Liberal Internet Suggestion Box

The BC Liberals have started a suggestion box on the internet.  You can check it out at:

http://www.ideaslab.ca/

I did, and the first thing I saw was the question, "What would you like to see in the BC Liberal 2013 Campaign Platform?" Although this sounds good at first blush, I am not a fan for a few reasons.

1. I would have thought that any credible party would be offering a vision of where they want to go rather than begging for a vision. 
    
2. The suggestions that are dropped off cannot be properly refined through debate, nor can they be defended. 
    
3. This is gimmicky rather than being genuine. It has to be, because anyone can post anything.
    
   For example, one person posted that the BC Liberals should keep the HST. Now, regardless of whether that is a good or a bad idea, we have had a referendum and the government CANNOT keep the HST. They must rescind it. If they what to bring it back later they can do that, but they have no choice but to get rid of it first. So suggestions may come in from well meaning people that simply cannot be acted on.
    
   Also, conservatives and socialists may post suggestions. Here, the BC Liberals will not be able to act on the suggestions AND maintain their distinction as a liberal party.
    
   So I believe this is gimmicky because they do not intend to use any suggestions that do not come from intelligent liberal sources, nor should they.

The real way to garner this input already exists and every party does it.

• We seek out like minded people to join the party.
• Then the local party members put forward their suggestions and they are debated and refined.
• Then the ones that stand the test are brought forward to the AGM and further debated at a provincial level.
• The ones that make it through that process are now worthy of becoming party platform and they are brought full circle to the public in the next election.

This is a far more effective approach and I encourage everyone to join the party of their choice and participate in it. The ideas website is more window dressing and is just for show to make a beleaguered party look friendly.

Bonuses Don't have to be bad

Should government or crown corporations pay out bonuses?

The point of a bonus should be to hold back a portion of an employee's salary and then pay it out plus a little more if they do a good job. For example. Instead of giving a salary of 100,000 with no bonus, a bonus structure would offer a salary of 90,000 with an opportunity to make an additional 20,000 in bonuses. 0 if you under perform, 10,000 if you do average and 20,000 if you exceed expectations.

Therefore, not getting any bonus is actually a cut in pay for poor performance and if you miss more than 2 years in a row you should be fired too.

I am in favour of that kind of bonus. Unfortunately, bonuses have often been used as a cash cow to allow already overpaid positions to load up the trough one more time. 

I would not move to do away with bonuses. Rather I would go to the root of the problem and insist on a full review of all salary and compensation packages for all senior positions in gov't and crown corporations.

If the salary and benefits are brought in line first, then a bonus to incentify excellence can be a good accountability tool.

What Makes a Party Legitimate?

This has been a tumultuous week in BC politics and it has been all good for the BC Conservatives. 

• high profile Liberal supporter Rick Peterson said he will run for the BC Conservatives
• John vanDongen crossed the floor and joined the BC Conservatives as our first MLA
• Kevin Falcon and  George Abbott say they don't think they will run again for the BC Liberals

People are saying that this gives legitimacy to our party. They have it backward.  Our party has legitimacy and that is why these things are happening and will continue.

People are coming to our party because they ate starving for something to vote for. They are tired of supporting a party they don't believe in just to prevent an NDP win.

The BC Conservative Party is the the only legitimate free enterprise party in the province and we will see a landslide of likeminded people coming home.  People who have been bullied by the Liberal's NDP fear mongering for too long.

We offer fiscally responsible, honest, transparent government. 

• Government that will support job growth in our province by actually supporting investment and businesses by controlling spending and lowering taxes. 
• Government that will address the problems with our court system. 
• Government that will support our natural resources while protecting the environment.

Our policies and our integrity are what give  us legitimacy.  What we see now is that British Columbians understand this and people are re-aligning with where their beliefs have always been.

Not so Smart Meters

First we are asked to believe that the $930-million investment to install smart meters for 1.5 million customers ($620/customer) will pay for itself through cost savings and not a rate increase. BC Hydro gross sales are roughly 4 billion/year, but of that, only 9% is profit that can be re-invested into the infrastructure or about 1 million/day and that is pretty much all spoken for in real upgrades. You know, things that actually create electricity and protect the environment, etc. So we are to believe that they will find another 3 times that much by laying off meter readers.

http://bit.ly/GPfKh0

Next we are asked to ignore any misgivings we have about health concerns.  Now I don’t personally have any concern about the emissions that the smart meters will put out, but I stand by the rights of people who do. They should not be railroaded into accepting something that they are not comfortable with.  There has been no serious attempt to study this or any reasonable about of time given for others to do so either.

Next, we are asked to accept that the thousands of customers who are complaining that their bills have jumped 50% or more since the installation of the smart meters are just using that much more electricity. And the 1000 meters that were taken back off were not suspected of being defective either. No really, they are fine, it was always part of the plan to put them on and take them off again! (do I smell a cost overrun?)

http://bit.ly/H14k9i

Honestly?  I have seen this before with water meters. New smart water meters were put on in Atlanta, GA recently and bills soared for some residents. In the end, people were forced (at their own expense) to install secondary third party meters to track the real usage in order to fight the bills.

