Premier David Eby is about to break the mold: on April 1, British Columbians will face another tax increase, when the carbon tax goes UP another 3 cents a liter.
This is really highly unusual.
In the months before BC elections, the tradition has always been for governments to dole out the goodies: increases in spending on projects; promises of new spending; and, even cuts in taxes, fees, tolls etc.
It’s only AFTER the election, when whichever party assumes power, that the pickpocketing of taxpayers’ wallets, usually takes place.
The latest increase in the BC Carbon Tax will raise the total taxes on a liter of fuel in the Vancouver area to 81 cents a liter!!
The price of fuel in the city has now hit $2 a litre!
(In Florida last week, I paid $3.18 a GALLON for gas … and that was a high enough price for the oil company, the retailer and the state to ALL make a profit.)
British Columbians … who work, pay taxes … are clearly being robbed/shaken down/over-taxed by the BC government: especially those who must use vehicles to get to work, to do their jobs, transport goods, shop, get their kids to school etc. etc.
“More British Columbians than ever are having a hard time making their rent and mortgage payments. At a time when folks are just scraping by, hiking a tax, like the carbon tax, which impacts just about everything, isn’t just poorly timed, it’s unacceptable,” the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation complained last week.
(You can read the full article of the CTF’s stance here: https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/03/21/bc-carbon-tax-ctf-hike/.)
Can’t blame the big bad capitalistic corporations for this ripoff!
And BC United says the NDP plan is to raise the carbon tax again and again …
“This is only the beginning. From 2017 to 2023, the NDP has more than doubled the carbon tax, and plans laid out by David Eby signal an increase to an overwhelming 461 percent by 2030. As a result, the NDP plans to further hike the carbon tax will make an already challenging situation worse, push our gas prices higher than ever, and place additional strain on households and small businesses,” Peter Milobar, Kamloops-North Thompson MLA recently wrote.
(Read his full statement here: https://cfjctoday.com/2024/03/21/sound-off-ndp-and-ebys-carbon-tax-increase-will-only-make-affordability-issues-worse/.)
And to RAISE taxes before an election (BC votes in October) … that’s highly unusual!
So why is Eby doing it?
Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer note: “B.C. is allowed to administer its pioneering carbon tax so long as it increases in lockstep to the federal rate. If not, Ottawa would substitute its own tax. Eby says needy British Columbians would then be deprived of the next increase in the province’s climate tax credit.”
(Read Palmer’s full column here: https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/vaughn-palmer-bc-premier-goes-after-poilievre-on-carbon-tax-affordability.)
But to raise any tax before an election?
I believe it’s either supreme confidence or arrogance.
Clearly the Premier believes the polls, that consistently show his NDP government ahead of the other two opposition contenders.
The Angus Reid Institute last week estimated the NDP has 43% support among voters; BC United 22%; BC Conservatives 22%; and the Greens 12%.
(Delve into more of their poll results here: https://angusreid.org/bc-spotlight-election-2024-rustad-falcon-eby/#gsc.tab=0)
But if I were Eby, I wouldn’t be so sure.
Campaigns are often volatile, voters can be swayed to change their minds (especially if they’re hurting), and both BC United and the BC Conservatives have already promised to ax the fuel/carbon tax … completely!
Also, don’t rule out either a coming together of BC United and the BC Conservatives before the vote, or, after the election, just as the NDP did with the Greens to take power in 2017.
Months ago, I wrote that Eby, who still has no public mandate for either his position as premier or his government and policies, should have called an election after taking over the NDP, internally, from Premier John Horgan.
With his raising of the carbon tax yet again April 1 and the growing popularity of the BC Conservative Party, Eby and the NDP may yet regret not following my advice back then.
Harv Oberfeld
(Follow @harveyoberfeld.ca on “X” for FREE First Alerts to new postings on this blog.)
Harv… It’s time for you to run for office!!!
(Response: LOL! Thanks, Ted … but I’m too principled … and retired! h.o)
I’m afraid the NDP has a built in self destruct mechanism in their politics and looney ideology that always seems to bite them in the butt in short order. Yes, it is to bad you are retired and weren’t in political office, because at least you would be a principled and competent leader. But you’ve done just fine giving been a good contributor to to our Country during your professional years and now. Your good service has been is appreciated.
