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Seeds of BC Liberal Rebellion

Apr 2nd, 2012 by

Why Premier Clark has her hands full keeping her own party in line.

Premier Christy Clark is in a lot of trouble — especially if she loses the Chilliwack byelection to the Conservatives which, with John Van Dongen crossing to the Conservatives, is almost a certainty.

That she’s in trouble anyway has been (finally) canvassed by the mainstream media. The HST has been a horrifying failure. There’s no way the average taxpayer can accept the proposition that it must stay in effect until a year this April.

The Liberals are in a trap of their own making. If, as they swear up and down, the HST wasn’t on the their “radar” in the 2009 election but came about like a flash of light a month or two later, then why cannot it be disbanded as quickly as it happened? If, as most people believe, including me, that it was in the works long before 2009, then Campbell and then-finance minister Colin Hansen had been preparing the HST months before the election, then the Liberals won an election by deception. Continue Reading »

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Conservatives’ Van Dongen Grab Raises Questions About Cummins’ Integrity

Mar 28th, 2012 by

The resignation of John Van Dongen from the Liberal caucus to become an instant one-man Conservative caucus has, for me at any rate, put the focus on John Cummins.

Let’s look at Mr Cummins’ record and positions.

Mr. Cummins’ claim to fame is his integrity – his record of standing up for BC and his constituency in the House of Commons and paying for this integrity by permanently putting himself offside with Stephen Harper thus disqualifying himself from cabinet.

What was the issue that came up time after time in Cummins’ parliamentary career?

No prize for saying BC’s wild salmon. He flouted the law in the cause, risking jail. He fought against First Nations accusing them of illegal fishing. Whenever the subject of BC salmon was raised you would find John Cummins fighting for the symbol and very soul of our province – our wild salmon. I shared platforms at protests with him. On the question of fish farms Cummins stated that there were serious problems that had to be addressed. Continue Reading »

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Langer and Fraser: Tireless Fish Defenders Lead Charge Against Gutting Fisheries Act

Mar 24th, 2012 by

John Fraser, Otto Langer

The Hon. John Fraser and Otto Langer have once again stuck their necks out for our fish

The momentum against the Harper government removing “habitat” from the Fisheries Act is growing rapidly – with 625 scientists having signed onto a letter to Stephen Harper urging him to kill the plan. Even former Fisheries Minister Tom Siddon, the prodigal son who was part of the Federal government’s tawdry deal with Alcan, has joined in.

Let’s talk a little about the man who blew the whistle on this latest fiasco, Otto Langer. This man, with no fanfare or appeal to the cheap seats, aka the mainstream media, has been a relentless lifetime fighter for our sacred salmon. He also had the dubious “honour” to be on my last show on CKNW just prior to my being fired in June 2003!

Here’s a brief overview on what Otto has done over his career: Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 1 Comment »

Mainstream Media, Former Politicians Finding Religion on BC Libs and Fish

Mar 20th, 2012 by

It’s wondrous to behold! So many have seen religion at the same time!

Vaughn Palmer of the Postmedia Sun has finally got religion and is openly questioning the Liberal government’s position on the use of Telus resources to help build the new roof on BC Place Stadium! One looks in vain to see any criticism of consequence over the deal to build the roof in the first place so that the jock world had a better playpen at taxpayers’ expense.

Where, oh where, has there been any coverage in Vaughn’s columns over the years on fish farms, private power development, Enbridge’s pipeline project and tanker traffic down our coast and increased tanker traffic through Vancouver Harbour? Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 1 Comment »

Put Power Back in MLA Hands

Mar 19th, 2012 by

Let's bring our reps voices to the foreground

Under a premier’s iron fist, our representatives quiver. Here’s the fix.

I’m going to vouchsafe unto you the secret of radically improving government.

On Dec. 11, 1975, I was elected MLA for the then-single riding of Kamloops, on the Socred ticket under Bill Bennett.

During my time as a minister, I had the extraordinary good luck to do a lot of fascinating jobs, including be unofficial spokesman for constitutional affairs, and this latter “post” gave me an extraordinary opportunity to examine how other countries govern themselves. The late Melvin Smith, QC, Deputy Minister for Constitutional Affairs — who reported directly to the premier — and I travelled all over Canada, and went to West Germany and Switzerland to study their systems. Continue Reading »

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How BC Could Counteract Harper’s Gutting of Environmental Protections for Enbridge

Mar 17th, 2012 by

It’s time to fish or cut bait, Premier Clark!

Our esteemed contributor Otto Langer blew it wide open when he, using a leaked document, stated that under the Harper government the protection of fish habitat would no longer be enforced against industry and that it would use an “omnibus bill” to try to sneak it through.

An omnibus bill is used to make technical changes to support major legislation. A budget will usually need amendments in various statutes and that’s natural. It might also be used to make clear provisions causing confusion in statutes. It is not intended to bring in substantive changes, thus is not usually debated. When that bill is in fact designed to make a substantial change the government shows its moral turpitude big time.

The proposal to take protection of habitat out of the Fisheries Act was especially dishonourable because at first glance it looked as if the government was taking extra care to protect salmon – but the eagle eye of Otto quickly saw it for what it was and now the fat is in the fire. Continue Reading »

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Harper’s Underhanded Gutting of Fisheries Act Designed to Help Enbridge and Co.

