We are back on the BC Series with Grant G (@Realmediavoices) returning with more of The Straight Goods. The fantasy world of LNG being the saviour of British Columbia, and the Clark government, has never been further from reality. But you would never know that listening to the hype coming from Victoria and the corporate media.
First it was Japan being the customer to be fleeced after the Fukushima disaster. Premier Clark boasted of being able to gouge them for all they could. Then Shinzo Abe was elected, Japan is back to nuclear power and that market is gone. Then it was China, the emerging energy market of the world. Surely they would line up to be taken advantage of. China is the world's largest producer of renewable energy, has 25 nuclear power facilities under construction and has built or is building 5000 plants that can use natural gas or coal. Both of which, due to fracking, they have in ample supply. Let's try India then. Well, it turns out that BC LNG is about the most distant energy source as you can get, is overpriced for India, and competitors have BC beat before they even start.
The global glut for LNG is expected to last until 2025 at the earliest and prices reflect that. And that's for operational suppliers, which BC is not. Expecting billions of investment for a dirt cheap commodity? Think again Christy. Minister of Fantasy Rich Coleman has no more tales to spin. The BCLiberals are out of markets, investors and time. Projects with controversial approval will likely never happen, Some principals are trying to sell them off before even being built.
The trillion dollar saviour is a dime store novel. BC energy resource revenue has dropped like a stone. Hiking ICBC rates ain't gonna cut it. The time for change has come and not a moment too soon.
Tune in this Wednesday(January 11/2016) evening 6:00pm PST for a robust conversation with Grant G/Straight Goods and Canadian Glen on everything LNG. also known as the Big Gaseous Con...
The above accurate information is Canadian Glen's showpage..
you can read what I reported on CNOOC and Aurora LNG proposal in a Straight Goods April 4th/2017 below post.....the Aurora LNG cancellation, ....the project was never on in a $5 to $12 dollar LNG market.......
The Straight Goods
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Written by Grant G
It's time for a B.C. LNG update...what's going on with LNG in British Columbia....The answer is nothing but meaningless staged photo-ops and gobbly goop press releases churned out by Christy Clark's 220 member gang of public affairs propagandists...Christy Clark is still trying to sell a promise of untold riches deriving from technologies of the past....The riches from LNG will never come to B.C....even if a LNG plant is built the riches won't accrue..
Before I get started on B.C.,,,this is where the future is going, renewable power, solar power, wind power, geothermal power.....LNG, the big fraud will not be the promised bridge fuel, as of today, the LNG industry is mired in a 15 year glut of supply....With massive gas discoveries everywhere..
"James Leaton, head of research at Carbon Tracker, added: “There are a number of low-carbon technologies about to achieve critical mass decades before some companies expect.”....The cost of solar has fallen 85% in seven years, and the report finds panels could supply 23% of global power generation by 2040 and 29% by 2050, entirely phasing coal out and leaving natural gas with just a 1% share.
By 2035, electric vehicles could make up 35% of the road transport market, and two-thirds by 2050, when it could displace 25m barrels of oil per day.
Under such a scenario, coal and oil demand could peak in 2020, while the growth in gas demand could be curtailed.
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In Israel..( The recent discovery of some of the world's largest off-shore gas fields has given Israel decades of energy independence and paved the way for it to become a natural gas exporter. One field, Tamar, began production in 2013, and the even larger Leviathan field is expected to come online in late 2019
in Egypt......( industry analysts expect Zohr — which has been described as a “supergiant” gasfield off the coast of Egypt containing an estimated 30tn cubic feet of gas — to be the biggest hydrocarbons project approved in 2016. It is the largest gasfield ever discovered in the Mediterranean.
Wood Mackenzie, an energy consultancy, said in a report this year that the development of Zohr, now being fast-tracked by Eni, the Italian energy group, would cost an estimated $14bn, and once natural gas started flowing, it was likely to prove “transformational” for the Egyptian market.
