BellGlobeCTVTSNRDSMTViHeartBNNVrakMuchStarz' western columnist man-about-Lotusland-town, Gary Mason, has just published a piece about why the British Columbia Liberal Party needs a new, more 'inclusive' name.
As near as we can figure it, Mr. Mason's thesis is that such a change will make it possible for finest-of-the-fine, hard core conservative-types like the oft-quoted ol' turdstormer himself, Bill Bennett, to keep voting for whatever the BCL currently constituted party re-brands itself as.
Which is bad enough, on its face, for the very obvious reason that the good Mr. Mason ignores (see bottom of the post).
But, to make matters more laughable, the Globe's western man writes this:
...This isn’t the first time that a rebrand under a more inclusive-sounding moniker has been mooted. It was a topic of discussion in the 1990s when the party found itself on the outside looking in while the NDP ruled British Columbia...
Now.
Let's have a look at the actual fact of that 1990's matter, shall we.
Which is...
The post-Socred, bagman-reconstituted, made-man-led BC Liberal Party never, ever held power in this province before the Dipper wipeout of 2001.
In fact, if you look at the historical provincial summary, above, it is obvious (there is that word again) that, prior to the rise of the Socred tent pole in the '50's, the Liberal party last won an election in British Columbia in 1941 back, when it was actually liberal, for real, as evidenced by the fact that it beat the actual Conservative party at the time.
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So, what is that other obvious, and important if you have been paying actual attention, thing that Mr. Mason does not once mention in his latest digital fish wrap offering that wanders off into climate change pontification territory?
Well, it is the fact that it was not the far right side of the ledger that was the BCL's really big voter loss problem in the election just past.
Instead, what they really need to worry about is that big chunk that the now economically Dr. No-free Mr. Horgan managed take out of the center of the electorate.
And no name change that makes uber-Cons like Bill Bennet happy is going to solve that problem for the party of the bagmen.
OK?
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What's all the 'Ron Obvious' stuff about?...This.
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16 comments:
The single best policy move made by the Horgan government is campaign finance reform. Without big corporate money, it doesn't matter what they call the name. I seriously doubt a move to the right and a name change more palatable to the right will be the secret to future success in BC.
History is always your friend, Ross, particularly if you utilize those handy dandy analytical skills rather than just pick out the points you think makes your argument has wheels on it.
I go back to 1952 (long before I could vote but my parents made sure we understood the politics of the day so we didn't waste time at the dinner table gossiping about the neighbours) and the topic was the upcoming BC election.
The current iteration of Liberal and Progressive Conservatives had formed a coalition in order to keep the CCF out but the time came for another election. This coalition came up with the idea (1st and only time in BC's history that I am aware of) that we could mark 4 choices and rank them 1-4 in order of how we viewed each party. Again, this was to keep the CCF out who were poised to achieve a majority. The parties were Liberal, Progressive Conservative, CCF and the newly arrived Social Credit from the bergs of Alberta (who were all old Conservatives).
This got interesting, because by the time they factored in the value of the rankings, the Social Credit came up the middle - because both the Libs and Cons would have ranked each 1 and 2 and then the Socreds 3 and last was CCF.
The Socreds did not have a leader, so an enterprising hard ware store owner from Kelowna walked across the floor and the rest is history. Note: this form of ranking was NEVER implemented again - funny that, eh?
This is why, when Gordo decided to look into a new voting system and came up with the Single Transferable Vote (STV) method for us to consider, and being suspicious of anything Gordo was in favour of, I was not enthusiastic at all. Beside, I thought the shortened version (STV) sounded more like a venereal disease than a voting system!
I have no better option to offer, except to comment that a person's vote in Fort St. John is far more valuable to a political party than it is in Vancouver Centre riding. For me, that means we do not have a one person, one vote (being of equal value) but I have no idea how to fix this.
(Sorry for being so long-winded!)
Glen--
Agreed...Thus the liberal use of the term bagmen in the post.
However, don't you think that Mr. Horgan et al. did a pretty good job of moving to the middle as well?
