No-deficit 'Gordon Campbell is a sociopath', oh, and a liar too.

Best comment of the day, regarding Gordon Campbell's sudden arts funding cuts :

Jay1237:

"The Campbell liberals lied their way into power. they have consistently lied and mislead about things. there is money for bridges and olympics, tax cuts for the rich and corporations but the regular guy is screwed.
Buddies of Campbell keep getting deals under the table: BC rail, rivers, whatever they like in droves.

Still he smiles for the camera.

[Gordon Campbell] is a sociopathic person.

He is destroying the very inner fabric of society.

He has to go. He is a liar and thief living in luxury. [Colin Hansen] is no better and a mere yes man.

When is health care, education going to be cut. you have lied about everything so far....with a nice smile!"

Well said, Jay! Let's see how the idea of Gordon Campbell being a sociopath holds water when compared to Wikipedia's definition of Sociopath:

Three or more of the following are required:

1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;
   => THINK GORDON CAMPBELL INSIDER CORRUPTION CASES (INCLUDING BC RAIL), AND GORDONS DRUNK DRIVING CASE
   
2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;
   => THINK ALL THE FALSE ELECTION PROMISES HE MADE, SUCH AS THE "NO DEFICIT" LIE.
   
3. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others;
   => THINK GORDON CAMPBELL'S DRUNK DRIVING CASE
   
4. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations;
   => THINK BUDGET DEFICIT
   
5. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.
   => THINK THE 4 BILLION HST TAX HIKE STEALING FROM THE POOR WHILE INCREASING HIS OWN PAY AND THAT OF HIS POLITICAL AND BIG BUSINESS CRONIES

Wow, that's a significant match.

Congratulations, jay 1237, I couldn't agree more.

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Premier Gordon Campbell has been creating room over the past few days for the possibility of a provincial deficit.

While Campbell continues to say he wants to avoid deficits at all costs, the certainty of just a few weeks is clearly gone.

I've written a little about this already, but here are two exchanges that shed some light on the shifting position.

January 27, 2009
Phone interview

Vancouver Sun: Can you clarify your position on the provincial deficit? It seems like for a while you've said there will absolutely be no deficit and I'm not hearing that as strongly from you now.

Premier Gordon Campbell: I think that's fair to say. We've got twin commitments: one is to a balanced budget, which is critical, but a balanced budget where we protect healthcare and education spending the things that are critical for British Columbians.

So when you have economies that are effectively falling off, when you have revenues that are in free fall it's very difficult to see how you make that equation work... 

VS: So it is possible we will run a deficit?

GC: I'm not saying that. We're trying to do our best to see how we can handle all of this, with all of the information. Every piece is moving right now and it's a big challenge to find a way to make this work to protect healthcare and education.


October 22, 2008
Meeting with a group of reporters after the economic update

Lindsay Kines, Victoria Times Colonist: If things get even worse globally, are you willing to ever run a deficit?

Premier Gordon Campbell: Let me be very clear, we are not going to run a deficit in the province of British Columbia.

LK: Ever?

GC: Let's just be clear, Lindsay, when we talk about, when you talk about a deficit, or anyone talks about a deficit, they're talking about turning their back on the next generation and sending our problems forward to them.

I think one of the things that British Columbians are very clear on is they expect us to think about the generations that will follow us. We've just spent seven years digging ourselves out of an enormous debt hole that was created by deficit after deficit after deficit. I do not accept that we should have deficits. We don't need to run deficits, we actually need to run a strong healthy economy and government should always live within its means.

Best comment of the day: BC HST is good for corporations, bad for the rest of us

This from "blurredbyitall":

What Hansen should have said was that $1.9 billion of the corporate sector's share of paying for public services and infrastructure (that they use too) will be loaded onto already-overburdened BC citizens/taxpayers. The Liberal's communications machine will be cranking out spin til we drown in it.

Yes, that's the best way to sum the BC HST up. Read all the comments here:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/08/07/bc-statistics-canada-unemployment-hansen.html#socialcomments

LINKS
- CBC: Gordon Campbell's BC Liberals are flirting with the rich and fucking the rest of us, again.

Banner and Poster to support the "Coalition Government Now!"

It's time to organize!

Banner for Vancouver Rally:



Poster "Let's make Parliament Work!" (pdf)



LINKS
- Let's make parliament work - Coalition Government Now!

Is BC Premier Gordon Campbell a monkey?

The BC Liberals are in the news again. This time they want a pay-increase, for themselves that is. And not a little one either:

The proposed pay increases would see an MLA's annual salary rise from $76,100 to $98,000.

Indeed, close to two times the minimum wage, on top of an already pretty decent income. But wait, the premier gets a pay raise too:

The premier would receive a 54-per-cent raise, boosting his annual salary from $121,100 to $186,200.

No wonder this doesn't go over well with a lot of people. And when I say a lot of people, I mean a lot of people. In BC the average full-time wage is $38,500 and so I'm sure there are many who will question why their tax dollars will be spend on already high wages.

You've got to give credit to Gordon Campbell; he played it smart. He didn't want to be seen as someone would be asking for a pay raise, so he hired an "independent panel" ("friends" that would approve his position) to do the work for him; obfuscating and delegating, all with one stone!

Unfortunately people found out about the panel's "slight" problem. NDP Leader Carole James:

The idea echoes the sentiment from a correspondent who suggested the reason the pay package was so rich is because the panelists were so well-off.

Sue Paish is a lawyer, a partner in her firm named one of Canada's "100 Most Powerful Women" a couple of years ago.

Josiah Wood spent a dozen years on the bench before quitting to become a partner in one of the oldest law firms in the country.

And Dr. Sandra Robinson is a professor at the University of British Columbia.

As my correspondent put it: "The panel was not in any sense independent, it was composed entirely of rich people."

Not that the Globe and Mail was bothered by this rich-people bias; they just ask another rich guy, professor Norman Ruff, who had the intelligence to say the following:

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I believe that," Prof. Ruff said. "I don't begrudge the MLAs decent pay.

So, finally, thanks to the professor, we all learnt a lesson here. Gordon Campbell is a monkey. The pay for MLAs in BC has been substandard, and THATS why we have these idiots in our government! Thank you, professor Ruff, for pointing that out.

Given the monkey analogy, the pay raise (if pushed through) will of course have to wait for the next governing body: Monkeys don't deserve a pay raise, or do they? They only need peanuts. Peanuts and martinis, that's more than enough.

- Times Colonist
- Paul Willcocks