Mar 16th, 2012 by

Here, ladies and gentlemen, are your Conservative MPs and their contacts:

Edward Fast – Abbotsford ed@edfast.ca
Dick Harris – Cariboo – Prince George Harris.R@parl.gc.ca
Mark Strahl – Chilliwack – Fraser Canyon mark.strahl@parl.gc.ca
Kerry Lynne Findlay – Delta – Richmond East MP Kerry-Lynne.Findlay@parl.gc.ca
Nina Grewal – Fleetwood – Port Kells Grewal.N@parl.gc.ca
Cathy McLeod – Kamloops – Thompson – Cariboo McLeod.C@parl.gc.ca
Ron Cannan – Kelowna – Lake Country ron.cannan@parl.gc.ca
David Wilks – Kootenay – Columbia David.wilks@parl.gc.ca
Mark Warawa – Langley Warawa.M@parl.gc.ca
James Lunney – Nanaimo – Alberni Lunney.J@parl.gc.ca
Andrew Saxton – North Vancouver Saxton.A@parl.gc.ca
Dan Albas – Okanagan – Coquihalla http://www.danalbas.com/contact-dan.html
Colin Mayes – Okanagan – Shuswap Mayes.C@parl.gc.ca
Randy Kamp – Pitt Meadows – Maple Ridge – Mission Kamp.R@parl.gc.ca
James Moore – Port Moody – Westwood – Port Coquitlam Moore.J@parl.gc.ca
Bob Zimmer – Prince George – Peace River Bob.Zimmer@parl.gc.ca
Alice Wong – Richmond Wong.A@parl.gc.ca
Russ Hiebert – South Surrey – White Rock – Cloverdale Info@RussHiebert.ca
John Duncan – Vancouver Island North Duncan.J@parl.gc.ca
Wai Young – Vancouver South info@waiyoung.ca

Otto Langer is a highly respected fisheries expert who had a long distinguished career with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and got fed up with the politicization of the DFO. He was hardly alone – back in the early 90s at the time of the Kemano II fight, there were a number of DFO officers who left DFO by early retirement, being shuffled elsewhere, denied a deserved promotion, etc. One of them, Dr. Gordon Hartman (who like Otto Langer is an honoured contributor with the Common Sense Canadian) during the Kemano II scrap, along with several of his colleagues, gave those in the trenches the ammunition they needed. Alcan called them the “dissident scientists”, a sobriquet they wore with pride.

That time was when the reigning Tories, Mulroney the PM and Thomas Siddon Minister of Fisheries refused to hold public hearings mandated by statute, ignored a condemnatory report by DFO scientists, and gave the Alcan project the go-ahead. The DFO has never been the same and let me give you a glaring example: the DFO is mandated to protect our Pacific Salmon and at the same time is mandated to shill for fish farms! Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 3 Comments »

Tell DFO to Save Kokish River Steelhead from Proposed Private Power Project

Mar 10th, 2012 by

Kokish RiverThese opening words from Gwen Barlee of the Wilderness Committee which cry out (in my mind at any rate for I don’t speak for the W.C. which certainly doesn’t need my help) for the highest manifestation of protest including civil disobedience:

Tucked away in the wild of northern Vancouver Island, the Kokish River is a treasure for fishers and wilderness lovers alike.

The Kokish River, located 15 km east of Port McNeill on northern Vancouver Island, is threatened by a proposed 45 megawatt hydropower project. The river is renowned for its high fish values including endangered summer and winter runs of steelhead.

Thus has begun yet another rape of a river without any public process at all. The deal requires approval from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which is why the Wilderness Committee is calling on citizens to write to them and demand they reject this project that would unquestionably damage important fish habitat. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 1 Comment »

Video: Rafe Confronts Dix on LNG, Fracking, Enbridge

Mar 7th, 2012 by

Rafe Mair pulls no punches in this, the second of a two-part interview with BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix – grilling the potential future premier of BC on Liquid Natural Gas, fracking, the proposed Enbridge pipeline and salmon farms. Will the NDP stand up to Harper over Enbridge and open net pen aquaculture? Why do they favour LNG – and how do they reconcile their support for it with the controversial fracking process that would supply it with much of its gas? Watch and find out!

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Why So Afraid, Board of Trade?

Mar 6th, 2012 by

Cartoon by Ingrid Rice

Driven by one irrational fear, business leaders ignore host of financial pratfalls by Campbell/Clark.

The emperor has no clothes, nor has the empress for that matter.

As I read about the fawning receptions by the Vancouver Board of Trade for former premier Gordon Campbell and the present premier, I found it nauseating and bewildering — but expected.

The theme of the business folks response was, evidently, that Campbell/Clark have kept the accursed NDP from power and that no careless depletion of the public purse should interfere with the worship of gods and goddesses, no matter what financial screw-ups took place on their watch.

The myth these stalwarts of the free market perpetuate is that the NDP were so fiscally incompetent that they can never ever be trusted again, and that any qualification of that dogma means some sort of treachery to the holy cause. Continue Reading »

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