lotusland - nervous politics from a laid-back city

ben west emphasizes party growth at the bc green party leadership candidates meet the press event

i quite enjoyed hearing ben west discuss his commitment to party growth at the press event this morning, i must say.  the bc greens need to take some decisive steps in increasing membership and bolstering support to local organizers if they want to be in a viable position come election time.   ben west stated he would make both actions a priority as leader.  go, west.  he also advocated prioritizing critic portfolios, which would help disseminate green policies and responses to the government. 

there is room on the bc political spectrum for an alternative to the liberals and the ndp.   raise your mouse in the air (or scrolling finger) if youre damn tired of the bc liberals' proclivity to pay lip service to the environment by inserting the word green into any damn policy they see fit.   im glad to see that the bc greens have a candidate who is ready to get the party moving.

nothing really stood out in the other candidates' speeches.  damien kettlewell revealed an undying love for stv, sylvaine zimmerman discussed the green movement, and jane sterk stressed her experience and achievements as an elected official.  how bad is it going to sound if i dont remember the other guy's last name?  i think his first name was jack. 

note to candidates everywhere:  please plaster your name on things or people at events, so that adhd twits  such as myself can remember your damn name.  yeah.

lotusland goes potusland, fails to comment on much of anything

so, civic election, eh?  ive been reading a bit about it on the internets, but it's hard to focus on vancouver when one is lounging around watching (and recording everything humanly possible on) tivo in an idyllic, snow-dusted massachusetts town.  american thanksgiving is on a thursday, which means the japanese restaurant is closed, which means im eating more of those trader joes flaxseed nacho chips and kalamata olive hummus today.  trader joes and sushi in the boonies - this is why new england rules.  yeah, throwing a pseudo-hippie cloak over my rampant capitalism is not a lifestyle id be comfortable pursuing, but for a one-week vacation, it is pretty fun in a 'what happens in vegas stays in vegas' kind of way.

firstly, id like to express major disappointment that andrea reimer lost her school board seat.  she has a lot of ambition and a real community focus, which is obvious if you know her history of activism and involvement in one of those pamphlets i might have stuck in your house if you live in kitsilano.  she had a lot of goals she wanted to fulfil and i hope she gets another crack at making it happen.  also, i hope the new school board doesnt negate all the effort andrea's crew put in during the campbell (larry, bien sur) tenure.

you dont have to be totally conspiratorial to think that this low-turnout election was basically decided by the npa machine.  i once worked on a campaign that drew on many of the same westside right/centrist assets, and i can vouch for their organizational (and financial) prowess.  its not the most organic thing, and it reeks of a patrician vancouver i never knew beyond my parents' stories about racism/sexism in the 1970-80s. 

the vancouver i know is not a city of white, rich, nimby, westsiders.  oddly enough, the  vancouver i know doesnt stand up to be counted on civic election day.

also, how did "james green" get enough votes to drive sam sullivan over the top?  why was sam sullivan helping him with his rent dispute?   i think the opinion of this man, who has actually worked with the data, ought to be given a fair bit of clout:

But University of B.C. political-science PhD student Scott Matthews says a statistical analysis of the individual poll results showed James Green's proportion of the votes showed a direct correlation with the proportion of Jim Green votes across the city, indicating the likelihood that people voted for James Green by mistake was very high.

"There really is no other plausible explanation of those results," said Matthews. "Any other theory strains credulity. I think it's really unlikely that it didn't affect the election outcome."

burnaby had a pretty exciting vote as well.  team surrey, er, burnaby's barbara spitz won her council spot by one vote.  a right-wing burnabite told me she didnt end up voting, supplying some lame ass excuse like "i have kids and i have to buy groceries and work out and go to church and eat and maybe take a dump that day" ...  one vote does make a difference, kids.

burnaby citizens association: communists or not?

there is a lot of partisan grumbling in burnaby over the civic election.  some people grumble of team burnaby having conservatives, some people grumble over the bca being a bunch of communists.

are the bca a bunch of communists?

it's hard to tell what the bca stands for from their campaign pamphlets.  i dont know, maybe my parents' past electoral behaviour has made my house a write-off, but all we got are these stupid trading cards. 

