B.C. NDP: All Your Beers Are Ours

NDP leader Carole James has promised to increase the minimum wage by 25 per cent -- freaking out pub and restaurant owners -- and hike wholesale prices for private liquor stores.

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But private liquor store owner Al Arbuthnot thinks that's the whole point of the NDP strategy.
Kim Haakstad, executive director of the Alliance of Beverage Licensees of B.C] pointed out the NDP election platform makes no mention of increasing prices in unionized government liquor stores. "If they need to raise revenue from liquor, then they should raise prices across the board for everyone, not just pick on small, independent operators."

"This is all union-driven," said the owner of Fox's Reach pub and liquor store in Maple Ridge.Something tells me if the NDP wins, they'll be uncorking the champagne at the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union head office -- no matter what the price.

I would dismiss this as fear mongering but for the fact that Bob Rae, when he was Ontario Premier, almost destroyed the "you brew" industry with a series of damaging tax hikes aimed at taking the pressure off LCBOs.

Carole James: Your Riding Gets The One-Legged Gay Guy

From the South Asian Post:

In a dubious Canadian first that is being played out in the on-going B.C. election campaign, the NDP has reserved about 30 per cent of its ridings for female candidates and another 10 per cent has been designated for "youth, gay/lesbian/bi/transgendered, persons of colour, aboriginal people and persons with disabilities."

A little background on Ray Lam:

Lam’s credentials for being selected as a NDP candidate came from his involvement in gay rights groups and the Vancouver Gay Pride Parade, among other distinctions.

And more on the NDP's "no men allowed" ridings.

I am not entirely against the principle here, but this seems as heavy handed as Bob Rae's infamous Jobmart Ad.

On How Carole James Could Look Less Stupid

After a disastrous 1st week of campaigning, the B.C. NDP must surely be thinking of a way out of the hole they've dug themselves into on the environment. Luckily, DeSmog Blog has found a possible route:

Metro Vancouver mayors have let it be known that they would like the revenue from the carbon tax to pay for regional transit. That's a perfect solution for the NDP. Rather than maintaining their opposition to the tax - and continuing to sow outrage among erstwhile environmental supporters -NDP leader Carole James could acknowledge the merit of the mayors' request and agree to leave the tax in place, redirecting its proceeds to transit options.

One perfectly legitimate criticism of the B.C. carbon tax is that sending the monies into general revenues doesn't do the environment a helluva lotta good. Seconding the mayor's proposal would suggest that the NDP is actually out to improve the province's green policy, not just score cheap political points.

Oh wait, its an election. Scoring cheap political points is the order of the day.

Tom Flanagan In Less Than Five Minutes

This line of attack won't play:

There is, however, a big obstacle in the way: Mr. Ignatieff can't force an election by himself. He needs the votes of the New Democrats and the Bloc Québécois to defeat the Conservatives on a vote of no-confidence. In other words, he has to reactivate the coalition with the socialists and separatists against which Canadians reacted so strongly last fall.

It's of a piece with the Tories "roll to the right" strategy lately, and we see where that's getting them. I doubt it would work anyway, but if your political opponent wants to tar you as a rebel and traitor, it probably helps that your latest book is an old fashion call to Canadian Patriotism. Most excellent timing there.

Flanagan gets one point right, though. Iggy needs both the NDP and Bloc to bring Harper down, and:

...why would [the NDP] rush into an election if the polls suggest the Liberals are going to do well? The NDP had its best results in 1988, when the Liberals were at a low point. In the six elections starting in 1993, the result has always been the same: When the Liberals go up, the NDP goes down, and vice versa. Jack Layton has worked hard in three campaigns to build up his party's caucus from 13 members when he became leader to 37 after the 2008 election. Will he risk those gains trying to put in power a Liberal leader who mirrors the Conservative leader on so many major issues?

What enflamed environmentalists about the NDP in the last Federal election has been vented upon their provincial counterparts at the beginning of this B.C. election in a particularly nasty fashion. And if anyone was paying attention, they would see a party/movement tearing itself quite loudly into its ideological parts, its green and brown wings. Jack Layton is going to want to lay low for the time being, and figure out how to stitch back what he has torn asunder. I see ways by which he could be convinced to keep the Harper government alive, the result being that we have a Federal government too weak to do much harm because it is simply too weak to act in any significant fashion. The nation staggers on for another year or so.

On the up-side, the NDP will become the party of Abstention. I am preparing rhetorical stink-bombs to lob their way, satisfied that they will make big stinky splat marks on the party's reputation.