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Teachers and public servants around BC are probably celebrating Premier Christy Clark’s first act upon re-election; Premier Clark has set the standard for how public servants will be compensated for the good work they do for British Columbians by handing out what can only be described as big pay raises.

John Horgan

However, New Democrat house leader John Horgan had a different view of the situation.

“Premier Clark has claimed that her priority is controlling spending. But already she is signing off on self-congratulatory raises for her political operatives. Combined with the appointment of a larger cabinet and 14 parliamentary secretaries, it’s clear this government’s message of fiscal restraint and spending control is a farce.”

Top pay for key political staff like ministerial assistants (newly renamed as “chiefs of staff” to ministers) will increase from $94,500 to $105,000, while the top salary for the premier’s chief of staff increases from $195,000 to $230,000.

Horgan pointed out the most egregious raise goes to Premier Clark’s new deputy chief of staff Michele Cadario. The new salary grid raises her top salary from $144,000 to $230,000. After serving as the deputy campaign director for the Liberal party in the recent election, Cadario’s starting salary in the Premier’s Office is more than $195,000.

“None of these increases for political staff were included in the Liberal platform,” said Horgan.

The escalation in pay comes at the same time that the government prepares to make cuts to vital public services with a “core review,” and seniors in residential care homes are already being asked to pay a fee to use a wheelchair.

“Will the core review continue in this direction, bringing in damaging cuts to health care, education, and supports for seniors and children, while giving generous rewards to Liberal insiders?” asked Horgan.

Premier Clark and the B.C. Liberals campaigned on balancing the budget, lowering the debt, increasing job creation, and protecting critical public services. New Democrats will fight to protect those public services and hold the government to account for misplaced priorities that put politics ahead of public service.

As most of you know, Ben Stewart, the BC Liberal candidate who recently won the riding of Westside-Kelowna by several thousand votes has stepped down so that Premier Christy Clark could have a safe Liberal riding to run in a by-election.

Adrian Dix

After that news broke Adrian Dix issued the following statement;

“We are looking forward to running a strong campaign with an Okanagan candidate against the Premier in Westside-Kelowna…I will put every effort into supporting our candidate and making the case for strong, local representation in this by-election.”

Yes, the fact is Premier Christy Clark is parachuting into the riding of Westside-Kelowna and yes, it is a long way from where she lives. It is also true that Clark will not really be an effective MLA for the riding of Westside-Kelowna because she will be more focused on being the Premier of BC than she will be on representing the riding in which she is sure to get elected.

However, there is NO upside for the BC NDP to run a “strong campaign” in the by-election. What is the purpose in the BC NDP spending thousands of dollars on a by-election in which they are guaranteed to have their collective asses handed back to them? What is the win?

Justin Trudeau was in Vancouver today to deliver a keynote address to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference. In that speech he was clearly defining himself as the defender of the middle-class Canadian.

After his speech, Trudeau was made available to the local press for a very brief question and answer period. During that time I managed to get in one question. Have a listen…

If you are listening very closely, when he is asked about Premier Christy Clark’s rejection of the Northern Enbridge pipeline proposal, you can hear him begin to say “Alison” before smiling and saying “Christy…”

While I continue to mull over the recent BC election results, I will be excerpting a few of the blogs or writers that I enjoy reading. I do NOT necessarily agree with each of these writers, but I do find them thought-provoking.

Here is today’s excerpt, from Chris Hedges, writer for Truth Dig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines.

Joe Sacco and I spent two years reporting from the poorest pockets of the United States for our book “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.” We went into our nation’s impoverished “sacrifice zones”—the first areas forced to kneel before the dictates of the marketplace—to show what happens when unfettered corporate capitalism and ceaseless economic expansion no longer have external impediments. We wanted to illustrate what unrestrained corporate exploitation does to families, communities and the natural world. We wanted to challenge the reigning ideology of globalization and laissez-faire capitalism to illustrate what life becomes when human beings and the ecosystem are ruthlessly turned into commodities to exploit until exhaustion or collapse. And we wanted to expose as impotent the formal liberal and governmental institutions that once made reform possible, institutions no longer equipped with enough authority to check the assault of corporate power.

What has taken place in these sacrifice zones—in postindustrial cities such as Camden, N.J., and Detroit, in coalfields of southern West Virginia where mining companies blast off mountaintops, in Indian reservations where the demented project of limitless economic expansion and exploitation worked some of its earliest evil, and in produce fields where laborers often endure conditions that replicate slavery—is now happening to much of the rest of the country. These sacrifice zones succumbed first. You and I are next.

To read the rest of this piece you can visit Truth Dig.