Zohr is welcome news for a country which last year changed from being a gas exporter to a gas importer. Eni believes Zohr will start production in 2017 and reach 2.6bn cubic feet of gas per day by 2019. https://www.ft.com/content/62dbd322-bff6-11e6-9bca-2b93a6856354 )
in Qatar ......(Australia's emerging leadership of the global LNG market may turn out to be short-lived after Qatar reasserted its ability to regain the top spot.
Qatar has surprised the market with plans to lift its self-imposed moratorium on further development of its huge North gas field, paving the way for the expansion of what some experts say are the world's lowest cost new supplies.
Consultancy Wood Mackenzie said the lifting of a 12-year ban on new projects at the offshore North Field shows Qatar intends to grow its market share, which has been eroded as other regions – such as Australia and the US – added capacity.
"But it is also a threat to other developers of new capacity worldwide, as Qatar can add new capacity at a lower cost than anybody else," said research director for global LNG, Giles Farrer.
Australia has seven operating LNG developments and three more under construction. Other projects are also being considered.
Existing projects
The North West Shelf Venture began shipping cargoes in 1989. The project has since grown to include five production units (or trains). It now produces up to 16.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG.
Darwin LNG began production in 2006. This one-train project produces up to 3.7mtpa.
Pluto started production in April 2012. It has one 4.3mtpa production train.
Queensland Curtis LNG began production in December 2014. It has two producing LNG trains, each with a capacity of 4.25mtpa.
Gladstone LNG began production from its first train in September 2015. Train 2 expected to be ready for start-up by the end of the year with first LNG in the second quarter of 2016.
Australia Pacific LNG began production from its first train in December 2015.
Gorgon shipped its first cargo in March 2016
Australia has three more large LNG plants coming online this year and next...
Under construction
Three large Australian LNG schemes are currently at various stages of development. These draw from gas fields off the north coast of Western Australia (Prelude, Wheatstone and Ichthys).
In total, Australia has almost $80 billion worth of LNG projects under construction.
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in the USA.... 5 LNG projects are under construction.. Cheniere is selling LNG, they just permitted it's 7th LNG train at Sabine...Port Charles LNG is far along in construction...There is so much new lng supply coming online, 90 million tonnes per annum(MTPA) from the US....and you might ask, how come projects went forward in the USA and not Canada?...Simple answer is...The sites of those USA LNG plants were not greenfield operations, ...those industrial sites were/are the locations of LNG import terminals...a decade plus ago the USA thought it would soon need to import LNG...that triggered a build up of regasification(LNG import facilities) terminals but then the fracking revolution opened up, that rendered those import/regas facilities useless, except for conversion to LNG liquefaction plants...American LNG builds are using existing pipeline grids and utilizing the LNG regasification infrastructure...Therefore saving American brownfield LNG builds approximately 50% over the cost of Canadian greenfield proposals..
We don't need to worry about LNG in BC....nothing is going to be built, even Woodfibre LNG is in doubt...
There was another phony BC Liberal election ploy, eer, I mean a Postmedia BC Liberal fake-out announcement last week...Sarita Bay LNG proposal...It was a photo-op of the absurd, of all the BC LNG proposals(20 plus) Sarita Bay proposal for Vancouver Island's wild westcoast is the most uneconomical of all...
Read it..no timeline, no estimate, no pipeline, no gas, and most importantly ..no buyers....Petronas, Shell Canada, AltaGas, Chevron, they all backed away, those projects deemed uneconomical...Steelhead's Sarita Bay proposal requires a pipeline across Salish sea and Van Island...no banker will sanction it, Steelhead will not find longterm buyer at a profit point...and, Steelhead has no money...Geoff Plant is on the board of directors, remember him...He sent the BC Rail theft investigation off the rails..
Need more...Australia's LNG disaster...They will never see any tax revenue from their record LNG exports..Big Energy have amassed $300 billion dollars in future tax deferments..
Need more....in 2016.. 263 million tonnes (MTPA) of LNG was sold...There was 340 million tonnes of capacity available...77 million tonnes of excess LNG capacity in 2016
2017....there is 35 million tonnes more of LNG capacity coming online..bringing total LNG available to 375 million tonnes...