(Response: Thanks. When you’re retired, you have lots of time/opportunity to look back and also compare your performance with that of your replacements. I’m proud of what I did … at Vancouver City Hall, as The Vancouver Sun’s first ever Regional Reporter (I created the full-time GVRD beat), at the Legislature from 1974-81 (for The Sun AND BCTV), on Parliament Hill 1981-89 (gave BC the HIGHEST media TV presence/profile/access/coverage ever!), and finally, all my people-orientated stories/investigative series/political coverage back home in Vancouver from 1989 until I retired in 2006. Not too shabby! 🙂 Yet, since you mentioned principles, I did pay a heavy price: my last eight years at BCTV/Global (after I helped unionize the newsroom were difficult; and, although I had won Webster Awards, several national and regional Awards … RTNDA, BCAB, CAJ and was a finalist in the national Michener Awards … I never received the Webster Lifetime Achievement Award (I believe because of my pro-union activity 🙂 ) and some believe I should have even received the Order of BC for all my accomplishments in journalism over 38 years and on behalf of British Columbians (but have been too tough on politicians?). Yet, my principles remain intact; I’m having a wonderful retirement …and, maybe, a little bit on this Blog, still raising hell and exposing the politicians when they lie, deceive or let the people down! 🙂 h.o).
I don’t vote NDP and wondering if this tax if it goes through April first…will the voters remember that come election time?
Only if the opposition keeps pounding on what the NDP is doing to citizens..
The only option we have is with the mighty X
(Response: It keeps adding up … and people (voters) notice. Gas in Vancouver is already over $2 a litre, and it will go even higher April 1. If BC United and the Conservatives can muster an effective election campaign, showing all the increases in taxes/fees etc. the NDP has added to middle class burden, the polls …and results …could shift. h.o)
I am going to praise Eby on the only two specific areas where you have criticized him.
I am glad he did not call an election in 2023. There was no precedent, no moral, legal or constitutional reason for Eby to call an early election. The fixed election date is there to prevent governments from calling early elections when they think they have an advantage. The only time when the fixed election date should be ignored is when the ruling party loses a confidence vote. So good for Eby for sticking to the fixed election date instead of playing politics with it.
I am glad he is sticking with the carbon tax increase. Again, the easy way out and the way to try to get votes would be to delay it but that once again plays into this political game which makes us all cynical. Shell out goodies before. Raise taxes after. No. Put in a program and live or die with it.
And that is the problem with the carbon tax. I remember 2008 or ’09 or whenever and my NDP friends chanting Ax the Tax when the Campbell government put in a carbon tax. I believe that we need to do something about climate change. And listening to various experts I believe a carbon tax is one way of doing so. Raise the price on carbon to force people to change their behaviour.
I am not smart enough to debate this. Someone on here could change my mind, but if you believe as I do that a climate is an issue and that carbon pricing is a solution, then you don’t dicker with it. You can’t say climate is an issue but not this year because gas prices are too high. That is the whole point.
So I am glad Eby is willing to keep to the increase and live or die on that policy. And I hope that the carbon tax gets debated in both the provincial and federal elections. Poilievre and his “Ax the Tax” have a catchy slogan (15 years after the NDP were chanting it) but I see or hear no talk about what will replace it. Or do people just not care about the climate.
(Response: I’m not sure how anyone who believes in democracy can praise any politician who takes over the leadership of any provincial or federal government … and then, SIXTEEN months later, still hadn’t sought a public mandate for him (or her) holding that post or his actions/program. More like a third world style dictatorship to me.
