BC General Election May 14, 2013 - Advance Voting Wed May 8 to Sat May 11 - See Post #433

[Harbinger]

polls schmolls

The older generation(s) are not nearly as stupid as the current one and they have lived through the carnage that is an NdP government.

Also, their attention span is actually measurable.

[lowest common denominator]

I guess stranger things have happened.

George W got voted in twice, so did Stephen Harper.

And the people of BC voted the HST out, out of spite. Thats like cutting off your right hand to spite the left hand.Or cutting off your balls to spite your di...

So you might be right,I am probably underestimating the stupidity of the voting populace.

If so, I hope you all enjoy laying in the bed you are making for yourselves.

NDP=NFG, but some lessons you just have to learn for yourself, I guess.

[Common sense]

And you condone this?

[Common sense]

Congrats. That is the weakest defense of this desperate and pathetic ad I've heard yet.

[Armada]

Didn't Christy destroy Dix in the debate? That's what the Province said.

[J529]

Didn't Christy destroy Dix in the debate? That's what the Province said.

[Sapper]

This is an UNpaid Advertisement.

Liberals, although crooked, are our best bet as citizens of BC.

NDP = NFG

If you are too dumm to understand that, then I am scared for our future.

[Sapper]

an intersting write up in the Sun - It appears others do not share the opinon that the add is "ethical". Also when she says the NDP has an alberta jobs plan when in fact in March her goverment oversaw the loss of 13 THOUSAND jobs means she is also spreading increadible disinformation. If her party's plans is massive job losses and huge Debt - Please count this voter out of that plan - its no good for BC - no good for BC Families and is leaving a massive and growing debt for our children.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/bc-election/Front+page+Liberal+election+illusion+says+leader+Adrian/8322572/story.html

An advertisement taking up the entire front page of the Vancouver edition of 24 Hours calling Liberal Leader Christy Clark the “comeback kid” has left the NDP irritated, a journalism professor appalled and some readers offended.

The ad, a wraparound page that envelopes the real front page of the daily, shows a photo of a triumphant Clark underneath the words “paid advertisement” and it also shows poll figures that indicate Clark is perceived to have sounded most like a premier during the televised leaders debate earlier this week.

NDP leader Adrian Dix says he will leave others to judge the ad, but says he thinks political parties should not be spending money on “creating illusions” around a story.

The full poll by Ipsos Reid is not referenced in the newspaper ad, but it isn’t as flattering as the ad would suggest.

The online results show of the 677 British Columbians surveyed, more people thought Dix had won the debate than Clark and a wide majority thought Dix had better ideas than Clark.

Clark said the front page ad was for sale and her party bought it, adding the fact that it’s advertising is clearly marked on the page. She said the Liberals, like all other political parties during the May 14 election campaign, are using advertising to get their messages to voters.

“That’s what we are talking to people about everyday and I’m sure the piece talks about too,” she said at a news conference in Penticton where she toured a local modular building construction company. “As you know, there are lots of TV ads, there’s lots of advertising that all the parties are doing and that’s part of the way we all communicate with the pubic, and this is part of it.”

Dix, campaigning in Cariboo on Wednesday, said he would let readers draw their own conclusions from the ads.

But he added: “I think it’s unwise for political parties who should be addressing the issues of our time to try and create the illusion around and spin around the story in that way.”

“The Liberals needed to buy the front page of the newspaper to claim victory, but I depend on the work that’s done by actual journalists on that question,” he said.

After questions were raised about the ad, the Liberals forwarded a Toronto Metro front page that ran during the 2011 federal election. The near-full-page picture shows a smiling Jack Layton with the headline: “On May 2, Vote For A Leader You Can Trust” and below the picture are brief sentences about some of the federal NDP’s campaign pledges.

Readers are notified it’s paid advertising in tiny print on the bottom of the page.

Both 24 Hours and Metro are free publications aimed at commuters.

Josephine Alesna who was selling flowers outside a Canada Line transit station in downtown Vancouver was surprised to learn the wraparound was an advertisement and not a newspaper story.