By 2020 you can add another 90 million tonnes of capacity coming online from USA/Russia/Australia...bringing available capacity to 465 million tonnes...The world will only need maybe, 300 million tonnes in 2020...The glut will last until 2030..
Bloomberg has slightly different forecast numbers....
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US plants will help boost global production capacity to 407 million tons a year by 2020, compared with projected demand of about 274 million tons, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
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465 million tonnes of lng capacity available by 2020 when a mere 300 million tonnes are required.....and then there is this...besides that capacity coming online by 2020 ..this...
879 million tonnes per annum of new capacity has been proposed around the world...if they all built out, ...yearly capacity rises to over 1300 million tonnes of capacity..when even the most over zealous estimate is ......maybe 500 million tonnes per annum required by 2030...there is near 900 million tonnes per annum in new project proposals and 465 million tonnes of capacity by 2020 from projects already under construction....!
Need more...it's a buyers market and there is now a consortium of the three largest buyers of LNG...They, the buyers are demanding new terms, flexibility to resell LNG cargoes, and an end to destination take or pay longterm contracts..
You can't store LNG cheaply, it costs an arm and a leg to store LNG...There is a glut of LNG...Everyone will be cutting deals...Qatar is signing longterm contracts for $5 dollars per MBTUs...that is less than half the price of BC LNG's break even point.
Petronas isn't building anything in BC for a decade or more, probably never...not a single word from Petronas on BC or PNW LNG since last September..
Aurora LNG..which is owned by Nexen..Nexen is owned by CNOOC...
CNOOC is in economic trouble..CNOOC posted its first ever year over year money loss, the first time since launching as a company in 2001...
"China’s biggest offshore explorer, Cnooc Ltd., may report Thursday its first annual loss since its Hong Kong trading debut in 2001. Net income is forecast to have swung to a 3.22 billion yuan loss, according to the mean estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg."
not only that..TransCanada is building a pipeline extension and has signed a 15 year deal to ship BC/Alb nat-gas EAST...not to the west-coast but east to Toronto..
Meaning 1.5 billion cft of gas per day is gone, not available for conversion to LNG...
Need more...the big news, Japan, the world's largest consumer of LNG...their need of LNG is falling fast...
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The country’s annual LNG purchases last year fell for the first time since 2009 as its atomic fleet began restarting and as electricity consumption dropped to the lowest since 1998 amid a shrinking population and more energy efficiency. A decline in Japan LNG imports may add to a global glut as new projects start in Australia in the U.S. and prices for the fuel delivered to Northeast Asia slump to the lowest in at least five years.
“LNG imports will certainly decline this year as reactors are brought back online,” Junzo Tamamizu, the managing partner of Clavis Energy Partners LLC, a Tokyo-based consulting and advisory firm, said by phone. The nation’s increased use of solar power will also continue to reduce LNG consumption for power generation, Tamamizu said.
Japan’s LNG demand is forecast to fall by about 30 percent by 2030 to 62 million tons from its peak in 2014, according to a government projection
_______________ There is so much excess LNG at present. .... Big energy needs India and other large populations to fully adopt LNG as a reliable power source, and they will, but only if the price is cheap...and therein lies the rub...India and Pakistan can't absorb the heady prices big energy foisted on Japan in their time of need.. So, to increase LNG demand from heavily populated countries like India and Pakistan you have to price low...$5 dollars per MBTUs or less... that puts Canadian LNG on ice...
Christy Clark started yammering about LNG in 2011..when she became leader of the BC Liberal Gang... in 2012/2013 Christy Clark went into her delusional mode, she promised over 100,000 lng jobs...she promised a $100 billion dollar prosperity fund..an elimination of BC's debt, the elimination of BC's sales tax(which brings in $6 billion dollars per year at present to government)..she promised LNG would fund schools, hospital, ..lng revenues would pay off BC's crown debt(BC Hydro currently has a $22 billion dollar and growing debt)...