As for the carbon tax, I believe most British Columbians (and Canadians) do want to reduce emissions and fight climate change: but not by punishing citizens who MUST use vehicles, squeezing more and more cash out of them …regardless of how much it hurts or how other aspects of the economy are impacting them. Better ways to get people out of vehicles or to reduce fossil fuel consumption would be through positive incentives: like free transit, larger grants/write-offs to go electric (cars, homes, industries), free or low-cost charging stations and lower personal taxes, to leave more spending money in people’s wallets instead of the government’s hands, so citizens have more to spend, spend, locally … thereby increasing the provincial take from sales taxes at the same time. And then there’s the timing: to raise taxes (and other fees as well) in the months before an election is bold, confident …or just dumb! h.o)
Premier Eby is both arrogant and extremely confident that his a mass propaganda machine and a very compliant mainstream media will ensure a win in the next election.
What premier Eby has not, is financial acumen and the NDP have grossly overspent on politically prestigious projects to further to win votes, especially in Surrey/Langley.
Te current cost, the real cost, to extend the SkyTrain light metro system, a mere 21.7km is now past $11 billion and climbing. The NDP are downright afraid to release the real coasts for the full project, but instead only portions costs out, which makes it look cheaper. The big problem with TransLink and metro Vancouver’s transit system is that, yes, ridership is increasing, but, the per capita ridership numbers are dropping like a stone, down about 20%.
Translated is that ridership is increasing due to population increase, but fewer people, overall are taking transit.
Eby doesn’t want to know and blunders along demanding more and more money for TransLink.
Eby caved with the Surrey police fiasco because the NDP were losing votes, same with the Surrey hospital and schools fiascos.
The Carbon Tax was first implemented in BC by former premier Campbell, to recoup tax losses due to major tax breaks for the wealthy. Eby will continue the Carbon Tax because he needs the cash to buy the next election.
In BC and Canada, the Carbon Tax is a mere placebo, with government pretending they are doing something about global warming, when they are not.
The speculation tax continues the NDP’s entrenched elder abuse, which is now trumped by the NDP’s antisemitism.
Eby will win the next election, but it will be a Pyrrhic victory as the Falcon’s United and the Conservative will merge again to one party and Eby’s NDP’s gross mismanagement of almost everything they have done will consign them to several election cycles in the wilderness.
(Response: Apparently, in addition to another carbon tax increase, there are other provincial taxes and fees slated to increase April 1. It boggles the mind ..at least mine … how super confident any Premier could be, doing that in the months leading up to an election. That period is when they traditionally dole out goodies, giving us back a small percentage of the increases they squeezed out of us in the previous three or four years. It sure looks ripe for the opposition parties to cash in on ..if they know how to do exploit the opportunity. h.o)
Another great topic Harvey. Thanks.
I see TransLink is raising the fares again this summer by five or ten cents. The perfect metaphor as we are getting nickeled and dimed to death along with everything else. If they don’t catch you at the gas pump, they’ll nab you when you get on that bus or skytrain.
David Eby is following John Horgan’s footsteps, being all buddy-buddies with Trudeau. At this stage it doesn’t look good for the prime minister, so Eby may not get that cushy position when he leaves office like John Horgan did.
Not to fret, I’m sure something else will pop up.
(Response: Governments at al levels these days are following the old “frog in cold water” taxing tactic …turning up the heat so slowly (it’s “only” a few pennies here and a few pennies there), but it has all added up and more and more taxpayers are now finding themselves in really hot water and, I believe, are ready to jump out of the pot! When not only the carbon tax goes up April, but so do other provincial fees and then people have to pay their ever-increasing beyond inflation municipal/regional taxes and Hydro and ICBC … at some point they WILL opt for the traditional Canadian “throw the bums out” solution. But Eby seems unaware or self-confident enough to believe that will not happen. h.o)
I don’t know Harvey but as far as I can tell, there is no legal, moral, or constitutional reason for Eby to have called an early election. Ask Rishi Sunak why he hasn’t called one in the UK (the home of our constitutional monarchy) and he became the PM before Eby became premier.
When we vote we are not voting for a Prime Minister/Premier. The party that wins the most seats has a mandate to govern until the next election or until they lose a confidence vote. That’s our system. As much as you think it should, a new leader does not require an election.
But I suppose Eby could have followed your advice and called an early, unnecessary election which according to you he likely would have won. My point is that the fixed election date is there to prevent governments from taking advantage of good times and calling snap elections when they figure they can win. So good for Eby for not doing that.
