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just around the corner

Posted by  on 30 March 2009, 10:03 am
a recent wall-to-wall conversation sparked over facebook with an old school mate about the upcoming elections. now, in all fairness i won’t hold it against him that he’s involved with the liberal party…we all choose our paths…anyhow, long story short, i started to throw various comments at him in regards to the elections and some of the decisions made by the current provincial government.

may 12th is approaching quite fast. it’s election day in bc…for the right to govern this tourism province into the olympics (or better yet…during the olympics). as russell peters put it last night at the juno’s (yes i watched 15 minutes of them…and essentially only saw the introduction…which was enough i’d say…)…the winter olympics were awarded to the only canadian city that doesn’t have a winter…

anyhow…looking on the information webpage about the elections, i’m a bit stunned as to the number of political parties registered in bc. we even have a sex party, a work less party…and by now you all are aware of the marijuana party. i wonder what their mandates are…and probably i’m a bit to lazy to look into it…simply because i’m certain they won’t get that many votes…so might as well waste my time reading the mandates 0f the parties that are expeced to battle it out for the right to ‘lead’ us through the olympics.

so, the way i see things for the last 9 years since the liberals have been in power…and yes this is subjective…first shock i had with them was the ‘unfreezing’ of the tuition fees around 2002…this after it was promised the tuition freeze will last. so over the following 3 years…my tuitition essentially doubled…now, without going into how that got paid…i’ll simply say…thanks campbie!

then, there were healthcare cuts…funding cuts to the education system….school closures…and essentially increase in class sizes in highschool/elementary…so yes…thanks campbie! oh and let’s not forget the carbon tax…yes it’s ‘neutral’…but looking at it it’s hard to see how it doesn’t actually benefit the big corporations more than it benefits the small ‘people’…like the common folks. argue all you’d like…but the tax cuts to the big corporations…are essentially based and can be done because the larger share of the incoming dollars are based on taxation of the common folks. yes, you’re paying for it out of your gas purchase (last i recall it’s about 5.7cents/liter this year…to increase in the following years).

some of the latest…well let’s see the plan to make a prison in the middle of burnaby? in close proximity to not only a high school, but a education institute, numerous businesses, residential areas…and oh yeah…close to public transport. correcting myself, they only looked at 58 sites not 80 as i stated in a previous post, but how come out of 58 sites…one chooses the middle of a city to place a prison? the reasons…it will be easy to transport the prisoners to and from courts by public transport…thus cutting emissions….what about public safety? so yes…thanks campbie for thinking of the public on this one…

another mindblower…is the decision to replace the portmann bridge - the highway 1 bridge connecting surrey to coquitlam…essentially…in order to expand the bridge they want to build a new one…why not just add a few lanes to the already exisiting one…and instead of wasting all that money…put them to better use…like fixing pattulo…which had a few fires as of late.

a tuition increase for university is about to pop up any time now…however…voting on it will probably not occur until after the elections…so…if you’re planning to go to school in this ‘economic crisis’ you’re about to pay more starting next fall….thanks campbie!

on that note…remember the proposal from translink on how to increase their profit margin? well…the voting on that probably won’t happen until after the elections…

now, i’m sure there’s more things that can be mentioned…i just simply won’t waste my time anymore…given the politics over the last decade in the province have been on how to increase profit for the big corporations at the loss of the common folks…anybody know an obama like candidate for these elections?

edit: so at the 6pm news…here’s some more developments…currently british columbia has the second to last minimu wage ($8/hour). it’s been frozen at that since 2001…yup…that’s right 9 years…ever since the liberals came into power…so thanks again campbie! on top of that…the mandate for the new campaign…does not include an increase to minimum wage…better yet…the current premier doesn’t even wanna hear about it. and since we’re on the subject…let’s add another stat that was given on the news…at this point british columbia has the highest teenage poverty (a stagerring 16%)…if i recall correctly, the canadian average stated was around 7%…so thanks again campbie!…thanks for looking after the common folks…

let’s not forget…the current premier…tried to use his stature as a provincial premier while on vacantion in hawaii…after he was caught driving under the influence of alcoohol…he tried to get out of it by telling the officer…’i'm the premier’…abuse of power anyone?

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and history was written

Posted by  on 5 November 2008, 11:00 am

the most anticipated election in the united states have come and gone, but they’ve done so with a ‘boom’. history was written, the first african-american president of the united states was chosen by his ‘peers’ to lead them through what is described as the worst financial crisis (by the president-elect himself) of the last century. a ‘to-do-list’ undesired by most is about to be taken on by a man who leads by inspiration. on november 4th the americans have finally made a decision that any other ‘reasonable’ human being would, and turned the white house into the blue house. a leader said to be ‘one of their own’ is, after almost 2 years of campaigning, now set to take the reigns of a country on the verdge of a major collapse. thanks to the current president, no names required i hope, the united states did what most of the international world expected them to.

approximately a 66% attendance, the highest since the early 1900s, showed up to vote yesterday. many for the first time. their reason, they wanted change. they desired and demanded change. one man promised it now the burden of proof is on him. to say that the magnifying glass has just increased 1000x when analyzing the president-elect’s new few moves is an understatement. his victory speech provide more proof as to why this one man should be given the chance to re-built and repair the country that a texan so easily destroyed.

canadiens on their part were far more interested in the elections down south than their own. rightfully so, who wouldn’t sit and watch as history unfolded before their eyes. watch a leader move and inspire. watch a person that sparked an interest with the younger generation. the generation that eventually gave him the support he so desired. the minorities feel he’s one of their own. statistically speaking the younger generations supported the democrat candidate. the only generation that gave the majority of its votes to the republican are the ones over 50. a promising wave of change seems to approach.

the university of victoria even went a step forward and prepared a once-in-a-life-time class for this current semester, called ‘obama vs. mccain’. a political class that was set up and provided with these elections in mind.

the americans ‘demanded’ change, now we all wait and hope it is delivered. the opportunity presents itself, and now it’s the president-elect’s chance to make good on his word. no need to doubt, but afterall it’s still the united states. the same country that so eagerly goes to war for peace, the same country that sees nothing wrong with owning ‘x’ number of guns in the house for protection, the same people that believe the world revolves around them. 2 years of campaigning? seriously, how much money can one waste? wouldn’t 6 months be enough? pre-election of the candidate, numerous trips from state to state and simply to many ways to manipulate the thing americans pride themselves the most with, democracy. if there’s anything more confusing than the way the elections are conducted in the united states it’s probably why the current president was elected twice. i guess it’s never to late to admit wrong-doing, too bad the lives lost in useless wars can’t be recovered. each candidate visited about 7 states on november 3, and i highly doubt they drove a hybrid car. i wonder if there’s anyone out there willing to estimate not only the money wasted on fuel, but the impact on the environment due to the burned fuel and other wasted produced. last i recall, the green movement was ‘big’ on the political agendas, then again i guess one would really say anything to get elected.

the votes are in, the majority decided and the president-elect of the united states is barack hussein obama II. now we wait.

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