seriously. 

they have a picture of each candidate, the bca logo, their name, and stats.  while i think including community contribution is an incredibly important piece of information for voters, it would be nice to have a bit of info about the slate in general.  the bca only talks about this:

• the bca record, the bca plan:  more resources in the classroom, academic excellence, and more student choices in public schools
• the bca record, the bca plan:  quality public services, no debt, over $400 million in reserves, low taxes, safe, livable communities - a prosperous burnaby for everyone

so yeah, i guess if refusing to discuss your ambitions in detail and resorting to succint mantras makes you some kind of communist, theyre pretty damned communist.

there is also a note on the back of each card which says "please take this card to vote" ...  isnt bringing propaganda into the polling station against the rules?

i dont know what im going to do november 19th besides strongly debate running for office since i dont trust any of these clowns.

team burnaby says burnaby is the new surrey. OH NO, SURREY!!!!!!!!1111

yeah, im a burnabite, or whatever we burnaby-dwellers are called.  aside from a brief stint at my mothers childhood home in east van, ive lived in burnaby for my entire vancouver life. 

burnaby has had the same bca city council since the dawn of time. names like calendino and redman have been on the ballot since i was in elementary school. 

today, i got a pamphlet from team burnaby.  for a civic election propaganda leaflet, it is very big, colourful, and shiny.  in its folded-up state, it is bright red and simply proclaims CRIME IS THE ISSUE.  when you open it, you find out there are a few other issues. 

im basically going to conclude that team burnaby kind of sucks, which is sad, since the tired old cow known as the bca kind of sucks, too.  now, through brief commentary on the leaflet, i will chart the entire course of my decision to declare that team burnaby kind of sucks.  you read it here first, folks.

1. omg, surrey: while it is kind of obvious that burnaby crime is on the rise, team burnaby's framing of the issue is kind of insidious.  they say that burnaby crime "now surpasses surrey" because it shot up 22.8% in the past three years - five times greater than vancouver, eleven times the rate of coquitlam, seven times that of surrey.  poor surrey.  before 2002 (in 1993), burnaby actually had more crime than surrey. then we had less.  now we have more.  two things come into play.  first, size - burnaby and surrey are kind of the same size.   we are the big burbs.  secondly, as the almighty pdf concludes, burb crime rates are actually more related to the epicentres of crime action (the port of vancouver, organized crime throughout the city, etc) as well as prime real estate.  crime happens where people happen to congregate and so the general crime rate isnt necessarily an indicator of how unsafe the community is for its residents.  will more burnaby rcmp kick the crime out of burnaby as team burnaby claims?  there seems to be a correlation between the bca cop-hiring freeze and the crime rate. still, this seems to be more sensationalism than anything else.

2. team burnaby is against comprehensive schools:  this gets massive boo's from my corner.  they describe comprehensive schools as a "one size fits all" approach that ignores the diversity of parental and student needs.  they want to diversify the public school system and introduce more montessori and french immersion and gifted programs.  this, to team burnaby, constitutes choice.  i think parents have choice when every neighbourhood school can offer a wide variety of activities and programs.  being forced to drive your gifted/french immersion/special needs kid way out of the neighbourhood to get their elementary/secondary education on is not "choice" ... i believe the word you are looking for is inconvenience.   furthermore, i think the whole montessori-love is funny.  that program was developed for rural kids in italy who spent too much time working at home to learn (ie develop their cognitive and creative functions outside the realm of the workplace/farm) and whose parents had limited literacy.  this doesnt describe kids today.  maybe a more realistic and less trendy approach to early childhood education is in order.

3. no tax increases:  the bca says theyre also going to do that.  who do we believe.  nobody.  ha.

