Stop the NDP

May 10, 2009

Carole James Anti-2010, Derogatory Photos Show Lack of Judgement

Carole James must immediately apologize to British Columbians and our athletes after showing a complete lack of judgement by posing in questionable photos and promoting anti-Olympic messages on the NDP’s photo website.

“After forcing a candidate to resign over inappropriate Facebook photos, and then lecturing others about appropriate behaviour, Carole James herself now has to explain her behaviour and lack of judgement,” says Finance Minister Colin Hansen, who is responsible for the Olympics. “Quite simply, these posed photos are unbecoming of an individual who wants to be premier and British Columbia’s chief salesperson to the world in 2010. They send completely the wrong message to the thousands of athletes, including many women, who are coming to British Columbia from around the world.”

Hansen was referring to a photo prominently displayed on the BC New Democrats “Flickr” account, in which she poses and smiles with three radio DJs wearing T-shirts stating “Resist 2010 Bitches.” This photo is not only featured in her web photo catalogue, but is also displayed on the main page of that website as a highlight of her campaign. It is dated April 27, just days after photos on Ray Lam’s Facebook led to his forced resignation. At the time, Carole James said Lam showed a lack of judgement.

The NDP have used the Flickr site for the entire campaign and pre-campaign period to feature all the professional photos of Carole James and her travels as taken by her campaign team.

“Carole James has opposed the Olympics from the outset but has now raised her Olympic bashing to a new level by having the sheer audacity to endorse and promote these messages as part of her public election campaign,” says Hansen. “As well, to endorse and prominently feature the use of such offensive language to women during a campaign when she has made every effort to demonize the comments of others is completely hypocritical and a telling illustration of her judgement and her style of leadership.”

The slogan on the T-shirt is also the catchphrase of a related Facebook group featuring Olympic detractors who openly use derogatory and offensive comments to bash the Olympics and its supporters. The phrase is also featured prominently on the website of a known anti-Olympic group called No2010, which has been responsible in the past for violently disrupting community 2010 events and committing repeated acts of vandalism.

“Carole James has one day left to explain this derogatory, anti-Olympic endorsement to voters before they go to the ballot box and decide who will be premier for the 2010 Olympics,” says Hansen. “With these images available to the world, how can Carole James, with any credibility, now say to the international community that she supports the Olympics and athletes? The damage to the province’s reputation could be immeasurable and British Columbians need to take a hard look at who they want representing our province to the world.”


Backgrounder: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD BACKGROUNDER: CAROLE JAMES ANTI-2010 PHOTOS
(http://www.bcliberals.com/media/BACKGROUNDER-CAROLE_JAMES_ANTI-2010_PHOTOS.pdf)

------------------------------------------------------------- 

May 9, 2009

Former NDP Premier, Mayors Pan Carole James’ Climate Plan 

Carole James’ credibility and leadership sustained a further blow today with local mayors and former NDP Premier Mike Harcourt coming out against her climate plan in the critical, final days of the provincial election.

According to a letter led by Mike Harcourt and featured in the Globe and Mail today: “As citizens of this planet, it is our responsibility to put the planet before politics,” – a responsibility that they say includes both a carbon tax and a cap-and-trade system, as proposed by the BC Liberals, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and spur new green technologies. 

This is another stage in the erosion of support for the NDP’s climate plan that has seen traditional supporters such as respected environmentalists David Suzuki and Tzeporah Berman, Noble-prize winning academics such as Dr. Andrew Weaver and Dr. Marc Jaccard, and provincial First Nations leaders all come out strongly against Carole James’ short sighted and irresponsible policies.

Yet this goes beyond her climate plan. As a leader who has campaigned on bringing people together to solve economic challenges, Carole James has done more to divide British Columbians than any NDP leader in B.C. history.

Not a single, credible employer group has thrown their support behind her NDP. After not being consulted by the NDP on their platform, the business community has in fact had to take unprecedented steps to come out publicly to fight her reckless, job-killing policy agenda.

First Nations and union leaders have also called into question Carole James’ economic plan, preferring a vision of stability, leadership and job creation in these challenges economic times.

Her politics of division has even reached the point where her candidates are accusing B.C. companies of breaking the law and encouraging U.S. companies to sue them, putting thousands of forest workers' jobs at risk.

British Columbia’s leaders from all corners are speaking out now because Carole James has neither consulted with nor listened to them before laying out the NDP’s reckless and irresponsible platform. Voters should consider the example those leaders are setting when they speak out with their vote on May 12.

------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

NDP Continues to Mislead on Job-Killing Plan 

May 9, 2009

In the final days of the election, the NDP continues to squander their chance to come clean on the true impacts of their tax-and-spend budget plan.

Today in an interview with the Globe and Mail, Finance Critic Bruce Ralston continued to mislead British Columbians, stating: “The commitments we have made in our platform we’re confident we can fund. It’s an affordable, practical plan.”