And finally, election day is here and in case you need a reminder of why your vote for the NDP is important, have a read through this top ten list of reasons to vote for the NDP.

10. Yes to Jobs and Economic Development: The NDP plan invests in skills training to grow the economy and create jobs, and takes concrete steps to support mining and natural gas, high-tech, forestry, film, agriculture, tourism and small business.

9. Skilled Workforce: We will invest $40 million in skills training and $100 million in a student grants program annually to grow the economy, create jobs and build a thriving middle class.

8. Honesty About Finances: Our fully-costed plan says exactly what we’ll do and how we’ll pay for it. There will be no income tax increases for 98% of British Columbians and there are no HST-like surprises.

7. Standing up for Ferry Riders: We will keep current ferry fares in place through March 31, 2015, while we clean up the mess the BC Liberals have made at BC Ferries.

6. A New More Positive Approach to Politics: We will ban corporate and union donations, eliminate taxpayer-funded partisan advertising and call a Public Inquiry into the BC Rail Scandal.

5. Helping Children: It’s time for a new government that cares about children, with real help like our new BC Family Bonus, reducing child care costs and opening more child care spaces.

4. Improving Classroom Learning: We will hire new specialist teachers and education assistants, to support special needs kids and to free up teachers so they can focus on giving every child the attention they need and deserve.

3. Better Health Care: Our plan will improve seniors’ care, mental health services for children and youth, and hospital care – especially in targeted rural communities

2. Protecting the Environment:  We will take back control of pipeline decisions and protect our coasts from potentially catastrophic oil spills.

1. Change: British Columbians deserve better than more of the same. The HST broke your trust. So did the BC Rail and quick win scandals. It’s time for a change – change for the better.

These are 10 reasons British Columbians will vote for change today.

10.  The Worst Private Sector Job Performance in Canada: BC deserves better than the BC Liberals’ failed jobs plan, which has bled BC of 45,600 private sector jobs. The NDP plan invests in skills training to grow the economy and create jobs, and takes concrete steps to support LNG, mining, high-tech, forestry, film, agriculture and small business.

9.     Wasting Your Money on Partisan TV Ads:  BC deserves better than BC Liberals spending $17 million of your money on partisan advertising. The NDP will end partisan advertising.

8.     Misled you on their Deficits: BC deserves better than BC Liberals misleading us about government spending when they ran five straight deficits, including an $800-million deficit this year. The NDP’s fully-costed platform says what we will do and how we will pay for it.

7.     Misled you on their Debt: BC deserves better than BC Liberals misleading us about debt when Christy Clark is raising the debt faster than any premier in BC’s history. The NDP’s fully-costed platform says what we will do and how we will pay for it.

6.     The BC Rail Scandal: BC deserves better than BC Liberals giving $6 million of your money to convicted Liberal insiders. The NDP will hold a public inquiry into the BC Rail Scandal.

5.     The “Quick Wins” Scandal: BC deserves better than BC Liberals working on government time and the taxpayers’ dime on BC Liberal party election work. The NDP will put the public interest first.

4.     The BC Liberals Won’t Tell You Where They Stand on Ferry Fares: BC deserves better than BC Liberals who won’t tell you where they stand on ferry fares. The NDP will keep current ferry fares in place through March 31, 2015.

3.     They Have No Plan for Health Care, Education and Children: BC deserves better than BC Liberals who have no plan for health care, education, seniors and children. The BC NDP plan will expand seniors health care and mental health, improve classroom learning, expand child care and make it more affordable, and reduce child poverty.

2.     They Will Put Our Coast at Risk with Increased Tanker Traffic: BC deserves better than BC Liberals who hand over decision-making about pipelines to Ottawa and who will sell our coast for the right price. The BC NDP will take back control of pipeline decisions and protect our coasts from potentially catastrophic oil spills.

1.     The HST Broke Your Trust: In the last election, the BC Liberals promised – in writing – they would not bring in the HST. Weeks after the election, they  broke that promise and they broke your trust. That’s a record that doesn’t deserve to be rewarded.

Bill Tieleman wrote an interesting and exclusive piece for 24 Hours News. I have excerpted a section of that story here.

Bill Tieleman

The BC Liberal Party raised more than $300,000 from liquor businesses in a single day in 2010 just weeks before the provincial government introduced substantial changes to the Liquor Control and Licensing Act, a 24 Hours Vancouver investigation has found.

Rich Coleman

Independent liquor industry sources told 24 Hours the BC Liberal Party held an event March 24, 2010, at which liquor industry officials each paid $15,000 to meet with then-premier Gordon Campbell and Rich Coleman, the minister responsible for liquor distribution, over lunch at Gotham Steakhouse in Vancouver to discuss industry liquor issues.

