Saturday, December 4, 2010

An Open Letter to All NDP Members

2001......77 BC Liberals and 2 lone NDP members in Victoria, Jenny Kwan and Joy McPhail, fast ferries and a $60 million dollar fudget budget and a once pit bull media reduced the ndp to a mere 2 seats......

I don`t believe any party should have had that much power, Gordon Campbell refused to recognize the lone two ndp members on the other side as official opposition, Campbell feeling embolden acted omnipotent, fired 9000, gifted our BC Rail Line away, removed BC Ferries from scrutiny and used them like an ATM machine,  they call it a private corporation, give BC Ferries a debenture with which BC Ferries use to borrow over $500 million dollars for general revenue, that and notorious bills to strip rights from towns, slowly all freedom of information is being stifled, friends of the premier like Patrick Kinsella being paid from all sides while the BC Political corruption scandal over BC Rail started to brew and fester....BC Hydro was prohibited from building any new power generation all while hundreds of water licenses were granted for pocket change to BC Liberal insiders...

Jenny and Joy fought like pit bulls, having to do estimate debates for every ministry, a corrupt Campbell Government felt untouchable, Gordon Campbell changed early, every promise he made in his election campaign was broken, on expanded gambling, transparancy, open Government, fiscal responsibilty, promises of respecting contracts and not selling assets and Campbell broke all of those and lied from the very git go, ......And yes, Carole James was nominated by Jenny Kwan for leader of the NDP in 2003 and was the right choice going into the 2005 election, .....So much damage was already  done to our province by 2005, hospitals, schools, court houses, prisons, cut, closed, eliminated and the people were mad and Carole James was fresh,  appeared intelligent and honest,  middle of the road sensibilities but she never.....

She never really sparked lightning, the ndp rallied back in 2005 to 32 seats, power  and strength returned to traditional ndp territory, in other words, the BC Liberals showed their face, their tactics, Campbell was no panacea but a omnipotent dictator who set in motion brutal policies and those of us who recognized the danger quickly returned to the ndp and it was the BC Liberals themselves that brought the ndp back to respectable status and not Carole James but never-the-less as a party, as a group Carole James was given the reins for four more years to grow the party.

Cost overruns in the $hundreds of million on the Canada line, $hundreds of millions more on the convention center, BCFerries broke, BC rail still winding it`s way through a now warped  court, election gag laws, freedom of information reduced to a crawl, user fees up, on parks, MSP premiums, carbon tax, Translink digging for billions in property taxes and fees, corruption and cost overruns on everything and...


And as I watched the BC Legislature with the new invigorated 32 members of the NDP, thousands of questions asked on BC Rail, on Translink, on stripping rights from towns, questions on fish farms, questions on everything and the answers given from all BC Liberals were....Fast ferries, doom and gloom of the 90s, fudget budget, for 4 more years with a complicit legislative media(Sean Leslie, Keith Baldrey, Les Leyne, Tom Fletcher) laughed and tee heed about the Campbell Liberals refusing to answer any questions in Question period with anything but Fast Ferries, doom and gloom of the 90s, and three or more "stock answers"  to every single question!  No friends, the media didn`t care, Keith Baldrey and Sean Leslie`s wives working with  Campbell`s public affairs bureau, confilct of interest in media was ignored, the separation from Government and media was broken, the quality of news and reporting of facts by Vaughn Palmer, Baldrey, and Sean Leslie was amateurish at best,  corrupt and illegal ommissions at worst, I call out all of them to debate  facts versus fiction ......Vaughn Palmer, Baldrey, Sean Leslie, Les Leyne and their Canwest /Corus bosses broke the rules of ethics and honesty and lived their new life in the pockets of the BC Liberals and they should be stripped of any journalistic credentials they might hold, Michael Campbell, Michael Levy, all conected together, Global news, Shaw, CKNW...CKNW had one person represnting the left, Bill Tieleman on Monday with Norman Specter, and when the HST petition got rolling they dumped Bill Tieleman and planted Monte Paulson as a rep for the left, what a sad piece of mush Monte Paulson turned out to be, all he does is bob his head and agree with Norman on everything, sad pathetic radio..........That`s funny, Journalistic credentials, none of those media mentioned could stand in front of me with a Straight face and tell me they played it square and didn`t promote the BC Liberal`s every position and ignore if not endorse the scandals.........That won`t change folks, the media will assault the NDP with venom never seen before when the writ drops...In fact Ida Chong has already been asked to remove an anti-HST ad she`s running on the island, Ms. Chong is claiming the NDP are secretly running recall in an attempt to re-fight the election...A formal complaint has been filed.


