Updated March 22/2018.......as written below, everything I said has come true...any shred of the BC NDP pre-election 2017 is now gone.....Horgan sold out the province and the people....Horgan gave the LNG industry PST exemption(read HST in a new form)..how long til all industry demands a HST tax regime....Horgan exempted LNG industry from the carbon tax....Horgan also removed BC's LNG taxation framework...a tax that started at 7%....then BC Liberals slashed that tax to 1.5%....Today John Horgan slashed that taxrate to ZERO %.....and with $billions in unclaimed(as of yet) deep-well drilling credits.....Corporate welfare on steroids....we have officially entered into the Australian like LNG taxation zone....meaning BC we never see any revenue from LNG......and with that...adios BC NDP....hope some of you cross the floors, I'd hate to see all you MLAs look like word salad idiots and Party Root sellouts....do any of you NDP MLAS have any honour, morals or backbone...Probably not!....
It's far worse people...because today in Ottawa(March 22nd 2018) several northern BC Mayors pleading for the federal Government, pleading to Trudeau to REMOVE IMPORT DUMPING DUTIES ON ASIAN STEEL COMPONENTS....because as you know, LNG Canada is having the entire natural gas liquefaction plant built in S Korea and barged to B.C.....along with Korean workers to reassemble what THEY built....that's how it is done....so, Trudeau has Horgan by the balls....Horgan begging to remove import duties....Trudeau wanting Horgan to get out of the way of Kinder Morgan....this is a twofer, and it's coming.....Horgan has already made a deal with Trudeau...here it is....(BC Government after studying Ottawa's and industry's spill response have determined that Kinder Morgan's pipeline expansion is safe to proceed) ...Horgan will boast.. that in return he got import duties removed too...
http://northcoastreview.blogspot.ca/2018/03/northern-mayors-delegation-in-ottawa-to.html
Horgan campaigned left and now governs far right....what a dishonest bunch BC NDP are..
Bottom line for LNG Canada and their project....They are PST exempt...no carbon tax...no LNG tax...royalties will be next to none as there are $billion in drill credits, with more on offer...the LNG Plant itself, modular form, built in sections, all fabricated in South Korea...barged to BC...where Shell Canada will writeoff the build cost(money spent in South Korea), and the interest cost(money they lend to themselves)..Build cost, interest payments, all written off against future taxation...we'll never see a dime....read these two links..
https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-03-26/everyone-s-a-loser-in-australia-s-lng-boom
http://www.world-psi.org/en/chevrons-tax-schemes-piping-profits-out-australia
I mentioned I knew/know Horgan's playbook(beside's being a traitor)....The below post...100% accurate..it's almost like I knew...? I took a lot of heat for shouting out the truth to party faithful....too bad many still believed different.....
Cheers
Enjoy the read......
Written by Grant G
"Will the real John Horgan please stand up"
I must say....John Horgan's year end message to me, to all BC's progressive voters, to all NDP issue savvy voters is rather disheartening, to say the least, it's actually more..
John Horgan is telling you to shut up, be quiet and accept the status quo, accept the New NDP Government, a government that administers better, administers BC Liberal policy better, a government of .....?
__________
B.C. Premier John Horgan had a clear message for his B.C. NDP at year’s end.
"If we’re going to be a government that governs for all British Columbians, we have to set aside our activism and start being better administrators,” he said in an interview with Global BC’s Keith Baldrey to cap off an eventful 2017 for the NDP leader.
_____________
That's John Horgan talking in a year end interview with his new adviser Global BC's Keith Baldrey..
The Site C decision....John Horgan in an interview with Alaska Highway News stated that Site C power will be used to electrify BC's northern gas fields...to be more precise, to use Site C hydroelectric power to aid BC's gas frackers...to enable the natural gas frackers to use $12 billion dollar Site C power rather than use diesel generated power for fracking(Fracking process takes a great deal of water and power to shatter shale).....
___________
AHN: Let’s talk natural gas quickly. I understand you have a trade mission to China in the new year, as well as meetings with LNG Canada. What are your priorities?
JH: I’ve been to Kitimat earlier in the fall. I met with LNG Canada officials as well as Kitimat LNG. You will know Kitimat is a community that welcomes industrial development. Kitimat LNG was the first out of the gate actually to start advocating getting the first export permit and are still working diligently to await the turnaround in prices so they can proceed.
LNG Canada, again, a large project that includes Shell Canada, three offshore companies, KoGas, Mitsubishi, and PetroChina. So when we visit Japan, Korea, and China in January, I intend to meet with those three companies and talk to them about their continued interest in a final investment decision on LNG Canada. We want to make sure that we can get our natural resources to higher-priced markets. The advent of hydraulic fracturing has meant North America is awash in gas and that’s driving the price down, making it difficult for producers in the Peace to succeed.
We’re fortunate to have a lot of liquids, particularly in the Montney, which has allowed projects like AltaGas’s propane export facility in Prince Rupert to be built. I visited that site as well. So, I think there’s a bright future for natural gas in the Peace and in British Columbia, but we want to make sure we’re meeting our climate objectives. We’re serious about reducing our emissions, I know the industry is as well. That electrification (of gas fields)is part of that,
____________
This is what the Peace River valley looked like before Site C dam
Activism......Activism comes in many forms....activism to stop Site C, activism to stop Kinder Morgan, activism to stop Taseko mines, activism against Imperial Metals there's also social and human rights activism....
The fight to raise disability rates, welfare rates, the battle by teachers and their union for kids, for class size and composition...
"activism" from the BCTF that lasted over a decade reversed the draconian changes Gordon Campbell and his BC Liberal government made to how we educate and instruct children..
It wasn't the BC NDP Party that funded or contributed to that decade long court challenge, a challenge eventually won through "activism"....John Horgan's new government isn't changing the teachers' win, or bringing the teachers' win in...John Horgan is merely administering what was returned to the curriculum last year....An Activist teacher's union won that battle..
"Activists" in the 70's stopped the clearcutting of old growth forests...Activists changed things for the better....in British Columbia, in 2017, almost 2018, under John Horgan's NDP "activists are no longer required"
Kinder Morgan.....
BC NDP party ...besides chatter in our legislature when they were opposition...BC NDP have not expended any money to stop Kinder Morgan's "tripling" of capacity, along with a 7-fold increase in tanker traffic..."Activists" in Burnaby, activists from all over have been fighting Kinder Morgan's expansion...including Burnaby Mayor Derrick Corrigan..