Anyway, to the main point – the carbon tax. I saw some good stuff on TV yesterday. But the key takeaway for me was that the opponents of the carbon tax have nothing to offer as a replacement. So I was glad to see you toss out some ideas like more grants and free transit. BUT and there is always a but… Where do you figure to get the money to pay for free transit. Buses don’t run for free. Some other tax (but not a carbon tax) would have to be implemented.
I am not defending any government at this point. They – we – can all do better. But Poilievre’s Ax the Tax might be a good slogan but it is also meaningless without offering alternatives or discussing the consequences. Hopefully we will get that during an election campaign.
(Response: I agree there is no legal or constitutional requirement for a new appointed leader to seek a public mandate, but I disagree with you, in that I do believe there is a moral or ethical reason he or she should do so, say, within, six or nine months. Especially when new leaders want to introduce program/policy changes. As for using incentives rather than punishments to effect change, I’m sure a special committee of the legislature, dedicated to finding funds/cuts to enable much more practical programs like that could come up with a billion dollars in savings in just a few weeks. Maybe even more if they ask the public to point out suggestions: my own would include stop providing millions upon millions of dollars for housing, welfare, drugs, paraphernalia, counseling of homeless/druggies from outside BC; and, stop the FIFA private party ($350 million?) boondoggle … just for starters. h.o)
It doesn’t surprise me that the radical leftist in charge of BC wants to raise taxes. He’s so confident that he’s not waiting until after the election. The climate has always been changing, and no tax is going to stop that. Who honestly believes that the carbon tax would go away if the climate stopped changing? We should charge our politicians a corruption tax.
I recently that the communist mayor of Toronto is considering a rain tax. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Some politicians love big government, but the problem is that it needs more and more taxes to become bigger.
(Response: Two news stories today alone should have taxpayers fuming: first, there will be another transit far increase in Vancouver this July …adding more pain for working taxpayers, because TransLink needs more money to just carry on; then, the NDP government announced it had bought 89 hectares of land near Abbotsford to preserve the area around Lightning Rock, a sacred First Nations site and will turn that land over to the band … but the NDP won’t say how much it paid for the 89 hectares!! Millions??? None of taxpayers’ business? Outrageous, arrogant … and that was just today’s double “hit” on the public! You can read about the land purchase/gift to the band here: https://www.castlegarnews.com/news/provinces-land-purchase-protects-indigenous-sacred-burial-site-in-abbotsford-7334498 h.o)
Yes Eby needs the tax income as the NDP continue their classic “shoveling money of the back of a pickup”, to win votes for the next election. That election will be won or lost in Metro Vancouver. This means the “Hurtlands” will be hurt even more as the metro Vancouver fiscal black-hole continues to suck tens of billions of dollars, to satisfy the NDP elites or higher purpose persons in the party.
Eby is also a classic Vancouver technocrat, schooled in Vision(less) Vancouver politics, which is satisfy the land speculator.developers, who will fund the party.
This has lead to the absolutely phony densification nonsense which is driving up land values, further hurting the poor and small business, but Eby does not care a whit as it is the land developer/speculators that are funding the party.
We have a serious housing crisis but the only solution is scalable public housing and not high rise condos and towers.
The densification happening in metro Vancouver is direct from a previous NDP government, with the Crown corporations Secretariat stated “the only reason to build rapid transit is land use”. Translated, the only reason to build SkyTrain is to density properties. Only Vancouver subscribes to this nonsense.
What was and still is needed is investment in the hurtlands to attract businesses there but no, emergency rooms are closed and doctors are wanting as everything is sucked into the metro Vancouver financial black-hole.
I always find it interesting that when the NDP are in power and extend SkyTrain, healthcare and schools seem to suffer.
To be blunt, all Eby cares about is power and when people only care about power they want absolute power and this will be a big problem in the future.
Is Eby another Bob Skelly?, Well if certain events happen, he may well be because in my neck of the woods, people are not happy with all three of the Premier wanna-bees after the next election, but Eby seems to come out top of who people do not want to be premier as his party’s blatant antisemitism and blatant elder abuse (Eby I think has forgotten that us oldsters, the boomers, the generation of protest, tend to vote, while those he is courting do not.
