Were other conservative-minded citizens feeling a little "left-out" by Minister Flaherty's "from the Rockies to the Atlantic" gaff yesterday?
I certainly didn't appreciate it. I can't say that this was a "feel good" budget for B.C., or even Alberta.
However, I still stand by our Government because at least I didn't feel attacked and exploited like so many Liberal budgets before.
HOWEVER, my feelings are somewhat hurt and I think our Government, and certainly its Finance Minister have a "lil esplaining to do".
60 opinions/comments:
You know, I just realized that, according to Flaherty, this post has nothing to do with North Van Politics - because in his Canada, we don't exist.
I apologize to those who agree with Flaherty! :)
1.6 Billion to Quebec!
500 million to BC over 7 years!
This is what a conservative government gets us?>
Electoral reform!
Bring it on!
Electoral reform is hardly the solution to federal finance ministers buying off quebec (which is done by both the libs and cons). There will still be seats in quebec worth too many votes.
trivia question: what was the last majority government with fewer than 20 seats in quebec?
i don't know the answer, but thinking about it... I don't know if it's ever happened!
what this does have to do with north vancouver, though, is that the federal government is more interested in trying to pick up their majority in quebec than they are in bc. mr. bell can rest a little easier now.
I think Quebec gets more than $4.1 billion over the first two years.
I am so sick of Harper pandering to Quebec, he looks like he has completely sold out for majority.
Is there anything left to give to Quebec?
This is not the Conservative government I voted for. I tink it is time to join Bill Bell in Mexico. At least there I know the politics are corrupt.
Repete,
I agree that Flahety made a gaff. However, If you are going to call the pot black...Do you realize that you ignored the whole northern part of BC. The Entire peace river regions lays to the east of the Rocky Mountain. It is arguable that some 40% of BC is within the rocky mountains or lay east of them. Next time spend a few more seconds preparing your little map or study the geography of our great province a little more prior to opening your mouth.
Given the fact that the SW corner of BC has recieve lots of Federal Funding with the pending Olympics may it not be time for some of these other regions to get some federal attention rather than your cosy NV neighbourhood.
I apologize to the interior regions of BC, particularily those most affected by the Pine Beetle. For they are the ones who have been left out of this budget.
BTW. Everything has to do with NV Politics. We do not live in a vacuum.
GDNR
to lasy to log in or work apparently
Grande, I've checked two globes and an atlas and in all cases, I see that the Peace River country is WEST of the Rockies. So I think you owe RePete a bit of an apology, that is, after you do your own research on what lies where....
GDNR
If you're going to be technical, the Peace region has always wanted to be part of Alberta and would not be slighted in anyway to be left out of a map of BC.
see-more-sam
you need a better map or atlas
No, what I needed to do was better determine just where the Rockies end. So you are right, mea culpa. They are much farther north than I thought, and certainly cover a greater territory than the small section that RePete outlined in is post.
I’ve never appreciated that my fellow bloggers were such a sensitive group. And such demanding and precise geographers at that!. Personally, I didn’t even flinch when the Finance Minister described the breadth of our country stretching from the Rockies to Newfoundland. I sort of understood that he was talking about us. But maybe it’s just me.
As for the “meat and potatoes” of the budget, I’d have preferred an across the board tax reduction and leave the Provinces to raise their own monies. I’m not particularly pleased that the equalization formula now includes provincial home assessments (which means we’ll never again access these monies). That’s the single biggest reason that Quebec ends up getting so much equalization funding now. Will this “fiscal imbalance” initiative buy the Conservatives a majority. I doubt it. As for analyzing the current political entrails, and attaching some importance to North Vancouver, it’s no secret that our local ridings of North and West Vancouver are “targeted” ridings. The Conservative Party wants these ridings back. I think that the budget will play well on the North Shore. I’m still leaning toward the writ being dropped, and an election call for early June, even with the stated budget support of the BQ.
It would appear that our esteemed incumbent MP is in full election campaign mode, while the local EDA continues its chant to Conservative HQ of “let our people go!”.
I suspect that we’ll be there soon enough.
Jeez you guys - grow a skin! All this mamby-pamby "what about me" stuff is a little sickening. I assume you're all adults here? If so, knock it off already! I assumed we were included and perhaps his choice of words could have been different, but c'mon - you sound like whiners waiting for the cheque you're entitled to!
As for BC getting little and Quebec getting a lot - I consider it good news. It means our (local) economy is strong and we're finally kicking Quebec's ass. Let them be the have-not province - they could use being knocked down a few notches anyways. And then, if we're lucky, they'll get pissed, have another referendum and head off to get their own apartment and when that happens, the rest of the country will be FAR better off as we'll have all that extra $$ to put back in our own jeans.