LNG and Kinder Morgan are connected....John Horgan's New Year's trade mission to Asia(China) is all about bitumen and LNG exports...John Horgan is leveraging Kinder Morgan's bitumen exports to China with B.C. LNG....as in..Sign longterm BC LNG deals and you get both...Kinder Morgan bitumen and LNG..
John Horgan going to China, to convince the Asian nation to buy B.C. LNG..and Horgan, while peddling liquid gas is going to tell the Chinese he's going to stop Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion??? considering it's Chinese buyers who have booked Kinder Morgan's expanded bitumen exports...China is the offtaker of Kinder Morgan's increased export capacity...Does anyone believe Horgan has a chance in hell of selling British Columbia LNG to China while blocking bitumen/tar oil...?
John Horgan to sell LNG to China must use Kinder Morgan bitumen as bait....
We lose every big environmental battle under Horgan..
I don't recall John Horgan telling NDP progressive voters that if he won power, or was PROPPED UP AND PLACED IN POWER that he was swinging the NDP Party to the right..
One might wonder about Andrew Weaver's opposition to Horgan's rightwing swing...Andrew Weaver will of course oppose, however, Andrew Weaver gave John Horgan a free pass on Site C, and as mentioned before in a recent Straight Goods post, Andrew Weaver won't rock the vote until after a referendum on electoral reform, ...and if the referendum fails?, considering now that Horgan is chasing BC Liberal rightwing voters?, considering now that Horgan's "New Party" isn't going to campaign for changing our electoral voting system..With BC Liberals on full frontal assault against electoral reform, with John Horgan chasing those same BC Liberal voters...With Bill Tieleman leading the NO ELECTORAL REFORM CAMPAIGN....With John Horgan this week telling the CBC in a year end interview that if this upcoming electoral reform referendum fails, BC will not revisit the issue...
John Horgan just revealed the hand he's playing on electoral reform...when this referendum fails, his party won't make it an election issue in 2021, in other words, how important is PR or any electoral reform to John Horgan when he's prepared to give up on it...The first B.C. referendum on electoral reform in 2005...Changing to PR garnered OVER 50% of the vote(The threshold for changing our electoral system was set much higher in that 2005 referendum..60% was required)...here is what Horgan said about electoral reform in a year-end CBC interview....you'll notice there is no fire in Horgan's belly...
___________
Last chance?
B.C. voters turned down two previous referendums on electoral reform in 2005 and 2009.
Horgan said the referendum will likely be B.C.'s last.
"I think we will have exhausted the public's interest in this issue," Horgan said.
_____________
Clearly John Horgan has no "real" desire for electoral reform.. In 2005, 57.7% of the electorate had voted in favour of reform, including a majority of voters in 77 ridings out of 79.......So, in 2005 the majority wanted change, the threshold was set too high...in the 2009 referendum, the referendum was rigged..and Bill Tieleman(recognized as the voice of the NDP, a NDP pundit and lobbyist) led the campaign against electoral reform..over half of BC voters reported being not even aware of a 2009 referendum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_electoral_reform_referendum,_2009
NDP spokesman in 2018 Bill Teileman campaigning against, with Horgan yawning his way through, with BC Liberals screaming no...with Postmedia pumping up the NO CHANGE campaign..
John Horgan and Justin Trudeau(remember Justin Trudeau's election promise on changing our electoral system, that was the first election promise Trudeau broke) have made a deal on Kinder Morgan, John Horgan's NDP Government will only give tepid lip service in opposing the project...John Horgan will use the meme...(Kinder Morgan and pipeline expansion is Federal Jurisdiction, legally I can't stop it)
Horgan thinks he can sidestep grassroots opposition against his government over Kinder Morgan going through by claiming his hands were tied...just like he did with Site C...
Site C ...John Horgan had the power to stop Site C...as for stopping Kinder Morgan, he has no real power and since Horgan no longer has the fire in his belly to stop it, since he's chosen to swing the party to the right...Horgan believes he can deliver LNG, create a BC LNG industry where the BC Liberals couldn't...And that is where John Horgan believes he can make-up for losing BC's progressive voters, by replacing them with BC Liberal rightwing voters..
That is a "fools' errand".....John Horgan, in my opinion won't garner those votes...not unless he changes the party name because the name NDP is a dirty word to rightwing voters..
John Horgan has sent clear message to the party grassroots and "activist" base that he is taking the party to the right..
The "progressive" in John Horgan's Government has quickly turned into the regressive, to a 1950,s...to 1990's mindset..
Using the $14 billion dollar Site C hydroelectric energy produced to aid and abet the hydraulic fracking process(producing methane emitting fossil fuel for export)...
When the world is thundering towards cheap renewable power(s) John Horgan is embracing the fraud known as "Clean LNG"...
https://www.ecowatch.com/tesla-australia-battery-2520491667.html
https://www.ecowatch.com/electric-vehicle-news-2520451145.html
Even if a massive surge in electric car use happened it wouldn't require BC hydro to acquire new power..
Technology has already rendered Site C obsolete...BC NDP's new vision under John Horgan is to embrace the past, as in the 1950,s...methinks Horgan should really consider the early 2000,s too..in particular.. 2001...
Burning LNG...if it's so clean why does BC's Clean Energy Act prohibit British Columbia from using natural gas or LNG to produce electricity...
The pathetic word play, word salad our BC Government is engaging in....
BCUC could not consider using natural gas or LNG(Burrard Thermal) for producing power in their review...BCUC had to consider the costs of replacing Site C power(not needed power) with "other" forms of non-fossil fuel generated power...
And now..John Horgan has drank the LNG Koolaid...Site C power being used to Frack, and power up a natural gas/LNG industry, an industry so dirty that BC's own "Clean Energy Act", an act that John Horgan cites regularly, a BC Government Act that prevents it's use for power generation in BC..
That is too funny...
The meme John Horgan is going to use to justify his drive to make BC a LNG power will be...
(BC LNG will clean up China's airshed)
The same bullshit Christy Clark uttered...Site C power, the amount of power Site C will produce is not enough power to electrify the gas fields and 1 large coastal LNG liquefaction plant...