He further states that the NDP “have a plan to get out of the deficit” and that their plan is more accurate than government’s because it was designed in April instead of February and thus relied on “more timely statistics.”

Perhaps Mr. Ralston needs a refresher on his own platform. Allow us to assist:

• The NDP plan is not “affordable.” It actually contains $3.7 billion in new costs and reduced revenues, and provides no real plan to accommodate that plan except for ongoing deficits or new taxes.
• The NDP plan is not “practical.” It contains over $1 billion in new taxes on job-creating industries like energy, retail and rural employers. This will kill thousands of jobs and drive billions of dollars in investment out of the province.
• The NDP plan will not get B.C. out of deficit. It will actually more than double the three-year deficit plan with no strategy to balance the budget – breaking the balanced budget law that they voted for unanimously in February.
• The NDP platform is not more ”timely.” It is based on the same numbers as the government budget. To quote their platform: “These assumptions are based on the economic assumptions provided in the current budget documents.” (Pg. 49)
  

There are three days left for the NDP to come clean with people on their disastrous, job-killing plan before British Columbians go to cast their ballot.

------------------------------------------------------------- 

NDP Energy Plan: ‘Ban Everything’

May 7, 2009

The NDP announced the final component of their Energy Plan today – completing their total ban on virtually every form of energy production invented to date.  So far this campaign Carole James and the NDP have announced their intention to ban or put out of business run-of-river, solar, bioenergy, geothermal, tidal, wind, oil and gas and now coalbed gas (CBG).  These industries employ thousands of British Columbians and generate billions in investment – with the potential for more jobs and investment in the future – yet the NDP platform will shut them all down. 

Let’s look at the consequences of the NDP’s energy policies to date:

• NDP’s plan to ban CBG development - jobs destroyed and millions in investment lost.
• NDP’s plan to ban clean energy development -  jobs destroyed, billions in private sector investment lost and continued reliance on dirty imported power from the U.S.
• NDP’s new taxes on energy industry - 60,000 jobs destroyed, and billions in investment lost.
  

The NDP Energy Plan is a plan to shut down B.C.’s energy industry.  At a time when people are worried about the economy and their job, it’s simply shocking that every day Carole James and the NDP announce new policies aimed exclusively at shutting down entire industries and putting people out of work. In fact, in 23 days of campaigning the NDP have not put forward a single positive suggestion that will create jobs in our energy industry.  It appears that if the NDP get their way British Columbians will be left to freeze in the dark.

------------------------------------------------------------- 

May 7, 2009

NDP Re-Announces Their Transit Re-Announcement

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it’s hard to be flattered when Carole James and the NDP steal the BC Liberal transit plan outright. Today Carole James made a series of embarrassing and disingenuous re-announcements attempting to take credit for things the BC Liberals have already announced and the NDP already voted against.

It has become fairly common for the NDP to re-announce government initiatives.
But they took it to a whole new level today as the NDP re-announced an earlier re-announcement.

The BC Liberals revealed on April 28th at the NDP’s first re-announcement of the BC Liberal transit policy that the NDP were again making unfunded commitments and flat-out copying BC Liberal initiatives. It appears Carole James and the NDP did not get this information last time.

So here are the facts again:

NDP Commitment: “a 15-per-cent transit fare rollback”

The Facts:

• This is a completely unfunded commitment.
• On April 28th Carole James said the cost of this commitment was $21 million, which is $3 million more than the NDP actually budgeted for “Fee Freezes and Rollbacks” in their platform (NDP Platform, Page 52).   
• The actual cost of this commitment would be more than $55 million, according to TransLink’s 2009 estimates for transit fare revenue:
  
• Clearly this is yet another dishonest and unfunded commitment from the NDP that they have no ability to meet.
• Furthermore, the NDP’s claim that B.C. has the highest transit fares in the country is patently false: Today’s one-zone fare in Metro Vancouver is $2.50 compared to $2.75 in Montreal and Toronto and $3.00 in Ottawa.
  

NDP Commitment: “The NDP will deliver 500 new buses through a $400-million cash infusion over the next three years.”

The Facts:

• This is a re-announcement of a BC Liberal commitment.
• The BC Liberal Transit Plan includes $2.8 billion for nine Rapid Bus projects in high urban growth areas and 1,500 new buses to expand transit service across the province.    
• The NDP voted against funding for the provincial transit plan.
  

NDP Commitment: “Build the Evergreen Line now.”

The Facts:

• This is a re-announcement of a BC Liberal commitment.
• The NDP committed to build the Evergreen Line in 1999.  This was patently dishonest commitment and the NDP never even started the project.
• The BC Liberals have already secured funding, opened the project office, and announced that the $1.4 billion project will begin construction next year. 
• Carole James and the NDP voted against funding for the Evergreen Line and NDP Mayor Derek Corrigan has described the project as “a shameful waste of taxpayers’ money.”
  