“It feels like it’s a fraud, not fraud but deceiving the people,” she said after the words “paid advertisement” were pointed out.

Just metres away and sitting on a bench eating her lunch, Leah Reimer said it took her a moment to realize the advertisement wasn’t a newspaper story, too.

“I’m a little offended,” she added, noting the ad made it look like Clark was celebrating prematurely.

Fellow Vancouver resident Laura Reimer who was sitting next to Leah said she thought the premier was sly before the ad was published but now she won’t bother voting for the Liberals.

“I think it’s an indication of what Christy Clark stands for and also 24 Hours,” she added. “Now I both see them in a bit of a different light.”

But Elizabeth Willoughby of Richmond, B.C., said the wraparound looks like an advertisement, although it hasn’t changed the way she’ll vote.

“I guess everything in the newspaper is for manipulating purposes of some description whether it’s a news story that wants us to think a certain way or an advertisement that wants to us to buy a certain product,” said Willoughby.

“This just feels like they’re trying to sell me a product and Christy Clark is that product that they’re selling, but I’m not going to buy because I’m voting NDP.”

Ross Howard, a former reporter who is now a journalism ethics professor at Langara College, suggested 24 Hours made a mistake by running the ad the way it did.

“It’s a classic political ad but 24 Hours made a serious mistake of not more clearly distinguishing that it’s a political ad. They put the words Paid Advertising in the middle of the page . . . but the ad content, the ad placement, even the style of headlines, everything looks like it’s a news story,” Howard said.

“It’s unfortunate because in effect, 24 Hours has sacrificed its credibility, its reliability and it didn’t have to. They could have controlled the way that ad was positioned or revealed.”

A spokesperson for 24 Hours was unavailable for comment.

Dix was in Quesnel visiting a forest seedling nursery to discuss his forestry platform. He said an NDP government would improve and protect the province’s forestry sector by reinstating an inventory of forest resources, investing in research and reforestation, and reducing raw log exports.

Dix stressed the importance of meeting domestic demand first, and keeping jobs in B.C., before exporting abroad.

“That doesn’t mean there won’t be raw log exports, there will,” he said. “There are many regions of our province where our manufacturing capacity is not there right now, and we have to be realistic, but it would also be unrealistic to allow domestic manufacturing to decline because of short-term market conditions.”

Dix then spent Wednesday afternoon in Barkerville, where he was given a tour by the historic site’s costume-clad staff, and spent some time in the gift shop trying on bowler hats and leafing through books.

At the Penticton tour of Britco Structures Ltd., manufacturing plant, Clark kept up her attack on Dix, saying their out-of-control spending will drive away business and increase taxes.

“We have a jobs plan,” she said. “They have an Alberta jobs plan.”

Clark said the NDP’s spending plans, which she pegs at $3 billion, will hurt communities like Penticton because there will not be enough money to fund capital projects like redevelopment plans for Penticton Regional Hospital.

-- with files from Keven Drews in Vancouver

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Front+page+Liberal+election+illusion+says+leader+Adrian/8322572/story.html#ixzz2S7EKxbjr

[JoeyJoeJoeJr. Shabadoo]

Sure, and if the NDP or any other party manipulates stats to their favour, I will call them out on it as well.

As I said, you *seriously* can't think 9 out of 10 dentists recommend Crest AND Colgate, can you?

[DonLever]

The staggering job losses and debt that has been increased by the BC Liberals does not support this. With 13 THOUSAND jobs lost in March alone I simply can not accept that a party that has brought in more debt in history - and massive job losses is better than - well - anything. How many more tens of thousands of BC families should loose it all to keep the BC Liberals in power?