4. burnaby lake is disgusting:  burnaby lake is important because it's the first place in canada that was ever named burnaby.  if they actually clean it up, id have to give them props. 

bc ferries wants us to eat their shitty food

due to revamped transport canada policy in light of terrorist attacks on nyc, london, and madrid, bc ferries is considering changes which will force more people to consume ferry food. 

bc ferries apparently intends on following all the new guidelines, but theyre going to start by simply prohibiting ferry passengers from leaving the terminal.  they could start with, i dont know, checking id and doing vehicle searches if alarm bells toll, but im guessing that bc ferries intelligence has informed them that the fish-n-chips restaurant and other cutesy businesses around ferry terminals have the best bomb-making supplies in the lower mainland.

i dont think im being particularly conspiracy-minded when i declare this is just a cheap attempt to get folks riding the ferry to spend more of their money on overpriced ferry food, and less of it on actual food.

apparently, these actions are justified because ahmed ressam carried a bunch of explosives on the  victoria-port angeles, wa ferry (bc ferries do not appear to sail to the usa) during his nye 2000 bomb trip to l.a.

the ilo, the bctf, and campbell's liberals - selon joel bakan

in the vancouver sun last thursday, joel bakan points out that the bc government, under campbell, are the chief lawbreakers in the teachers dispute.  the bc liberals have written laws that made this strike illegal, which are actually illegal according to ILO standards canada ratified in 1972 (and 2003).  in fact, the bc government is actually the worst repeat offender (nine times in the past few years) in north america when it comes to violation of the treaty.

like the WTO, the ILO has no real enforceability.  the UN is not going to descend on victoria and pre-emptively strike the bc legislature.  what they will do is "FIRMLY REQUEST that the government ... avoid in futre having recourse to such legislated settlement."   see why gordo isnt exactly crapping his pants.

if youre going to judge bakan and his book by its cover, "the corporation," which had a briefcase man sporting devil horns, could possibly convince you that joel bakan is a raging leftista. i could buy him some pan-partisan cred by saying he is a law prof who is approaching the issues purely to ascertain their legal ramifications, but some people just want to believe some lawyers are wickedly socialist judicial activists who have spent too much time in red-as-stalin university settings to think for themselves.   his disdain for the bc liberals stems from their refusal to adhere to ILO treaties which canada has signed, but some people like to shit on the UN every chance they get, so maybe theyll oppose his assertions on those grounds. 

basically, if youre going to play the partisan card and say his criticisms are horseshit because of who he is, go right ahead.  i just happen to be old fashioned and think that canada, in most cases, should live up to treaty obligations.  i fail to recognize multilateralism as satans own doing. 

if we are multilateral enough to do international business, then we are multilateral enough to obey international law. 

vancouver civic election 2005: arent you pumped?!?

sullivan vs green!  council! school board!  parks board!  free heroin!  no larry!

it seems those last two come up when most people i know talk civic politics (along with obsessive nimby rants from my westside friends).  youve begun to bore me.  theres more to this citys governance, really.   you wanted a christyless race and the npa hardliners delivered by connecting her egotistical ass to the cold, hard, curb.  lovely, yes?  now it's time to move on and read up and vote and all that.  it is also time for me to spew my electoral preferences all over the fair internets.

the green platform

no, not jim. these folks.  you know that free heroin thing the entire city obsesses over?  the greens proposed it years before it became law.  just sayin.  im sure you can guess that the green party is going to bring us another platform based on economic/social/environmental sustainability and innovation in participatory democracy.  here are some more keen ideas:

-lobbyist registration:  sure, it might scare the suits a little, but transparency is valuable.  no, im not simply supporting this because posting changes to the list would make for good blog fodder.  vancouver voters have a right to know who is at the table.  the government keeping a list makes this information accessible, which is what we like to call tangible evidence of a commitment to transparency and voter education.  this would be conducted on a voluntary basis until the bc government passed binding legislation.  stop smirking, campbell wont be there forever. 

-more council meetings at night:  another tangible commitment to participatory democracy, enabling the 9-5 set to sit in on the proceedings.

-better economic thinking:  the greens advocate exploration of alternative revenue sources in order to reduce vancouvers reliance on property tax and provincial transfers.  in terms of operational costs, local sourcing will be preferred if its economically competitive.  moreover, they suggest using open source and freeware as an alternative to more expensive software.   