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Lulymay--
Wow! Thanks.
You can actually see that in the numbers in the table.
In fact, I'm sure Glen knows all that history inside out. Heckfire, look at that CCF (what Wiki calls NDP in their lumping) vote percentage number for 1941 even! It's almost as if there was some sort of historical gerrymandering going on given how few seets they received.
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The heady days of unlimited donations to the BC Liberals from the big spenders reduced to $1,253.15 per person this year
eg. 50 donors per the first page
2300 Kingsway Residences Peter Wall $200,000
John Redekop Construction $200,000
Goldcorp Inc Lindsay Hall $200,000
Haywood Securities Inc Rob Blanchard $200,000
Great Pacific Capital Corp Jim Pattison $200,000
Milan Ilich $200,000
Keg Restaurants LTD David Aisenstat $150,000
2300 Kingsway Residences Peter Wall $150,000
2300 Kingsway Residences Peter Wall $150,000
John Redekop $150,000
Peter Redekop $150,000
Goldcorp Inc $150,000
Onni Contracting Ltd $150,000
New Car Dealers Association of BC $150,000
Finning Ltd $120,000
Encana Corp $120,000
Encana Corp $120,000
Fording Inc $120,000
West Fraser Mills LTD $110,000
BC Road Builders & Heavy Construction Association $110,000
Townline Homes Inc $100,000
Aquilini Investment Group LP $100,000
Dennis J Wilson $100,000
Rick Ilich $100,000
Goldcorp Inc $100,000
Teck Resources Ltd $100,000
Peter Redekop $100,000
Lane Merrifield $100,000
Dennis J Wilson $100,000
MCL Motors 2010 $100,000
KEBET Holdings Ltd $100,000
Peter Redekop $100,000
RPMG Holdings Ltd $100,000
PWO Investments Ltd $100,000
BJW Investment Ltd $100,000
Bert's Electric (2001) Ltd $100,000
Seaspan ULC $100,000
Rick Ilich $100,000
Teck Highland Valley Copper Corp $100,000
Richard Ilich $100,000
International Forest Products Ltd $100,000
Silver Wheaton Corp $100,000
Teck Resources Ltd $100,000
Teck Highland Valley Copper Corp $100,000
Teck Highland valley Copper Corp $100,000
MacDonald Development Corp $100,000
Tech Highland Valley Copper Corp $100,000
Teck Resources Ltd $100,000
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And Yes the BC NDP did have the Unions backing them, and the general public
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Donations to the BC NDP since 2005 $65,489,649.73
Donations to the BC Green Party since 2005 $4,698,375.77
Donations to the BC Liberals since 2005 $132,574,300.98
******************************************
BC Liberals membership
2003= 100,000;
2011= 82,000;
2018= 60,000;
2020= 30,000????
name change or not, if its the same old bunch with the same old ideas, its still going to be the B.C. Lieberals. Being old and having lived in this province since 1951 and started watching politics in 1958. Still don't know what the difference was between the Socreds and the B. C. Lieberals.
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, etc. don't care what you call it, its a duck. used that argument once very successfully.
The right wing party in this province hasn't demonstrated it has cared what working people wanted, needed, etc. since they took office. besides el gordo and Christy having different wardrobes, it would be hard to tell them apart. One got nailed for drunk driving, one blew through a stop sign or light with their kid and a reporter in the vehicle.
Horgan and the rest of the NDP took a lot of votes from the B.C. Lieberals because they had done nothing while in opposition which caught the eye of the voter and the voters remembered what the B.C. lieberals did in the 16 yrs previous to the NDP taking office.
Ah, yes I remember the CCF even know it became the NDP and Tommy Douglas was part of both parties. Just like there were Socreds who went on to become B.C. Lieberals with el gordo. and there will be B.C. Lieberals who go on to be in a party, what ever the name is, as long as they can stay at the public trough and ensure their friends are taken care of.
Big tents, or big egos, or just big b.s. it doesn't sell unless its a decent quality. Right now the right wingers are a tad low on quality.