Sorry Mr. Eby, your tax them until they die routine doesn’t hols water anymore and many pensioners are wanting for affordable housing and the ability to pay for food and medication and this group can’t even make it to the back of that proverbial pick-up truck, to pick up a few coins that are left.
(Response: I think Eby and NDP strategists may have miscalculated the impact all the accumulated carbon tax increases and raises in all kinds of other fees and taxes over the past few years have already impacted ordinary taxpayers (who don’t have the generous wages, perks, pensions of politicians) just trying to pay bills. And April 1 … months before asking for votes, they’re going to raise them more!! Very risky … and possibly will prove to be very dumb! h.o)
Harvey,
another great one.
Mr Eby is no John Horgan, that being said he has made several political missteps along the way.
the arrogant reply to Pierre Poilievre was not well thought out politically. it will return and bite him.
his political future could depend on how the federal conservatives decide to handle BC carbon tax.
Mr Eby has a provincial Conservative party in second place and the BC united both polling at 30% plus and a October provincial election.
(Response: Just imagine if BC United and the Conservatives come to some agreement to avoid splitting their votes: maybe a coalition of some kind; or even agreement for each to run candidates in only specific ridings, again to avoid splitting the anti-NDP vote. Could be very interesting election! That’s why I find it strange that Eby/NDP are so confident or so dumb to break the traditional mold and keep raising fees/taxes as the election approaches. h.o)
According to the National Post, from July 1 Canadian MPs will earn the second highest salary for elected officials. The only country that will be higher is the USA. It’s no wonder that Canadians are angry. How can the raises be justified with the high rate of inflation, the housing crisis and health care crisis? Are Canadians supposed to believe that the high salaries are based on an excellent performance?
I don’t think that proposed raises for politicians are ever denied. I remember once Jean Chretien told Reform MPS that if they were against higher salaries, they were welcome to reject them. It was a clever way to win their support.
It’s simply astounding that countries such as Switzerland, Singapore, Finland and Japan pay their elected MPs less than Canada. It’s a fact that many NATO members consider Canada a freeloader. Canada used to be the largest trading partner of the USA, but it is now Mexico.
According to a report that I read a few days ago, the state with the lowest PCI in the USA (I believe it is Mississippi or West Virginia) has a PCI similar to the national average of Canada. It’s no secret that many Canadian professionals are moving to the USA for the higher wages, lower taxes and lower cost of living. It’s true that Canadians love to say that Canada is safer and has better health care, but according to the latest statistics, Canada isn’t doing very well. I see no reason that Canadian MPs should have the second highest salary of elected officials in the world.
(Response: It’s very easy for MPs, with their fairly high salaries, perks, generous pensions to lose touch with how much even small increase in taxes/fees … if added on so often. It severely squeezes the thinning wallets of working people, after they pay rent or mortgages, groceries, Hydro, cable, ICBC or transit, clothes for themselves and their fast-growing kids, and now another carbon tax hike. While Ottawa and provincial governments spend, spend, spend on all kinds of questionable projects (like $40 million(!!! …will probably end up being $50 million) to search for two, possible … not even supported by actual evidence … missing women’s bodies just suspected to be buried in a landfill; or in BC how many millions (the BC government won’t even say) to buy 89 hectares of land around a First Nations sacred rock (I’m not kidding) and will then turn the land over to the band; or Ottawa reportedly spending $40 million SO FAR on a program to buy back assault weapons from collectors ..without being offered or buying a single gun so far! They clearly see taxpayers as having bottomless pockets they can just keep raiding and use to buy votes! h.o)
The one point no one in media or anywhere else seems to acknowledge is the public employee unions benefit of the “government employee make work project” called carbon tax. Why zero mention of admin costs? Does this make work project utilize free labor or is this reality just overlooked for convenience?
