The (not)Premier's almost Nevergreen....

DillingTheBert

AllTheWayToTheTopVille

Non-club member Robert Matas has an interesting story in The Globe today about how Christy Clark did her best (or should that be worst?), more than once, to get the Evergreen rapid transit line to PoMoCo killed:

...After she was chosen as premier by Liberal Party members in February, 2011, Ms. Clark had to backtrack twice on the issue, once over a carbon tax and once over a fuel tax. She appeared to be floundering, attuned to neither municipal politics nor the views of her cabinet colleagues.

Meanwhile, the projected completion date for construction of the transit line kept being pushed back. The province blamed municipal leaders for the delay, but Ms. Clark’s confused interventions may have also gummed up the process...

{snippety doo-dah}

...Ms. Clark stepped into the debate on May 6, with an open letter to British Columbians. “In the future I am open to considering using the carbon tax to support regional initiatives, such as public transit,” she stated.

Former premier Gordon Campbell had introduced the tax to encourage the reduction of carbon emissions. To ensure that the “green” initiative was not seen as a tax grab, he committed the government to using all the revenue to reduce taxes...

{snippety doodle-dandy}

...It took less than a month for Ms. Clark’s “open letter” to be shelved. Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom told the legislature in June that the Evergreen line would not be financed by the current carbon tax.

Ms. Clark fumbled the issue again in July. Metro Vancouver mayors came with a proposal to hike the 15-cents-a-litre fuel tax for transit to 17 cents. Ms. Clark balked at the suggestion...

{snippety doodle-dandier}

...Ms. Clark backtracked more quickly this time. Two days later, she endorsed the mayors’ proposal. Her flip-flop was reported as one of the factors in the decision not to hold a provincial election last year.

Last fall, the legislature approved the two-cents-a-litre increase, effective in April. Construction of the Evergreen Line is now under way, despite Ms. Clark’s missteps. The target date for the start of service is the summer of 2016.

Now.

All of this 'shoot-from-the-hip' disaster non-policyism is bad enough on its own.

Especially when viewed as two more glaring examples of Ms. Clark's complete incompetence to govern.

But here's the real thing about Mr. Matas' piece.

Ms. Clark's incompetence itself is not even part of the lede.

Instead, Mr. Matas begins by outlining how the BC Liberal Party in the PoMoCo Bye-Bye is actually saying the opposite.

As in...

“Christy got it done!”

On a campaign flyer.

Produced by the 'party'.

Talking about the Evergreen Line.

Seriously.

_____

Oh, and did you notice how Mr. Matas described the (not)Premier's elevation to the Premiership?....It's up at the top...First line..."After she was chosen as premier by Liberal Party members"....Ha!

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