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I was outraged by their announcement of this policy a year or two ago, and had assumed they had given up on the idea after I stopped hearing about it. I don’t know why it isn’t in the news more. It is indeed offensive, and something that many people would be interested in knowing about.

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Hmm. where is he now? And Judy Tyabji?

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I agree we need a viable third party again the last time there was one was with Gordon Wilson reviving the Liberals in BC during the 91 election. Unfortunately it seems the socreds took control of the party.

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The Campbell government has quietly been running up debt to pay for things like the Olypmic Village, the ever-expanding Port Mann bridge and the Cambie skytrain. I think we are getting a similar political spectrum to the US, where there is no financially conservative option, both sides want to steal money from the public to give to their friends; they just have different friends. Certainly you’re seeing a very “liberal” budget from the federal Conservatives, likely undoing 10 years of budget surplusses by the actual Liberal government in 2 or 3 years.

I expect we’ll see budget deficits in BC no matter who gets elected. I’m hoping Campbell gets re-elected not because he’s the “lesser evil” because I don’t think that’s true, but because he made this mess and deserves the blame.

As far as what I said about Emmanuel and Dean, don’t confuse the platform with the party. The poing is that the Democrats won in large part because they quit focusing on other things and started focusing on winning. They built a huge, scalable ground team to get out the vote, they replaced candidates who had “paid their dues” and “deserved” the nominations with candidates who had a better chance of winning, they focused on candidates who could bring in campaign donations because at some level, the side with the most money wins.

Basically, what I want is a second viable party in BC to keep the SoCred/Liberals honest, rather than the NDP who seem honoured just to be nominated. I would love a socially liberal, fiscally conservative party, but more than anything I just want a second real party, who play the game as hard as the other side and can kick the bastards out of office when it’s time for a change.

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Thanks for the new term VanBanker “reductive” – I’ve been looking for a term to describe the information lost when describing politics as “left” or “right” etc…

Is it me, or do the american’s/govt/media do this very often? For example: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – names born of acronyms. A few levels away from describing what they actually are. A convenience for those who know, but an over simplification for many? It’s like using big words you don’t understand. I suppose it is the responsibility of the reader to find out the meaning of the words.

Echoing VanBanker – seems to lead to the dumbing down of things that shouldn’t be dumbed down.

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“There were 25,480 more people collecting employment insurance benefits in British Columbia in February, a 66.8-per-cent increase, than in the same month last year, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday.

That percentage increase is almost twice the national average.

The number of beneficiaries in British Columbia reached 63,700 after an 11.6-per-cent increase in February, Stats Can said.

The total increase since October 2008 was 39.8 per cent.

The number of Canadians receiving regular employment insurance benefits jumped 7.8 per cent in February from the previous month, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

EI beneficiaries were up 44,300 during the month, with the biggest increases coming in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan, the federal agency said.

On my calendar it’s almost May, nowhere close to February. If the EI stats were going through the roof at twice the national average in BC in FEB then what is happening now that the layoffs have started to really kick in. Would this information be held back because an election in BC, it seems likely. Why are we behind two months of info? Stinks to me.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Bu.....story.html

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April 28th, 2009 at 10:49 am

Please. Economically left means trying to promote economic equality. Promoting economic inequality has been the Republicans’ central goal since 1980.

The only people who call the Republicans “economically left” are ideological right wingers who simply use the terms “left” or “socialist” to insult anyone they don’t like and are trying to distance themselves from the Bush administration, which of course most of them enthusiastically supported not long ago. Americans who call themselves left or socialist don’t even use the terms to describe Obama, and justly so.

“Economically left” is not the same thing as “big government”. You can have big government that promotes economic inequality, i.e. is economically right wing. Combine that with social conservatism and you have a package that is historically known as fascism.”

This is the problem with left/right, it’s so reductive.

Politics is too complicated to be broken down into neat categories. People can have widely different views on each issue, many of which will be contradictory and inconsistent.

