? Yeah, wave that flag.

So your kid can't grow up to be Prime Minister
or a Supreme Court Justice

So your vote is worth a steadily diminishing fraction of that of someone in Lower Canerduh and the Welfare Provinces and the "federal" election is over by the time the polls close here

So the Senate is stacked against BC even worse than the House of the Common People is

So you pay sky high prices for gas from BC and Alberta oil to subsidize lower gas prices in Upper and Lower Canerduh and the Welfare Provinces

So BC's shipbuilding industry has been moved to Quebec;
paid for by you

So billions of tax dollars you send east every year nets BC all of the above plus the finger from Trudeau, lies from Mulroney, snotty remarks from Chrétien ...
and so on and on

So what?

You love Canada


Cause Mr HST's endorsement is good enuff for you, right?

Unelected, Unaccountable, Unknown

Crown prosecutor Teresa Mitchell-Banks - for not at least trying to get gangster Johnny Porker and his idiot pal locked up.
Judge Pedro de Couto - for not manning up despite the lack of effort from the "prosecution" (yeah, right) and getting these two behind bars, no bail, halo, non, nyet, fahgeddaboudit anyway. Do the right thing. Surprise the hell out of me for a change.

BC Supreme Court "Justice" (sure) Deborah Satanove - for handing Jaren Feser a conditional sentence of two years less a day to be followed by 18 months probation for driving drunk and damn near killing six people.
"Prosecutor" Tara Laker for her "joint submission" with the defence that a conditional sentence would be “appropriate”. Way to play hardball there, Tara.

Hyas mahsie to you all, big, big thanks on behalf of a grateful public who know our safety is paramount with you.

Traitor? No, I’m a patriotic British Columbian

Every now and then, someone will call me (and by extension at least one in five British Columbians) “traitor”.
Presumably, they are referring to our lacking a feeling of allegiance to what R. W. W. Carrall (a Canadian in BC, sort of John A. Macdonald's version of today's Mr. Christie Clark) alluded to when he told BC's Legislative Council in 1870 of his vision of British Columbia as a "solitary outlying colony" handing Canada the "keys of the Pacific",
becoming an "integral part" of the "great and glorious Empire" Canada would become.1

That’s exactly how its been, a “colony” getting screwed by an “Empire”; and that’s not acceptable, that’s not what BC (reluctantly) signed on for.

Try reading the record of proceedings of BC's Legislative Assembly during the confounderation debates. You will notice the point of the deliberations: whether the move would be to the “pecuniary benefit” of BC; you’ll also notice members referring to British Columbia as their "country", "the country" and "our country*".
For example:
“The only bond of union outside of force- and force the Dominion has not-will be the material advantage of the country* and pecuniary benefit of the inhabitants. Love for Canada has to be acquired by the prosperity of the country*, and from our children.”2 (emphasis added)

Canada has operated under the apparent assumption that, for example, removing BC’s shipbuilding industry to Quebec (as they previously did with that of the Maritimes) or “managing” our salmon stocks to the edge of extinction for us, would somehow be to our “pecuniary benefit” or engender “love for Canada”.
And some people wonder why we call it “canerduh”. The only surprise is that this current arrangement has lasted since 1871.

So there it is, I’m a patriotic British Columbian, one of many who seek an end to our country’s exploitation by the Empire of the Canadians. Referendum under the Clarity Act and all that.
Name calling from imperialists just comes with the territory.

1 British Columbia Legislative Council, Debate on the Subject of Confederation with Canada Government Gazette Extraordinary of March 1870, Victoria.

2British Columbia, Legislative Council, Debates on Confederation with Canada, pg.11, 1870
Its interesting to note that, while there was no referendum held prior, the confederationists were tossed out to a man at the next election.
One of them, Helmcken noted his "disappointment" at the lack of public interest when the confederation delegation to Ottawa he was part of returned to Victoria;
"No notice was taken of the delegates- no vote of thanks even given them- positively nothing. It is true some half a dozen bankers and so forth gave Trutch a dinner, but neither Carral nor I were invited."
Helmcken, Reminiscences, Vol. V, p103

They Can't Speak For Themselves

Our wild Pacific salmon don't have the Premier's ear.

During the 2001 election, the BC Liberals pledged to:

"Push Ottawa for provincial control over BC offshore fisheries, to improve fisheries, to improve fisheries management and protect jobs."
A New Era for British Columbia pg.3

Well, they've had most of two terms and we're still waiting for them to report on what progress has been made. Burnaby Liberal MPPs are maintaining silence.
Ottawa's mismanagement of BC's fish stocks has been disastrous, eliminating the involvement of DFO's Sparks Street mandarins would be a crucial step in saving our wild Pacific salmon from going the way of cod in the Northwest Atlantic.
Allow me to urge you, treasured reader, to email Gordie Campbell, Carole the Nice and your local members (for all the pull they have) and push for this push. With an election coming in the spring, they may just decide to listen.

premier@gov.bc.ca
carole.james.mla@leg.bc.ca

Time Is On My Side part MMDCCLXI

I'm looking forward to seeing how the next survey turns out.

Attention ... All personnel ... Incoming Wounded ...

Oh, hello, Hawkeye, hello, Trapper, sure, I'll have one, I shouldn't, but what's the difference now, huh? ...

What? That wasn't M*A*S*H* I somehow dropped into?
No no, just a visit to RCH emerg. Heavens to Murgatroyd, patients everywhere, I mean in stretchers, beds, chairs, sick and injured everywhere, and one doctor and a couple of nurses trying to be everywhere and help everyone.
Endless money for the Olympic boondoggle, but an extra doc or a couple more nurses in the ERs?
Not a priority like pumping up the real estate profits of Poole et al.
Or do you still doubt that's what its all about?
http://www.straight.com/article-93176/developers-are-the-games-real-winners

BC Independence Site Back Up

The technical difficulties that have had the site doing strange things have been taken care of (I hope. *sigh* Ya just gotta luv those technical difficulties doncha?)
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Down Goes Griffiths! Down Goes Griffiths! ...

Little Arthur's latest loss is electoral, not business, just for a change.

While not a surprise, as a sitting government hasn't won a byelection in BC since forever, its nonetheless good to see anyone associated with the 2010 Olympic boondoggle take one in the tenders.
In this case, Gordie Campbell's sacrificial lamb in Vancouver-Burrard was none other than Arthur Griffiths, who was of course, Chairman of the Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Bid Corporation. Kudos to the voters of Van-Burr.
Little Arthur is saying (currently) that he'll have another go at one of those pensions, I mean, the privilege of being one of the people's elected representatives in Victoria, but I suspect that, in the end, he'll just have to settle for his share of the Olympic Whistler real estate loot.

Does It Really Matter? Part II

Not as far as I'm concerned. Either of these characters will screw BC just as hard and deep as any of their predecessors did.
Muldoon, Turdeau, the drunken old crook MacDonald ... it doesn't matter the stripe or what sort of BS they toss our way during elections (think "frigates").
That is to say they will adopt policies that will continue building support in BC for independence, just as their predecessors did.
Either way, time, as the song says, is on my side.
Yes, it is.

Dudley Does It Again

David Glenn Moody, all 5' 6" 140lbs of him, fought off more than one RCMP member according to reports, and escaped after a Mission, BC RCMP member took him outside the detachment for a smoke.
May I suggest that, since the RCMP have such a dismal record of "getting their man" in the first place, that they then not proceed to put themselves in a position where their obvious lack of physical conditioning and training will result in yet more dangerous criminals roaming free to prey on the rest of us? Thanks a lot, Dudley.