The dissedents, I hate that word, dissedent should mean 1 (one).....When 40% of a group opposes the word dissedent shouldn`t apply, the word "faction" should be used, never-the-less....These dissedents, Nicholas Simons, a gentle kind man who cares more about children, disabled, mentally handi-capped,  I have met Nicholas on several occasions, his priority is the well being of children, if you could clone hearts for future use, I would start with Nicholas Simon`s heart...A puppy dog of a man with a beautiful soul....Ms. Conroy, I have heard her many times in the Legislature , crying foul over river destruction and the stripping of town rights, last session, Ms. Conroy in question period asked questions of Kevin Falcon(then health minister)....She asked about the closure of their local emergency room and other medical access questions that were having devastating effects on her town, on her constituents.....


Only to be brought to tears in the Legislature when Kevin Falcon started talking about fast ferries in the 90s and Glen Clark, this was 2010, Ms. Conroy asked empassioned questions on emergency health care in question period in 2010 and Falcon answered with garbage from the 90s, ten damn years ago and when Ms Conroy asked follow up questions the same thing happened, this performance in the Legislature has been going on for 9 years with nary a peep from the media......This my friends is one of the so-called dissedents(Faction for democracy)......Did Keith Baldrey or Sean Leslie report on Kevin Falcon laughing and making light of seniors dying in closed hospitals, no friends, the silence of Baldrey and Leslie`s reporting was...."deafening".....This has been going on for years, I have never seen Carole James cry in the Legislature, she has asked and demanded answers from a Corrupt Gordon Campbell Government, but for whatever reasons she`s ignored with impunity,  if Gordon Campbell refuses to answer questions in the legislature then walk out, take your questions to the people DAMN IT!....


I personally sent Carole James a letter asking her and the NDP party to walk out of the legislature and refuse to sit if questions in 2010 aren`t answered with facts about today and not bullshit media spin about fast ferries and events in the 90s, Campbell opens and closes the people`s house at will so why not walk out when it`s open, make a statement, scream loud and often from people`s pulpit....The BC Legislature has turned into the joke of Canada and the media laughed and giggled while sucking taxpayer paid lunches with Ida Chomp chomp Chong and have allowed this now normal procedure of obfuscation to grow and fester....


Dissedents ....Like Gary Coons,...A man who responded to all of my email questions, whose concerns were protecting rate-payers who use the coastal ferry as a daily highway, Gary talked to me, all my letters to Carole James were ignored, I am not going to go through each dissedent one by one, none of that faction have leadership ambitions, their care, their concern is for the Province and more importantly the poor children of B.C, a growing demographic....

For there is no such thing as effective opposition, we have a dictorial system, for without the rein`s of power the dismantling of our Province will continue, a stronger performance coming up short won`t cut it, will your apology to the people suffice Carole James when you lose the next election?