A great deal of power is required to do hydraulic fracking, but an even bigger, more enormous amounts of power are required to actually liquefy the natural gas...LNG liquefaction plants worldwide use natural gas to produce power for liquefaction..the reason being, is it not practical to build massive 12 $billion dollar hydroelectric dams for each and every large LNG liquefaction plant...
Site C power...as advertised by BC Hydro and the BC Government..."Site C will produce enough power to run 450,000 homes"...What BC Hydro and or the Government won't tell you is..
Site C will produce enough power for 1 large LNG liquefaction plant and one LNG plant only..
So...Site C power is to prop up a BC LNG industry...So John Horgan..What happens if we get a second, or third, or fourth LNG liquefaction plant?..are BC Taxpayers/BC Hydro ratepayers going to build more massive dam projects...not likely..
Two large LNG Liquefaction plants alone will cause BC's greenhouse gas emissions to rise by roughly 40%...
So, Premier Horgan is going to word salad us grassroots and progressive voters...Horgan is going to try and sell us this inane bafflegab..
When John Horgan and Trudeau sign LNG and diluted bitumen deals with China..
Horgan's "plan"..if BC's LNG industry does take off, each and every new LNG project beyond the first one(if it happens) as Site C is only enough power for one plant...Each additional LNG Liquefaction plant that is NOT provided BC Hydro taxpayer subsidized(free power) will increase BC's total greenhouse gas emissions by 20%..one project, 20% increase in provincial emissions....
Without a Site C power supply for each and every LNG plant, BC's emissions skyrocket...
Site C power...Site C being pushed forward, a subsidy for an non-existent LNG industry...a subsidy being paid for by BC Hydro residential ratepayers...
So..Under John Horgan, he continues with the LNG fantasy..a fantasy that if comes true..any pretense of reducing provincial and Canada's emissions is over, how many more massively expensive hydroelectric projects can BCers afford to build?...We can't afford to build Site C, let alone more dam projects..
John Horgan in his interview with Alaska Highway News...Horgan stated that he has met with LNG Canada(Shell) CEO Andy Calitz...that's true..but what Horgan isn't saying about those meetings with LNG Canada and the BCLNGA is...The other list of demands LNG Canada has made, and expects before they make a final investment decision..
Andy Calitz/LNG Canada wants.....They want Canada(as in the federal Government) to remove the "dumping duties" they have imposed on Chinese and Korean steel products....Why does Andy Calitz and the LNG industry want these duties removed?..Because these BC Coastal proposed projects will have entire LNG plants, mainframes and near every component shipped to BC by barge,..and then assembled, in other words..Dumping duties imposed by Canada trade officials to protect Canadian steel industry must be removed....Race race race to the bottom...enjoy the John Horgan downhill slide into regression....Canadian manufacturers will be near completely shut out of any LNG industry....The LNG industry want dumping duties removed, they claim they can't afford to press forward on LNG projects if forced to pay Canadian Federal Government imposed duties..
Full-Stop..
If the LNG industry can't afford to pay duties on dumped steel projects how are we to believe there will be any profits for the owners of the resource(BCers)
Andy Calitz, CEO of LNG Canada wants more that that...Calitz wants reductions in local taxes, provincial taxes and federal taxes, they also want an exemption from any carbon tax increases and more...
Remember the LNG taxation framework the BC Liberals brought in, not the first framework LNG legislation(7%) that John Horgan's NDP opposition Party along with all the BC Liberals voted for, all voted yes.. not that framework, i'm talking about the BC Liberals second LNG taxation framework Act they brought to our legislature...after the LNG industry thoroughly rejected the first LNG framework..BC Liberals tore it up and gave near everything away..a framework so bad that every BC NDP MLA stood up in our legislature, called it a "generational sellout"..reduced it to 1.5%..
Every BC NDP MLA voted for it anyway, despite their diatribes, they pleaded and urged BC Liberals to vote against it..BC Liberals rammed it through..NDP echoed the BC Liberals ..like Lemmings..
Andy Calitz....CEO of LNG Canada wants that second LNG taxation framework ripped up and removed....Calitz wants the Australian LNG taxation model...That's the model where LNG companies never have to pay taxes, ever, a framework where they can fast-track plant build cost writeoffs...a framework where LNG companies can writeoff interest on offshore shady loans against any Australian taxes...
____________
......In addition to meeting one-on-one with Mungall last week, Calitz said he planned to meet with Premier John Horgan next month.
Asked if the Green Party’s opposition to the LNG industry concerned him, Calitz said it didn’t and pointed out that the official opposition – the Liberals – are fully supportive of an LNG industry.
“The combination of the NDP (MLAs) and Liberal (MLAs) who support an LNG project and a new mega industry for British Columbia is good enough for me to move forward in British Columbia,” Calitz said.
The biggest hurdle for the project may be the question of tax competitiveness. The new NDP government plans to raise B.C.’s carbon tax from $30 per tonne to $35 per tonne, starting in the spring.
Calitz made it clear that it’s not carbon taxes per se that are the big concern. Rather, it’s the full suite of taxes, from the municipal to federal level, that need to be considered.
“There should be a tax on carbon,” Calitz said. “It’s not the first increment of $5 per tonne that scares me, but somehow we need an indication from the government as to where that will go.
“We need the government of British Columbia specifically, but also the federal government, to take a last look at the fiscal tax competitiveness of Canada for an LNG project.
“This is an important but also a sensitive matter. We do not seek any form of subsidy at all. We pay our full tax burden. One of the conditions of the new government is that there should be a fair return and benefit for British Columbians. We will do that. We need them to look at the full complexity of federal, provincial, local and other taxes that we pay to say, ‘Does this still make sense? Is this still competitive?'”
One of the biggest criticisms from the industry’s standpoint of the former Liberal government’s tax and royalty regime for LNG was a special LNG tax, which companies in regions like the U.S. and Australia do not pay.
Asked if that LNG tax was something LNG Canada needs addressed, Calitz indicated it was.
“That is a subject we are discussing with the government,” he said.
Calitz said LNG Canada will submit a “decision support package” to all four companies in the joint venture in support of a final investment decision sometime in 2018.
_________________________
Anyway...As for Andy Calitz wanting BC, and Federal Canada to adopt Australia's LNG taxation model....Who wouldn't...Australia and Australian taxpayers are getting royally screwed..legally screwed through tax avoidance loopholes....Chevron and Shell have become masters of avoiding taxation..
__________
Chevron’s tax schemes: piping profits out of Australia?