The Conservatives who are defending this budget are absolutly hilarious...you sound like so many Liberals in the past and you have forgotten your own history of complaining about how the west was being screwed by Liberals trying to appease quebec....get real guys your arguments are pathetic, just as the Liberals were before you. BC got left behind as usual because majority government need quebec and they are willing to forget who got them there in the first place...Harper and the Conservatives suck just as bad as the previous Liberal governments...BC voters might as well get used to it...we will always be second class Canadianswhen it comes to Federal parties seeking majority governments
Yap yap yap about personalities in government...what about the issues?
I agree with Wayne. The budget will play well in the North Shore generally. If they run some good Conservative candidates, Bell and Wilson will have a run for the money.
I agree with Wayne. When I heard the Rockies, I wasn't particularly offended. Who really cares what is said in a stump speech anyways. Pine beetle help would have been extremely helpful, but its a tough sell. Lumber is at a great price and unemployment is the lowest its been, I'd personally rather see that money go into debt repayment or bringing the wage in our military above the poverty line where the Liberals left them.
Look at the map. My home town, Kimberley, is there in the East Kootenays. RePete, what did they get?
What did "my home town" of Kimberly get Wendy? They lost you to the District of North Vancouver political scene. If they want you back, give us a call, we've been trying to send you COD.
Who remembers the "northvancouverpolitics.com" post on the scientific definition of a nation, the two nation state, and its consequences for Canada following Harper's declaration in the House a few weeks ago?
In light of the comments made on the blog and in the press re the budget it might be worthwhile to reprint it.
LOL
This reminds me of my visit to London in 1998, and my trip to Canada House.
The display there said that Vancouver had a "panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains."
Ouch! And I was there on July 1.
My guess is Flaherty thought the Coastal Mountains were the Rockies. A common mistake made by Easterners.
mr x
I was in London in 1998. The "tube" was great. Too bad it doesn't work here because of the falcons. Tweet Tweet.
A lot of folks can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in Canada
~~~
Well, there's a very simple answer.
~~~
Nobody bothered to check the oil.
~~~
We just didn't know we were getting low .
~~~
The reason for that is purely geographical.
~~~
Our OIL is located in
~~~
Alberta
~~~
Newfoundland
~~~
Saskatchewan
and B.C.
~~~
.
.
Our DIPSTICKS are located in OTTAWA , ONTARIO
Obviously Wendy you don't have anything under your "hood" either.
Keep to the issues Wendy, not personalities.
Good for Wendy:
Not only does she understand Canadian politics i.e. oil but also geography.
As for the blogger who found it necessary to insult her for stating the obvious?.... more than likely he/she is working for an oil cartel hoping to get a promotion.
Such dumb remarks always look good on a resume.
Liberals are dipsticks. Right on Wendy.
Dipsticks are in Ottawa, Ontario?
I thought our MPs were elected in their respective Ridings eg. North Vancouver, by uninformed dipsticking voters.
The closer I look at the federal budget the more I have to agree with Ernie Crist on his 2 nation constitional reform proposal.
I think we could eliminate a lot of corruption in Ottawa. I say corruption because having to pay Quebec to stay in Canada sooner or later will blow up in our faces.
Wendy: Good zingers.
Anon 6:35: Maybe the dipsticks aren't the MP's, but the bureaucrats.
What's with all this geography talk? What a waste of time. What matters is where the people live and most of them don't live in the Rockies. We live here in the GVRD or in Kamloops, Prince George, or Kelowna, etc.,
Flaherty's comment is a subconcious slip that B.C. is not foremost on his mind and once again, no matter who's in office, the votes from Quebec get you elected. This is the same mentality as that of David Emerson who justifies his defection to the Conservatives as being better for the country. Once again true democracy doesn't exist here because the politicians decide, not the voters and citizens.
Right on Wendy, the Liberals are dipsticks and so are the conservatives.
Last time I saw Don Bell he was looking a little bit 'oily'(as usual).
I say bring on Ernie's 'Two Nations'.
Since we are at least on the topic of things federal;
I just got word from the VDLC that Bill C-257(federal anti-scab bill) was defeated in the house by a vote of 177-122. This is awful news and a big step backwards for working people in Canada whether union or non-union.
This is a highly unusual outcome
as the House of Commons had
previously approved the Bill
"in principle" on second reading.
However, following the second reading
vote, the business lobby really went to
town and threw up numerous objections
and lobbied heavily against the bill.
