This Weekend In Clarkland...Damning With Faint Obviousness.

Turnin'BackToTheHerd
ConventionalWisdomVille


I have to give Mr. Mason of the The Globe and (nolongerEmpire) Mail some credit.

Because he has, in my opinion at least, been the most active member of the local proMedia in telling British Columbians that there really is a big pile of super-secret money being funneled into the BC Liberal's Party gullet, some of which makes its way to the palm of our fine premier after it has been pooped out the other end.

And heckfire.

In yesterday's column Mr. Mason kinda/sorta almost tiptoed over the 'pay-to-play' line when he started talking about hunting guides, their five figure donations and grizzly bear trophies and such.

Which is all fine and good.

But I also found it interesting, given the events of the last week, that Mason did not mention the millions from mining co's and execs that are extremely well-correlated with the complete lack of oversight of said mining co's and execs that is now entrenched in British Columbia thanks to BC Liberal government policy and legislation.

Or all that money from bridge builders.

Or tunnel borers.

Or train makers.

Or, dare I say it, lawyers? (more on that to come because I'm still really angry about something)

Anyway, after his wee bit of tip-toeing was all done, a little further down the column Mr. Mason signaled that the time has come to really start pulling the punches because, well, the trains are running on time or some such conventionally whimsical wisdomish-type thing:

"...The NDP is likely to make the notion of fixing a corrupt electoral system a pillar of its election campaign. The Liberals are certain to make the next election exclusively about jobs, the economy and fiscal management – and their record on this front is unquestionably impressive..."


Hmmmmm....

Jobs, the economy and fiscal management and 'unquestionably impressive'?

Really Mr. Mason?

Let's see....

Is there somewhere we can go for an unbiased, in-depth look at such things that do not rely on deceptive accounting and/or the spinning of very short-term trend numbers that are often bucked-up by deep dives that occurred during the previous term and/or terms?

I know!

How about we turn to the 'Progress Board', that flaming pinko outfit that was put together by Gordon Campbell that did the in-depth/un-biased analysis to show that the 1990's were actually a little better than the 2000's by most measures.

I mean, maybe that outfit can tell us how 'Pay-To-Play-In-Extremis' has helped float all boats (or not) over the last five years?

Oh, wait...

Nevermind.


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Why does the turning back to the herd matter so much?....Because it keeps the public from understanding what is really happening to their province...Which, of course, is ironic given Mr. Mason's recent lament about how said public just doesn't get it...Oh, and just for the record...It was also Mr. Mason who said that the still-birthing of the LNG Sparkle Ponies doesn't really matter much because everything economic is just so unbelievably rosy 'round here...


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