All those advertised jobs, all the money....BC was going to be paved with untold riches and all we had to do was elect Christy Clark....There is not an LNG shovel in the ground--April 4th/2017 and not a single LNG shovel in the ground... to be clear...Qatar..Iran...Russian pipeline gas...all the massive gas discoveries....there is another 100 million tonnes per annum/equivalent energy coming from these three countries that weren't even counted above....a glut til 2030 and if renewables stay on their current projections...there may be enough gas/lng now...
The market is saturated until 2030(minimum) and if renewables keep projecting upwards...the LNG industry is dead to BC..
Christy Clark sold snake oil to BC voters in 2013 to get elected... 4 years later BC's provincial debt under Christy Clark went from $39 billion in 2013 dollars to $70 billion in 2017(not counting BC Hydro's growing debt $22 billion, not counting BC Ferries $2 billion dollar debt, not counting the $3.7 billion and growing Port Mann bridge debt, not counting Pavco's growing debt(BC Place)..not counting a potential $3.5 billion dollar Massey bridge debt.
Christy Clark's campaign bus in 2013 was adorned with the logo...Debt Free B.C....it should have read Debt Spree BC..
Christy Clark lied her face-off about LNG...She was a bad politician under Gordon Campbell and under her reign the BC Liberals have turned into the most corrupt government in Canada....A pay to play, bribes for free pollution...Christy Clark sold out generations of BCers...and come May 9th/2017....We BC voters are going to send Christy Clark packing...She should be jailed...in all my years, I have never known a politician who lied with such ease, cheated and didn't care, abused children through reckless policy, treated teachers like stray dogs, seniors brushed off, shortages of everything under these BC Liberal's watch...they took demographic charts and shredded em, disabled paid poverty, the weakest among us..Christy Clark abused everyone except those who paid bribes to her and the BC Liberal gang.... Here is a 2 hour blogcast featuring yours truly and @canadianglen http://www.blogtalkradio.com/canadianglen/2017/01/12/lng--a-bridge-fuel-too-far-with-grant-g# http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2017/01/lng-bridge-fuel-too-far.html
Written by Grant G What an amazing B.C. political firestorm we just endured...what happened, why it happened.... Sometimes the littlest error can bring down Goliath.. A lot of things had to go right for John Horgan to gain power..everything had to fall into place, including a litany of errors by the BC Liberal machine, too clever by half...personal Christy Clark advisors led her headlong over the political cliff.... Yes, there are/were election issues...Kinder Morgan...Site C boondoggle, a failed LNG gambit..a ridiculous Massey bridge proposal... but that's not what brought down Christy Clark, it wasn't John Horgan, it wasn't money(per se)...what brought down Clark and her Liberal gang was hubris and bad political advice... Clawing back bus passes from the disabled....the amount of money saved was not even a drop in the bucket..Clark was advised by an idiot... Rich Coleman telling the media that BC,s wildwest campaign finance was not an issue the public cared about.... Bad advisors again....Christy Clark with a huge election warchest...she had the public advertising purse too..BC Liberals had Postmedia and corporate MSM on their side in a blatant partisan way...Clark had economic bragging rights of Canada(the best of a bad bunch of economic basketcases)... A smart advisor would have never allowed the bus pass clawback..a smart advisor knowing a big surplus was available would never have made a 50% MSP cut a year later(after an election) as the big budget 2017 measure... A smart advisor would have never suggested or insisted on those measures.... During the election...a troll truck?...are we children, a college frat stunt...Animal House anyone...who thunk that up (Zubyk?) I am Linda.....a smart advisor would have put out that firestorm within an hour...would have called Linda, arranged a sit-down interview with Clark herself...a smart advisor would have turned I am Linda into a real opportunity....Clark's advisors went into partisan attack mode against Linda.... a smart advisor would have had Clark recant the NDP web hacking claim within minutes....Christy Clark's hand picked advisors cost her the election.. John Horgan didn't win the election...Christy Clark's braintrust blew it bigtime..and A lot of people and players contributed to Horgan getting a chance to govern.. Bob Mackin...Merv Adey..Norm Farrell...Laila Yuile...Integrity BC...The Tyee..Andrew Nikiforuk...Ross K...Rafe..Desmog..Burnaby's Kinder Morgan fighting warriors...Friends of the Skeena..Save the Peace groups..the list is long and I can't name