Carole James flip-flopped on the Port Mann bridge, flipped on the carbon tax, MLA pay raises, the Campbell media and public affairs had defined Carole already as  a flip-flopper, indicisive, a weak leader, Carole James mopped the floor with Gordon Campbell in both the 2005 and 2009 television leaders debate yet......Yet it did nothing, CKNW and Bill Good and his Gordon Campbell radio team used radio silence and trickery to embarrass Carole James this last election, Marc Jaccard, the Fraser institute, Phil Hocstein, the restaurant industry, everyone came out against Carole James with lies and false labels, they attacked her on the minimum wage, on policy, even the enviro`s like David Suzuki, Tzeporah Berman jumped into the BC Liberal`s pockets for indirect donations and bribes. .....The labels stuck, Carole didn`t debunk the slow drip of propaganda on radio, on TV, again I emailed Carole James asking, demanding that she monitor radio and T.V.  and call in to dispute the lies, she ignored my advice and as such......She was defined as weak, flip-flopping, indicisive........... Was the NDP platform and defence of its record left to me only to defend, one powell river persuader, one Grant G, one Brian G who brow beat Bill Good and the Friday stooges week after week with facts, using BC Liberal shame to embarrass them every time, with skill, with the truth....In fact I was so damn effective on air that Gordon Campbell asked Corus radio and Nick Ozinsky to keep Brian from Garden bay off the air.....Bring on this blog......Flock you stooges, your courage and honesty will never match mine....You rely on power and lies, how can you stooges look it the mirror without vomiting?

Gordon Campbell lied going into our last election, lied on the HST, the massive $4 billion dollar deficit, the media stooges peddled Campbell`s obvious budget lies right through the election, Baldrey and Leslie`s wife got their bonus money, the stooge`s bosses got their advertisement money, journalism died in this Province,......

And when the public freaked out about the HST and deficit lie, when the people raged at Colin Hansen and Campbell, when Campbell and Hansen made utter fools out of themselves lying everyday, changing their lies every other week, with Bill Good and Christy Clark changing their lying spin everyday, a shameful display worthy of this persuader calling them out, fat lazy Bill good, a lying Cluckster, store bought stooges in Les Leyne, Baldrey, Sean Leslie....You paid employees know the script, you know what lies to peddle.

So what does Carole do....Nothing, she allows the Vander Zalm to take the reins, when asked month after month about the HST  and what she and the NDP party would do about it, she never ever clarified, it was like pulling teeth, "were stuck with it, it might be costly to get out of, we will ask the Federal Government, we will get out in 5 years"....Carole waffled, hesitated and to this day she hasn`t made it clear to the general public.....Meanwhile Gordon Campbell is hated, the BC Liberals are hated, Colin Hansen and Gordon Campbell will be joining the Hall of Fame for liars!

So for 18 months Carole James has wandered around in a daze, the BC Liberals are polling in the toilet bowl and the NDP numbers frozen at 42%.....The same amount who voted for them in the last election....

If you can`t attract  members or angry BC Liberals to your team with the public screaming bloody murder something is severely wrong!

So now public anger has settled down a little bit, the BC Liberals are dominating the airwaves with a planned slow drip leadership campaign with everyone of the BC Liberal candidates and the media pounding on the NDP, and when the "Faction for democracy"  spoke up and asked quietly for Carole to move on, the media......

The Sean Leslie, Baldrey, Palmer, Les Leyne, the Vancouver Sun and Province editorial boards  cried out in defence of Carole James and called the party stupid for doing this......

And if the media think they are fooling anyone with their temporary love for Carole James...Well, we ain`t buying it and.....

Political Science 101...."Genies can`t be put back in the bottle", Carole James was defined as a ":Weak leader, a flip-flopper, indecisive, no management skills"  and that was before this latest revolt!....After this internal revolt against Carole James, her own party have called her all of the above and more, Ms. James has.."No direction, dictorial, she can`t win, she can`t lead,"......Add the Moe Sihota big labour connection and it`s game over.....Look folks, the big labour thing is moot, what`s the difference between a union giving the NDP a few bucks and Tesako mines giving the BC Liberals millions....None at all except for one thing, the paid media stooges will bury Carole and Moe Sihota over it....

