langleywatchdog…. and more!

So let’s see what we have today; Gordon Campbell’s Liberals became Christy Clark’s Liberals became Today’s Liberals? Who is kidding whom? Today’s Liberals are Yesterdays Liberals!!!

What is happening today is a mirror image to what happened in the dying days of Social Credit – I know – I was there in the thick of it. They are trying to trot out and sell the same old and tired un-saleable rhetoric of the scary NDP. When is Free Enterprise going to learn that when you become arrogant, cocky, non-consultative, don’t listen, introduce self-serving policies and legislation and above all have a major credibility problem, the province pays the price? Remember the sale of B.C. Rail (they said they wouldn’t), the introduction of the HST (they said they wouldn’t), multiple deficit budgets (they said they wouldn’t), the intriguing payout of $6 million to pay Basi and Virks legal bills on the eve of MLA Gary Farrell Collins court testimony despite their guilty pleas (against Government policy) and the list goes on! To top it off they remove the best Auditor General this province has ever had and they want to be re-elected?

After a decade of the foregoing and with bad news breaking daily the public just wants a change. Many don’t know who they are going to vote for they just know they are not voting B.C. Liberal! A message to Rich Coleman – You need to do far more than change the deck chairs on the Titanic.

A little history – For those that don’t know, Social Credit used to be the Fee Enterprise Coalition in this province at one point in the late 80s with over 110,000 paid up members. I was a life member since 1975. Elected Alderman in Delta in 1987 I won the Social Credit nomination for Delta North in 1989 and lost in the election of 1991. Social Credit was a government that won consecutive elections from 1975 through to annihilation in 1991. Make no mistake about it, we deserved that result in spades – the public had enough! As is the case today, we filled the news daily with blunder after blunder and dumb decision after dumb decision. That was THE end of the Social Credit Coalition as we knew it and it was the birth of the B.C. Liberal Party under then leader Gordon Wilson. The early years of the B.C. Liberals were dysfunctional at best. Gordon Campbell subsequently took over the leadership of the B.C. Liberal Party, ran and won in the Quilchena by-election of 1994. The B.C. Liberal Party became the new Free Enterprise Coalition which in my view had its problems for years convincing traditional conservatives that any banner with the name Liberal is something they could support!

The reason for laying out this history becomes obvious when you look at the fiasco under the current governing B.C. Liberal Government. As a traditional Free Enterprise supporter I always had difficulty with Gordon Campbell as leader, knowing him during my early municipal days serving on the Metro Labor Relations Bureau. Having said that I have voted Liberal since 1991 but never again, enough is enough!! A vote for a Liberal candidate this year is “an endorsement of their record”! If the voter does not start standing up to government, Municipal, Provincial or Federal who have been so responsible for such irresponsible actions, what will it take? The election is your only chance to make a statement!

Today’s Liberals – “They have completely blown their credibility” The responsibility for the decisions that put the B.C. Liberal Government in this situation are of their own making. Take a long look at the current Liberal MLAs that are running for re-election? Now go back to our abbreviated list of bad decisions (above) and ask yourself which MLAs fought against the sale of B.C. Rail? Basi / Virk? HST? Deficit Budgets? Not one with the exception of John van Dongen who had the guts to take a stand, albeit a little late in the process. At least he is paying his own legal bills in his hunt for the truth!

My thoughts, from a Langley perspective? Our representatives are culpable in supporting every one of these controversial decisions and did nothing except to preach their virtues. No consultation, no public input, they know better! The art of ignoring the public has been practiced and preached in the Township of Langley for years. Should we be surprised?

• Rich Coleman – Deputy Premier, Minister Energy Mines and Natural Gas, B.C. Housing, B.C. Lotteries, Liquor Branch and PAVCO lately of Surrey Casino Gate and of Smart Meter fame.
• Mary Polak – Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

In my three years in the Mayor’s office I gained a good deal of first-hand experience as to the record of our MLAs, a record of consistent defense of bad government decisions. This is the government that eliminated $80K immediately from the Langley Senior’s Resource Center for much needed senior transportation.  These two ministers were nowhere to be found to find funding for that much needed service. I took my initiative to take a request back to our council and had interim funding approved to year end. Unfortunately funding was terminated for the next fiscal year by the Provincial Government!

