It's official! According to The Province, NV Lonsdale is a battle-ground riding.
Harris, definitely a recognizable name... will that tip the scales to the NDP? The article raises a pertinent point though.. " voters may still bear a grudge for her handling of the 2005 mudslide".
Ms. Harris seems to have always "championed" environmental causes, but with Carol James committing to axe the carbon tax, will that leave Harris out in the woods?
Did she pick the right party here? Maybe she would have a better chance running for the first Green Party MLA-seat....?
Here's the question... "my Costco re-usable shopping bags have a plastic coating.... what tax will they get Janice?".
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Election Issue #2 - NV Lonsdale; #7 on the Watch List
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25 opinions/comments:
Altruistically speaking, she should have run for the Greens but she's running for the party that gives her a stab at winning. Your right, there could be perceived conflicts such as the carbon tax and probably others issues too.
The plastax is garbage. An outright ban on petroleum plastic bags is the answer.
"The plastax is garbage."
Yes, the same could be said for the carbon tax -- how about an all out ban on Liberal "hot air". Vote NDP!
Here's a green issue for you that Janice as an environmentalist and now NDPer can support.
RAFE MAIR ON VOTING FOR THE NDP
---------------
Hi Everybody, Rafe here.
I received an email from a man saying that he has a tough
time bringing himself to vote NDP and asked for my comment and here it is. I
hope you find it of interest.
Please pass this on to your address book so that we can
provide information where the media will not.
Let me take a moment to answer your question which is one
that has troubled a lot of people including myself.
When I was in government (1975-80) I was Minister, first,
for Consumer and Corporate Affairs. During that time I passed more consumer
legislation than anyone before or since including licensing Car dealers
(with six of them in caucus setting their collective hair on fire) forced
the Banks to acknowledge and obey BC laws for the first time, forced serious
reporting changes to the Vancouver Stock Exchanges for which they have never
forgiven me, licensed Travel Agents and made them create a fund to bring
home passengers stranded by bankrupt charter companies and so on. As Environment Minister I stopped the government killing of
wolves, stopped exploration for and mining of uranium and went to Seattle
and negotiated the saving of the Skagit River from a raising of the Ross Dam
which Seattle was permitted to do under a 1941 deal with the BC government.
As Minister of Health I brought in the Homecare program and
Palliative Care.
I tell you all these things because there is no way in the
world I could have ever done these things for the public of BC had Gordon
Campbell been Premier.
The political ground has shifted dramatically and the
present day version of the old Socreds is, I think, the party Carole James
leads. I know that there are supporters of Ms James that are hard line
lefties just as when I was with Bill Bennett there were supporters and
indeed members of Caucus who were near fascists. That sort of thing will
always happen in a two party system.
If it were 1975 all over again, I'd support Bill Bennett
(the best premier BC ever had, in my view); in 2009 I will support Carole
James.
Now as to the point that Campbell "cleaned up the mess".
Perhaps, but let's be fair and observe that the NDP were struck by the
"Asian 'flu" and in fact balanced the budget in their last year. It's also
interesting to note that under the Liberals the Vancouver Convention Centre
is over budget $400 million, more than double the cost of the "fast
ferries". For a fuller account of the Liberals financial record may I refer
you to my forthcoming article, next Monday, in http://www.thetyee.ca/ .
Now let's look at 2009. This election, for me, boils down to
a single issue - the environment and the plans by Campbell to deface and
destroy the province I was born in and love and where 7 out of 8 of my
grandchildren live. The energy policy, in which no one but industry had a
hand in formulating, will ruin an ever increasing number of rivers, not to
look after BC's energy needs, but mostly, American requirements, I have
nothing against Americans and in fact have often been accused of being tolenient with them, but I don't want to see us sacrifice our environment
rivers so they can preserve theirs. This policy is government by the North
America Free Trade Agreement and our experts tell us three things-
1. Once an American company has access to our water for any
reason, it can use it for any reason Including selling bulk water exports.
2. Once an American company has tenure on a Canadian water
and is using it, that tenure cannot be terminated either by contract or
legislation.
