WillTravelVille
First, a note from the coiffuraltory doppelganger of the new Dipper Education Minister Rob Fleming....
Next, at the risk of raising the ire of the Keef, the following are the fabulous bleatings of 'former' Transportation/ICBC Minister, BC Liberal MLA, Mr. Todd Stone, as reported by Greg Fry of CFJC:
Shameful.
The reaction of Kamloops - South Thompson Liberal MLA Todd Stone to the NDP's decision to hike ICBC rates.
Yesterday, B.C. Attorney General David Eby confirmed ICBC is asking the provincial utilties commission to raise rates by 6. 4 per cent this year to cover losses totalling over $500 million last year. Eby said optional rates will also rise noting the average driver will see a blended increase of eight per cent.
"I think it's very disappointing," said Stone. "The vast majority of motorists in this province have both the basic and the optional insurance coverages and they're going to pay an additional $130 more now because of this decision the NDP has taken."
He said the move to hike rates comes on the heels of "an array of intitiatives the BC Liberal government implemented the last four years to keep rates as low as possible."
Those initiatives included cracking down on fraud, targeting distracted driving, implementing a new IT system (which he says saved ICBC $90 million) and reducing management and salaries by 50 per cent...
Gosh.
Don't know about you, but I sure was surprised that the good Mr. Stone did not mention the following, as reported by many last fall, including the VSun's Rob Shaw:
...The government has taken $1.2 billion in profits from the optional insurance side of ICBC’s business since 2010, when it changed the law to allow itself to siphon money from the corporation and use it for general revenue...
Surprise!
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And, as mentioned yesterday, despite the kerfuffle on the Twittmachine, I think we should actually give Mr. Baldrey a break re: the Fleming hair thing, because it really does look like he was joking (note the Keefly re-tweet)...
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13 comments:
also helps offset toll free bridges a little bit
Anon-Above--
And then there's Hydro...and MSP...
Pretty soon we'll be talking real money that the Keef et al. refused to talk seriously about 'back in the day'?
Speaking of which, do you recall Mr. B. holding Gordon Campbell accountable for Fast Ferries in the oughts?
Gosh...Maybe Horgan can figure out a way to put that massive $20 billion mountain of Hydro debt on a barge and tie it up next to the sulfur piles on the North Shore waterfront for the duration.
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Now, now RossK. Tying up BC hydro debt on a barge next to the Washington's Group Seaspan wouldn't fly simply because the fast cat ferries only served the south coastal communities... and then they were sold for a pittance to a third world country by El Gordo.
The spin-off for the fast cat ferries resulted in REAL jobs, REAL apprenticeships, REAL journeymen \ journeypersons who have used those skill throughout BC. (and beyond) on a variety of industries for the past 16 years.
The BC Liberals Christy Clark sold the public on the importance of training .... to be able to apply to be an apprentice for an industry that never materialized.
WAC Bennett used a full load of debt papers on a barge on Okanagan Lake off the shores of Kelowna ... with his trusty Robin Hood like bow and arrow in his hands and with his RCMP security officer in the background with a back up quiver ready to be let loose in case WAC missed ... all our debt was sent skyward as smoke.... and mirrors....
BC Hydro's debt wouldn't fit on one barge, let alone three Fast Cat ferries that were tied up to their building berths just east of the Dry Dock at the foot of Lonsdale. The better way to show off BC Hydro's debt would be to include, with the next billing, how much customers would have to pay per month for how many years to pay off the $20 billion owed.
And why does BC Hydro say that they are a PROUD SUPPORTER, financially, for community organizations and events? The money being doled out is coming from customers on their next hydro bill.
1-A 3 penny carbon tax will cover toll losses per liter of fuel used in BC.
Each penny ,per liter of fuel,gets 42-44 million a year.
2-reversing the top 2 percent tax cut will bring in 200-250 million per year so that could go to MSP.
A PST increase of 1/2 of 1 percent would bring in 500 million a year.
Todd stoned! the goof that got a ticket On Pat Bay Hwy with his kid's in the car.Talk about classless, clueless,crooks just a pack of greedy goofballs
If Mr. Stone is so proud of the initiatives he and his party implemented at ICBC the last 4 years then maybe he would like to explain how the bottom line is $500 million poorer in just the last year at ICBC.
Mr. Stone's arrogant and shameless statement is proof positive that he should not be allowed anywhere near the Premiers office and he cannot be considered a serious candidate for the Liberal leadership. On the other hand, for the NDP it would be like winning the lottery. With his flawed logic, Mr. Horgan would tear him apart in any campaign debate.
NVG--
Point taken.
Maybe that massive Hydro debt pile could be hauled up river to Chilliwack so that it can be used to build Laurie Throness' big rock candycane sugar plum Reaganomic mountain.
Or some such thing
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Anon-Above X2
Then again, there is always the progressive income tax way that once served us so well, not to mention the resource extractors who are not paying their fair share at the moment.
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Dave--
Well, you know...
120km/hr middle-of-nowhere mid-Coq is pretty much the same thing as 120 middle-of-congestion-cross-traffic PBayHghwy, right?
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CP--
I fear that the good Mr. Stone was chosen for such a job (and the Port Mann, and the Massey Br, and the SFPR and PavCo jobs) precisely because he does not have the wherewithal to even begin to understand how to explain such a thing (or how and why it actually happened)
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Anon-Above--
Agreed.
Then again, H.R. Puffenstuf would likely do precisely the same thing.
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Todd Stone is simply trying to keep his name out there. He is trying to look "presidential". He has political aspirations and better he say some thing stupid than nothing at all. If he says nothing, not one will notice him.
He forgets it was his party, the B.C. Lieberals who took all that money out of ICBC. That is why it is broke. Now it has to be put back in the bank.
people need to understand it costs money to run things and when you start juggling the books so things look nice, some times an account comes along and straightens it out. Mr. Eby is that accountant and now its time to put ICBC on a level footing again. There were a lot of people who enjoyed having a "balanced" budget, but they didn't seem to care for years how it got "balanced". Now it has to be paid back.
Its actually funny to hear some like Todd Stone carry on about adding a cost to driving. is this the same Todd Stone who thought it was O.K. for Christy Clark to claw back $14M a year from children who were receiving child support from their non custodial parent, while the custodial parent was on disability? Upp so people Like Stone and the yapper from the tax payers group ought to shut up for awhile. They all thought it was o.k. to take money from children living at 50% below the poverty line but its not o.k. to balance the books at ICBC after the B.C. Lieberals had plundered the bank account
Stone looked very concerned maybe because of the C.B.C. bit and the goings on Port Mann bridge, the money trail and Contractors etc where is the money Honey boo boo?by the way where is Honey Moola boo boo?
My recollection of young Mr. Stone (and please correct me if I'm wrong) was that he was employed as an IT geek by Gordo when Gordo was leader of the opposition. Gordo also was getting a great deal of help from civil servants working for BC Govt - when the NDP was the government of the day, many of whom received very healthy promotions when Gordo achieved the golden crown (including the newly departed head of BC Hydro). Anyhoo, the young Mr. Stone was parachuted into the secure Kamloops Riding when the best-before-date Foghorn Kevin decided much later than that very stale bbd, and voila was elected as the newest Kamloops MLA. Bottom line is that the young Mr. Stone had no real political experience before becoming an MLA and doesn't seem to have significantly improved his CV since being appointed as Minister of the Crown either. What can I say? except that its a good paying gig that guarantees a great pension and fully paid medical after just 6 years and for the rest of his life. Perhaps we should all be competing for these jobs? oh, no, forgot -- you must be very well connected politically before your name rises from the bottom of the barrel.
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