everyone...including The Straight Goods who near single handed gutted the LNG fable like a sushi chef carving fresh tuna.. What is this post about.....this is about being different....it's about living outside the echo chamber and not becoming a blind follower. It hurts to be attacked by those on the left for giving honest opinion. as written here...Translink referendum was doomed...NDP should never have promoted it...NDP should of demanded the Provincial government find a way to fund transit..not try to win a silly(doomed referendum)....NDP advisors told the party they would win that Translink referendum...they too were wrong...advisors told the NDP to walk the fence on LNG....that too was wrong, as LNG in BC is caput..including Woodfibre.. Advisors to the NDP party messed up in 2013 with Dix's campaign and Dix himself as leader...(despite the fact that Dix is a smart, hardworking MLA and soon to be cabinet minister...) When one surrounds themselves with "yes" men...lives in the political insider's club, resides in the echo chamber....one's perspective gets lost... So...when I say the optics of no legislative sitting until September 5th is terrible, a bad idea...what I'm really saying is....we need to be different, appear different.....and therein lies my peeve...I'm getting attacked by partisans on the left, telling me to back off, literally calling me an enemy of the party... When truth be known....Without The Straight Goods(sworn to secrecy) and every bit of help from those mentioned above including thousands more, foot soldiers, volunteers, organizers and the like John Horgan would not be government(as slim as his margin is )today. NDP..including Horgan..and Andrew Weaver complained very loudly about Clark stalling on bringing back the legislature until June 22nd..and another weeklong stall on a throne speech vote(June 29th)..... The not so secret rumor that our Legislature won't be recalled until after Labour day has emerged ...and now Michael Smyth, and Postmedia is beating the drum about the hypocrisy of not bringing our Legislature back until September 5th(2 months from today) when they so loudly criticized Clark on her recalling delays.... There is no budget passed yet...provincial monies run out in September...passing a throne speech will take 2 weeks..a budget several weeks..a month of work without bringing any other legislation to the floor...and so much needs doing..(and I understand briefing documents need to be read, transition papers...but, until you have the reins you won't get the juicy bits)... This Powell River Persuader sees political opportunity...call the legislature back right after swearing in and appointing cabinet...Give throne speech, debate it, vote confidence on it...then bring in a few Bills/legislation(not the budget)....Run Legislature from mid July to first week in August....then shut it down until after labour day(then pass a budget)...in my opinion, my advice...the public will see different...public will see a new government that's hungry to succeed.. Why do I think late July and August for a legislative sitting is a good idea...because there are many long in the tooth BC Liberal MLAs who booked their holidays...they want the summer off, and off they will be...if all of Horgan's team, and Green team members are there...with missing BC Liberals the speaker won't have to vote in August...come September, most likely all 87 MLAs are there.. year after year...BC MLAs have had 1/2 the year off, or more...I am aware that MLAs do other work in their constituency.. I am also aware that many MLAs...from both sides, from all sides, NDP..Libs..Greens are yearning for their usual long summer break... In other words...legislative business, and BC Liberal style Legislative scheduling as usual...with Postmedia beating the anti NDP drum... If anyone thinks the NDP will have corporate media on their side come the next election, whenever that might be are sorely mistaken.. The NDP..John Horgan...Andrew Weaver will receive no quarter, they'll have to make their own good news...
The BC Liberal side, come September, they too will criticize Horgan for the delay in recalling our Legislature...they will hammer the NDP for not sitting after claiming urgency...it matters not that all BC Liberal MLAs want to go on extended summer vacation... I've never been a blind follower....I call em as I see em......so go-ahead, call me names NDPers, retweet your inner petulance...show your blind partisan following abilities... Become what you claimed was wrong with BC Liberal supporters.. There were many, and one election 2017 Kingmaker...and it wasn't blind followers..and it wasn't "There are none so blind as those who refuse to see"
The below post goes way back to 2011....pay special attention to the second to last paragraph....what I wrote over 6 years ago about John Horgan....I wrote this..