-least cost planning for transportation projects:  uh, how many millions did air conditioning on the skytrain cost (and since when does vancouver weather call for a/c, anyway?).  this frugal approach inevitably favours pedestrians and the non-motorized set, which isnt so bad.  the suggestion of removing parking lanes on streets such as commercial and davie will elicit some knee-jerk whining, but trekking an extra block or two is worth it in the end as the wider sidewalks will make the high-traffic neighbourhoods more accessible and comfortable to explore.

-bring back full library hours:  this speaks for itself.

-promoting comprehensive schools:  the magnet schools were created to give students and parents 'choices,'  which is stupid, considering that taking programs out of neighbourhood schools eliminates choices.  some kids dont have parents who have enough free time to act as personal chauffeurs (a role so many parents in the burbs have decided is 'normal' ... ?!), so keeping programs as local as possible is highly important.

-converting the vancouver aquarium to a wildlife rescue and education centre:  this also fits in with the green party's desire to expand on vancouver's tourism successes (especially in the area of ecotourism).

-encouraging more native plants in park landscaping:  why are we wasting time and money making sure that the trees and bushes we planted to make this place look more like "home" (read: toronto/jolly old england) dont die?  why not plant the stuff that was there before we took over? 

there are more statements on more issues at the vancouver greens site.  as the campaign chugs along, ill likely post green positions on some of the major issues. 

im sure that readers who vote in civic elections are aware of the fact that this election they likely will not vote for slates.  there are ideological splits and popularity contests wreaking havoc in the major parties.  the greens are smart as hell for fielding six candidates - just another bit of evidence of green thinking, which prioritizes efficiency and impact.  i hope you people will consider green candidates when you are rounding out their ballots. 

im not a fan of hers

boo-urns to this.  im no fan of hers.  this all started when i met her in her capacity as education minister at a community event.  we were discussing bc high school grads and she was surprised that my grade 12 sister would have trouble getting into ubc with a b average.  this was a well-documented fear at the time due to the double cohort, and the fact the cutoff for ubc arts acceptance is usually a b average regardless. lame.

i reserve the right to hold petty grudges based on cabinet ministers not knowing much about matters pertaining to their portfolio (and i do believe the fate of high school grads is a concern of the ministry of education). blah blah blah, idealism, the civil servants are the one whose job it is to know stuff, etc... i dont care.

terasen gas patriot act something something?

so terasen is being bought by texans, kinder morgan to be exact.  i was just in texas.  it is very hard to find a breakfast fit for human consumption in texas.  only the british isles do morning grease well, in my opinion. 

does this us company owning some information about us mean i have to sound the big brother alarm?

meet layton and siksay

this post is aimed at all the burnaby-douglasians who frequent this merry url.  our mp, bill siksay is hosting an open house at 4453 hastings (at willingdon) on july 9th from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm. jack layton will also be in attendance, and refreshments will be served.

hey dippers, come hit me!

the way the ndp kids are looking at it, burquitlam and burnaby north green party voters siphoned enough to make ricky and julian proud.  im sure bart healey is pouting at that 7% due to that sense of entitlement to the 'not-liberal' vote.  now that the provincial vote is over, the ndp kids have to deprogram themselves in time for the federal election, when they will be pleading that soft pinkos vote with their progressive conscience and not strategically. 

do i feel terrible that harry bloy is my mla?  well, it's not like i feel terrible, but it's not like another ndp seat would have had much of an impact.  also, theres no guilt factor as bart healey did not contact me at all during the campaign.  i'm satisfied with my green vote.

since more people probably care about point grey, the ndp's mel lehan and the green candidate damian kettlewell received 37% and 15% respectively - a combined result that beats gordon campbell's 46%.  given this apparent opportunity to turf premier campbell,  i think if i lived in point grey (ew, perish the thought) id be more sympathetic to the strategic voting argument.  it would be funny to see campbell stomping his feet and crying that he knew he should have gone with quilchena.

i am so happy about the 56% stv approval, given that many people i encountered during the campaign did not seem to have a lot of time for electoral reform.  this interest in studying and modifying the process is quite reassuring.

burquitlam green party nomination

Hi Ainge,

Actually, the Greens have until Wednesday May 4th, 1pm to find a candidate
for Burquitlam. I checked yesterday on the Green Party website and
Burquitlam did not have a Green candidate, and so far they have 54
candidates listed on their website.

