The Official 2017 Provincial Election Thread

[MG1]

Originally Posted by 6o4__boi

I think it'll be business as usual while a transition happens. It's a fragile situation and the Liberals are guaranteed to make it as difficult as possible for the fragile alliance.

Yup, the Liberals are actually in the driver's seat. They have the smarts to play it right. They have money and experience. They know Crusty has to go in order to succeed. The NDP have little to no money and are dumb as fuck. Forcing an election too soon is not a good thing for the Liberals as they need to find a new leader, but forcing one soon won't give the NDP time to raise needed campaign funds.

The only government that works fast is municipal. Namely Vancouver. And only if it involves bike lanes.

Bwahahahaha................ good one.

[vitaminG]

I doubt christy clark is going anywhere. With the situation so unstable they need to be ready for another election at any time. leadership contest can take months.

[JDMStyo]

B.C. Liberals leave checkered legacy following 16 years of power - British Columbia - CBC News

[MrPhreak]

Ready or not, here we go... Horgan and his cabinet are being sworn in on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how they tread lightly with cabinet positions, a single disgruntled member that feels slighted if they get passed over could bring the entire government down!

B.C.?s NDP government will be officially sworn in on July 18 | Vancouver Sun

Additionally, the NDP and Greens have hired a director to oversee the Green-NDP Alliance (paid fully by tax payers of course). Horgan is known to be pretty bad tempered at times, so I think this is how they plan to deal with that so he doesn't tank the government when he has a temper tantrum. Hard to say if it will work though.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ticle35704213/

It will be interesting to see what they plan to do about the KM Pipeline, given that it is on an existing right of way and fully approved by the federal government. They are talking pretty big about it, but they need to be pretty creative to put a halt to it.

I've also heard that BC Hyrdo tied up a lot of their contracts on site-C before they took power, and fine print for breaking them will incur heavy costs that outweigh continuing with the project.

The vagueness on what they plan to do about the housing market is particularly worrisome. They talk tough, but no details on exactly what the plan is. Do they have the teeth to tear down the speculation market, or are they just posturing?

[Jmac]

I think (hope) the Kinder Morgan pipeline talk is just for show. The Federal Liberals and the Alberta NDP negotiated that pipeline as part of the carbon tax implementation in Alberta.

Site C is going to be necessary at some point unless there's a substantial increase in solar installations. With climate change causing more severe and longer cold snaps and heat waves and electric cars becoming more commonplace, the demand is likely to outpace what they can save via energy conservation measures.

[MrPhreak]

Originally Posted by Jmac

Site C is going to be necessary at some point unless there's a substantial increase in solar installations. With climate change causing more severe and longer cold snaps and heat waves and electric cars becoming more commonplace, the demand is likely to outpace what they can save via energy conservation measures.

I am a bit confused why the NDP and Green are against this project, even totally ignoring the economic benefit of a big project like this, hydroelectric power is one of the cleanest sources on the planet, and dams offer other advantages like drought and flood protection.

Currently BC Hydro operates two turbine generating stations, one at Prince Rupert and a second in Fort Nelson. The Prince Rupert Generating Station is permitted to operate 300 days a year using natural gas as the primary fuel source. Meanwhile, the Fort Nelson can be run only on natural gas with waste heat being captured to generate additional power via a steam turbine.

They are saying that both of these might be able to be shut down whenever site C is up and running, making BC's carbon footprint even smaller. Not to mention, as electric cars start becoming more popular, increased demand on the grid is going to need to be met over the next 10 to 15 years.


They keep saying wind is the answer, but I am strongly opposed to wind power myself. It has been having a dramatic effect on bat and bird populations wherever they go in. Unless they can figure out a less damaging way to collect wind power, it is stupid to keep putting them up. Why does the Green party even support this kind of stuff!?

