Premier Christy Clark apologizes

[Sapper]

Y'know, iwtl, if you feel Wetcoaster is spamming this thread with Adrian Dix-related stuff, report it to a mod instead of whining about it in consecutive posts.

edit: or, as an allusion to your status update, "ignore function really does make forum surfing a more pleasurable experience " - you might want to use it.

[literaphile]

You have problems with facts it seems.

[Common sense]

No wonder kids these days have an entitled sense of behavior. The Right wing seem to be wanted to send a message that since someone before them did wrong - until they do worse ( in their opinion ) they should be held to a lesser standard or none at all.

[Common sense]

I simply replied to his posts. Why you think it is neccessary to personally insult someone by calling participation "Whining" is beyond me. This is the proper area for those debates.

[inane]

You have a lot of angst there bro.

Maybe you should try and understand the 'leftards' rather than just remaining ignorant.

[Sapper]

Funny, because when I think of Occupy, the Maple Spring, and whatever the hell's going on with those Native protests, I think of entitled leftist brats who want the world handed to them on a silver platter.

You talk of entitlement; yet you can't even seem to see past the fact that it's the leftards that demand they want change at the expense of everything around them, going so far as to disrupt entire economies, and cities. You lefts talk of 1% and 99% and somehow you fail to grasp the fact that no one else cares about your rambles and your problems when everyone else has a life to live.

You talk of right-wing, but somehow the left is the one that causes all this crap in the first place.

[Wetcoaster]

But your post is just an ad hominem attack. It bears no relevancy here. The fact that Adrian Dix was dishonest in the past says nothing about the honesty of the current government. It's just an old partisan trick to deflect criticism away from an issue. So, instead of spouting off about what some other politician did 15 years ago, why not talk about the actual top of the thread?

[Langdon Algur]

Can everyone please get back to the issue? I have to admit the last post I think was on topic was when Wetcoaster posted and article trying to argue the Liberial gov't isn't "scandal-plagued" due to this one scandal to which I responded.

[inane]

I disagree. It says everything about Adrian Dix's lack of character and predilections.

And the post was in response to the idea that the NDP did not do such things as hiding paper trails when in power.

In politics you do not have to be great, just better than the other guy and based on past history Dix is way worse than anything being claimed about the current government.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" ~ George Santayana

[Wetcoaster]

Again, this thread is about Clark. Just because someone else went off topic doesn't mean you need to further that along.

[inane]

Congratulations upon your appointment as a Moderator... oh wait.

[inane]

The Elements of BC Liberal Style

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2013/03/06/Elements-of-Liberal-Style/

"I sincerely apologize for the language that was used in that document," Premier Christy Clark said on March 3 about her party's ethnic outreach memo leaked a few days earlier. "It's language that isn't worth repeating."

Actually, the memo's language is worth careful study. As E.B. White, co-author of

The Elements of Style,

observed long ago, "No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader's intelligence, or whose attitude is patronizing."

A close textual analysis of the language of the memo offers a disturbing glimpse into the minds of those who composed it, read it, and (to an unknown extent) acted on it. After all, these people have ruled the province since 2001.

The first things to note about this

17-page document

are the time and the address list. Tyee contributor Bob Mackin has

pointed out

that it was sent at 12:50 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012* -- very much during working hours, when government workers should be doing government business rather than party business.

Far from being the lowly staffers described by Clark, these are an elite team led by the premier's now former deputy chief-of-staff, Kim Haakstad. The address list includes some important Liberal party figures, but the memo went to their personal emails rather than to their government accounts. Presumably this was to ensure that the memo couldn't be released under Freedom of Information.

And of course the memo is now 14 months old. We don't have any follow-up memos, but clearly many of the memo's

goals have been achieved.

http://2010goldrush.blogspot.ca/2013/03/reading-tea-leaves-pondering-end-of.html' rel="external nofollow">

The text itself is a routine business report using a familiar vocabulary of current buzzwords: "outreach," "accountability," "strategic," "government silos," "buy-in," "target groups," "SWOT analysis." These cliché terms reveal a government itself locked in an information "silo" with doubtful communication systems.

They also reveal an "us and them" attitude: You don't need "outreach" to "target groups" unless those groups are already out there somewhere, away from the core group. Describing them as "targets" implies an assumed one-way information flow. A truly interactive relationship is not desired.