So there is time to maybe find a candidate.

cheers,
an awesome dude

i hope someone runs for the greens in my riding... else i will be sad, running to my friend fidel for comfort, and to a russian man.  haha, that sounds sketch.   

ok, in all seriousness, no more lame jokes, somebody do it...

graham bruce's lettergate

Readers were left clueless as to the relationship, as Cleugh neglected to mention she is one of Graham and Anneke Bruce’s four children. The Bruces are a political clan; her brother Ryan is dad’s campaign manager.

Perhaps someone in B.C. should offer a correspondence course in political ethics.

hopefully this wasn't some stupid idea sheri cleugh thought of on her own - maybe her brother should be taking the heat for it.  at any rate, this must mean tense times chez the grahams.

stv love means i have to register my blog? wtf?

As of March 1, anyone maintaining a site specifically created for the purpose of promoting one side or the other of the single transferable vote debate without notifying the election office is in violation of the referendum regulations.

thats not me, right?  i shouldnt think so.  i wonder if bloggers will start having to register themselves for other campaign finance-related shite.  yes, i totally believe that peoples opinions ought to be monitored and taxed and whatever.  dammit, blogging was more fun before old people found out about it.

anyway,  declan, if youre reading this, you totally rocked the interview.

bc green party platform: better than cramming for finals

yes, they're seemingly against the rav line, which is a major turnoff for a skytrain aficionado such as myself.   regardless, i am quite impressed by the greenbook (in theory, bien sur).  so, green party, you've managed to pique the interest of an undecided voter:  go forth and pique some more!

and now for my platform picks: 

transit:  directly elected regional transit boards?  sounds like something we needed back when bc transit was erecting those ridiculous computerized b-line stops.  honestly though, who would vote in a transit board election?  i happily envision a world where the transit fate of vancouverites would be left in the hands of the transit riders' union, old people, and myself. 

fatasses:  a tax on junk food?  what qualifies as junk food?  apparently "soft drinks" and "snack foods that are high in sugar or fats" - please tell me a venti frappucino falls under that definition.  ew.    the civil libertarian inside me screams, 'let them eat cake' but ultimately, this platform does need to be financed, so let's make teenagers and fat people pick up the tab.

tuition:  i support re-allocating 50% of the student loan budget to scholarships/bursaries.  given the yuppie westsiditude of most ubc students, im quite in favour of expanding needs-based tuition breaks.
education:  the greens want to target funding to special needs students and expand alternative education programs.  witnessing the bc liberals' ridiculous faith in standardized testing with the YOU WILL ALL TAKE PROVINCIAL EXAMS IN GRADE 10 plan, this comes as a refreshing change.

sex trade:  thank you, greens, for acknowledging that mere prohibition doesn't protect anyone with regards to sex trade workers.  it would be nice to see the government taking a more active role assisting sex trade workers in hiv testing, reporting missing persons, and rehabilitation. 

marijuana:  to balance their books, i think the greens need the $1 billion+ in taxes on legalized bud.  making money off the potheads while expanding prevention/rehab efforts is far wiser than sitting back and letting the hells angels and hippies rake in the money.

resources:  ending subsidies to fossil fuel and logging companies so that stumpage/basing oil tax on the market value seems good in theory, since it would mean more revenue for british columbians... the government is going to give less to and take more from these companies.  hmm.  luckily for business, the greens want the government to be bc's best customer, opting for fair trade and local products whenever possible.  also, they want to stage an inquiry regarding false reporting of stumpage fees so we can hold logging companies to task.  moreover, promoting eco-certification and value-added forest products will enhance bc's presence on the world market.