Wind farms causing thousands of bats to die of collapsed lungs annually in Alberta: top bat expert | National Post

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ines/21358155/

[Jmac]

My understanding was that it was primarily due to land loss by flooding the valley. So loss of first nations land, farm land, and habitat. IIRC at least part of it is in a national park.

[Traum]

I really dislike the term "green energy" because as far as I'm concerned, no current method of energy generation is "green". It is really just a matter of which poison you choose, and what impacts you have to deal with.

Hydro power results in massive loss of land and habitat, and have a drastic effect on salmon life. Construction is also hugely expensive, and the size of the plant is not really too scalable.

Originally Posted by MrPhreak

They keep saying wind is the answer, but I am strongly opposed to wind power myself. It has been having a dramatic effect on bat and bird populations wherever they go in. Unless they can figure out a less damaging way to collect wind power, it is stupid to keep putting them up. Why does the Green party even support this kind of stuff!?

Wind farms causing thousands of bats to die of collapsed lungs annually in Alberta: top bat expert | National Post

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ines/21358155/

Originally Posted by Jmac

My understanding was that it was primarily due to land loss by flooding the valley. So loss of first nations land, farm land, and habitat. IIRC at least part of it is in a national park.

[MrPhreak]

Originally Posted by Traum

Hydro power results in massive loss of land and habitat, and have a drastic effect on salmon life. Construction is also hugely expensive, and the size of the plant is not really too scalable.

I kind of disagree about the scalability aspect. The Revelstoke dam for instance was constructed with several future turbine pipes, and over the years they have been able to add capacity. Advancements in energy production with low speed turbines has also been helping older facilities produce more energy as demand increases.

In terms of habitat loss, wind farms are arguable just as bad, if not worse. At least with new bodies of water the natural habitat adjusts around it. With wind farms the noise produces tends to drive away wildlife and interrupt migration routes, plus kill birds and bats in record numbers.

At the end of the day the power has to come from somewhere, electric cars are not going to power themselves. As much these environmentalists whom are against all projects will speak out, the second you cut their power and their AC goes off, they will be just as angry. I don't understand where they are even coming from sometimes... you hate all human projects to generate power and produce resources, yet you still want to purchase and charge your iphone?

I am curious though, from your post you seem to be against site-c. Are you an advocate of Nuclear or another power source then?

[Traum]

I am not outrightly opposed to Site C. However, I find the cost overruns to be quite staggering. With the massively increasing Hydro rate hikes, it is also difficult to not mentally associate the rate increases with Site C's costs.

I am definitely not a nuclear advocate though. Out of all the possible methods of energy generation, the current nuclear technology has to be the worst possible method to produce power since we have no good solution to deal with the nuclear waste.

I don't personally favour one source of energy over another -- as I mentioned earlier, I think they all have their pros and cons, and you just have to pick the most appropriate application for the locale.

[MrPhreak]

Originally Posted by Traum

I am not outrightly opposed to Site C. However, I find the cost overruns to be quite staggering. With the massively increasing Hydro rate hikes, it is also difficult to not mentally associate the rate increases with Site C's costs.

I am definitely not a nuclear advocate though. Out of all the possible methods of energy generation, the current nuclear technology has to be the worst possible method to produce power since we have no good solution to deal with the nuclear waste.

I don't personally favour one source of energy over another -- as I mentioned earlier, I think they all have their pros and cons, and you just have to pick the most appropriate application for the locale.

Yeah I agree with you on Nuclear, I don't think it is a good solution for BC, especially given our earthquake prone terrain.

I've always been in favor of Hydro over other power production methods, and I while I agree the upfront costs are expensive, the in the long term it does tend to be one of the cheapest, and most reliable ways to produce power.

One thing to consider is one of the main reasons that our electricity costs are going up here is because the government has been using the service to subsidize the budget. For the 2014-2015 budget, the Liberals were taking $1.23 billion in dividends from BC Hydro over three fiscal years.