B.C. Liberal Candidate Rally just held – So now we get everyone trotting out the line of renewal. First you have to ask yourself who in good conscience could run with a collection of individuals who so abused the public trust and have NO credibility with the public. We hear they have attracted a number of star candidates. Well I guess that is subjective, what qualifies as a Star Candidate?

What are my thoughts about Peter Fassbender running; from a Langley perspective?

• Mayor Peter Fassbender, Langley City – Now being called a “Star Candidate” in Surrey Fleetwood. Really?
• Now Peter Fassbender is quoted as saying “I am not a parachute candidate” and he is serious about winning. Well if that is the case what should the residents of Langley City think about their Mayor who just, one year ago, was reelected Mayor. Does this mean that if Mayor Fassbender loses he will run and be satisfied with being Mayor in 2014, or will he run for Mayor just to hold him over to the 2017 Provincial Campaign? Just asking?
• This is the same Mayor Fassbender that was appointed Chair of the Provincial Crown Corporation PAVCO by his good friend and Minister responsible Rich Coleman. (Coleman said that in the Legislature). Peter Fassbender gets appointed and then Peter Fassbender becomes a candidate? Just asking the question? Sounds like Lets Make a Deal?
• As the Mayor of the City next to a much larger neighboring Municipality Mayor Fassbender showed zero respect and consideration over the difficult Mufford Cresc. decision by writing, in opposition, an open letter to the Mayor of the Township, no phone call, no conversation, no respect.
• As Vice Chair of the Translink Mayors Council during my three years, Mayor Fassbender showed his stripes by supporting the provincial position for property tax increases despite the majority of Mayors opposing this position, thankfully he wasn’t successful.
• As the observer and point person for the recently concluded RCMP Contract negotiations, it seems there were cost issues that have arisen that were unknown, but Peter Fassbender worked with the Province (AG Shirley Bond) to get it signed off. Mayor Fassbender, the father of an RCMP member, (not that there is anything wrong with that) consistently took the lead role in representing member municipalities during contract negotiations. If you are going to volunteer to do the job, you had better understand who you are representing! (Municipalities / Cities as opposed to the Province)
• And now in a Global BC News report Saturday evening Mayor Fassbender, the NEW Star Candidate for the B.C. Liberals is quoted as saying:
  • “There is no question that there are a few things that we could of done better but you know It is great to be an armchair critic and say I would have done it differently and I would have done that.” – Well Mayor Fassbender I could only of hoped that it wouldn’t take an armchair critic to have to tell their MLA the difference between right from wrong. We would only hope our MLAs knew the difference! For you to not know the difference, I rest my case!

So the election is on (well almost) and it is incumbent upon all of us to weigh the options pro or con. Who deserves to benefit from the exercising of your franchise? Your Vote! I wanted to write this piece early on in the process and offer my thoughts based on many years of political experience. I am sure I have managed to outrage some, appease others and hopefully at the very least get people thinking!!

As I said in my opening BLOG Post my intent is to educate, engage and inform residents. Given my first-hand experience in the Mayor’s office we have more to be worried about than you would think.

Of considerable concern is municipal interference by MLA Rich Coleman contacting and meeting with selected candidates in the last municipal election, clearly stating that his purpose was to establish who he would support in the upcoming municipal election. An affidavit can be provided. Here we go again with the resident Bully, Rich Coleman, just how involved was he in the last municipal election? Who does he think he is? What a contemptible action!

Don’t be apathetic or indignant, if you disagree with me do so based on facts you know to be true, not rumor gossip or innuendo. If you want to challenge me on my facts please do so, I am prepared to back up everything I say. Your comments and thoughts are always welcome!

Protect your Democratic Rights – Protect your NEIGHBORS Democratic Rights – stay informed, stay involved and VOTE!!!

Share this BLOG; forward it to your friends, neighbors and relatives!

To comment on this post – Click on this Post, top left hand corner under recent posts.