What are your sources?

Strikingly, the whole plan is based on what is referred to as "anecdotal reports" of supposed resentment of government neglect in ethnic communities. Had the memo been submitted in one of my business-writing courses at Capilano University, I would have flagged this paragraph for its fatal lack of documentation. The writer of the memo was involving some major Liberals, including Clark, in an elaborate (and politically explosive) project on the basis of gossip rather than hard evidence.

Many politicians campaign on the promise of "running the province like a business," and this memo reflects that mindset as well. In its structure the memo is a kind of business plan, and it uses terms like "buy-in" and "tailored advertising" as a way of sounding businesslike.

Interestingly, the "strategic objective" of one component is to "Develop the most comprehensive and complete lists possible so that we can

bypass media

[my emphasis] to get our message out and be very well prepared when the writ is dropped." While the memo calls for treating ethnic media as part of the "mainstream," it views all media more hindrance than help; a direct appeal over the media's heads is evidently preferable.

In the community-engagement section, the memo offers specific steps for identifying and targeting "faith-based groups," and (apparently as its lowest priority) suggests forming a "multicultural advisory committee" and then "determine whether they fall under Party, Government, or Caucus."

This determination seems very late in the game, and may help to explain why the plan is so fuzzy about civil servants and government appointees doing partisan work on the taxpayers' dollar. The same applies to the recommended "coordination on translation of government materials and Party materials (particularly websites)." Government and Party are identical only in authoritarian states.

Quick wins, no waiting

The term "quick wins" has drawn media attention, perhaps because it is a relatively new phrase amid the familiar business-style buzz. It is prominent in the memo, and reflects anxious impatience. The committee appears under time pressure; a "slow win" would presumably get less "buy-in" from a Liberal caucus facing an election in 16 months.

The memo recommends a research program on the opposition, including the BC Conservatives; presumably the Conservatives looked like more of a threat a year ago than they did later in 2012. Every nominated candidate is to be the subject of a "running dossier" -- already an established practice. The program would also identify any opposition "divisions or weaknesses" on multicultural issues, as well as "historical failures of the NDP government" on such issues. Presumably such information would provide the content for attack ads.

The memo assumes that a multicultural ad will be effective only if the target reader is ethnically identical to the people in the ad: "A Chinese-language ad should in most cases have pictures of Chinese-Canadians. Materials on something like HST should have Chinese-speaking validators." The implicit message is that Chinese-Canadians don't identify with other Canadians.

In its analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT, the writers of the memo inadvertently reveal some surprising weaknesses in their own thinking. The SWOT section argues that "political centre-right is a natural fit for many immigrant/ethnic communities" -- a stereotype for which no evidence is offered.

The memo goes on to list the Liberals' weaknesses: "Caucus has only a few ethnic MLAs, and only one (Richard Lee) who is fluent in a target language. Dave Hayer apparently speaks some Punjabi." The absence of "ethnic" MLAs says a great deal about general Liberal apathy toward minorities; the memo also exposes an embarrassing ignorance about the Liberal caucus itself.

The "opportunities" section amounts to mere arm-waving, because the memo doesn't really understand the voters it wants to attract: "Re-engaging with a block of hundreds of thousands of voters. Bringing voters who should be in our tent, back to our tent." The memo says nothing about when those voters were ever engaged with the Liberals, or why they left the "Liberal tent."

'We will appear opportunist'

But the memo understands the threats of its own plan very well:

• Failing to ensure a sustainable effort could be seen as time-limited pandering.

• Not fully funding and fully executing strategies might leave an impression that the government is still viewing ethnic communities as a lower priority.

• If not done correctly, we will appear opportunist.

It not only tells us what Christy Clark's team was thinking of doing in the run-up to the May 14 election; it also tells us what kind of world the Clark Liberals live in.

It's a world where minorities -- especially people of colour -- must be reached out to because they certainly aren't in the Liberals' inner circle. It's also a world where hard evidence isn't really needed; "anecdotal reports" will do. And it's a world where the media should be circumvented wherever possible by building a database of potential ethnic "targets." The Liberals will feed stories to the ethnic media, but the real appeal will be direct, whether by phone or email.