"You were born to lead, you have a rare quality that can`t be manufactured, it`s a gift, use it, you have a unique karma, you don`t know it yet but you will be premier of British Columbia."(Grant G in 2011)
let's just say I had a vision...and there are more visions from me awaiting...Premier Horgan and i haven't always seen eye to eye...but we always found common ground...
Congratulations John Horgan....
(April 8th/2014....I wrote the first bit below immediately after Adrian Dix`s stunning failure in our provincial election...Grant G)
May 14th/2013..This is a repost from the time of the B.C. NDP leadership campaign..
I have no words right now, congratulations to the BC Liberals, I won`t be posting for a while, anyone needing to contact me can email...All I can say is, we couldn`t win with the honest Carole James, and I knew back when I posted this story, we couldn`t win with Adrian Dix`s baggage, not with a corrupt media...If John Horgan was elected leader at that time, we would have a NDP Government today...
Adrian Dix, I think you are a good man inside, however, you must resign, John Horgan is my pick as new leader, he was my pick 2 years ago.....I suggest all NDPers read this post below, written 2 plus years ago(April 13th/2011)...Faithful readers like Leah and CherylB knew like I did...Adrian Dix was toxic, many left my comment thread after Adrian was elected leader, because I was prepared to give Dix a chance...
They were right, I was wrong, with a corrupt media we need the best to win, Adrian Dix was not that man, and it isn`t personal, it`s logical
My condolences to the people of British Columbia.
May 14th/2013
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After I wrote that above statement, a short while later John Horgan and I had a little talk....I called John Horgan out, challenged him to get off his ass, slap the party and carry us to victory as only he can....I had a few commenters and contributors get testy with me for being so direct...Here was my open letter to John Horgan .........written on October 18th/2013.....
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Open Letter To John Horgan
(This is a copy of the letter I sent to John Horgan earlier today)
Thanks for the heads up notice?....You know John..Adrian Dix and the NDP owe everyone in British Columbia an apology
John....Like it or not you are the only real choice we the people have...Yet I know, actually, I feel your predicament...The NDP at present is lost, no message, not knowing what message to even present to the public, the economy is so fucked up, there are no instant cures, LNG will be a bust, the gravy is leaving the movie industry, forestry is in a mid-term to long term mess, our fisheries are collapsing, so here stands the NDP..
Scared, no message, Brian Topp and his buddy Ken Boesenkool threw the last election...Robin Austin is panting like a puppy dog on the LNG file, while Adrian Dix speaks like he is wearing dishwashing gloves, as to not tarnish his skin...Soft/bland milktoast speak.
OK, so you are worried you can`t make a difference, you have no answers, not prepared for the big fight, maybe you have health issues..
John Horgan, maybe you aren`t the big picture guy, no great dreams, the movement where sustainability and reason rule the day can be led by someone else...
The NDP is laying on the ground bleeding, dying, no vision...SO WHAT THE HELL, DUST OFF YOUR JACKET AND GRAB YOUR PENSION..
LET THE LIBERALS RULE FOREVER, ...
Say hello to your family for me....And tell them, the task before the NDP and John Horgan was too difficult.....I and the party decided to quit..
Four years until an election, and we don`t even have an opposition..
(P.S. .....Mr. Horgan, telling the truth about our B.C. economy and near future no matter how frightening IS the path to victory...
It is never too late, you can change your mind)
Good Day..
Grant G
My letter to Mr. Horgan was rather snarky.....We 4 million losers in B.C. deserve to speak to the NDP in stark, and snark terms.
The reason why this writer lit a fire under John Horgan, Horgan has the right stuff, our best speaker, a winner, straight talker, fast sharp wit, a man who will take nu guff......