STEPHANE DION PUBLICLY OPPOSED THE BILL.
And once again the saying that
"Government is the shadow that
business casts over the community"
proved to be very true.
In BC all ten NDP MPS voted in favour of
the Bill.
All 18 BC Conservative MPS voted against the Bill
including John Cummins who supported the
Bill at second reading (in principle).
BC Liberals Keith Martin and Blair Wilson voted
against the Bill.
LiberalsSukh Dhaliwal, Don Bell, Raymond Chan,
Hedy Fry and Stephen Owen voted in favour
of the Bill while Ujjal Dosanjh was absent from
the House due to illness.
The Ernie machine, at least Bill Bell voted in favour of this bill, what do you have to say about that?
I meant Don Bell, Freudian slip.
What step backwards? It was defeated. How is the status quo a step backwards?
John Sharpe wrote: Liberals Sukh Dhaliwal, Don Bell, Raymond Chan,
Hedy Fry and Stephen Owen voted in favour
of the Bill while Ujjal Dosanjh was absent from
the House due to illness.
I, for one, am relieved that C-257 failed.
As if unions do not presently have enough power. If enacted, this would give these unions an unfair advantage over their employers.
Imagine the tables turned. Striking union members are not allowed to have other employment while they are on strike. This would be similarly unfair.
Union tactics such as striking are outdated and barbarious, and are an abuse of monopoly power. So much so that the Federal Competition Act needs to specifically address that unionization is not covered by it.
Frankly, binding arbitration is a much better solution than striking.
As is the concept of an "open workplace." If I want to work for the Federal Government, or a Railway, or any other union shop, I must join that union. Imagine if I required that all of my employees were required to, say, join my faith.
The time is long past that forced membership to unions be ended.
The defeat of C-257 is a blow for working people. For those who work under federal jurisdiction Sector, it’s a direct blow that impacts their ability to bargain effectively, and leaves the playing field that much more tilted in favour of the employers. Of course, for those workers not in unions, there is a negative impact too, because the positive momentum on the principle of banning replacement workers that would have been generated by the success of C-257 has been ended. BC and Quebec remain the only jurisdictions where this crucial legislation is in place, and with the defeat of this bill at the federal level, the impetus for other provinces to consider their own such legislation has been stifled.
I’d suggest the biggest lesson in all this is that working people need to remember who their friends are in politics. C-257 was shot down for one reason--because the Liberals who supported it through the first two readings turned their backs on it when it mattered. Bay Street and the big money power brokers behind the Liberals and Conservatives desperately wanted to see it defeated, because they knew the momentum that could be generated on its success in other provinces, and their short-sighted thinking is focused solely on making sure they can maximize profit. The NDP and the Bloc were the only parties who supported it wholeheartedly, and one has to hope that when the next federal election is called, the lesson is learned about who working people can depend on and who we can't.
John, you work in a union environment don't you, from Monday through Friday, eight in the morning til four-thirty in the afternoon? Is this your day off?
Most of your contributions to this blog have been done after hours, but the two above are date and time stamped during your employer's company time, but your 22 minute coffee break. Is it permissible to use company equipment (computer, internet connection) to do your homework?
Remember what has happened on the political scene because "BS" "CAPS", who has been alledgely caught using City of North Vancouver computers to lambast her opponents during an election.
You maybe hot under the collar about C-257, but I would be hot under the collar if a taxpayer employee was using my money to........
"Bay Street and the big money power brokers behind the Liberals and Conservatives...
Can you explain this in light of the $1000 donation limit?
John stuffs grocery bags for a living....I don't think he has access to a computer at work.
John's lack of an impressive career or of any professional background is why he will not get elected to Council.
He can keep his Union and all that it provides him because that's all that he has going for him.
Ha , ha ha, you guys are a joke.
I don;t "stuff bags" for a living. I run a bakery department. It's a day off for me, and I work on Sat. and Sunday, so what do you know?
So sad to hear someone say that you have to be "a professional" to be elected. Professional at what and by what standard? There is no degree in B.C. for being a politician. What you need is a concern for your community and the people living in it.
What is so wrong with an average working class person being elected to office? Maybe, just maybe I would be more in touch with the tax squeesed district resident and I have a good grasp of local issues.
Thank you very much.
You never mentioned that you ran the bakery department during the last election... Why is that?
If you are a Union Worker, you don't "run" anything, that role is taken care of by management.
Just because you are the senior donut maker because everyone else that you have worked with over the decades have long since left to make something of themselves, leaving you to be the senior guy on shift is not anything that should instill the confidence of voters when it comes to selecting those to govern our municipality.
