NDP step into it again by protesting green power

Environmentalists have said they want BC to pursue green power, Independent Power Producers (IPP) are making it clear that they are ready and able to produce green power, but still the NDP keeps fighting against new clean sources of electricity for the province.

And now it’s getting them into a dispute with First Nations too.

As the Campbell River Mirror reports, “North Island NDP MLA Claire Trevena was blasted by two First Nations chiefs…over comments she made in the Legislature against Plutonic Power's Bute Inlet power project.”

According to Hansard, Travena said:

“The promise of jobs is dangled along with the plans for development…These wilderness areas are their traditional territories, and these bands are poor. Their people need work, and they need the promise of a better future.”

Travena’s comments “infuriated Homalco First Nation Chief Richard Harry” and “angered Klahoose Chief Ken Brown,” who accuse her of insulting all First Nations by saying that they will take a few dollars and jobs in exchange for the destruction of their lands.

And IPP companies, at a luncheon sponsored by the Vancouver Board of Trade, said that the NDP is threatening investments. As reported in the Vancouver Sun article headlined “Power producers say criticisms costing B.C. billions of dollars – Firms complain NDP imperils investments,” Resja Campfens of Sea Breeze said:

"Almost every jurisdiction in the developed world has opened up their electricity grid to some form of competition, all for the benefit of the ratepayer. Yet, the [NDP] opposition has called for a moratorium on IPP projects in B.C. In the least, a moratorium would drive away clean energy investment to other jurisdictions."

The construction industry is excited about the possibilities of independent power production in BC, because not only is it a clean, green source of power, and not only is it the way of the future, but it holds the promise of emerging markets for construction contractors and for more jobs.

Let’s see, construction industry, in favour. First Nations, in favour. Environmentalists, in favour. Yet Carole James and the NDP continue to stick their feet firmly in their mouths and protest clean power at any cost.

Carole James and the NDP. Wrong party, wrong leader, wrong time.

Unions paying the piper for NDP

In the last four years, unions have donated more than $3 million to the NDP. This is on top of the money – another $3 million -- unions have spent for their own third-party advertising leading up to and during election campaigns. Ties between the NDP and the unions are as tight as they ever were, with the BC Federation of Labour continuing to hold hands with Carole James and her party.

Carole James committed years ago to severing ties with organized labour, but obviously that doesn’t count when it comes to taking their money. In a recent speech to the BC Fed, Carole James made it clear that the NDP and the BC Fed were one in the same. She said:

"Together we will stand up for working families, for the everyday people who keep B.C. going. And on May 12, 2009, we will win an historic victory!"

How much did the BC Federation of Labour and its affiliate members donate to the BC NDP? The reports cover each calendar year, and January to October 2008 (when two by-elections were held in Vancouver):

2005-Oct 2008

· Total union donations: $3,320,751.52
· Total donations from the BC Federation of Labour: $614,783.00
· Total donations from the BC Federation of Labour affiliate unions: $2,386,664.51
· Total union donations for 2008: $483,186.51
· Total union donations for 2007: $219, 841.00
· Total union donations for 2006: $86,925.00
· Total union donations for 2005: $2,530,799.01

Do we want unions dictating economic policy for our province?

Wrong party. Wrong leader. Wrong time.

NDP in need of acronym translator ASAP, current one MIA

The NDP is running scared after the Vote Smart BC campaign launched. So scared that they’ve created a website mocking our campaign. But they’ve missed the point, and can’t even focus their attack on the right group. One email sent to promote their fake website said Vote Smart BC was launched by the “Independent Contractors Business Association”, and another said it was from the “Independent Contractors and Builders Association. We’re pretty sure they know what the BCTF, HEU, and BCNU acronyms are for, but they just can’t quite seem to zone in on what ICBA is an acronym for.

The group behind Vote Smart BC is the “Independent Contractors and Businesses Association”, something the NDP and their supporters would know if they actually took the time to read our site, or even googled “ICBA BC.” Can we really turn our economy over to a group that can’t even look up the right name for something they oppose?

Of course we really should thank them for giving us more exposure!

And for the record, ICBA is a member-based organization that represents open shop construction companies in BC. If the NDP could find our website, they’d see that we offer a full suite of member services, including affinity programs, insurance and health plans, apprentice programs, education, networking and other benefits for family-owned construction businesses in BC. Our website, in case you want to let the NDPers behind the failed attack know, is http://www.icba.ca/.