The massive hiring sprees seen both federally and provincially have resulted in what increases in govt. services and efficiencies? Personally all I see is far more red tape, far slower pace for many citizen & company interactions, and unions (the real backroom masters of BC’s NDP) reap more dues paying members. The future obligations incurred by the massive expansion of govt. payrolls will increase costs for decades, but almost zero attention to this scourge, why? Don’t defend it unless you can offer real instances of increased service levels or efficiencies.
Site C & Transmountain both massively under estimated costs, one pushed along to power LNG compression for mostly Asian clients, the other bought to sell Alberta crude to Asian clients. Remember, we need 8 more Site C’s to power all the EV’s we will soon have no choice in purchasing. The realities of government staying out of business have never been more poignant. Toss in the N Van sewage plant debacle as icing.
Now governments are entering the home building business, wait for the dust to settle and the massive overruns to accumulate, this is guaranteed.
Carbon taxation hits rural residents far harder than urban dwellers, geography is hard to argue with, however some will try. Remember, your urban lifestyles are fed, housed and resource funded by the same rural folks who get far less govt. service and the very workers who send the fruits of their efforts to the unsustainable 15 min cities. The BC govt. has spent a fraction of what they spend in metro Vancouver on transit improving the vital corridors which supply metro, the atmospheric rivers (nice catchy word salad) recently made this reality into a poison dart, one worthy of ignoring, apparently.
A neighbour farmer explained to me yesterday how some of his produce is carbon taxed up to 17 times from planting to grocery shelves, 17 different bites at the apple.
Eby’s lucky the right is split, otherwise he’d be soon back to his old jobs so he can finally finish unionizing inmates???
(Response: And remember, the carbon tax hikes won’t end April 1: the tax will continue to rise higher and higher …ALL of which will be passed on to consumers! Plus, something more to think about: if Eby/NDP are so out of touch with the way the middle class is now struggling to raise not only the carbon tax, but other fees/taxes (Hydro, Ferries etc.) before an election, we can only imagine ..and shudder … and what the NDP have planned in further tax/fee increases if they do get another term! h.o)
You neglecte to mention the carbon tax increase on natural gas for home heating. That may be more onerous than the 3 cents per liter gasoline tax.
(Response: Good point. Also BC Hydro and BC Ferry increases too. It boggles the mind to think that any government would add to the tax burden of so many voters just months before an election. Don’t be surprised, if the polls start showing slippage, to see another rebate of some sort in the Fall, to give us back part of all the added loot they’re about to take away. h.o)
Taxes, taxes, taxes and if you are on a fixed income, you are screwed.
My house tax has increased by over $2K in three years, my carbon tax last moth was $47.60 and that is just the beginning.
Luckily my wife still works, but my meagre pension cheque pays gas, Hydro, and I defer my taxes. I do not like deferring my house tax, as i was brought up to “pay my way”, but today’s world, I am paying for everyone else’s way.
for added insult, last summer I received a cheque for $22.00 for my federal Carbon tax adjustment. I took that as a @$#&%!! insult.
why bother as it probably cost more to process the tax.
Try dealing with a provincial agency and oh boy, elder abuse is the name of the game. I had an issue with my property tax last year and I telephoned the Ministry of finance and communicated with someone on the end of the line who I could not understand and I asked to talk to her supervisor and she refused I asked 3 more times and she hung up.
As I write a lot of letters via email, i sent an Email to the Min. of fin, and to the local radio, TV and newspapers, headlined Elder Abuse at the Ministry of Finance. The issue was rectified within 24 hours through my MLA who is not NDP but was contacted by the said Ministry to deal with it, which is was.
As I was late with my property taxes i went to my muni fully expecting to pay my penalty which was waived by the muni because, as the Cashier said, “this is so common today, especially with pensioners, that the municipal government approved to wave the penalty because no one can deal with the Ministry of Finance.”
How many pensioners are being screwed by this government and are not “stormy petrels” like me!
This is Premier Eby’s legacy and i think it is going to come back to haunt him, because in today’s world, the elderly are not part of the NDP’s base and thus are not on the NDP’s pre-election gravy train.
And please do not get me started on how many pensioners who now have to choose between paying the rent, having heat, or eating.