The report was produced by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and endorsed by the Tax Justice Network – Australia.
Chevron’s tax practices, and those of other corporations, have huge implications for the living standards and public revenues to fund essential services in countries across the globe.
With US$197 billion in market capitalisation, Chevron is the world’s third largest and most profitable Oil & Gas Company – yet, Chevron has:
- stashed over US$35 billion in un-taxed revenues in off-shore accounts
- at least 600 shell companies -and likely hundreds more- registered in Bermuda and Delaware
- set aside AUD$350 million to settle a tax avoidance lawsuit with the Australian Tax Office (ATO)
- set up a new tax scheme, currently being audited, to reduce its tax bill by AUD$35 billion or more
- amassed credits to avoid royalty payments on the Gorgon project, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, for the first 8 years of operation or longer
- had operating revenue in Australia every year since 2011 of over AUD$2.5 billion, but managed to receive over AUD$30 million in tax refunds
Additionally, Chevron’s own annual report reveals that tax filings have not been approved by the United States government since 2008; in Nigeria since 2000; Angola since 2001; Saudi Arabia since 2012 and Kazakhstan since 2007. Chevron is unable to estimate the tax it may be required to pay given the ongoing examinations by tax authorities in countries around the world.
Chevron’s Gorgon project in Western Australia -which also includes Shell, Exxon and several Japanese energy companies- is crucial to Chevron’s future growth and will make LNG Australia’s largest export.
The current ATO lawsuit against Chevron involves a high interest AUD$2.5 billion scheme between a Chevron subsidiary in the US state of Delaware -one of the world’s most used tax havens- and Chevron Australia between 2004 and 2008.
In 2009 Chevron created a new high interest AUD$35 billion ‘credit facility’ between Delaware and Australia. The result of this scheme is to reduce profits in Australia, where they might be taxed, and generate profits in Delaware, where they are not taxed. While operating revenues in Australia have increased by 15% since 2011, interest charges to the Delaware company have increased from 26% to 62% of operating revenue. As a result, profits in Australia have decreased by 83%. In 2014, Chevron Australia’s related party interest charges were more than five times greater than profits. It would be difficult to argue that this is not an intentional scheme to reduce profit and avoid taxes in Australia.
The tax avoided by Chevron’s latest scheme could be larger than Australia’s 2015-16 federal budget for education or more than half the budget for health.
Chevron’s aggressive tax avoidance schemes require much greater public scrutiny as billions of future tax revenues are at stake.
It is time to take action to level the playing field and make sure that companies like Chevron are paying their fair share.
http://www.world-psi.org/en/chevrons-tax-schemes-piping-profits-out-australia
____________________
So fellow progressive voters...John Horgan will not admit the truth that Site C BC Hydro ratepayer funded project is being pushed forward to woo an LNG industry..an industry that wants to import entire LNG plants from China and South Korea to BC...an LNG industry that wants all three levels of government to reduce taxes, an industry that wants BC's "generational sellout" LNG taxation framework ripped up and removed, an industry that wants BC to adopt Australia's LNG taxation model, a model so full of holes, loopholes that big LNG will never pay their fair share..
This is what Andy Calitz and LNG Canada want from John Horgan...This is what they WILL RECEIVE FROM JOHN HORGAN'S GOVERNMENT....
_______________
Everyone is a loser in Australia's LNG Boom
The LNG debacle provides a good test case of what's gone wrong. Australia is on track to overtake Qatar as the world's biggest exporter of shipped gas by 2019 -- but getting there hasn't been a success for the government or petroleum companies.
Canberra's revenues from its Petroleum Resource Rent Tax fell 60 percent to their lowest level since 1999 in the year through June 2016, despite a 50 percent increase in gas export volumes.
Petroleum tax and royalty revenues per oil-equivalent barrel came to about 4.2 percent of the local price of crude -- the lowest share since 1990, and well below the 25-year average of 10.4 percent.
The dip is unlikely to be a blip. Thanks to the way the government allows expenses to be deducted before a project makes a taxable profit, it could be decades before the country starts to receive a better return on its mineral wealth. The vast sums spent building Australia's LNG projects have created a tax shield of carried-forward costs that was worth A$238 billion ($182 billion) in 2016, with the figure rising each year 5 percent faster than the yield on government debt
_____________
Activists ....we are no longer welcome in John Horgan's political party...
John Horgan believes he is going to succeed where Christy Clark failed...John Horgan is bringing an LNG industry to B.C. regardless of the cost, the human cost, the ground water cost..the cost to the treasury, or to BC Hydro ratepayers..
John Horgan has shifted to the right...activists and issue savvy progressive voters are nothing but canon fodder for Horgan..
So fellow BCers...
John Horgan rolls the dice, sacrificing progressive voters in hopes of gaining traditional BC Liberal/Conservative rightwing voters..
Those of us who fought for fairness, fought for an intelligent government, those of us who tooted the one-time progressive BC NDP political party's horn for a longtime are now...
Garbage...stinky garbage bound for the refuse can..
Lastly....John Horgan hasn't blinked an eye on China's latest big moves in BC..buying up Site C's main builder..Aecon..and a few days ago..a Chinese holding company just bought one acre in Vancouver for $245 million dollars..
China now has it's teeth into Site C and...China has their teeth firmly clenched onto John Horgan's ass too..
Now that government activities under Horgan's NDP is already stinking up a storm...John Horgan wants you progressive, First Nations and "activist" voters to plug your noses and shut the hell up...
P.S.....Merry Christmas everyone....May your New Year be....Wonderful!
The Straight Goods
Cheers Eyes Wide Open
53 comments:
I wonder if the NDP have made a permanent right-hand turn? feel duped and let down. Bitter disappointment. Concerned about whether Mr. Horgan will let us down re: electoral reform next, as Justin did.
Let's hope 2018 brings better days.
If BC has natural gas that is feasibly extractable, we should use it to run our own vehicles. And how will we heat our homes in the future if we've exported our natural gas as LNG?
Grant you have seen the writing on the wall a lot faster than I did. Ditto Lailla.
I am still reeling. First the Site C decision, then support for LNG and now a kibosh on activism. Wtf?
The *only* reason the NDP won this election was BECAUSE of progressive voters. There are a lot of progressive NDP supporters. And a lot of Green voters who held their noses and voted NDP to get rid of the Liberals.