[Sapper]

Another intersting story - Under Cristy and the BC Liberals the job plan has BC 9th in Job creation and we have shed 34 Thousand private sector jobs - let that sink in ... 34 THOUSAND. In March it was 13 THOUSAND and Aprils numbers won't be in until after the election. BC's economy is tanking and we are scrapping the bottom in Canada for job creation. This is under the BC Liberals

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2013/04/30/Christy-Clark-Unbelievable/

BC's Unbelievable Premier

Clark's credibility slides with statements on BC's 'balanced' budget, job creation.

By Bill Tieleman, 30 Apr 2013, TheTyee.ca

Cartoon by Ingrid Rice.

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• New Poll Gives Dix 'Insurmountable' 22-Point Lead

  Heading into debate, Kinder Morgan controversy likely bolsters NDP says pollster.

• Clark attacks Dix on Kinder Morgan position at leaders' debate

• 'I Own Memo Mistake' Says Dix, Pointing to His Record Since

  NDP leader says his apology for act 12 years ago stands, trusts voters to accept it.

• Read more: BC Politics, BC Election 2013,

"The things, you say / Your purple prose just gives you away

The things, you say / You're unbelievable" -- "Unbelievable" by EMF

If you believe Premier Christy Clark, B.C.'s budget is not only balanced -- it's actually been verified by international credit rating agencies.

And thanks to Clark's B.C. Jobs Plan, this province apparently leads the country in job creation.

But the facts simply disagree with the premier.

During this election Clark has been trying to sell more Whoppers than Burger King.

'Go ask Moody's'

Clark said two noted agencies agreed with her that the B.C. budget has no deficit in a radio interview on CKNW AM 980 April 22.

"Go ask Moody's. Moody's is a debt rating agency that works all over the world and looks at everybody's budgets and decides whether or not those budgets are balanced," Clark told host Bill Good.

"They said it was balanced. They are the world's experts. Dominion Bond Rating agency said the budget was balanced," Clark added.

Hold the cheese on that Whopper because no, they didn't, not Dominion, not Moody's.

In fact, Dominion says the B.C. budget is not balanced at all but will likely have a deficit of $1.7 billion, based on their analysis.

"In response to softening economic conditions, the province announced additional tax measures and continued spending restraint to deliver a small budgeted surplus of $197 million in 2013-14. This translates into a DBRS-adjusted deficit of $1.7 billion, or less than 1.0 per cent of GDP," they wrote.

And Moody's report in early April raises concerns about B.C.'s debt level, which increased $11 billion just in Clark's two years in power.

"The negative outlook reflects the risks to the province's ability to reverse the recent accumulation in debt given a softened economic outlook, weaker commodity prices and continued expense pressures," Moody's states.

Nor does Moody's share Clark's optimism that she can balance the budget by selling off nearly $800 million in provincial property.

"Disposing of surplus properties, often with associated operating costs, would appear to make sense, however, these one-time sales cannot be relied on to resolve structural budget imbalances," Moody's says.

Yet Clark has the nerve to claim in a Vancouver Sun opinion piece that:

"Controlling spending, which we accomplished by balancing the 2013 budget -- which was recently confirmed by Moody's."

Uh-huh. Would you like fries with your Whopper?

(Amazingly, Clark's Vancouver Sun article had not been recommended by anyone on Facebook and re-Tweeted by just one person as of April 28.)

Jobs snow job

Okay, let's look at those job creation claims.

"In the first year of the jobs plan, we led the country in jobs creation," Clark said on April 5.

The reality is that Statistics Canada figures show B.C. is ninth in job creation since Clark launched her plan, losing 34,800 private sector jobs since then.

It appears clear that the things you say, premier, are simply unbelievable.

Read more: BC Politics, BC Election 2013,

[Sapper]

You realize the world is still in a world wide recession. Millions in the world have lost their jobs. Greece is bankrupt, Spain has 27% unemployment rate. Practically every government in the world has accumulated debt. The only way to eliminate debt is to cut government spending, which the Liberal government has failed miserably. The Liberal government has spent money like drunken sailors. Do you think the NDP will do any better?. They will be 10 times worse. They absolutely no plan to grow the economy. All they said is how they will spend money. They have said no to everything else. No mining, no pipelines. Where will they get the money from?