35-hour  work week:  one of a few segments of the platform where the greens declare europe has it going on.  i'm definitely for it, as is anyone else who had to read segments of putnam's 'bowling alone' in 1st year.

removing pst from children's sports equipment and made-in-bc goods (yay!)

agriculture:  establishing a heritage seed bank so that when the whole world starves due to some unanticipated gmo glitch, at least bc will have food.

the debt:  they plan on cutting it down instead of handing out frivolous tax breaks a la gordo.  paying $2 million/day in interest is not cool.

oh no, the HICKS are going to run the province!

to the tyee's credit, they also published this article.  being the cantankerous little twit that i am, im commenting on this one instead.  the tyee is great for balanced reporting - theyve published pro-kyoto articles alongside praise for bjorn lomborg as well. 

the problem with bc-stv is that mathematics shows us it will lead to resounding right wing victories in rural bc while urban bc wont be able to counter that with a slate of pinkos because in our 7-member seats, it is inevitable that some conservative might be able to squeak in.  consequently, this invariably amounts to handing control of bc over to the "rural right" as the urban conservatives ensure a right-wing majority.

i have a few problems with this:
1. call me idealistic, but i strongly believe rural bc deserves more representation, no matter how right wing that representation may end up being (this is presuming hedy fry is wrong about that whole burning crosses thing, hee hee).  with all the hospital closures and other service cancellations, one could assume that rationally-acting* rural voters will desire representation that will restore social funding and other resource allocation.

2. rural conservatives, urban conservatives - how different are they?  is james moore as socially conservative as many of his rural counterparts?  do the lower mainland big business conservatives represent the same interest groups as rural conservatives?  lumping them together and presuming they will vote as a block doesnt sit well with me. (see this tyee article for a lovely explication of the role conservative ideology plays in rural bc)

3. is the lower mainland really an ndp stronghold?  yes, the left has its enclaves of support in east van, burnaby, etc, but the rest of the lower mainland is softly conservative (or staunchly if you consider the fraser valley).  let's not forget that a considerable proportion of the bc libs in power right now represent the lower mainland. 

4. they voted this guy and this gal in, didnt they?  ok, so the rest of rural bc sent conservatives to parliament.  the lower mainland had 3 ndp mps and a few liberals along with a fair dose of conservatives from the burbs.   given voting habits, is a regional left/right schism that real? heh, given bc history, can anyone really ever claim with even one iota of certainty that they can explain voter preferences in this province?

as harsh and unfair as my conclusion may seem, i believe this article's attempt to discredit bc-stv on the basis of petty regionalism (and math) is a bit unfounded.  if more vancouverites knew how unimpressed many rural voters are with the current government, perhaps they would not be so quick to dismiss rural bc as unanimously and comprehensively right-wing.  more importantly, this argument dissuades leftist people from accepting bc-stv on the basis that it will empower the dark side. 

apparently democratic reform isnt an aim in and of itself and ought to be pursued only when it is in your ideological self-interest.  hmm. 

* as a rule, lotusland does not endorse the use of rational actor models in political science because she prefers critical theory; however, like many critical theory aficionados, she concedes that truth claims and rules ought to be received skeptically and that one cannot arbitrarily declare that positivist methodology has no place in any examination of political behaviour.  consequently, she may, at times, accept pseudo-scientific behaviouralist methodology.  lotusland gently reminds her detractors (cough. sasha. cough)  that this invocation of the rational actor model may not be used as leverage in arguments regarding the superiority of positivist social science. 

harry bloy called me last night!

yes.  the office of my provincial liberal mla, harry bloy, called me to ask what i think of the bc liberals work in a few areas thus far as well as asking me what his legislative priorities ought to be.  smart man, contacting lotusland for advice.  well, in all seriousness, i appreciate the effort of our elected representative to stay in touch with constituents.

one of the survey questions asked whether i approved of bc liberals' success in  "cutting red tape by 1/3."  i told the dude i couldnt really answer that question because it was more of a general idea or election slogan than an actual set of policies of which i could have an opinion.  where were the cuts?  1/3 of what?  what do you say to this?  i mean, ask my opinion on tuition fees, bc rail, private healthcare, or other tangible policy initiatives.  what does it matter if i think some amorphous statistic sounds good or not...?

in response, i got "cccan i put you down for undecided?"

sure, dude.