And now we end up with Liberal-lite?! Just like the Hilary Clinton Democrats there is a strong disconnect between the out-of-touch NDP "elite" who are locked into old ways of thinking and their older voters versus the new majority base of progressive and independent voters who have a much better understanding of what is going on and what needs to be fixed.
The same-old, same-old doesn't cut it with the challenges facing the world and our province.
So I will pick myself up, dust myself off and connect with like-minded citizens and work for good causes.
And thanks Grant for all the good work you do. You've held up a strong progressive lamp in a sea of neoliberal darkness.
off-the-radar
Thanks for that OTR....Sorry about the late editing of this post...time, my dreaded enemy time was nipping at my heels on Christmas Day....Editing complete...Re-read for more clarity..
John Horgan refuses to dance with the progressive voters who brought him to the dance...
See you in Hell John Horgan....."For whom the bell tolls"
Ha, ha your post read very well both times!
I still think John Horgan is a good man. It's just too bad he doesn't have more progressive advisors and senior civil servants.
off-the-radar
Grant not quite sure where you are coming from but you don't speak for myself or many other N.D.P supporters you are not the be all to end all You are as flawed as the rest of us but it may just all work out.Thanks for your observations in the past Keep the faith.
It's a real shame that Mr. Horgan has come out against activism. It was activism that brought about the civil rights movement, the vote for women, warnings on tobacco products, better conditions for workers, higher safety standards for consumer products and on and on. Ever heard of a guy called Tommy Douglas, Mr. Horgan? He was an activist. That's why we have universal health care in this country. I think he was voted most outstanding Canadian a few years back. Any doctor that urges patients to eat better, drink less, exercise more, or try to quit smoking is an activist.
So what's not to like about activism? Why on earth would we want to set it aside? It doesn't follow that you must set activism aside in order to be better administrators. That's crazy thinking.
This is not the John Horgan I voted for. Maybe the BC liberals somehow perfected body-snatching and invaded the bodies of the NDP. Seems like it. B-grade science fiction.
Curious response to my post Davemj....
I never said I was the "be all" of anything...I've written plenty on LNG...my track-record on that subject speaks for itself..
As for my past observations? were they good, bad, inaccurate? ...if my political thoughts were good in the past what would cause them to be bad in the present, or future?
I predicted Notley's win in Alberta...she will fall in 2019 to Jason Kenney and a united Alberta Conservative Party...I predicted Trudeau's federal win weeks ahead of anyone..also predicted Mulcair's slide to distant third..
I'm not impressed with Trudeau..he's betrayed progressive issue oriented voters, he defends his decisions with low information bafflegab..
Site C...Perhaps that wasn't an issue for you, for me it was...and believe me, I could accept Site C if Horgan was at least honest about the reason to go forward on Site C..
He hasn't..just more bafflegab to soothe the low-information voter or BCers..progressives' aren't buying his reasoning, and either some very smart accountants..
Anywho...be well Davemj
Government's primary goal seems to be "Growth!"
I think there is some misunderstanding happening, apparently what John Horgan is saying is that some activism isn't what is needed now. At the same time it is obvious now that our Premier is really into other forms of activism, like activism in favour of the LNG industry as you point out quite thoroughly, and activism on behalf of our money lenders, activism on behalf of old style energy production at the expense of moving with the rest of the world towards sustainability and conservation of resources for our childrens children. I guess Mr. Horgan failed in the last election to mention that it is the ND Parties policy to get while the gettin' is good.
I do not trust the NDP, never have since Clark and McPhail sold out to Bombardier Inc. and SNC Lavalin, who own the patents for the ALRT/ART SkyTrain system.
The NDP campaign of lies and deceit with the millennium Line still resound today with the Broadway subway.
Meggs, former Vision(less) Councillor and a big supporter of the Broadway subway is now advising Horgan and I wonder if SNC has its corporate claws into him.
Those who deceive the most get big rewards and I see history repeating itself.
Horgan's NDP have sold out its members and all others who voted for them over Site C and now, once a sell out, always a sell out.
One wonders for what price?
I agree. John is increasingly naïve and falling victim of Victoria/Vancouver business crap. He doesn't understand the financial significance of the grass roots nor the capital return of volunteer left wing strategists who get him elected. He is alienating the only people who can get him elected and now has fallen victim of believing in the socred byline and many who won't even vote. He needs a die-hard lefty: media savy economist to run his P.R.
Yes, along with you and many others I had great hopes for Premier Horgan. There will be no recovery from this total sell out over Site C , the abidication of responsibilty and decency towards the First Nations peoples and the betrayal of those who had supported the BC NDP over the years. The BC Liberal-BC NDP Coalition is now in play. Nicholas Simon has spoken out against Site C but I have yet to hear of others.
John Horgan's greatest fear has always been that he (and NDP) would be accused of being "fiscally incompetent". As a result, he collapses and compromises on every fiscal issue and allows the old "James Gang" inner circle to advise him.
By trying to avoid being called a fiscal incompetent by the right wing - he becomes a fiscally-incompetent dinosaur.
Tieleman, Sihota, Black, et al have been pushing the party to the right for years. Many of the inner circle also want to assure themselves a "place at the trough" regardless of what is best for the province.
Tieleman was lobbying for Site C. Sihota is lobbying for LNG.
All the "inner circle" know how to manipulate Horgan.
Why else would two of the most prominent legislative incompetents in BC history have major portfolios in his cabinet.
John believes in the letters - NDP. "If it says NDP on the box, eat the cornflakes anyway even if it looks like used Kitty litter.
John has no capacity to take a second look. He wants blind acquiescence.
I , for one, will not comply. My solidarity is with NDP principles- not labels.
For YEARS. I've noticed that the core of the NDP had gone to the right and UNenvironmentally friendly. The Party should have gone environmentalist and SOCIALIST--sharing and caring for Canadians and the environment we must share with other species. We can't afford even one immigrant while one of our own goes hungry and homeless. Canadians FIRST for food and shelter needs in our own country. We must also be environmentally accountable or we'll have nothing for the future. The Greens don't give a rat's ass for poor moms and tots or human rights. They're blind to human despair. They don't see that if people don't have enough to eat and need a safe place in which to live, they aren't going to care if the environment is protected because they aren't being protected. I haven't donated much to the party these days, because believe the party has lost its way, its soul and its focus for positive change.
