598 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Padding union coffers, raising taxes, and eroding whatever competitive advantage this province has don't make for policies a party wants to openly promote.

[Sparky]

For those of you that enjoy (or not so much) following BC politics, Alex G. Tsakumis is a must read. http://alexgtsakumis.../#comment-79481

[Bernard]

For those of you that think you can predict an election, try out the Sauder Business School Prediction Market for the 2013 BC election. You put your own money behind your prediction

[UrbanRail]

Padding union coffers, raising taxes, and eroding whatever competitive advantage this province has don't make for policies a party wants to openly promote.

Or in the case of the Liberals, cutting contracts, HST blunder, selling off BC Rail, drunk Premier, privitization, $6 dollar wage, no openess or accountability, refusing to raise the minimum wage until recently and when they first got in (after Campbell promised to reduce government) had the largest number of ministers in BC history (29?).

Neither side are saints, but I blame the voters who continually vote parties out and not in. Some on this site are whinning about the NDP getting in, well its not their fault that the Liberals have screwed up.

Unfortunately there are no alternatives.

[UrbanRail]

Perhaps having the NDP will be good for the island, because maybe money on needed infrastructure projects will be spent here, instead of more studies.

[UrbanRail]

So I decided to form my own party and run for Priemier. Its called the C.R.A.P party or Coation of Really Annoying Politicians. =)

[drt]

Christy Clark delivered her throne speech:

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...h-victoria.html

The highlight being:

B.C. Premier Christy Clark says she wants to use the trillion-dollar development potential of liquefied natural gas in the province by establishing a B.C. Prosperity Fund to pay down the provincial debt.

...

In the throne speech, Clark said the new fund is expected to generate somewhere between $130 billion and $260 billion from liquid natural gas revenues and a new liquid natural gas tax over the next 30 years.

I also find this kind of amusing:

NDP House leader John Horgan scoffed at the Liberals' plans to allow B.C. voters to recommend a Senate nominee to Ottawa, saying that's not an issue his constituents feel is important.

"First and foremost [for a potential NDP government] will be regulating partisan ads. We'll be following the Ontario model and we're going to be tabling a bill in the first number of days of the session."

So the NDP believes that electing Senate candidates is not an important issue among constituents (which I'd beg to differ, given the recent Senate controversies), but regulating partisan ads is? Not that curbing partisanship in government advertising isn't important, but the fact that this is legislative priority #1 for the NDP is laughable, and hints at their actual legislative agenda being very weak at this point.

[VicHockeyFan]

The LNG thing is sooo lame, I can't believe this pathetic Liberal election machine couldn't come up with something better. Lame, lame, lame.

[jonny]

The LNG thing is sooo lame, I can't believe this pathetic Liberal election machine couldn't come up with something better. Lame, lame, lame.

Not sure what you find lame. LNG itself or that the Liberal's plan is to tax it to death?

Natural gas exploration and production in this province is growing and going to be a massive source of revenue for everybody, including government. I don't find that particularly lame.

[VicHockeyFan]

Not sure what you find lame. LNG itself or that the Liberal's plan is to tax it to death?

Just the fact that the main part of their speech was how wonderfully flush with cash we will be soon, so flush in cash we better set up the bank account now, start dreaming of no PST etc.

Natural gas exploration and production in this province is growing and going to be a massive source of revenue for everybody, including government. I don't find that particularly lame.

Oh, I don't doubt this.

[jonny]

Just the fact that the main part of their speech was how wonderfully flush with cash we will be soon, so flush in cash we better set up the bank account now, start dreaming of no PST etc.

I can't disagree with that. Look no further than Alberta. Plenty of cash flowing from all that oil, yet that province is awash in red ink.

I'd love for somebody to come in and cut some fat. Surely the provincial (or any) government isn't as lean and mean as it could be. I'm afraid governments rarely ever do reduce their expenditures, though. All they do is grow, grow, grow.

[spanky123]

Not sure what you find lame. LNG itself or that the Liberal's plan is to tax it to death?

Natural gas exploration and production in this province is growing and going to be a massive source of revenue for everybody, including government. I don't find that particularly lame.

LNG prices are in the tank. As a matter of fact, the Liberals stated that low LNG prices and the reduction in royalty revenue were the reason why they are going to have a signifciant budget shortfall this year.

Now we are to believe that LNG royalties will save the day ... starting in 2017.

What they should have done is promised to use the legacy fund surplus to pay a big dividend to all residents of BC. They could also have announced that they were so certain that the LNG royalties would be huge that if elected they would immediately pay the first installment of that dividend to everyone in BC!

Christy Clark has to be the most inept premier BC has ever had. We have had our share of idiots over the years but at least most of them had a plan and could articulate it.

[Mike K.]

They are, and prices have been that way for years with no signs of a recovery. Banking on massive LNG resources is like banking on the USD.

[jonny]

LNG prices are in the tank. As a matter of fact, the Liberals stated that low LNG prices and the reduction in royalty revenue were the reason why they are going to have a signifciant budget shortfall this year.

Now we are to believe that LNG royalties will save the day ... starting in 2017.

Christy Clark has to be the most inept premier BC has ever had. We have had our share of idiots over the years but at least most of them had a plan and could articulate it.

Shale gas up north has changed the game. North America has gone from having some of the cheapest gas, to some of the most expensive.

I'm not sure which way LNG will go. The only LNG plants that I'm aware of in this province are run by Fortis as gas reserves for times of heavy demand. One is on the island and one is in the lower mainland. Hard to predict where thinks will go at this very early stage. The big players seem to be betting on the Asian export market.

More broadly, natural gas prices are very low, which makes it very attractive for some in heavy industry. I know of one major petrochemical company that is kicking itself for leaving BC in the last decade. They left because of high natural gas prices.

Anyway, I think natural gas has the potential to be a great boon for this province, but the province pegging our hopes on one day eventually taxing the hell out of it to save us from our current revenue shortfalls is not an overly creative economic strategy, to say the least.

[tedward]

So the NDP believes that electing Senate candidates is not an important issue among constituents ...

The federal senate is certainly waaaaaay down on my list of priorities in the upcoming Provincial election. Not something that I have ever heard anyone talk about with any urgency.

Pipelines, jobs, gas revenues, health care, welfare, homelessness, policing, transit. These are the first things that come to my mind when I think about issues for the provincial election.

[eseedhouse]

They are, and prices have been that way for years with no signs of a recovery. Banking on massive LNG resources is like banking on the USD.

Oh no. The US dollar has much better prospects.

[drt]

The federal senate is certainly waaaaaay down on my list of priorities in the upcoming Provincial election. Not something that I have ever heard anyone talk about with any urgency.

Pipelines, jobs, gas revenues, health care, welfare, homelessness, policing, transit. These are the first things that come to my mind when I think about issues for the provincial election.

My point exactly. The NDP's counter to senate reform, which they believe is unimportant, is... curbing partisan advertising from the government. So much so that it will apparently be their #1 legislative priority if elected.

[eseedhouse]

My point exactly. The NDP's counter to senate reform

"counter"? The provincial government can do nothing toward Senate reform. There's this darned constitution thingy in the way.

curbing partisan advertising from the government. So much so that it will apparently be their #1 legislative priority if elected.

Which is something a Provincial government actually has constitutional authority to, you know, actually do.

[Urbanistco]

Seems sad that a beautiful, complex, and bountiful resource like natural gas has fallen into the hands of people whose best idea is it to simply burn it.

[drt]

I wasn't commenting on who has constitutional authority to do what.