Missing the point of the last 40 years

Quite apart from the legal and moral issues of government workers doing partisan work, the memo raises questions about the social and political insulation of the party that has ruled B.C. since 2001.

For decades we have been a multicultural society, enriched by people from Vietnam, India, China, Uganda, Chile, and every other part of the world. Many have arrived as survivors of political and economic catastrophes, with a very clear sense of the hard, violent world outside Canada.

Somehow the BC Liberals missed the point of their presence. To them, the "ethnics" were just people who inexplicably had the vote, and therefore needed petting. That would be enough to get them to vote to support the dream world of affluent white Canadians -- a world that has never known a military coup, a civil war, a genocide, or a Cultural Revolution.

When we really look at it, the BC Liberal memo shows us just what a dream world those at the top have been living in all their lives.

[inane]

Editorial: B.C. Liberal government’s ethnic memo’s trail needs full airing

The memo at the centre of the ethnic outreach scandal rocking the Liberal government was ill-considered and injudiciously counselled action that was highly improper.

But it also addressed a legitimate concern of both the government and political parties — reaching out to members of ethnic communities who may not be listening to traditional messaging and media.

Governments need to be concerned with connecting with all citizens. In multicultural British Columbia, that means identifying barriers and developing strategies to overcome those barriers. That connection is important so that everyone has a chance to understand what their government is trying to do on their behalf. It is also critical for governments to be able to hear from all citizens. That communication needs to work both ways.

Political parties also need to gain favour in all communities. And there are people who are hired by the provincial government for what are essentially political jobs. But there has to be a line drawn between work that furthers the interest of the legally constituted government and work that is essentially aimed at bolstering the party’s chances of being re-elected.

While that line is not always clear, the actions contemplated in the memo clearly crossed it. The central problem was that it framed what could otherwise have been considered legitimate government activities in a baldly political context.

That led to the galling instance in which the idea of offering official apologies for deeply felt historical injustices was listed under the heading of “Quick Wins.” These actions weren’t being considered because they were the right thing to do, but because they could be used to score political points.

It’s also notable that government employees were using their private email addresses. While it’s possible that they did so because of a respect for the line between government and party business, the fact that they were so blithely mixing the two suggests they wanted to be invisible to any legitimate access to information requests.

Now that the memo has been made public, Premier Christy Clark and other Liberal MLAs have recognized that breach and apologized. But no one apologizing now admits to any knowledge of the memo when it was written and distributed last year. No one admits to having seen it before it was leaked to the New Democrats and they made it public.

Why weren’t they in the loop a year ago when it was written? And why isn’t anyone who was involved speaking out now?

The sharing of government and party resources as suggested in the memo was clearly improper. The idea of breaking down government silos should have been a red flag to anyone with an understanding of the need for a professional public service.

Clark says the memo was never acted on. Other information suggests that some initial steps were taken. It does seem, however, that at some point, someone had the sense to quash the program.

Clark’s deputy minister, John Dyble, has been asked to investigate. With just six weeks before the campaign officially begins, he must report back soon. And for his report to be seen as credible, he will have to name names, tell us what procedures were followed and who finally had the sense to pull the plug on this ill-conceived scheme.

While urgency is a virtue in this case, the resignation of John Yap was premature.

He, like Clark, denies any knowledge of the memo. It was written before he became minister. His resignation simply confuses the issue.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Editorial+Liberal+government+ethnic+memo+trail+needs+full+airing/8059746/story.html#ixzz2MtuFg3is

[Wetcoaster]

Don't be a hypocrite.

[Langdon Algur]

I am not.

[Wetcoaster]

You're known for posting forum rules in response to peoples post, don't pretend otherwise but seriously let's stay on topic.

[Harbinger]

And everyday it gets worse and worse for the Liberals and their scandal plagued party.

[Wetcoaster]

And everyday it gets worse and worse for the Liberals and their scandal plagued party.

[MANGO]

I'm sorry I got caught.............oh yeah....go Kanucks!!!

Christy Clark

[bolt]

As Craig McInnes said - in comparison to past BC governments:

So, given this rich history, does Clark’s government deserve to be called scandal-plagued?

Hardly.

People have short memories or are too young to know their BC political history. I shall continue to try to remedy that deficit.