So now the ads will run come the next election dragging Carole and Moe through the mud, Carole will be called weak leader, a flip-flopper, no plan for the HST, in bed with big labour, there will be ads running using quotes from Jenny Kwan, Bob Simpson, Nicholas Simons, the ads will state...."Carole James is so weak her own party won`t vote for her"

Political science 101----"Genies can`t be put back in bottles once released"

So regardless of what Carole James may say and do this weekend, the game is over, there must be a full leadership contest, the NDP backroom players must realize that Moe Sihota and his union stipend must go, the optics must change, the rumour of secret labour deals for unions will be rife........ A leadership contest must go forward, anything short of that will be another decade in the wilderness! We have to be honest with ourselves, the lay of the land is such we know the personal attacks are coming at Carole, we must be proactive rather than reactive...


Picture this scenario.....At the same time the BC Liberals are having their leadership contest the NDP also have a leadership contest....The leadership contest to start this Monday and run until Febuary 26th weekend/2010....So when the BC Liberals announce their new leader the NDP on the same weekend after a one member one vote contest announce their leader and both parties start fresh, the NDP with new gusto, united, focused..... The BC Liberals with their all-guilty by association, all voted with Campbell, all standing firm with campbell`s directions and policies.....I like our chances!

The game would be over...Welcome to the legislature NDP....Congratulations.......Now damn it, protect and help the children!!

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

12 comments:

Malcolm Johnston - Light Rail Committee said...

For over 10 years, the Light Rail Committee and for over 3 years, the Rail for the Valley group have tried to get the NDP on board with light rail.

At this point I would like to point out that only Vancouver builds with SkyTrain/light-metro in North Emerica and Europe, as almost everyone else builds with light rail.

All we have got back from Carole James's NDP has been tepid vasillation, if we got any response at all.

Now the Rail for the Valley group have a independant comprenesive transportation plan, from a qualified transit planner for the Fraser Valley and the respnse from the NDP is "nada".

We know that Harcourt and McPhail were/are anti LRT (Bombardier Inc. plays both sides of the coin), but James has done nothing and continues to do nothing.

James must go and the NDP must refrain from their dismal rhetoric and start looking 3 minutes into the future.

If James refuses to leave then the entire NDP caucus must resign from the NDP party and sit as independants, Leaving James as the lone and pitiful leader wannabe she has now become.

The NDP must think for the future of BC, which is something Ms. James just can't do.

istvan said...

Right on!Grant or Gary(as they know onCKNW)I agree with you,check your blood presure.Slow down.We have to last a while!

Anonymous said...

I think I heard CJ say that she supports moving up the HST referendum to June.

Pitiful. We want the HST GONE Carole. Where have you been?

Anonymous said...

Grant, I've been a hardcore NDP supporter all my life since the 60's working with the NDP in Gibsons trying to defeat Isabelle Dawson and the Socreds. I now cannot support the NDP with Carol James at the helm of the NDP because I am now ashamed of how far they have strayed from the values of the party that I was proud to help. I also remember when Jenny and Joy were the only people fighting for those values day after day against the corrupt Liberals so I have to say that I admire Jenny as a fighter for social justice and when she has something to say I take her for her word and would vote for her anytime.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, that is the straight goods, well said.

Paul said...

STATEMENT FROM B.C. NDP CAUCUS CHAIR KATHY CORRIGAN

For Immediate Release
Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010

VANCOUVER – Kathy Corrigan, acting chair of the B.C. New Democrat caucus,released the following statement today:

"The New Democrat caucus meeting planned for 4 p.m. today has been postponed. Time is being given for private discussions to ensure that the clear direction set by our leader and our party is followed: to unite and offer British Columbians a positive progressive alternative in the next election."

http://www.scribd.com/doc/44715156/Statement-from-B-C-NDP-caucus-chair-Kathy-Corrigan
-------
And there you go.