I think Dave Barrett would be spinning inn his grave to see what the NDP have become.
(Response: I agree re Dave Barrett… and so would Tommy Douglas! Today’s NDP seems to be run by elitist intellectuals and social revolutionaries and is no longer primarily focused on the interests of the working middle class or seniors. They’ve been generous with public monies/policies to help the poor, the homeless (even those from outside BC), druggies, First Nations, FIFA fans … but, apart from getting rid of MSP payments, they’ve have done very little for the middle class or seniors, just squeezing us more and more to cater to those groups I’ve mentioned. Governments in other provinces have been much more responsive (cutting/capping/rebating) taxes/fees to help middle class families struggling with today’s economy. But the BC NDP just keeps taking more and more and more. h.o)
David Eby “Premier Appointed”.
I didn’t realize he had been in power 16 months.
Time to change the Election Laws.
One Preem resigns…the appointed Preem should be forced to call an election in 12 months or less.
The last time I checked we live in a Democracy…….
As for the Carbon tax…
Unbelievable how many virtue signalling greenwashers wave the “Global Warming petard to justify….another tax….or more specifically…. another tax increase.
Smoke and mirrors isn’t just a house in the Okanagan burning in the annual forest fire season….
(Response: I agree …and have pointed out in several blogs that Eby has no PUBLIC mandate as Premier or for his agenda. I knew at the time he would have likely won the election, but I saw it as a matter of principle and respect for democracy. Eby and the NDP disagreed … apparently following the old adage “Possession is nine tenths of the law.” Now they may end up regretting that: BC United and the BC Conservatives could make things a lot more difficult for Eby/NDP when voters go to the polls in October. h.o)
Mr. Non, we don’t actually live in a democracy anymore, rather Canada/BC live in a semi autocratic state, where democracy happens for about 12 hours every four or five years.
We elect mini dictators today who despise anything that sounds democratic. Parliament has become mere theatre these days as politcal decisions are made to suit ones future electability.
Take our housing crisis, we are doing everything wrong, but what is done makes for good photo-ops and those all important 10 second sound bytes so important for the electronic media.
We need two things to help ease the housing crisis.
1) A sound social housing policy.
2) Encourage business to locate out of the lower mainland and spread the population around this massive province. This also would include a regional passenger railway scheme, connecting BC cities.
Both will be expensive and both will never happen, due to bureaucratic and politcal inertia. So the current housing policy remains, tear down affordable housing and up-zone to unaffordable high rise condos and towers, increasing land values (and taxes), making housing and doing business even more unaffordable and continuing the cycle of desperate homelessness, poverty and the ills associated with homelessness and poverty.
But our civic/provincial/federal politcans believe the only solution is to increase their annual stipends and little else.
Is it both the tax gouging government and price gouging corporations working together to steal our hard earned money at the gas stations. They must work hand in hand. The gas companies know they can get away with gouging because the higher the price the more revenues government takes in. So the government does nothing and the gas companies steal more in their pricing. They feed eachother. The so called peoples government does not work for the people. Horgan was sure full of it about that stuff. Eby it seems just doesn’t give a hoot except for the extremes of his partys idealogically warped bent and lunacy. I dont think some of these modern day lost wonders even have the slightest care or respect for who made this country or defended its great institutions. I always wonder where much of our taxes that are gouged from us are really going. Special pet projects
for the druggie criminals club. David (Pivot) Eby’s special interests that definitely aren’t hard working British Columbians interests. I dont know, but I don’t think a lot of its good where our money is going. It sure isn’t being used efficiently for the hard working real contributors and the seniors who gave so much but are now retired or passed on.
(Response: I filled up my car today in Florida … $3.25 US a GALLON … and people here are mad as hell that prices are so “high”!! When I was in Vancouver a few weeks ago, I paid $2.09 Cad a LITRE!! (A US gallon is 3.79 litres) Yikes!!Now, we sure don’t want to emulate the kind of society they have here … but remember, at the prices here, the governments and corporations are all making money too. And I can’t even tell them our higher taxes go to providing us first class health care!! h.o)