John, you finished way near the bottom in the last election for a reason. Go out and make something of yourself, more than just glazing donuts and then we make consider you worthy of a council seat.
This is me, John Sharpe
Without the donut makers, management is nothing.
a few Provincial MLAs credentials
Mr. Abbott was a political science instructor at Okanagan University College . He also owned the oldest and largest berry farm in the Interior
Robin Austin has a B.A. from Strathclyde University in Scotland as well as a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Northern BC.
Harry Bains was an elected officer of Steelworkers-IWA Canada local 2171 for over fifteen years. He served most recently as Vice president of his local, where he led negotiations and engaged in bargaining for better working conditions for working people.
Rich Coleman ran a real estate management and consulting company. He is also a former member of the RCMP and a security specialist.
Daniel Jarvis was involved in the real estate and construction industries. He also worked in the general insurance industry for ten years.
Ms. Whittred was a secondary teacher.
Mr. Campbell attended public school in Vancouver. After graduating he received a scholarship to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He worked his way through university in the dining hall and as the associate to the secretary of the college, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree. He later received a Master's of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University.
He was a secondary school teacher, basketball and track coach in Yola, Nigeria, working under the auspices of CUSO. He then became an assistant to former Vancouver mayor Art Phillips. From 1976 to 1981, he worked with Marathon Realty, where he became general manager of development. In 1981, he founded Citycore Development Corporation.
PS Art Phillips wife, Carol Taylor, is now the Finance Minister.
A South American scientist, after a lengthy study, has discovered that people who have insufficient sexual activity read their NorthVancouverPolitics.com blog with their hand on the mouse.
Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late...
As usual you know soooo well how to become personal and not stick to the issues.
" Go out and make something of yourself,..." ???????????
I meaure my success by the quality of my relationships with people, not by my education, possessions or my career.
Obviously you have a different set values.
Anon 4:19 PM,
Thank you for reminding me of my outdated May 2005 Green Party candidacy website profile.
I have been planning on updating it for awhile.
Anon March 23, 2007 2:40:00 PM and March 23, 2007 4:17:00 PM,
My goodness you love to judge don't you? I seldom agree with John, and definitely don't about his union slant, but I hope I never descend to your lack of civility.
What's wrong with being a baker? Or a street cleaner? Many would argue that a white collar worker contributes less to our community.
I know plenty of people with degrees who are incredibly senseless, or worse, and a great many people without degrees who have wisdom.
Are you one of those? I doubt it if you jump into the Wendy pit so easily. How about you give us your name so we can be sure never to vote for you?
Hey John - I am so sorry that there is one person on this blog who has to be so nasty and negative. They do not even have the guts to give their real name.
I hope you are proud of the fact that you are working and probably doing something that you love. I can also see that you are very passionate about the enviornment. I may not agree with everything you say, but I respect that you say what you believe.
As for all the "professionals" out there - they are the mean reason our planet is getting destroyed so fast. Do they care? Not a bit, somehow their "professional jobs, wealth, and toys" are going to save them from everything.
Keep up the good work
John, would you be willing to support and promote Sue Cook as a Green Party candidate?
No - John Sharpe does not want to do that.
John, who are some of the possible candidates that are being approached to run for the Green Party? Have you heard any names being mentioned?
Sue,
Thank you very much for your thoughts.
And that thank you for answering that question for me.
This is NOT to say I wouldn't be supportive of you if you were a candidate.
Anon 4:15 pm,
No, I am sorry I have not heard any names being dropped for GP candidacy locally. Get in touch with Claudia Cornwall, she may be more up to speed.
Sue, that sounds like an offer by John Sharpe to be your campaign manager....it wouldn't hurt for the two of you to chat.
Anon 10:37 pm,
That sounds like a compliment but please don't put words in my mouth.
Sue, if you want to chat for any reason I think you have my contact info.
no means no means no means no means no means no means no.................
Sue have you seen page 12, I think, in the book called "What colour is your parachute"? Each year a new edition comes out, but on that one page its filled with "No!" from top to bottom. But its the last line that say "YES!!!!". We're not talking politics when we are busy colouring your parachute, its looking for a job.
The book is available in your local library.
In response to the trivia question, Borden's 1917 government got 3 seats in Quebec.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_federal_election%2C_1917
Admittedly 1917 was not exactly a normal federal election!
Wikipedia is not really a great source but you are correct.
Fun ads today as the Newfie takes revenge on Harper. I wonder how Harper likes being on the wrong end of a national negative ad campaign? If you can’t fool a Newfie there must be something obviously wrong with the budget…
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