Carole James tried to bluff and at the last minute folded her hand.

That is NOT leadership.

"Private discussions"?

"The clear direction set by our leader"?

Give us all a break.

Jenny Kwan:"Whenever a challenging policy decision arises, often the default position is to avoid taking a stand."

Carole James obviously proved Jenny Kwan correct today.

Carole James is not capable of making the tough decisions and she refuses to step aside for someone who can.

Anonymous said...

How I would love to see this write up from you Grant on the front of every B.C. newspaper.

What a hope eh?
Wonder if a paper would print it - with your signature of course?
Your journalism is just fantastic and spot on as usual.
You have yourself a good day now.

A new reader

Anonymous said...

Old story.

Just after Carole was selected as party leader (and my partner was one who voted for her) there was a labour dispute. A large corporation in BC.
They brought in scabs from back east, Europe, the U.S. Illegal of course (federal jurisdiction). They also had goon squads.

Individual NDP MLA's were trying to help us. But not a peep from Carole; nothing even though the union involved had donated thousands to the NDP over the years. She apparently didn't want to be seen as supporting labour over the employer.

Unless labour pays Moe Sihota's salary. In secret. That's OK.

Anyways, not a penny from this household to provincial since Carole refused to offer any assistance of any kind or even one word of support. Enabling an employer that violates labour laws and then phoning and asking for money is more than a bit much.

I'll give the party money again when she's gone. It won't be soon enough.

Anonymous said...

"what`s the difference between a union giving the NDP a few bucks and Tesako mines giving the BC Liberals millions...."
One difference is that all those union members live right here in BC and most of the money they make stays right here in BC.
But who controls the government when often foreign corporations make the biggest contributions to political parties? That's right, foreign corporations control your government. And they will until BC is one big economic basket case and then they will leave us holding a bag of tree stumps and empty mines. Something better change here...

bgreen said...

thank you for your engaging view on the current situation, I share your view about a new leader, and a renewed ndp being elected. The public needs to know who are the able and perhaps personable potential new ndp leaders. Lets get excited about alternatives to the same old liberals. Curious to hear who you would put on the list.
Another blog had interesting profiles of the fledgling faction, you say none of them are interested in leadership?

Anonymous said...

I had watched the House of Commons. A motion was passed by the entire house to give...Banks, mines, large corporations, gas and oil company's, billions of our tax dollars. They also get huge tax reductions. And, as big business are bottomless pits of greed, they all lined up at the trough, squealing for the HST as well. Canada is a very corrupt country. Is there a political party that would clean up the corruption, I really doubt it. I guess, when the corruption becomes more than the tax payers ability to pay, the country crashes. Have we not seen this happen to other country's? Corruption kills, and that is what happened to BC. Corruption is out of control, under Campbell's regime. The election lie, the BCR wasn't for sale. Our rivers thieved and sold. The HST wasn't on Campbell and Hansen's radar. Corrupt courts, corrupt judges, corrupt RCMP. The BC people have has a steady diet of, lies, deceit and cheating, because, of the BC Liberals. Where in the hell does anyone start to clean up this putrid mess?

Crankypants said...

This dog and pony show we have witnessed regarding the BC NDP should be laid at the feet of the NDP's provincial council. When Gordo won the last election last year, they should have automatically invoked a leadership review. The writing was on the wall. Carole would always be an also-ran. She did all she could do, but she had reached her limit.

If they had held a leadership review cxhances are that Carole would have had to reaffirm the party's support by competing again to hold her position.

We all know that she declared she would lead the party into the next election, and not a peep from anyone within the party ranks. I suspect that many of the members in the various ridings were hearing a lot of negative things about Carole's leadership and passed this information onto either other members of the party or their respective MLAs. Either way, this information was ignored or dismissed as fiction.

As things turned out, it got to the point that the only way to bring things to a head was to have some members of the NDP caucus force the issue. The rest is history.

Cam