[aGENT]

Well it's a good thing Lib and NDP supporters can agree on one thing - that the other side's supporters are stupid.

[lowest common denominator]

I think politicians should be held to a higher standard than toothpaste companies when it comes to false advertising.

[Wetcoaster]

I guess stranger things have happened.

George W got voted in twice, so did Stephen Harper.

And the people of BC voted the HST out, out of spite. Thats like cutting off your right hand to spite the left hand.Or cutting off your balls to spite your di...

So you might be right,I am probably underestimating the stupidity of the voting populace.

If so, I hope you all enjoy laying in the bed you are making for yourselves.

NDP=NFG, but some lessons you just have to learn for yourself, I guess.

[Wetcoaster]

You realize the world is still in a world wide recession. Millions in the world have lost their jobs. Greece is bankrupt, Spain has 27% unemployment rate. Practically every government in the world has accumulated debt. The only way to eliminate debt is to cut government spending, which the Liberal government has failed miserably. The Liberal government has spent money like drunken sailors. Do you think the NDP will do any better?. They will be 10 times worse. They absolutely no plan to grow the economy. All they said is how they will spend money. They have said no to everything else. No mining, no pipelines. Where will they get the money from?

[Wetcoaster]

BC is 9th in job creation and at the top for household debt - BC is Canada's version of Greece at the moment. "Grow the economy" is a BC Liberal spin phrase - it has no meaning but if its repeated often enough people begin to believe it is something the BC Liberals are doing. Jobs grow the economy - livable wages grow the economy. The BC liberals are fearmongering where they should be providing details of what they are going to do - not some artsy fartsy plan to make trillions of fantasy LNG plants that may or may not ever be built. The stats show that the BC Liberals have been poor stewards of our economy and jobs - if all they have is pipe dreams and attack adds then its time for them to go.

[canucks_dynasty]

I heard on TEAM 1040 new update a few days ago that...

NDP is considering expanding the BC governement to have a Department of Municipal Affairs. Basically an office staff to better the relations with cities in BC. The BC government will get fatter and fatter (and probably less efficient as well).

Note: I could be wrong as I heard this on the radio while driving to work without my morning cup of coffee.

[Wetcoaster]

I heard on TEAM 1040 new update a few days ago that...

NDP is considering expanding the BC governement to have a Department of Municipal Affairs. Basically an office staff to better the relations with cities in BC. The BC government will get fatter and fatter (and probably less efficient as well).

Note: I could be wrong as I heard this on the radio while driving to work without my morning cup of coffee.

[inane]

You are correct. Dix has promised to create (re-create???) such a Ministry arising out of a resolution passed at the recent two-day Mayors’ Caucus in Prince George that concluded on Tuesday April 30, 2013:

http://www.whistlerq...-infrastructure

Actually put this one under the heading of "Back to the Future" for the New BC NDP...

Past BC NDP Municipal Affairs Ministers have included:

Robin Blencoe

Darlene Marzari

Lois Boone

Dan Miller

Mike Farnworth

Jenny Kwan

When the BC Liberals reduced the bloat in the number of government ministries and consolidated functions under the guidance of Kevin Falcon who was then put in charge of the deregulation policies , the Ministry of Municipal Affairs ceased as a stand alone Ministry and was consolidated and currently local government issues fall under the purview of the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development.

A twenty-eight member Executive Council (Cabinet) was sworn in today. It includes the Premier, twenty Ministers and seven Ministers of State. Ministers of State will work with the support of line Ministries on key government priorities.

The Ministry structure has undergone major change with nine former Ministries disappearing in name under the restructure. Of key interest to local government is the new Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services that assumes, in part, the functions of the former Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

https://ubcm.civicwe...play.aspx?Id=62

But hey just create yet another government bureaucracy, eh Dix? Been there, done that.

The BC NDP has proven adept at unnecessarily growing the size of government at the past and growing Ministries. It is not as if this costs any extra money... oh wait.