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Please. Economically left means trying to promote economic equality. Promoting economic inequality has been the Republicans’ central goal since 1980.

The only people who call the Republicans “economically left” are ideological right wingers who simply use the terms “left” or “socialist” to insult anyone they don’t like and are trying to distance themselves from the Bush administration, which of course most of them enthusiastically supported not long ago. Americans who call themselves left or socialist don’t even use the terms to describe Obama, and justly so.

“Economically left” is not the same thing as “big government”. You can have big government that promotes economic inequality, i.e. is economically right wing. Combine that with social conservatism and you have a package that is historically known as fascism.

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Cheating is an act of lying, deception, fraud, trickery, imposture, or imposition. Cheating characteristically is employed to create an unfair advantage, usually in one’s own interest, and often at the expense of others.[1] Cheating implies the breaking of rules. The term “cheating” is less applicable to the breaking of laws, as illegal activities are referred to by specific legal terminology such as fraud or corruption. Cheating is a primordial economic act: getting more for less, often used when referring to marital infidelity. A person who is guilty of cheating is generally referred to as a cheat (Br. English),
or a cheater (Am. English).

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I personally see him as the lesser of two evils (for the moment). If the NDP comes in, I guess they will: increase debt to pay for make-work projects for special interests; more debt to pay for big subsidies for forestry and other dead industries while the average person gets nothing; get rid of the carbon tax, and then forget about replacing it with cap-and-trade; drive the few remaining viable industries to Calgary by increasing business taxes.

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Good time to buy a condo? Not if you’re wondering who you’re going to sell to when you lose your job and other annoying factors that life can throw at you. Nope, it’s cash for me. I wouldn’t touch this market with a ten foot pole.

The swine flu pandemic and competition from the Seattle and Calif., markets for the film and cruise ship markets are really hotting up as noticed . Those were the good service and tourism jobs which had been holding up the BC economy while the forestry, mining and tech industries died. This factor is one more leg out from under the wobbly stool of the BC econ.

On the tech subject, my contact at Nokia says that ANOTHER round of layoffs is in the works, world wide, Layoff Tracker also indicates the layoffs are still happening en masse. Auto co’s are going to have to lay off huge numbers of additional workers in the shakeout, and that means dealerships and delivery services buisness here in BC are going Titter, woops therres another leg gone. We must be floating on hot air, theres nothing holding this economy together, The only thing left is a spike in taxes that will come sooner than people could have imagined. Wait till the election is over for the bad news.

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There are not really any old-school economically “right” politicians in the world anymore that I know of: keep govt small, limited or no debt, keep inflation near zero if possible, etc.

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anyways back to real estate sacramento homes: Look at this link some selling below $25,000. but that won’t happen here. We are the california of Canada right. Oh wait.

http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1810481.html

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And keep in mind two things:
- The photos on their web sites/brochures are their best makeovers to date… your mileage may vary.
- The stuff they bring in looks terrific in photographs, but up close looks cheap, flimsy, tacky.

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And on a lighter note – break out the noisemakers folks. The first US metro has now passed the -50% mark on the Case-Shiller index. That distinction belongs to – surprise – Phoenix, which is now 50.8% below the peak in June 2006. Very close but not quite there is Las Vegas.

http://www2.standardandpoors.c.....0,0,0.html

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You cannot have two major parties both left of centre, any more than all of the kids in Lake Webegone can be above average.

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The number of Canadians receiving regular employment insurance benefits increased by 44,300, with the sharpest increases in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, Statistics Canada said. That marks the biggest monthly gain since July 1997.

In B.C. it jumped 11.6 percent in the month and has risen 39.8 percent since October.

Now, look around the city and what do you notice? Cranes, and construction hasn’t stopped. This WILL get ugly. Picture Vancouver & BC in 9 months or so once these construction projects are complete, no more cranes in the sky, no more jobs… the end is nigh.

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Um, you mean both the Republicans and the Democrats have been left of centre for a generation? How can the only two parties that elect anyone both be left of centre?

What’s your idea of right of centre? David Duke?

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