3. Once we are exporting energy, we cannot reduce that
supply to the US without reducing our own usage by a similar amount (this is
the "Proportionality Clause").
Moreover, the profits which BC Hydro now pays into our
treasury will go as dividends to shareholders of Companies like General
Electric, Ledcor and Axos. BC Hydro, forced by this government to pay huge
amounts for energy that they can't even break even with when they sell it,
will bankrupt BC Hydro for which we paid a high environmental price 45 years
ago but which has since then given us regular power at 1/10th the cost they
pay in California. Dr Marvin Shaffer at SFU calls this new businesstechnique "buy high, sell low"!
If Campbell is returned we will be, like Bre'r Rabbit, stuck
to the American Tar Baby.
There is but one other choice, vote NDP.
But will this not mean the financial ruination of the
province?
I don't believe so for a moment. But let us assume for the
sake of argument an NDP government made a balls up of the economy. That can
be repaired by a new government. However, once we have established the
Campbell Energy Plan for another four years that will be the end of BC Hydro
and the end of hundreds of rivers. FOREVER.
I cannot allow that to happen without giving it the fight of my life.
I, a former Socred minister, with the same core values I had
then, am supporting and will vote for Carole James.
Sincerely,
Rafe
THe difference between the fast cat ferries and the convention center with respect to costs is that the convention center has given us a usable asset while the bc ferries fiasco has given the tax payer SFA.
The Fast Ferries were the wrong boat style for the routes they were supposed to be for.
Glen Clark should have killed the project when that was known at the early stages, but his advisors told him the benefits of setting up an aluminum welding shipyard would far outweigh the cost for the Fast cats.
The bottom line for the ridiculous comparison is that the Pacificat Ferries cost $150 million/vessel but they sold for $6.5 million/vessel. That's just plain embarrassing. Despite the overruns on the convention centre, it will make money eventually, and if you wanted to sell it, you could probably cut almost all of your losses and still have the asset in the city to generate revenue for the city.
There is simply no-comparison.
"Voters may still bear a grudge for her handling of the 2005 mudslide."
Do not vote for Janice Harris. She has neither competence or integrity.
She was out of her depth in dealing with the aftermath of the 2005 mudslide and (appropriately) stepped down as Mayor of the District in the 2005 municipal election to let someone more capable take over.
She displayed a complete lack of integrity in dealing with the Van Insberghe fiasco. As Mayor, she publicly promised that the District would buy Ms. Van Insberghe's property (with the Province paying the cost,as it did for the other properties impacted by the slide), but never followed through. Had she done what she promised to do, she would have saved Ms. Van Insberghe four years of unnecessary grief and District taxpayers about $2 million in settlement costs and lawyers' bills.
By any measure, Naomi Yamamoto is a far more appropriate representative for North Vancouver-Lonsdale than Janice Harris.
Who is Mussatto backing?
I've always found Mussatto to be in that sweet spot politically speaking (a true Liberal -- who is a tad left of his NDP friends, but isn't afraid to get things done with the BC Liberals).
I think that Mussatto's endorsement will propel one or the other to victory in Lonsdale. Afterall, Mussatto owns Lonsdale... from the Queensdale Market to Lonsdale Quay.
Yamamoto has political communications experts Barry Forward and Tim Morrison running her campaign while Harris's campaign is being run by an NDP party hack, Sam Schechter, who was rejected by voters in the last municipal election. Yamamoto will win.
I hope you're right. Too bad I can't vote for her. I get to support Jane, the Jumping School Trustee (if I decide to, that is).
Who is Mussatto backing? Bookham and Keating are both backing Harris. Interesting alliance there.
from earlier post: "She was out of her depth in dealing with the aftermath of the 2005 mudslide and (appropriately) stepped down as Mayor of the District in the 2005 municipal election to let someone more capable take over."
Are you kidding? Janice didn't decide anything. Up until just before her "decision" to not run for mayor again, she was telling everyone very emphatically that of course, she was running for Mayor. The writing was on the wall for her when she was told that the group behind her for the previous mayoralty run was going to put their money and support and names behind Walton. She knew she could not win the Mayor's chair again, so she cut her losses to stay on council.