John Horgan.....The next premier of British Columbia.......Grant G April 8th/2014...
April 13th/2011
Born To Lead, The Honourable John Horgan
Written by Grant G...
Well here we go, coming down to the wire in the NDP leadership contest, three men left standing, Adrian Dix, Mike Farnworth and John Horgan, three superstars in their own right, let`s break down the nuts and bolts and get into meat of things.....
Adrian Dix, a pit bull, antagonistic, aggressive and capable, however, unfortunately Adrian brings out visceral feelings in people, he`s a love em or hate em type guy and those who hate him really hate him, personally speaking if Adrian didn`t have two sets of baggage with him I might have considered voting for him, the first set is the infamous memo-gate, Dix back dated a memo to cover Glen Clark`s rear end and got caught, that wasn`t a mistake of spoken words it was planned and executed, the Liberals will key on that in election ads and it will hurt, actually it`s probably fatal, that would be hard enough to overcome by itself but when you add in the sack of cash separate from the stack of memberships Adrian dropped off at the deadline for new members, I`ve been told a few hundred of those ballots have been rejected...I suspect the BC Liberals would run an election ad like this....The caption, (A young Adrian Dix), they show a young Adrian sneaking into an office using white out on a document then return it to the file, then the next caption...(An older Adrian Dix)..They show a man with sacks of cash and stacks of memberships laughing and tee heeing, it would doom our party..But Adrian Dix would be a marvelous health minister.
Mike Farnworth, a fine man, dedicated, friendly and boring, he calls himself the most electable, actually he`s most like Carole James, too much like Carole James for me, Farnworth talks tough but he portrays weakness and mushy policies, his policies are good on paper but verbally not, his next liability is his speaking, he`s not bad with a practiced script but on his feet he`s mister eer and umm on every other word, it comes across badly, at least in my eyes and ears it does, liability number three, he`s gay, a life long partner, I would like to stress that it doesn`t matter to me but it will matter to some, probably at least 5% percentage points will shun Farnsworth because he is gay, imagine trying to win with Christy Clark and her family values routine and favourable press with CKNW, CTV, Global, Vancouver sun and Province, you might think I am over playing that angle but you would be wrong, let me give you an example of what the media is prepared to do for Christy Clark, let`s call it a Professional set, a professional picture, her make-up is perfect, let`s say she`s wearing a hockey jersey and talks about her son Hamish and their love of the game of hockey and they splash that on the front page, the media wouldn`t run puff pieces like that would they?....Think again, take a gander at this, no need to read the story just check out the picture.
Shocking eh, look how the Province newspaper tries to connect Christy to canuck fever, what a staged picture, no bloody way was that was some media scrum photo, i`ll bet they took 50 shots from different angles and picked the best, the lighting was perfect, the story was syrupy drivel, so that is what Farnworth is up against, Christy and family against alternative lifestyle Mike, just imagine what the likes of a Phil Hocstein could do with that, can you imagine what ads he would run, remember his tactics in Ida Chong`s riding, heck, that was a vicious attack ad on a recall campaign, just imagine in a general election and especially if it was a close contest... The BC Liberals muse about running a positive campaign, I`ll bet dollars to doughnuts that the next Provincial election will be the dirtiest campaign on record, Farnworth also has ties to bingo-gate, regular readers here know already about the Farnworth tapes Global news has in their possession, it`s video of Jas Johal running after Farnworth who ducks into a car and speeds away, it`s a pretty damning video, it can and would be spun to high heaven. We can`t afford to give any percentages away if we want to win.