I wrote twice here and both posts disappeared, so someone is cherry -picking what can go on this site.
This post will probably disappear, too. Whoever is running this column is censoring it.
He/she doesn't want to read anything that might be disparaging about the lovely and talented NDP leadership for the last 10 years. I'm against LNG. I'm against the steely-eyed inner core of the NDP who want our money, but not the democracy. So, the party is minus my money until it proves to me that it's become democratic again and has added an environmental preservation aspect to its platform. Meanwhile, I will nag it into being at least democratic.
I agree with Druid. I seldom agree with the SEIC. I'm Canadian to the core.
On the LNG Fiasco...Go onto www.vancouverislandwaterwatchcoalition.ca and have a look at the many articles contained on the site on the absolute decimation caused by fracking. I am so tired of this party that USED to be my party telling me, every time I have raised the issue of the dangers of fracking that they have to "study it"! It is nonsense!There have been hundreds of study's done on the dangers around this process, that I assume they do not want to read.
The water use, the i faction of our drinking water aquifers and above ground waters is horrific. Why Canadians do not understand this matter is beyond me..so obviously I should not be surprised that Horgan and Company do not understand.
I have spent 40 years supporting and defending this party and I will not any longer!
Thank you for the heard work that you do Grants. Happy New Year to You and Yours!
http://richardhughes.ca/
Thank you from the bottom of my sorely betrayed heart. The way forward now is the question. The stinky business of lies and betrayal by this gang we gave our hope and support to is clear as a bell. Today I know I will seek out independents and advocate for First Nations political party. I will be donating to the legal fights, raising funds, advocating for water rights and protections. Advocate not activist if they want to corrupt and vilify our activism.
It would sound off for Horgan to tell his people put aside your advocacy and be better administrators. I thought advocate would be harder to corrupt in the same slant. Activism is a dirty word in this world of corruption as it's the only opposition to the mess elites pursue for themselves and who cares if there isn't a clean drink of water.
I won't shut up and I won't go away. Standing tall for nature and people not obscene profits and environmental degradation.
I have a bone to pick with Sue who claims that: "The Greens don't give a rat's ass for poor moms and tots or human rights. They're blind to human despair. They don't see that if people don't have enough to eat and need a safe place in which to live,...Part of the platform states this:A BC Green government will provide:
Free preschool for 3- and 4-year olds
Free daycare for children up to age 3 with working parents
Up to $500/month for families with a stay-at-home parent and a child up to age 2 many may think of the Green Party as a single issue party – yet, nothing could be further from the truth. A BC Green government will:
Begin the transition to liveable incomes with an increase in Persons with Disabilities (PWD), income assistance and shelter allowance rates.
Introduce a basic income support for youth aged 18 to 24 who are transitioning out of foster care
Launch a basic income pilot project that will test its ability to reduce poverty, improve health, housing and employment
Establish an arm's-length fair wages commission to recommend a new minimum wage and oversee regular rate reviews
Eliminate Medical Service Plan (MSP) premiums by rolling them into the payroll tax and personal income tax
A BC Green government will:
Introduce measures to eliminate money laundering and property speculation
Implement a provincial housing plan for affordable rental accommodation
Invest up to $750 million per year to create approx. 4,000 units of affordable housing per year
Update the Residential Tenancy Act to protect renters
Continue reading http://www.bcgreens.ca/platform
Thanks for that comment Carolyn....Everyone is angry...Sue is angry...many thought Weaver and the Greens would force Horgan's hand on Site C..
At present...if the Greens thrust British Columbia into another election we would see BC Liberals back in power with 44% of the vote...With the Greens gaining support..with the NDP losing 30% of their 2017 vote...
The time will come for a Green Party..a fair party, a progressive ethical political party..
Let us hope change for a better world comes before it's too late.
Lastly, I don't censor comments for anything but foul language.
It is true what you say, Grant - everyone IS angry, and feeling betrayed. It seems we do not know anymore who is friend and who is foe. But we must bear in mind too, the dangers of divide and rule. Sometimes it's so hard to know what to do to arrest this race to the bottom.
That's why we appreciate the Straight Goods - agree or not, at least you never spin things; you say it like you see it, and man, is it ever refreshing! I would go mad without it, for I sometimes feel like every scrap of news we receive from the mainstream is so over-processed with spin that it no longer bears any relation to reality.
After all these years - Fantasy Gardens!
Thanks for another year and all the best in 2018!
Calm down and have a glass of water all you naysayers. Mr Horgan has only been in power less than a year, and he has to clean up the huge mess left behind by the Liberal party which really was corrupt.
I'm going to give him a chance myself, and see how many good things he brings to BC which we would never have under the Liberals.
To anon 7"37pm..
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DSqPZFZUMAEi7aL.jpg
https://www.biv.com/article/2018/1/china-have-stake-site-c-contract/
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DSp6H1AVoAEMBkk.jpg
http://sitecsummit.ca/
By the way...Kinder Morgan is going through uncontested by BC Government...
There is so much going on behind the scenes...NDP is going hard right...
Anywho anon 7:37 pm.....I don't do blind sheep...Horgan can't even intelligently defend his lies...
John Horgan's ball shrunk up and shriveled...A real Premier, a real courageous leader would stand up and say why Site C is going forward..a real leader would tell the truth..
Site C is for the LNG industry...Let the LNG industry pay for it....nuff said...NDP are no more in BC....you'll find out soon enough.
Cheers
I am sick about all this, but I never voted for Horgan as leader. I haven't liked most of the NDP herdarchy for at least a decade. I think I've even let my membership lapse. This is not the NDP I knew and loved. It certainly can't hold a candle to its predecessor, the CCF. It's turned into the UUP-- the UNnew and Undemocratic Party. When the crap at the top gets flushed, and the party changes to be truly progressive and truly cooperative, like it used to be, let me know...I'll send money. But I'm not sending a damn dime until democracy and left-leaning policies (along with an environmental protection feature)returns to the party. I don't want Liberal Lite. I don't people who don't even seem to be Canadian at the helm of our party. All parties are in disarray. Even the Trudeau Kid isn't as good as his Dad. No one at all has even approached being as good as Lester B. Pearson.