if challenging calendino counts, burnaby is exciting again

from the loose lips over at public eye online:

Tom Sigurdson is rumoured to be coming back from Ontario to run against ex-MLA Pietro Calendino in the nomination race for Burnaby North.

my riding is exciting again... woo. ive seen him around hastings street, shopping at places like cioffi's. i like to go to red apple market and rocky's and all those places, especially on hats off day.

yes.

tell the bc govt the patriot act is whack, yo.

we went through something similar with the canadian census thanks to a vivelecanada.ca petition. i got this from vanramblings which i hope you all read anyway:

B.C.’s Privacy Commissioner, David Loukidelis, wants to know what you think about the provincial Liberals’ plan to contract out the administration of the Medical Services Plan, Pharmacare and other public services to American multinational corporations.

Submissions must be clearly labelled “Submission on the USA Patriot Act” and mailed to P.O. Box 9038, Stn. Prov. Govt., Victoria, B.C. V8W 9A4, or sent by fax to 250-387-1696, or submitted by e-mail to David Loukidelis, B.C. Privacy Commissioner (to e-mail, simply click on the link provided).

Deadline for submissions is 12 noon, Friday, August 6, 2004

vote splitting ... again

this past june 28, i considered the fact my short voting career had not been the exercise in idealism i fancied it would be. i had voted strategically, casting my ballot for the lesser of two evils. moreover, i'd volunteered on several campaigns motivated by strategic voting. feeling very dirty indeed, i cast my ballot differently this time around, throwing everything i knew about the first-past-the-post system to the wind.

it felt lovely. in the end, vote splitting didn't harm any parties in my riding (unless people opted to go lib/ndp, screwing the greens out of support at the last minute). i can't say the same for new westminster-coquitlam, or maybe west vancouver-sunshine coast. there are always a few dippers who like to go on long-winded explanations of how it is very obvious all the liberal votes were attempts to block the tory/the result of fear-mongering and not any preference for the grits. conversely, there's all that awful "vote for us or else you're voting for the tories" campaign lit disseminated by the liberals.

a transferrable ballot would really be nice. i'd love to mark my ballot for my preferred candidate first, my strategic consideration second, and the lesser of the evils third. until then, we have this crap to contend with: (from cnews

Already, groups like Broad Coalition, a grassroots group of women, are trying to organize local Green and NDP campaigns to work together to topple the Liberals, who won 77 of 79 seats in the last B.C. election.

"In exchange for the Greens backing off in Victoria, we could see the NDP backing off in West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast (Carr's riding) to avoid vote splitting and that's a strategy that could help both parties pick up seats," Ruff said.

lame. why don't the parties work individually to oust campbell? how will the broad coalition decide to divide the ridings - which are pressured into voting ndp and which are pressured into voting green? are they going to use polling data? haven't we all lost faith in polling data? is this some pro-ndp scam? ha.

offshore drilling

despite my david emerson enthusiasm, it's obvious he seems to be orchestrating his own demise with this offshore drilling nonsense. yes, align yourself with the provincial liberals while pissing off environmentalists, first nations groups, and other local communities. great idea!

let's create jobs for those who used to work in renewable resources by putting them all to work for the mother of all unrenewable resources...

alberta has all that oil, yes, that's why they have no pst! oooh aren't you jealous? they paid off their debt and now they're going to be rolling in so much cash money they'll see if people want social programs again. ah, kleintopia.

stéphane dion better have a whole lot of cojones for this sort of thing.

bc is fun

i'm contemplating going somewhere for 4 daysish, preferably by ferry, so i can sit in isolation and finish a paper. i can leave vancouver 11:30 pm wednesday night and arrive back to vancouver the following monday by 4 pm. any suggestions would be welcome.

from ctv:

The last time a provincial government declared its books debt-free was in the late 1960s.

Then-British Columbia premier W.A.C. Bennett marked the occasion by loading up a barge full of government debentures, floating it on Lake Okanagan and attempting to ignite it with a flaming arrow.

The stunt missed its mark, leaving a Mountie to ignite the blaze with his cigarette lighter.

cute.