Previous  1  2  3

Jeez Martin do you ever read up before you comment? Christie probably wouldn't make it out of a cage match with her own caucus.
Getting rid of bridge tolls alone is gonna put more money in the pockets of business and consumers down south than anything else could. The $150 a month I'll save in MSP premiums is more than the $10 or so in increased carbon tax.
The Greens got only THREE seats but a hell of a lot of votes because people were sick of Christy Clark. They can't jam their agenda through but they can advance some of their policy, watered down with the NDP vs. none at all or lose ground with the Libs.

   

...so....indefinitely?

   

Unless of course she's wearing her hard hat that she likes to sport when making those appearances for the press before a group of workers trying to look like she's "one of them".


The Greens doubled their % of the popular vote this time compared to the previous election in 2013. Quite impressive even if the increase in votes for them was for some, more about not voting for the Liberals or NDP.


I'm going to take the optimistic route and see what transpires with this arrangement. We shall see how it goes.

   

This picture



always reminds me of this

   

Living in North Central BC, Christy's nauseating cheerleader style was what pissed me most. Reminds me of our town councils and citizens who incessantly root up some $35,000 grant, slap themselves on the backs and pose for photo ops in the local papers over what successes they are while mills close, mines lay off, businesses are shuttered and populations dwindle. Meanwhile anyone who even suggests they concentrate on something with sustainable result is mocked as a 'negativist'.
During the last election she pushed the LNG idea a decade too late, during the absolute worst market conditions and after giving away the store so much BC would get the least benefits possible from such a project and won. This time she even grabbed a North Coast riding from people still hanging onto that pipedream even though the market situation is even worse. Fool me twice north coasters!
Now I gotta endure her worshipers and their "she's got honour" over not stepping down bullshit. You call the legislature, lose a confidence vote, and then you step down, that's how it's always worked FFS no honour involved! Anything else is just not done.
I will be the first to admit that Christy does have energy and charisma. Her caucus should think hard about removing her. Be a pretty boring next campaign if we get to choose between which of 3 stodgy balding middle agers....

   

My (belated) thoughts:

-Okay, I get why Indigenous people are so concerned about oil development, especially with the cockups that result from spills...and the often limp-wristed response by political leaders to them. I can't recall Brad Wall doing much of anything after that last spill in Saskatchewan, for one.

That said, the left often talks about subsidizing green energy, and building capacity for Indigenous nations. The problem there is how exactly we're supposed to pay for it without the tax revenue that results from fossil fuel development and related industries. Not to mention that petrochemicals are used in all sorts of other industries such as manufacturing and plastics. What will replace those if we don't use oil and gas for them?

Not to mention that no one who supports the Venezuelan "revolution" and its socialism ever seems to talk about the fact that Chavez and Maduro paid for so much of it with oil money. One of the reasons Venezuela's coming apart at the seams now is because the price of oil is in the toilet.

I like some of what Linda McQuaig says, but I'd be interested to ask her how she justifies opposing Canadian oil and gas development, but apparently doesn't have a problem with the Venezuelans doing it.

-I share Boots' and Thanos' frustrations about how Alberta gets shit on by the rest of the country, even thought we more than pull our weight with equalization and the money oilpatch workers from other provinces remit back home. Hell, I've written about it myself.

And in regards to selling our oil to the U.S. at a discount, you can thank NAFTA for that, and that f*cking proportionality clause.

Note also that the "free trade" agreements have never been supported by Canadians democratically. A majority of Canadians voted against "free trade" in the 1988 election, and Mulroney only won because of the quirks of FPTP. Chretien was elected partly on a promise to review NAFTA, and he immediately signed it without a second thought.

Thanks, guys!

-And finally, as Albertans we can't let ourselves off the hook either, given how Lougheed's successors pissed away so much of his legacy, our using oil and gas royalties to avoid having to make the tough choices other provinces have had to make on taxes and spending, and generally putting too many eggs in the oil and gas basket.

So...

...Yeah.

   

Sorry, that should have read exports, not imports, and yes, it was meant to pander to the environmentalists who hate Alberta's thermal coal exports, which go to Asia, not the US.

   

No the tax was meant to appease BC lumber producers and was aimed at American thermal coal that is being shipped through Vancouver as the US hasn't sufficient west coast coal ports.
Somebody had to point out to her later, because of trade agreements it would also affect any thermal coal from Alberta. Or anywhere else including BC.
BC has no contracts for thermal coal. Only metallurgical coal. I have no idea how much Alberta ships.

   

Previous  1  2  3