Fantastic unearthing, as usual, NVG - certainly makes your and Glen's point.
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I hear you e.a.f.--
The thing is....Mason was arguing, I think, (although he lost me when he started babbling on about climate change), was that the BCL had to do something to stem the loss of Con voters that love folks like the ol' turdstormer...Clearly, a big loss on the right side was not the issue for the BCL. Case-in-point was Chilliwack-Kent where it was a centrist independent councillor that took massive numbers of votes away from Throness...In freaking Chilliwack!
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Elections BC> FRPC data source regarding BC Liberals 2005/01/11 to 2019/11/30 = $132,190,813.92
Use the link to look at the data. It doesn't include, yet, because of when the limits were put in place by the BC NDP Government.
.... it doesn't include the current data because of the election.
Look at the slash & burn idiot ideologists* in Alberta. That's enough to scare anybody, but they were voted in because any dissent from the centre was mercilessly crushed.
* Now there stealing money from the intellectually & physically disabled:
https://www.reddeeradvocate.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-kenney-should-know-what-hes-taking-from-handicapped/
Meanwhile in BC folks are getting creative in their efforts to support and augment such programs:
https://agurlakecamp.ca/society/188-agur-lake-camp-helicopter-ball-drop
I think the biggest challenge (for any party) is the widening gulf between rural and urban/resource towns and multicultural cities. This, of course, is not unique to BC (see the US of A)but it troubles me. The NDP ran the table in the suburbs and cities and lost virtually all constituencies that are resource development dependent. The new government will be hard pressed to actually understand the stresses and challenges of a big group of citizens. I don't know whether this is a cultural shift or a big gap in worldview,or deep alienation in the hinterland. But I actually fear a Trumpian backlash without a better understanding by the public of mutual interests.I'm responding in a way to the "NDP moving to the middle" argument. I tend to see it as the NDP moving to a more urban perspective. less private sector union worker, more liberal/educated elite.
Unless the BC NDP MLAs open their arms (minds), to accept ideas from the 'hinterland' MLAs who are working on behalf of their constituents, not the BC Liberal Party.
Glen--
Do you think it's a Thomas Frankian 'What's the matter with Kansas'-type thing in the 'heartland'?
Regarding the NDP capturing the urban/educated/less private sector union worker...That is, in fact, the 'middle' I'm talking about from an ideological perspective. Is this not the group the the BCL party started to lose in 2017 and lost bigtime last week?
As for the backlash - federally that is obviously is a huge problem across the Prairies and non-Horsehoe Ontario. However, in BC,, while it might get Trumpian in tone, can it really have electorally powerful teeth given that we are not permanently ruled by the minority as is the case down south?
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I remember being at Harrison Hot Springs (hotel) in the 80's for a CLC convention and Glen Clark did a pretty good rendition of Saskatchewan's Tommy Douglas.
I think it is a little different than Thomas Frank. His argument is, essentially, that Kansans (and rural folk)are voting against their interest. In resource communities urban values are actually hostile to them. It is seen (and I think is) an existential threat. I'm not saying urban values are somehow wrong (against old growth logging, against mining, against oil and gas development, against fracking, against pipelines, etc)but it is obvious if you are working in those industries that if the urban view prevails then you are out of a job (at least a high paying union job). Clearly, climate change is an urgent problem and action is essential. I just think that too many people do not consider the differential and unequal impact that some decisions have on real people. This I think is why there is a Trump-like reaction building. The educated elites sitting in fancy houses working from home look down on blue collar workers in the resource communities. I have first hand knowledge of prominent environmentalists telling me how much they hate working people- and that has always stuck with me.
Election Funds raised by political parties starting from:
2018-01-01 to 2020-06-30.
20,202 Donators to BC NDP = $8,455,079.49
14,100 Donators to BC LIBERAL = $6,148,939.03
1,950 Donators to BC Green = $1,611,372.30
And then there will be the 'Supplement' from the BC Government ....
Glen--
Aaaahhhh...
So that means that our heartland is more like western Pennsylvania and/or West Virginia than, say, Iowa or Kansas?
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