Sue in Kimberley & Port Alice (depending on time of year)
Voted NDP since I could vote, my family as well. But, not anymore. I look forward to representational voting and new faces. Independents. Maybe a green. That's who'll get my vote. Never again NDP, and never have Liberals/Cons
The truth is that we have no right party at all. The Liberals and the NDP and the Green are allowing singing the same song. The socialist unite. The Liberals are corrupt and so are the NDP. What will proportional representation do for us ? Eliminate any possibility of an independent from running - that's what. There is no voice for the environment or the individual- that is the truth. I just hope that the NDP will improve some of the mismanagement of the Liberal regime but that is probably just wishful thinking.
Recent article about Aecon:
https://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-globe-and-mail-bc-edition/20180118/281500751664468
"BC Green Party’s Andrew Weaver threatens to take down NDP over LNG"
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-green-partys-andrew-weaver-threatens-to-take-down-ndp-over-lng/article37664479/
This is from P. 186 of the BCUC report on Site C.
They're saying changes to policies such as the Clean Energy Act would give BC Hydro options to building Site C:
"Other ways to mitigate risk and meet future energy needs include changes to government policy. While
******the Panel takes no position on these mitigation strategies*****,
the evidence received in this process suggest that the following options are available to government:
• Repatriate some or all of the Columbia River Treaty entitlement. This energy is generated from water stored behind BC Hydro dams in British Columbia and is as firm and flexible as the energy from Site C.
• Remobilize Burrard Thermal and reduce the use of Island Cogen for export to provide capacity for the limited number of 16-hour winter peaks.
• Increase reliance on the market to provide capacity for the limited number of 16-hour winter peaks."
http://www.sitecinquiry.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/A-24_Final-Report_Errata.pdf
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/why-more-people-aren-t-talking-about-the-asian-oil-spill-as-big-as-paris-1.4498741
From:
https://thetyee.ca/News/2018/01/24/Hydro-Rate-Freeze-Delayed/
“I am now more convinced than ever that the better course of action on affordability is not blanket reductions or freezes, but targeted to those who can best benefit from relief in this area,” Horgan said Jan. 16."
“For those who are seeing a significant increase in their hydro bills, if they can’t find power-smart ways to reduce those costs, then perhaps relief from the utility or from the province is the way to do that, and I’ve directed the [BC Hydro] board chair to take a look at that.”
The question being: why are we seeing significant increases in our hydro bills? Could it be the $56 billion BC Hydro owes to IPPs?
Govt explains it here. See backgrounder #2 in particular:
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2017prem0135-002039
"Are B.C. taxpayers about to pay a Chinese SOE to build a dam so more Chinese SOEs can secure electrical subsidies for shale gas mining and LNG development in B.C.?"
Looks like it.
From:
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/01/24/Aecon-Buyout-Bad/
I didn't vote for this.
Zero-energy housing, an alternative to Site C:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/merritt-social-housing-1.4503928?cmp=rss
Andrew Weaver talks about LNG:
https://omny.fm/shows/the-jon-mccomb-show/weaver-talks-to-horgan-about-lng
Ok Grant i was wrong saying saying we should all have a cool glass of water regarding site c.
I have since looked at the tons of info on commonsensecanadian about site c anf realized that it is a huge carbuncle on our future as a free and decent society. I can't encapsulate it the way they do - all backed up by history and law. We were and are being sold down the river (and by that i mean we are being sold out by people who have their own private interest placed way above the law: the law of commom interest above the fake law of rich transnational cnuts who only wish to live in fancy houses and drive fancy cars. You were right.
But it is not quite as easy as that
Defeat this government and we are left with a criminal government which will destroy the last vestiges of self decency we have.
Ok? Site c isn't just just an excuse to get along with Canada. Site c is a way to capitulate OUR control over OUR land to the lousy rotten money controlled politics og ottawa which we have no control over.
So i say let's create our own country right here in bc.
We have everything right here in bc which we need.
So let's look at it that way: we have the capacity to generate everything we need. All we need is the leadership to say, "this country is not for sale!"
liked your opening "shot" about shutting up. My question is: how much of this is Horgan and how much of this is Meggs. Megs did not do a lot of good on Vancouver City council as Mayor Moonbeam's right hand person. is he trying to do the same thing at a provincial level? You know dressing up as a progressive and implementing the game plan of the financial elites. Have a look at what happened to Vancouver while Megs was on council. Now is this what we want for the province? Not so much.
Most NDP governments like to think they can stay for more than one term. Barrett had it right the first time, get in, make all the changes you can and get on with life. He and Bob Williams, along with the rest of the caucus passed over 300 pieces of legislation during their short term in office. why has an NDP government not done the same since then? Because they thought they might get re elected.
Back in the late 1980s/early 1990s Bob Williams, at a social event, with a number of younger people, said: the NDP were the bastard children of the political arena and when they came to office they needed to do what they wanted as quickly as possible without regard for another election because they most likely would not be re elected. The changes the Barrett government made are still with us today. now will this current NDP/Green government have the "balls/ovaries" to do the same or do they want to stay in power and accomplish little.
The NDP needs to get with the agenda, clean up the mess, expose the corruption, and make progressive changes. There is a good chance you won't be there after the next election anyhow, regardless of how a good a government you have.
To give you a clue ... how are sre we going to change anything if we dont give the people the right to vote on the issues? How are we going to change anything jf we don't believe in the people.
Maybe right now they don't know that much but if you give them the responsibility to vote on issues instead of useless self serving cunts we will all get way further ahead and never look back!
http://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/australias-woodside-drops-grassy-point-lng-plan-in-canada-to-focus-on-kitimat-instead
I want my vote back. If I wanted the BC Liberal LNG/Energy Plan I would have voted BC Liberal.
@Hugh.....it's worse than that Hugh....Horgan gave everything away...he sold us out...This post was 100% accurate...many NDPers called me harsh...rushing to judgement...
It was so obvious..Site C has no business case..unless Site C power was gifted to LNG industry...it was..
Horgan is a bold-faced liar.....even worse..BC's Northern mayors are in Ottawa today...pleading for Trudeau to eliminate steel dumping duties on Asian steel....well guess what folks..
Trudeau will not bend over for LNG while Horgan is making life difficult for Kinder Morgan..
http://northcoastreview.blogspot.ca/2018/03/northern-mayors-delegation-in-ottawa-to.html
In other words...Horgan pleading for import duties to end....Trudeau has Horgan by the balls....So, under Horgan we lose Site C battle..LNG giveaway battle, and the Kinder Morgan battle..