Then we get to the Honourable John Horgan, the man has a way of drawing your attention, he`s a policy hawk, the best speaker of the three, he speaks in clear positive terms and his platform is solid and complete, no mushy middle, some have said he has a temper, I have never seen it, he`s answered all my requests for years now, he`s open, friendly, easy to access, he never dodges a question, Gordon Wilson recently did a hatchet job on Horgan citing his temper, if he had one 15 years ago I don`t know, I consider Horgan`s speaking and style as...Politely firm, the other advantage Horgan has is his memory, he can pull accurate stats and minute details from thin air at will, another big plus for John Horgan is no baggage, no memo gate, no bingo gate, no membership snafu, everywhere Horgan has gone he has won over the crowd and dominated the debates, I have heard from people all over this Province who never knew Horgan but after an hour or two hearing him speak he won them over, that folks is a quality that can`t be manufactured either you are born with or not, ...... John Horgan has a pretty wife and she`s real folksy, two good sons, he`s also a bladder cancer surviver, he`s a fighter!....Horgan knows the value of public health care, his number one goal is to preserve public health....
On the economic front we have a BC Hydro problem, no one has more experience than John on electricity, he`s been energy critic for years and he was on the energy file in the 90s, only Horgan can clean up the BC Hydro disaster Gordon Campbell created, John is on the record as saying that every secret IPP power buying contract will be reviewed and if deemed not in the public interest they will be renegotiated no matter what, Horgan will peg the price to the spot market, no more power losses.
I know many of you may choose Dana Larsen, you may like Adrian, some like Farnworth, I like Horgan but for me it`s not about favorites it`s about winning the next election, we can`t afford as a Province to lose, BC is spiraling out of control under the BC liberals, I implore all NDP voters to vote with their heads and keep emotions out of the picture, whatever happens happens, we have one more chance, let`s get it right this time.
The list of Horgans endorsements is long..Nicholas Simons, Harry Lali, Dana Larsen(who is still in the race).The Corrigans, Kathy and Derick, Burnaby city council, Dan Miller, Shane Simpson, Robin Austin,
Gary Coons, Maurine Karagianis,Scott Fraser, Bill Routley, Claire Trevena, former MPs Bob Skelly, Ray Skelly, Jim Manly, Construction trades council executive Tom Sigurdson, former NDP cabinet ministers Elizabeth Cull, Ann Edwards, Paul Ramsey, BCGEU general secretary John Flyer, CUPE president Paul Faoro, economist John Summerville, and this endorsement..and many many more, he`s attracted both our union brothers and a little business, he has dissidents and superstars, Horgan has a way of attracting people from both sides, in fact even the BC Liberals showed Horgan respect in the house.
Anyway, I`m not easily won over but I`ll tell you what, I was so impressed with John Horgan years ago and he has gotten stronger, better, sharper, he so impressed me I wrote this story in January 2009, a full year before the NDP cleansing, Carole was still in charge, the NDP were united, I wrote a hypothetical story about John Horgan becoming the new NDP leader and I find it a bit of a coincidence, I dated my hypothetical story (authored by Vawn Pawmer).March/15/2010...I was only out a year, I also wrote this story as well, it was called, "Born to Lead" and again that was well before any NDP infighting, that story was dated March 11/2010...A year before the squabbling.
Maybe I knew something then, like a vision, John Horgan emailed me at the time about those two stories I wrote last year, he thanked me for them, he was very gracious but he told me over and over again,
"The job is filled and Carole James is our leader"
I respected his solid support of Carole James especially since at that time I was very critical of Carole James but I remember like it was yesterday, in our email conversation, I told the Honourable John Horgan....
You were born to lead, you have a rare quality that can`t be manufactured, it`s a gift, use it, you have a unique karma, you don`t know it yet but you will be premier of British Columbia.
And the man has answered all my questions I`ve asked of him ever since, he`s not in my riding but he still answered all my requests and promptly, not just automated responses but thorough responses with clear details, Horgan does not hide, he`s a straight shooter and I fully endorse him and I hope all you fellow NDP members will support John Too!
(P.S......Thank you Mike Farnworth for getting out of the way of the John Horgan Express..April 8th/2014....One more thing, from inside politics, BC Liberals are terrified of John Horgan...There was a planned coup by the BC Liberals, their plan
was to have BC Liberal members on masse join the NDP party and vote for anyone but Horgan......More on that a little later..As of now, that BC Liberal plot has been dismantled in its tracks!......Grant G)
