NDP sells out environmentalists for politics, labour movement

Now that the election is officially under way and the NDP has released their platform, it’s hilarious watching them try to skate out of the fact that their environmental policies are so wrong that former friends in the environmental movement are dissing the NDP from every corner.

First Tzeporah Berman, one of the most respected environmentalists in this country, let alone this province, said the NDP were off their rockers denouncing green power production. Then John Horgan of the NDP tried to deny that his party would kill all run-of-river power projects, in one of the funniest radio flip flops ever.

And now a whole group of major BC environmentalists, including the prestigious David Suzuki Foundation, get together to say that eliminating the carbon tax was a daft idea. Oh, and did you read the report from Mark Jaccard of SFU who says the NDP’s climate change policies would exempt about 65 per cent of BC’s emissions, and would cause company closings and the loss of 30,000 direct and 60,000 indirect jobs.

Media and blogger coverage of this has been everywhere. But perhaps our favourite article was from the Globe and Mail’s Gary Mason, who called the NDP’s policies “shortsighted,” “uninspiring,” “wrongheaded” and “dangerous.” As Mason says:

“So what if it was a position fundamentally at odds with the views held by a vast swath of their supporters? Or that it made a mockery of the NDP's core values?

Was this the best the New Democrats could do to distinguish themselves from the provincial Liberals? …it might gain the NDP a few votes in the north, they will come at a terrible cost elsewhere.”

Why are the NDP against environmentalists? Because their public union backers don’t want any energy, green or otherwise, developed in BC unless it is under their control. So they chose labour over green and over youth who see the future in environmentalism.

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

Rub a dub dub, Only 2 business people in a $30 billion tub....

Carole James spoke yesterday to the Business Council of BC in an attempt to make nice with business, but despite her protests that she’s different from the NDP of the 1990s, no one was buying it.

James said if she were in charge, she’d build homes, instead of the kinds of infrastructure projects starting now that can help turn our economy around. She made it clear that she plans to change the labour code, likely eliminating the democratic rights of workers and making it easier for unions to organize. That is no surprise given the NDP’s intimate relationship with big labour, but is hardly the kind of thing a business audience needs to hear to have any trust in someone who wants to lead this province during an economic crisis.

She told the Business Council that she would “study” green projects like run of river hydro, which really means she’ll make the approval process so cumbersome as to put an end to them. She says she’s going to consult with business, but that’s political code for “I’m making changes and they’re not good for you.”

There have been a lot of questions lately about the NDP’s lack of any experience in the private sector, and how they could possibly run the province’s economy with no business experience among their candidates.

So we listened closely when James was asked about the complete lack of business experience in her field of candidates. And we couldn’t help laughing uproariously at her answer. It seems there are a whopping two candidates (among 85 ridings!?) with experience in the private sector – a lawyer and a farmer. Oh sure, that instils confidence, doesn’t it?

No matter how many times she claims to be different from the NDP of the 1990s, the NDP who destroyed our province’s economy, she’s not different. She’s surrounded by the same people and making the same mistakes.

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