Thanks For Not Helping

In Calgary, a group that includes at least one oil-industry bigwig and a former Progressive Conservative party insider held a private fundraiser to support the B.C. Liberals’ re-election bid. If Ms. Clark overcomes the odds and manages to stay in office, she could have some prominent Albertans to thank.

Accepting what almost mounts to foreign money?  If I were Adrian Dix I would be all over this one.

NDP Perfidy Fails To Pay!

The governing B.C. Liberal Party lead the opposition B.C. New Democratic Party, according to a survey by Environics Research Group.

Among decided voters in B.C., 47 per cent say they would vote for the B.C. Liberals. That's about the same vote share they pulled in 2005.

The New Democratic Party trails at 36 per cent. That represents a drop of six points from their popular vote in 2005.

Another 12 per cent would support the B.C. Green Party compared to the nine percent they won in 2005. Five per cent support the B.C. Conservatives and others. Sixteen percent of eligible voters are undecided or say they would not vote.

Message to Federal and Provincial NDP supporters: to thine own self be true, people, to thine own self be true!

STV In B.C.: Those Who Forget The Past Are Doomed To Repeat It?

An interesting if overlong anti-STV piece from RK at the Western Standard. The good stuff comes at the front, and consists mostly of telling the story behind B.C.s 1952 and 1953 elections, in which a form of STV was employed. Two take-home lessons:

1) STV (at least some versions) can give very strange results. In 1952:

This system had been designed to enable the Conservative and Liberal parties to keep the socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation out of power. Unexpectedly, this enabled Social Credit to win the largest number of seats with the benefit of second-preference ballots from CCF voters.

RK thinks this is a negative feature. Since the 1952 election gave rise to W.A.C Bennett and ages of SoCred domination, I suppose he has a point.

2) On the other hand, the 1953 result proves that it is possible to achieve a parliamentary majority under (some version of) the STV system:

The minority government formed in 1952 by the conservative Social Credit of Premier W.A.C. Bennett lasted only nine months before new elections were called. Social Credit was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a second term in government with almost 38% of the popular vote.

So maybe, if one fear is that STV shall produce indecisive minority after indecisive minority, then that fear too is overblown.

In any case, I am surprised B.C.'s previous experience has been entirely left out of the current debate.

Single Transferable Ballot Going Down In B.C.

I hope not, esp. since a defeat in B.C. will probably end the debate nationally for the foreseeable future, but these numbers don't look so good.

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.

[...]

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.

What The Polls Mean

...according to B.C. political scientist Kennedy Stewart.

Of course, it is difficult to mathematically model the effects of human stupidity.

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.

This Makes Me Feel A Bit Less Sorry For Ray Lam

Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 378 (COPE 378) lays into Gordon Campbell for his 6 year old DUI. Cope calls the featured clip "provocative" and "humorous". I find it rather ugly. I suspect it will also be ineffective. For better or worse, the people of B.C. reelected this guy (Campbell) after the conviction. In fact, if it is tied too closely to the NDP (note the union label) it might backfire.

PS. Ray Lam is.

On Facebook, You Have No Friends

You know, it could have been me that published first on this, and maybe got credit for "the kill", but by the time I spent a night pondering the ethics of spilling a guy's Facebook pictures, they were already MSM fodder and British Columbia New Democratic candidate Ray Lam had already stepped down.

Clearly one of Mr. Lam's Facebook friends was a political opponent, or alternatively Mr. Lam had a falling out with one of his real friends, and hey presto "private" pictures became public.

It is quite common, by the way, to sign up as a Facebook friend of some politician/potential candidate and hope they 1) post pictures of themselves in their underwear or 2) become associated with radical types. Facebook encourages shoddy screening processes, because your cred there is a function of the number of friends you have. I, for example, have so few friends that I will accept pretty much anyone. Mind you, I don't intend to run for public office.

Gary Wise has done a fine series of posts on your Facebook privacy rights and other topics re the Facebook social networking phenomenon. David Canton covers similar ground in today's LFP (and, as a free bonus, talks a little about the FreeD case). In short, however, your privacy rights on a social networking site are probably less than you thought.

NDP And Reform: Together At Last

"Joining the B.C. New Democratic Party in vowing to axe the tax is the Reform Party of B.C., who have adopted the slogan, “We ♥ CO2.”"

Also lining up behind the NDP in railing against the carbon tax are the B.C. Conservatives, who have made the issue one of the six main planks of their platform.

And another 1st: NDP policy gets a prominent write-up on IceCap, the premier Climate Change Denialist site. They must be so proud.

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.

B.C. NDP Enviro-Perfidy Pays No Polling Dividends!

"I am fricken' doomed," said B.C. NDP Leader Carole James, "So...totally...fricken...doomed!"

What Remains Of The NDP When They Abandon The Environment?

A sepia tinged photo of elderly unionistas, strumming "We Shall Overcome" on an old guitar and wearing their red berets.

In B.C., the rot is particularly advanced.