Driving past the rock garden located across the road from MCC’s thrift store on Gladys Avenue on Victoria Day, poetic justice put a cheshire cat grin on my face.
The consequences of the actions, and the failures to act, of the City of Abbotsford, resulted in members of Abbotsford’s homeless community taking up residence at this Monument to Ineptitude.
The Liberal’s recently completed selection of a new Leader to replace Christy Clark presented the Liberal party with the opportunity to explore the issues – and their consequences if not addresses – facing BC and to explore ideas and options for addressing the issues challenging BC’s future
Issues that include healthcare, homelessness, addiction, housing affordability, liveable wages and other social issues as well as government finances [vis-à-vis the services British Columbians demand] and the economic barriers to a prosperous future for BC and its citizens.
The Liberals did not simply duck the opportunity to explore the issues, obstacles, options and the best choices for balanced action – they dove for cover and huddled there with their heads down.
Continue reading Leadership, Leadership, Wherefore Art Thou?
Dear Liberal Party Leadership Candidates
Are you sure you want to be Leader?
Continue reading Liberal Leadership Letter to All Candidates
Life is what happens while you are making plans.
I had planned to attend the Abbotsford rally for Mike de Jong’s BC Liberal leadership race, but a commitment to 5 & 2’s Seniors cold wet weather shelter had me heading to MCC’s materials warehouse to open the shelter rather than the rally.
…….BC Liberals…….does it strike anyone else as dark, twisted humour that in pot smoking, left coast, hippie BC the ‘Liberal’ party is solidly right of center? That before the relatively recent incarnation of the BC Conservatives the Liberals were the right wing party?
Recognition of the financial realities of the BC provincial government and the discipline to manage the province’s finances responsibly – within the constraints posed by the province’s income [revenue] – are key skills needed by any party leader to avoid imploding the provinces finances and economy in the short term and placing severe, negative limits on the province’s future economic health in both intermediate and long terms.
Clearly Mr. de Jong’s experience is an enormous asset in terms of effectively and responsibly managing the province’s finances. A task that will only become more difficult, especially in terms of politically popularity, as the costs of our profligate financial behaviours over the past decades come due.
However, those decades of experience clearly serve to narrow Mr. de Jong’s perspective as evidenced by his own words when he speaks of the need to re-energize [give fresh vitality, enthusiasm, or impetus to] the Liberal Party.
Continue reading Re: Mike de Jong Leadership Interview Abbotsford News Friday January 19, 2018