To read the rest of this very intriguing story, you can visit Bill Tieleman’s blog.

While Adrian Dix was flipping pancakes and his handlers were temporarily caught off guard, I cornered Adrian Dix at an event in support of Chris Wilson, the NDP candidate for Coquitlam-Burke Mountain. I told him I was going to ask him two questions but I managed to slide in a third question to really test his ability to handle a politically difficult question.

Let me know what you think.

Statistics Canada reports today that BC lost 10,800 private sector jobs last month. Since the Premier introduced her jobs plan, BC lost 45,600 private sector jobs.

That is the worst record for private sector job creation in Canada.

What does that mean?

That means the “say anything” Liberals are failing both as public sector managers and in the private sector economy. A record that does not deserve four more years.

The Liberals say they’re all about a “strong” private sector economy. But today’s numbers show that this Liberal government has been a disaster for British Columbia’s private sector employment.

The Liberals also say they’re all about less public spending, and eliminating the provincial debt. But all of the job creation they boast about today occurred in the public sector — where they are running an $800 million deficit, and are increasing the provincial debt faster than any time in our history.

Weak, drifting, say-anything government. Government that is about campaigning, not governing. Government that has completely failed to create jobs in the private sector economy. That’s what is on offer from the Liberals in this election.

Do British Columbians want more of the same for the next four years?

Small wonder, as this election comes to an end, two-thirds of British Columbians continue to say that it is time for a change. Change for the better is a vote for the BC NDP on May 14th.

Adrian Dix is the right choice for British Columbia at this very important time.

He is a strong and intelligent leader, who will tackle the difficult issues facing our province thoughtfully and with purpose.

For my entire political career, I’ve always believed that our challenges are also our opportunities.

I’ve always believed we can have a prosperous economy that creates good, green jobs.

I’ve always believed we can have a generous society that treats seniors with respect and gives children every opportunity to succeed.

I’ve always believed we can respect our environment, and leave behind a better world for our children.

I believe that today, we can have all these things together, but to do it, we need the right leader.

That leader is not Christy Clark.

Her government has taken a one-sided approach that puts all our eggs in one basket.

It’s not the leadership we need today.

In this election, only Adrian Dix has demonstrated a balanced approach for change for the better.

Only Adrian Dix has had the principle to stand up and say our coastlines are too important to put at risk with a nine-fold increase in tanker traffic.

Only Adrian Dix has had the foresight to say we must refocus on meeting our climate change targets.

Only Adrian Dix has the vision to plan for good, green jobs in forestry, tourism, agriculture, film and high tech, as well as in mining and LNG.

Only Adrian Dix has said we have to act now to help children get a better start in life, not twenty years from now.

The BC Liberals talk a lot about jobs, but they’ve failed to provide training for BC’s young people.

More than 1 million job openings in the coming years will require some form of advanced education.

We need the cooperation of government, business, labour, educators and other community leaders to rebuild our training system, and ensure we are ready for the jobs of tomorrow.

That’s a vision Adrian Dix and I share.

Only Adrian Dix has said that as our population ages, we must find new ways to help seniors grow old in the comfort of their own homes.

It’s not just about ideas. It’s about having the intelligence and the focus to bring these important ideas to reality. And the leader who can do that is Adrian Dix.

On Tuesday, British Columbians have a clear choice.

We can have four more years of Christy Clark and the BC Liberals, or a new competent, progressive government, with the BC NDP.

We have a choice between scandal, mismanagement and misleading, or a prosperous economy, a healthy environment, and a caring society.

Since my time as Premier, I have been a tireless advocate of building a better BC.

Adrian Dix is a strong leader who will make a great Premier.

That’s Adrian Dix.

I’ve known Adrian Dix a long time. I know that he believes in a better BC, with a growing, sustainable economy.

There is so much at stake in this election. And like most elections in BC – this one will come down to the wire.

I know that there are many British Columbians who share my values, but who are still thinking about how to vote on May 14.

To those voters, I have clear message.

The only way we’ll get a Premier who cares about equality, is by voting NDP.

The only way we’ll get a Premier who believes in public health care, is by voting NDP.

And the only way we’ll get a Premier who will protect our coast lines, is by voting NDP.

If voters share these values and are worried about the risk of four more years of Christy Clark and the BC Liberals, then they must consider their choice carefully.

By voting for any party other than the NDP, in an election where every seat counts, they may be electing another BC Liberal government.

The only way to ensure the NDP are elected, is by voting NDP.

On May 14, let’s come together and vote for Adrian Dix and the BC NDP.