Who the fuck are these BC NDP LIARS.....everything they campaigned on..yossed and a sharp right industrial turn....
Cheers
So how can they still claim we have any moral high ground with the carbon tax when they are increasing our GHG emissions 100 fold. I will never vote NDP again
Sorry for posting it here but can't get into thetyee/facebook at the moment. And won't miss them, I come here occasionally because at least I can post here anonymously:
If you want children to be interested in democracy you have to give them a reason which they will understand. I complimented the author of this article because he offered a reason (school kids get shot too) why they should be interested.
Went so far as to suggest how that paradigm could be used to increase children's interest in every subject. Got blocked, shut down, deleted and generally disrespected by theTyee.
That is what I really don't like about them; they manipulate their comment section to their own political ends without ever admitting that the only reason they are popular is because of the comment section. You come here and write comments - often way more intelligent than the author of the article imagined - and you are doing it for free. A free mine of information and ideas for the 'parent company.'
No, I don't know a better way at the moment, but I sure wish there were one.
Try http://www.unz.com for open debate. It is kinda racist in my view but at least you get to see what people around the world actually think.
I'm not saying yes, I'm not saying no, I'm not saying anything except when that little marmot came up to me in the woods I froze solid to hopefully get some idea of what it was thinking.
This will be my last post here.
OK, you want to know about the marmot. I was wandering around on an old abandoned trail in the Charlottes, completely surrounded by huge trees and soft moss. Everything was green and peaceful - it was great.
I glanced down the trail and saw this tiny little creature, maybe 18 inches long, stumbling toward me. Never even suspecting I was there. In fact he looked drunk (which made him fonder to my heart) and I froze solid hoping he would get closer. Which he did until ten feet away from me he realized I was there and immediately climbed the nearest tree, stopping on a branch about 20 feet up to examine me closely. We looked at each other with intense curiosity for a few minutes and eventually I went on my way. But he left a little mark on me, made me think that humanity doesn't own the world - that this is his world and if we destroy it he will have no other place to go.
That is a natural world and an analogy could be drawn to Facebook and their artificial world which many of us got trapped in at the beginning of digital time.
It is not an exact analogy as we may eventually have the intelligence to escape Facebook; while this tiny creature and his whole environment don't have that ability. The funny thing is that if we destroy them we also destroy ourselves.
If you want a better view on the environment you might try:
http://commonsensecanadian.ca
or you wish facts and figures and a whole lotta fun try:
https://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca He allows open comments.
This message will be destroyed as soon as theTyee sees it.
It is so incredibly disappointing to see John Horgan and the BC NDP back fracking!! FRACKING!!
And you called it, Grant, right from the start. That the approval of Site C was going to happen in order to support $^%*##$*@@#* fracking. And BC citizens are going to subsidize LNG and support increased greenhouse gasses and water contamination by paying through the nose for electricity.
I also *now* think that this was planned out long *before* the election. The BC NDP from the get-go pretended to oppose Site C in order to win key swing seats like Saanich South and Nelson-Creston. (I can't see those seats going NDP next provincial election either).
And now the BC NDP are pretending to oppose Kinder-Morgan. How cynical and disrespectful to the many activists and supporters who spent so many years trying to elect a progressive and ethical government.
All those Green voters I talked to in the election were right, they didn't trust the NDP! And they shouldn't have trusted the NDP. And I put my reputation on the line by assuring them there was (and still is not) any viable business case for approving Site C.
Just like the DNC in the U.S., the BC NDP is run by an out-of-touch elite group of neo-liberals and Vision Vancouver appartchiks. (Did you know the BC NDP doesn't even let members of the Provincial Council have contact information for each other?!?).
---otr
This guy nails it too....
http://stuartparker.ca/ndp-resignation/
Horgan kicked me in the gut with that LNG giveaway.....Ad the thing is...Horgan will be long gone before any LNG is exported...future generations will pay dearly for Horgan's stupidity(crimes against humanity)
Yes, that was a very accurate analysis in Stuart Parker's resignation letter to the NDP.
We progressives now need to regroup and organize to fight for a better province. There are a *lot* of progressives in B.C. especially so with younger folk. (In addition to the old-timers like us!)
---otr
Yes another long time NDPer absolutely disgusted. I had hope in Horgan being a different politician, but now he too has lived up to the "just another politician" line. Another untrustworthy party.
Another W A S NDP supporter.
Just for anyone's information about the Kinder Morgan Expansion, you can write a letter of protest here to the bc government:
https://dogwoodbc.ca
It is not ideal but the more people who write them and protest it the greater our chance of stopping it will be.
Here is a link to the facts about the last big oil spill a month ago in the East China Sea. You will find it very interesting.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2129985/east-china-sea-oil-slick-triples-size-along-whale
If one of those huge tanker-bombs out of Burnaby goes off on the South BC coast it will be more like chemical warfare than an oil spill.
I was an NDP supporter for 40 years. Just watched "Before the Flood".
Couple of years ago at a political meeting in my home town where all the different candidates were having an open meeting before the federal election. And the Conservative hopeful and the Liberal hopeful and the NDP hopeful stand up to talk about their platform. And the your Conservative hopeful dressed in his cowboy clothes gets up and talks and anybody who has an attention span wider than a gnats asshole can see he is just in it for the money stands up to recite the party line. And then this Native girl for the NDP stands up to rebut him and then there are questions from audience and this neighbor prick of mine stands up and starts going after the Native girl in ways which are not directly sexist or racist, but right next door to it. And I stood up and pretty much called him out as a racist and sexist prick (don't get me wrong, I am completely against the Jewish inspired battle of the sexes brought on by all those female Jewish authors like Steniem and Amiel and which are sticktly designed on sexist lines to separate white people on artificial sexist lines, and make them a lot of money while they're at it.) And a fairly large conservative supporter got up from where he was sitting and sat down right next to me - the threat was implicit. And since I was still standing I said, 'Let's get to it. There is no law that says I have to sit down here.'
I only stood up for the Indian girl because she was very quiet spoken and even though she had a PhD from a university, she didn't have a chance against the mob. Nothing happened.
But I felt then and I feel now that she should have the right to have an opinion without being attacked on racist or sexist grounds. And the fact that she was very soft spoken and couldn't defend herself only makes me stronger on her side. It was racism to win in politics, plain and simple. That is where we are.
Post a Comment