Dave sent in the following opinion, in which he throws up his hands in despair at the state of politics in BC and its role in the housing bubble.
If there was ever an election to vote for None of the Above, this would be it.
I no longer believe that any of the three major parties represent the interests of the average British Columbian. Each have sold themselves out to Special Interest groups of one type or another.
I’ll first start with the BC Liberals because they are looking for a fifth term. I have been a party member, volunteer and voter for the BC Liberals each of the last four elections. I am also a small business owner and employer and I generate a healthy income. In theory, I’m the easiest vote the Liberals should ever get. But they aren’t getting my vote this time.
The reason is that they have sold themselves out to the real estate industry. We have a dozen schools in Vancouver on the verge of closure while cranes and new condos can be seen in every direction from those schools. If there was ever a posterchild of public policy failure, this is it. There is a lot of blame to go around to all levels of government, but the BC Liberals are certainly culpable. Remember, Clark ran the last campaign with the slogan of ‘Families First’. I suppose we could applaud her for having a sense of humour, but I don’t think her idea was ‘Families First to Leave’.
But, what about the foreign buyer tax you might say? Too little, too late. The BC Liberals have done almost everything to bring foreign money into our real estate market for the last decade. And now to prop up the market, they are giving out tax free loans to first time home buyers. This was done to counteract recent and much needed tightening on lending by the CMHC.
The NDP unfortunately haven’t modernized or changed since they were last in power in the 90’s and I would argue they were outdated then. The NDP still view the world from the 1960’s vantage point of class warfare and almost all their policies are informed by this. This is despite other left of centre parties in Britain and the US showing the way a left of centre party can modernize. If they win, Horgan will hand over the keys of government to their long line of special interests to play their games of social activism… at your expense.
I expect the NDP will once again be a disaster for infrastructure and major capital projects. Their lack of support for Kinder Morgan, Site C and almost every major capital investment will most certainly cause an economic downturn and loss of jobs in the first year or two of power. The NDP will go back to their old model of infrastructure development, which they view as a tool for social activism. And just like the Fast Ferries, those projects will ultimately fail at serious financial cost to the taxpayer.
The Green Party is a platform for environmental activists to virtue signal. Improvement of the environment is only a secondary consideration and their policies fall apart with only the slightest bit of scrutiny.
For example, there is no dispute that natural gas generates less carbon emissions per unit of power generated compared to other hydrocarbon sources such as coal or oil. It’s simply not possible to transition our economy away from hydrocarbons which makes natural gas a great transition fuel and helps move us towards a less carbon intensive economy. Yet the Greens oppose LNG, which is truly a green undertaking.
Site C is the greenest infrastructure project to be undertaken in BC in the last 40 years. Hydroelectric power is clean and renewable and it generates almost zero carbon emissions. The Greens would have you believe that BC doesn’t need this power, yet our grid depends on hydrocarbons including US coal burning plants. Hardly a green policy. Yes we are going to lose some farmland, but take a drive three Provinces to our right and you’ll see that we’re running out.
The construction of Site C will also cause more green power to be developed and connected to the North American electrical grid. A hydroelectric dam can immediately top up a shortfall of power during low generation time periods which is the biggest problem with green power such as solar and wind. This is a much needed element for our eventual transition to electric cars, which we’re on the verge of achieving.
Andrew Weaver knows this all too well because one thing we can’t accuse him of is being stupid. I suspect he’s a victim of Stockholm Syndrome in that if you surround yourself with crazy, eventually it rubs off.
I think it’s a sad time in BC for democracy. I don’t see anybody representing the interests they purport to and certainly none of them stand for yours.
On May 9th, my vote will be “None of the Above”. Will you join me?
