Both main parties in this election campaign are accusing the other of being big spenders. The BC Liberals claim the BC NDP is making election promises that are too expensive and argue the 1990s (the last time the NDP was in government) was a time of particularly high spending. The BC NDP points out that [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Liberals'
Reality check on government spending: is the overspending fear mongering justified
May 9th, 2013 · Iglika Ivanova · 2 Comments · Economy, Provincial budget & finance
Tags: budget·campaign·deficit·government priorities·government spending·Liberals·NDP·platform·recession·role of government·unemployment
A call for courageous leadership from BC parties in 2013
January 8th, 2013 · Seth Klein · 3 Comments · Climate change, Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
As we head towards the May 2013 BC election, what I’d most love to hear from BC’s political leaders is evidence that they are ready to get serious about the defining issues of this era. In particular, I’m going to be looking for real leadership on the issues of climate change and inequality (what we [...]
Tags: campaign·Climate change·inequality·Liberals·NDP·poverty reduction
Reading the entrails of BC's election
May 13th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance
Three-peat. Hat trick. The media is full of jubilation for the re-election of the Campbell Liberals. But looking at the numbers, it was actually quite close: the BC Liberals got 45.7% of the popular vote, compared to 42.2% for the NDP. This slim margin validates the Angus Reid polling camp, which came closest on estimating [...]
Tags: campaign·carbon tax·election results·Greens·Liberals·NDP·polling
Poverty reduction and the party platforms
May 7th, 2009 · Seth Klein · Comments Off · Poverty, inequality & welfare
The CCPA is a member of the BC Poverty Reduction Committee, the network that has been pressing all the BC political parties to commit to a comprehensive poverty reduction plan. Over 280 organizations have now signed an Open Letter to all the political parties calling on them to commit to a poverty reduciton plan with [...]
Tags: campaign·child poverty·children·employment·Greens·Liberals·NDP·platform·poverty·Poverty Reduction Coalition·Steve Kerstetter·unemployment
There is more to good economic policy than protecting the interests of employers
May 6th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Economy, Employment & labour, Environment, resources & sustainability
Next week’s election will take place in the midst of an economic crisis which hit our province seemingly out of the blue last fall and hit us hard, causing 69,000 job losses between November and March (the April numbers will be released on Friday, May 8, and are expected to be just as grim as [...]
Tags: campaign·green infrastructure·inequality·Liberals·NDP·Obama·platform·recession·tax cuts·unemployment
Seniors' care concerns should be taken seriously in this election
May 1st, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Health care
Access to residential care beds for seniors was dubbed “an election hotspot” by CTV early last week, and for good reasons. The party that forms government after May’s election will have to deal with the pressures that the aging population would put on the already strained system of seniors’ care in BC. Fundamentally, providing an [...]
Tags: accountability·health care costs·home and community care·hospital·Jeremy Tate·Liberals·Marcy Cohen·NDP·platform·residential care·seniors
BC’s economy and the Liberal platform
April 29th, 2009 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · Economy, Energy, Provincial budget & finance
With my oped last week on the NDP platform making me less than popular over at NDP HQ, today the Sun published my take on the Liberals’ platform, thereby guaranteeing that the list of Christmas parties I get invited to dwindles to next to nothing. BC’s Economic Challenges and the Liberal Platform By Marc Lee [...]
Tags: carbon tax·deficit·green infrastructure·greenhouse gas·inequality·Liberals·oil and gas·platform·Port Mann·recession·transportation
The Ghost of Elections Past (revised)
April 29th, 2009 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · Electoral reform
From our STV series in the new BC Commentary, UVic historian Ben Isitt looks to the past when he sees STV. UPDATE (April 30): It seems that there is some confusion about the term Single Transferable Vote and its applicability to the 1952 and 1953 elections. Dennis Pilon, also from U Vic wrote to say [...]
Tags: BC Citizens' Assembly·Benjamin Isitt·CCF·Co-operative Commonwealth Federation·Dennis Pilon·Liberals·Social Credit·STV & electoral reform
Partisan claims and the BC economy
February 23rd, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Economy
BC’s recession and election together mean things are going to get nasty in the political realm. Already we seeing plenty of sneering commentary from our esteemed cabinet ministers. Consider this jibe from Colin Hansen, the Minister of Finance, in his annual address to the brethren of Sigma Chi: “I want you to think about one [...]
Tags: campaign·employment·inequality·Liberals·NDP·Olympics·recession·tax cuts