[Traum]

A little surprised that this has not been posted here yet:

B.C. Hydro president and CEO Jessica McDonald fired | Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly

Her firing is certainly not surprising, but it makes me wonder how much the province is paying out in severance / early termination of her contract. The fate of Site C is also naturally another question in everyone's mind.

[Traum]

This particular reporter / columist seems to think Horgan is going to can the Site C project:

Mike Smyth: Horgan?s 100-day plan is ambitious, aggressive | The Province

SITE C DAM: Watch for the government to quickly refer the $8.8-billion megaproject to the B.C. Utilities Commission for a promised review, possibly as early as this week.

The fate of the project — under construction and employing 2,000 people — looms as the most costly and controversial early decision of the Horgan government.

I used to think Horgan didn’t have the nerve to cancel the dam, but now I’m not so sure. He named George Heyman — a fierce Site C critic — as his environment minister, and there is intense internal pressure to kill the project, no matter how many people get fired.

Should the project be stopped, I am not particularly concerned about the firing of those who are employed by the project -- there is plenty of construction work (esp housing) around, so I don't see any need to worry about their employment prospects.

However, what I am concerned about is -- what is the current costs-benefits analysis on the continuing with, or cancelling the project? Is it more expensive or more money already wasted than can be saved from cancelling? Is there a need for the province to have the extra capacity in the planned construction timeline?

The ICBC situation (not mentioned in the above link) is also quite interesting with the leaked report to Postmedia. With both sides pointing fingers and laying blame on the other, it is disgusting to see that both the Libs and the NDP care more about politics than what is good for the BC drivers.

[Jmac]

I doubt there's a lot of housing projects going on in northern BC.

[dark0821]

^ exactly... and defn not enough of this scale anyways.


And plus... what I do not understand is that a contract was signed... you would think the contractors would have covered their asses when they typed up the contract... so to cancel it now would mean all those tax dollars already spend + huge amounts of severance (more tax dollars)... I mean its not like they can reuse the resources already spent on another project...

What are they gonna do? Build a park with all the landscaping they have done already?

[MG1]

Clark just resigned.

Liberals now have a chance.

[Hondaracer]

NDP with that fuckign clown Eby at the helm now postpone their plans to ban corp funding for political parties... lol...

[carisear]

Originally Posted by MG1

Clark just resigned.

Liberals now have a chance.

She is the single reason liberals did not win a majority this election. good on her for putting the party first.

if I was in that position I don't know what i'd do .. the money difference is quite significant.

[murd0c]

I really wonder who's going to take her place

[MarkyMark]

Originally Posted by carisear

if I was in that position I don't know what i'd do .. the money difference is quite significant.

She's already set herself up for life, she won't be short on cash I can guarantee you that.

[Ch28]

Originally Posted by carisear

She is the single reason liberals did not win a majority this election. good on her for putting the party first.

if I was in that position I don't know what i'd do .. the money difference is quite significant.

You make it sound like she's going to be living on the streets after losing the status of BC Premier. She's set herself up with all the corporate backdoor funding and will most likely land herself in a ridiculously cushy private sector job.

[murd0c]

not only that she's going to be making nothing but money from the government pension she's going to get

[MrPhreak]

Originally Posted by murd0c

not only that she's going to be making nothing but money from the government pension she's going to get

There are always high profile jobs waiting for people like Clark

Take the other Clark for instance, the ex NDP premier, Glen Clark. I believe he is Jimmy Patterson's right hand man

Patterson group is apparently the largest privately held company in Canada, worth something like 8 billion dollars... and ol' Jimmy is 88 years old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Pattison_Group

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Jmac

I doubt there's a lot of housing projects going on in northern BC.

Yeah, all those companies geared & skilled up for a large scale industrial project in rural BC can just make the jump into building condo towers in Vancouver...
Construction is construction right?

LOL!

[SupraTTturbo2jz]

dumb cunt, it's about time bitch left. Her face alone pisses me off