Janice Harris is an opportunist. She proves it again.
Has anyone else noticed that it is clearly the Sam Schecter and Craig Keating campaign to get the NDP elected in Lonsdale? Harris hasn't been making the public statements, its been all tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum.
Don't they trust their candidate to stand on her own two feet? Back off and let her sink or swim.
Actually, the difference between the convention centre and the fast cats is that the fast cats cost less in total than the budget over-run on the convention centre alone.
You Liberals shouldn't bash Schecter too hard. Yamamoto talks openly about having voted for him in the municipal elections and about her disappointment at his loss.
Naomi Yamamoto's replies to Vancouver Sun:
She earns between $75,000 - $102,000.00 per year
Her top three priorities are:
1) Economy
2) Job Creation
3) Enviornment
She thinks the Health care in this area is adequate.
She agrees with the needle exchange program (which will NOT be taking place in my apartment!)
She agrees there should be more services for the mentally ill and the addicted.
She thinks the 2010 Olympics will benefit this region
She believes in P3 programs
She think there should be priorities for a balanced Provincial budget
She thinks the local police force does provide adequate services.
She also bhinks the court system is adequate.
She believes the present Liberal government is doing enough to protect the enviornment.
She agrees with the Fraser Institute school survey.
She believes the Social Workers are keeping vulnerable children safe.
She thinks the Province relationship with the First Nations is good.
Sue Cook
Holy crap! Naomi really is a neophyte, those answers are far too honest to gain votes in NV Lonsdale.
Health care in this area adequate but admits to better services needed for the addicted and the mentally ill. Has she not read anything in the North Shore News about the woefully inadequate psychiatric ward at Lion's Gate?
Oh yeah right, she sat on the federal budget group that suggested film studios rather than upgrades to this ward at Lion's Gate.
Local police force and court system adequate.
I guess the status quo gang warfare is fine for the lower mainland too.
What benefits will NV/Lonsdale see from the 2010 Olympics?
Fraser Institute ranking of schools is acceptable when most educators agree that is is detrimental to education in this province? Does she know what "teaching to the test" is all about and how much opportunity for learning is lost in this exercise?
Does she understand what it takes to raise a few kids on her annual salary or worse half of it?
What is Janice's position on these issues?
Worse...
Janice Harris (Sun Candidates suvey)
Her reason for running:
1) Wilderness protection
2) Child poverty and youth issues
3) Putting people first
Issues:
1) Enviornment
2) Affordable housing
3) Seniors Care
Health care system adequate - NO
Needle exchange program a good idea - YES
More services for the mentally ill and addicted - YES
2010 games benefit my community - NO
Do you agree with P3 programs - NO
Province should focus on running a balanced budget - NO
Police have adequate resources - NO
Court system has adequate resources - NO
BC is doing enough for the enviornment - NO
Fraser Institute report card is good - NO
Province relationship with First Nations good - NO
Sue Cook
sorry forgot one -
Enough social workers keeping vulnerable children safe - NO
Sue Cook
Typical NDP - lots of costly ideas but not particularly realistic about paying for them. Just confirms what I've been saying for years. There is no perfect political party, you just have to pick the one that chafes you the least.
For me, the NDP is one huge rash...pass the zincofax...
Zincofax?!? Holy old medication Batman, who is this boomer?
Zincofax? You'll need more than that after being fleeced by the Liberals for four more years. I'm supporting the candidate I feel is the most grounded, honest and willing to listen to her constituents - not just tow the party line. I am supporting Janice Harris - she seems real to me and she appears to be listening and gets that things aren't so rosy in the province and in our City. Liberal retoric I can get every day - we're spoon fed it daily in the newspapers and t.v. and then we are handed the bill for it. I've had enough of it!!! Look at our streets, our schools, our hospitals and neighbourhoods, we need change.
How does Janice protect wilderness by running in NV-Lonsdale?
It's not like there's much wilderness there. If THAT was her interest she should have run in Seymour (where she lives) or West Vancouver!
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