NDP Commitment: $20 million to “expand the West Coast Express commuter rail by adding new cars and trains.” 

The Facts:

• This is a re-announcement of a BC Liberal commitment.
• The BC Liberals already announced a $27.7-million expansion of West Coast Express just over one month ago, which included seven additional cars and station upgrades.  
• Carole James and the NDP voted against this funding.
• It’s clear that the NDP are simply out of ideas and have now resorted to re-announcing their own re-announcements of BC Liberal commitments. The NDP transit plan is a litany of commitments they’ve already voted against, and funding promises their platform shows they have no ability to keep.  British Columbians deserve better.
  

 -------------------------------------------------------------

 

May 7, 2009
NDP Critic Abrogates the Truth

Prince George – The NDP is now resorting to blatant dishonesty to try and hide the damage Carole James and the NDP will do to the economy and the job losses that will result from their reckless forestry policies.

In today’s Globe and Mail, NDP forestry critic Bob Simpson says: "We have never stated we would rip up the [softwood-lumber] deal or abrogate the deal as they are claiming."

However, in March 2008, Carole James announced a five-point forestry plan where the NDP explicitly state they would “take the Softwood Lumber Agreement to hearings to determine what steps should be taken - up to and including abrogation...”

“It is shocking and very disappointing to hear the NDP forestry critic stooping to such deceit,” says Forests Minister Pat Bell. “This is a time of uncertainty for British Columbians and they are looking for leadership and stability. But instead the NDP offers up a plan to provoke a trade war costing thousands of jobs, and an environmental plan that will eliminate up to 60,000 jobs, mainly in rural B.C. The NDP may be trying to hide from its own policies, but British Columbians won’t be fooled.”

Simpson’s dishonest comments come at the same time he is under fire from forestry industry leaders for reckless comments accusing B.C. companies of breaking the law and encouraging U.S. companies to sue them. 

“To call up a trade journal and make reckless and unfounded allegations that B.C. forest companies are actively breaking the law, and then encouraging the American lumber lobby to sue, is absolutely repugnant at a time like this,” says Bell. “Yet that is exactly what NDP forests critic Bob Simpson has done. By stating on the record his belief that the American lumber lobby is entitled to $500 million in damages from B.C. forest companies – based on his limited knowledge of our forest industry and trade laws – he puts forest workers jobs at risk and could cost our forest companies millions more in legal wrangling. Carole James must immediately fire her forests critic to send a signal that B.C. forest workers’ jobs must come before irresponsible political rhetoric.”

Bell was responding to Simpson’s comments published in the Canadian trade journal Madison’s Lumber, in which Simpson claims that B.C. forest companies are illegally manipulating the stumpage system and that as a result, Americans are entitled to “punitive damages in the amount of $500 million.” 

The Madison’s Lumber Reporter article can be found at: http://www.madisonsreport.com/index.html

Backgrounder 

May 7, 2009
NDP Against Softwood

Make no Mistake, Carole James would tear up the Softwood Lumber Agreement

• “The federal and provincial government should take this agreement to hearings to determine what steps should be taken now – up to and including abrogation - to ensure we have the power to help our industry, our workers and our communities.” – Carole James, Speech to the Western Silviculture Association, Feb 07-08
• “The current solution – The Softwood Lumber Agreement - is the wrong one.” –Carole James, Speech to the Western Silviculture Association, Feb 07-08 
• “It's a bad deal. Now, I've said you need to look at renegotiating it. You need to go back to the table.” – Carole James, Voice of BC, Oct 02-08
  

NDP Caucus Opposes the Softwood Lumber Agreement

• “We want out of the deal.” – Bob Simpson, CKNW, Oct 05/08
• “Is this a deal we can support? No, not on your life. Is this a deal that benefits communities? No, not on your life. …This is a deal that we should have never signed.” – Bob Simpson, Hansard, Feb 18-08
• “This government, by signing out with this bad deal — the softwood lumber agreement — has capitulated to the Americans and abandoned rural British Columbia.” – Harry Lali, Hansard, Feb 13-08
• “This deal is a silly deal, it was an unnecessary deal, and it has done nothing for the industry.  It has not brought certainty; it has brought uncertainty.” – Bob Simpson MLA for Cariboo North, Hansard, Apr 17-07 
• “It’s a bad deal...it was a bad deal two months ago and it’s a bad deal now.” – Scott Fraser, Parksville Qualicum News, Aug 25-06
• “It’s an agreement we now know is a bad deal for B.C.” – Mike Farnworth, NDP Radio Address, Jul 08-06
• “What we’ve got is a bad deal that is going to be going worse. ...It’s a betrayal of not only Canadians, but also specifically of British Columbians.” - Harry Lali, CHNL, Aug 22-06
• “The softwood deal is a sellout of British Columbia’s interests…” – Leonard Krog, Nanaimo News Bulletin, Sep 14-06