Over the past couple of years, my loyalty has generally been with the BC Liberal government.
Why? Well, they're right-wing (sort of), I'm right-wing (very much so), and so it just seemed a match made in heaven.
But no longer. I simply can't take it any more. It took about three years, but now the BC Liberal Party disgusts me so completely I’ve rescinded my support.
It wasn't the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) that did it. It wasn't the deficit, or the corruption scandals. It wasn't the bungled eHealth and records-sharing computer systems. It wasn't the horrific state of affairs within the Ministry of Children and Family development or the perpetual sheen of quasi-corruption that seems to have settled on the party. It wasn't the Liberals' support of their pet gag law on election spending, Bill 42, or the way that they handed over our province to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) so that august body could run the place like kings for months on the taxpayers' dime. It wasn't even premier Gordon Campbell’s refusal to step aside on behalf of his party in wake of the public's general dislike of him.
All of that I could live with. I wasn't happy about it, but I could support the party through the scandals, bad decisions and bungles.
What shattered my loyalty was a tiny story by columnist Andrew MacLeod in the online magazine, The Tyee. The story noted that that the BC Liberals had exaggerated an estimate from the Conference Board of Canada on the economic impact of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in BC, by $2 billion. In response to questions from The Tyee, the Conference Board revealed that this extra $2 billion had already been included in their original estimate.
In other words, the BC Liberals lied to us.
Now, I was never convinced that the Olympic Games would yield more than they cost. My doubts have been confirmed, for the most part. And I never trusted the government's estimate. After all, this was the same government that predicted its deficit would be $495 million and then disclosed a deficit in the billions. A few months ago, when reports showed that the Olympic numbers would be considerably lower than even rapidly-down-shifting Liberal estimates, I wasn't surprised. You expect your government to fudge the numbers on those kinds of things.
But in this case, the government offered such a bad lie. I think that's what really stings. I mean, $2 billion out of nowhere that can be debunked with one simple phone-call? Come on. It's like the BC Liberals don’t care enough to lie convincingly to our faces any more.
Anyway, when I saw this story, I got angry. Really angry. And since that fateful day, the BC Liberal government has only confirmed my suspicions: it cannot be trusted with anything.
It can't be trusted to give us the information that we need when we need it, or at all. It can't be trusted to give us a straight answer. It can't be trusted when it promises that it will do something (how's that access-to-information thing going, guys?), and it can't be trusted when it promises that it won't do something (the HST comes to mind). It can't be trusted with a simple task such as replacing the information and privacy commissioner when realizes he doesn't want the job any more. It can't be trusted with big tasks (like the Olympics) or little things (like blithering over photo radar for speeding).
This, when mixed with tax-grabbing, gimmicks and the Liberals’ perpetual position on the cusp of corruption, makes for one of the most off-putting parties you could ever imagine. It's not just about the numbers on the economic impact of the Games. It's about the BC Liberals’ approach to politics in this province.
And you wonder why there's a low voter turn-out.
What's the point? I can't vote for the NDP—I disagree with so many of their policies it would be like pulling my teeth to cast a ballot for them—and there isn't a viable right-wing alternative in sight. Oh sure, there's the BC Conservatives, but I suspect those guys will soon implode and they're too fringe for my tastes besides. There's the BC Libertarian party, and that's about it.
And so, I think the BC Liberals deserve some kudos. They're right-wing enough to disenfranchise a good portion of the left-wing electorate, but they're so fundamentally hopeless they can't keep the conservative vote that's already theirs by default.
Give yourselves a pat on the back from me, guys.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen_dyrgas/3338055307/
I am pretty much of the same opinion, except that for me it was the HST that finally did it. First it was the blatant betrayal of the electorate and then the lies that it does not increase the cost of living. Personally I have always been against any form of income tax, since it discourages productivity and favour it being replaced with a consumer tax. Had the BC Liberals decreased the provincial income tax by an equivalent amount (HST), it could have been justified (if one could overlook their betrayal). I find Campbell and company have become so arrogant thinking they can pretty well thumb their nose at the electorate, that I can no longer vote for them. Of course in my riding the alternative (NDP and Green) are not an option, so for the first time I shall not vote. I only wish one had the option of ticking off "None of the above" on the ballot.
Hi Alain,
For me, the HST was probably the real starting point of my dissatisfaction with the BC Liberals. That started to introduce some doubt about their process - then, again and again, they just seemed to keep getting worse and worse, you know?
I'm in the same boat as you - I don't really see voting for any particular party in BC right now, unless there's a BC Libertarian candidate in my riding...
The biggest problem is that the provincial Government doesn't fear the people. They will do whatever they feel like doing, (HST for example). No one wants it, yet they are doing it anyways. I ask, "Who is the Gov't responsible to?" The people of course, but they're not and haven't been listening to the people of BC in a long time. There's now a care-aid registry. This forces all care-aids to be put in a computer system for any potential employer to look at. If there's any complaint, no matter how unfounded or ridiculous, it will get put in there, no due process. Guilty until proven innocent, or in this case, just plain guilty. The new drinking and driving law? Again, no due process, guilty until proven innocent. We have a gov't that is destroying our liberties, and it's time to say, "No more." It is time for this gov't to fear the people. But who do we vote for? The NDP? They're worse then the Liberals, they're very pro union, socialist, re distributors of the wealth. I do have a Conservative riding in my area which to me seems the only logical choice. I think if the Libertarians got into power there would be anarchy. They'd let everything go to human choice. Which history has shown is a bad idea. Anyways, I'll leave with a quote that I think we need to live by, "If the people fear the government, there is tyranny. If the government fears the people, there is liberty." Thomas Jefferson
To me, government functions basically like a large group of employees: they should do what we want them to, and when they don't, it's because they're not doing their job properly. Sadly, in BC, it looks like the government has reached the point where they don't really recognize this relationship, and instead feel like doing, basically, whatever they feel like they can get away with. In the case of the HST, it didn't quite work...
I envy those with other choices in their ridings; I mean other acceptable choices such as the BC Conservatives. Also, I agree that it is not the HST per se, as that is simply another example of the BC Liberals' arrogance and complete disregard for the people of BC. The carbon tax was another one, the new impaired driving regulations are another and the list just goes on and on. We also have a major problem, only getting worse with time, and that is the gap between the urban population (Greater Vancouver & Victoria) and the rest of the population. The majority of the urbanites, being just about totally alienated from the natural world and real life, seek to promote values that the rest of us reject. Of course BC is not the only place where this problem exists, but it cannot be overlooked.
That's a very interesting point about the urbanites' relationship to the rest of the province. I had never really thought of it that way, but now that you mention it it makes sense that there would be a difference between the two segments of the population.
I've heard some great news from the BC Conservatives. Retired Federal MP Randy White is now supporting the BC Conservative party. I had always been a fan of Mr. White, now I hope with him behind the BC Conservatives they'll be able to make some headway in the next election. I think we're going to see some exciting changes coming... At least I hope.
I hope so. My prolem with the BC Conservatives, mainly, is that they seem to be rather unstable at the moment, and they've reversed position on matters of policy, which is concerning. If they could address those issues, they could be a formidable right-wing alternative to the BC Libs.
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