Perhaps when the smart meters are installed the old meters should be left on as a double check against the accuracy. Then there would be no doubt and no need to take the new ones off just to test them.

I am all for keeping up with technology but when an extremely costly upgrade is pushed through as fast as this against the will of a significant proportion of the people and without regard to a mounting number of accuracy complaints and with no clear means to pay for it other than a promise that it will come out of cost savings that cannot be demonstrated... Well what can I say? Higher taxes and cost of living; reduced rights of individuals; governmental arrogance; it’s all par for the course in BC under the current government.  

Good Citizens

Good Citizenship is not talked about much anymore. It requires us to

• ask only for what we need;
• give back all that we are able to give;
• and help those around us that need help;
• not expecting everything to come to us from the government. 

To be sure, it is the government’s job to take care of the at risk segments of our population. But the government will never be able to meet every need of every person. We must step up and do our part.

This is something that I love about the Shuswap. This region of our province is full of great citizens. Look how we came in 3rd in Canada for total giving on the 'Coldest Night of the Year' in support of the homeless. Taken as per capita giving we were so far out in front of the rest that no one could touch us. We also had almost 1500 people involved. What is phenomenal for most, is just business as usual in the Shuswap. Look at the Rotarians and the CT scanner; the annual holiday train; the list goes on and on.

This is exactly the kind of support that a government needs in order to bring together public and private efforts. This is how, in the end, we will be able to meet everyone's needs.

As an MLA, I would work with local organizations to coordinate government assistance with community support. I am proud to be a resident of Salmon Arm and the Shuswap and I believe that we can stand tall as an example to the entire province of how a community works together.

Thank you

Who decides if Jumbo is a good risk?

The idea to build the Jumbo ski Resort started 22 years ago and has followed a long and divisive path. However, they have completed all environmental impact assessments and mitigation plans according to the existing standard, with 195 environmental committements that they have to meet. There is no reason for development not to go ahead. What those who are opposed are really saying is that the current government sanctioned environmental protection levels are not good enough and even though the Jumbo Resort meets the standard, they still don’t want to see it build under any circumstances.

Don't get me wrong. If it is bad for the environment that is an issue, but then the problem was with the government standard that was defined. It is too late after everything is met to change the rules.

We simply cannot do business that way. If the standard is not good enough, then lobby to have it changed. However, until it is, if a business has proven that they meet the current standard, they must be allowed to continue doing business. If that were not the case, we would not see any investment in our province at all. Why would anyone risk investing in an area that will change the rules once you have met the requirements?

To say that the economics aren’t currently as good as they were and so the environmental impact is not worth the investment may sound good but it is not. In a free market, the government DOES NOT dictate production, industry does. If the current reduction in tourism makes this less attractive then it will not attract investors, which seems to be the case. However, they must be allowed to make that decision for themselves. The government does not know if having this resort won’t increase tourism. If it doesn’t, and this resort has to compete for the existing clients against other resorts like Whistler, then the consumer will win with cheaper ski packages. That is the way it is supposed to work.

The real issue here is that it took 2 decades to come to a decision either for or against.

"the project had passed all necessary regulatory and environmental hurdles, but stalled on final provincial approval"
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/03/20/bc-jumbo-glacier-approval.html?cmp=rss

We must not ignore the environmental concerns, rather we must put the right safeguards in place. Then we must abide by them in a reasonable timeline. Surely 22 years is long enough for everything to have been reviewed.

What to do with a skinny cow

I remember seeing Donny Osmond in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat”.  You remember the story; how Pharaoh had a dream of 7 skinny cows eating 7 fat cows. Joseph interpreted it to mean 7 years of plenty were coming that would be followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph slapped an immediate 20% tax on all produce for 7 years so that they would be ready to survive the time of famine.

This is a great strategy that governments should follow today. Save in good years to help us get through the economic downturns without having to mortgage our future.  We may not have foreknowledge of the coming of the skinny cows, but we do know that bridges will need replacing and the economy goes in cycles. So why don’t we ever implement this ancient commonsense instead of borrowing and slapping tolls on once free bridges?

It is because Pharaoh was a monarch and everyone had to do what he said. We, on the other hand, rely on the good will of the people and we have lost too much of that. No government believes that they would survive an election if they were taxing the people enough to be able to put aside tens of millions of dollars for the next rainy day.  AND, we cannot lay blame at the feet of our citizens for this. They know full well that the chances of that money not being wasted or worse, raided and given to inside government supporters and cronies would be very slim.  If we want our people to be good citizens then we must give them a government that they can trust.

The BC Conservative Party believes we must foster good citizenship in all areas. We will achieve this first and foremost by delivering to the people responsible, impartial and transparent government. We will earn back the trust of British Columbians.