New BC Political Discussion - POST BC Election 2017

[excel]

^you have seattle and vancouver with the same population.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Thanks, already fixed.

[dreambrother808]

It looks like the NDP lied to us during the election and aren’t going to make the hard choices necessary to fix this problem so where do we go from here? I’m losing hope. My season’s pass to Whistler may be the only thing keeping me here until it expires next year. I love Vancouver and will miss it but can’t continue to waste prime earning years on inflated rents or insane mortgages.

It’s a genuine tragedy how leaders have sold our city to criminal elements and greed. It’s not wealthy foreigners’ fault for making wise investment decisions. It’s our fault and primarily our politicians for letting it get so out of hand.

[GlassCity]

What did the NDP and Greens even say about curbing foreign demand?

[Metro-One]

So, it is now mid October.

Not trying to start a big fight but this is my main problem with the NDP.

So far all I have seen is what the NDP have / will cancel and what they are against. GMB, gone. Highway 1 widening to Abbotsford, gone. Site C, trying to kill. LNG, trying to kill. Kinder Morgan, essentially gone.

But in return they have not presented anything new.

There have been no major transit plans announced (the Liberals were also promising 40% funding for Broadway and Surrey LRT last election, same as the NDP, so nothing new there)

No pleasant surprise of a south shore commuter rail.

Or a sudden, 60% coverage of Translink projects, get the shovels in!

No surprise announcement that they are looking to extend the M-Line to UBC in a single project.

Or a surprise that the Victoria LRT will move forward (or rebuilding the existing Island railway).

Hell, just to stick it to the Liberals while throwing in a token highway project for the transport industry, upgrading the SFPR to full freeway standards!

So what are they offering that we would not have gotten anyways under the Liberals?

You would think by now we would at least have heard hints or rumours of major plans / projects.

[Spork]

Wait until the budget. This is small potatoes time.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Spork

Wait until the budget. This is small potatoes time.

When is it?

[WarrenC12]

Budgets are usually in the spring, Feb/March I think.

As for what the NDP is doing, they didn't really run on much of a transportation platform, so who knows what the plan is there. They are enacting other things they did run on, like free tolls, movement towards PR, dealing with the opioid issues, etc.

Blaming them for LNG folding is a bit slanted. If the market was there, it would happen. Name a single thing they've done either way.

As for Site C, I really think it needs to happen, but the project is a financial and schedule mess right now. No easy way forward unfortunately. I still think it's worth doing, but it will be expensive, and we're all going to pay.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

As for Site C, I really think it needs to happen, but the project is a financial and schedule mess right now. No easy way forward unfortunately. I still think it's worth doing, but it will be expensive, and we're all going to pay.

Speaking of which (if there's a separate thread for Site C, I can't find it), wasn't there a proposal for three smaller dams? Seems like a good compromise.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

What did the NDP and Greens even say about curbing foreign demand?

The Greens said they would "introduce measures to eliminate money laundering and property speculation."

http://www.electionguidebc.ca/party-platforms/

The NDP promised to "crack down on the cheaters who are distorting BC’s housing market."

https://www.bcndp.ca/affordability

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Speaking of which (if there's a separate thread for Site C, I can't find it), wasn't there a proposal for three smaller dams? Seems like a good compromise.

Well I think the problem now is they've started huge civil work for this dam. They either quit now and have a $2-3B sunk cost, or finish it and probably end up with a $10-12B cost on an $8B project. I don't think they can entertain different proposals at this stage.

[urbancanadian]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

So, it is now mid October.

Not trying to start a big fight but this is my main problem with the NDP.

So far all I have seen is what the NDP have / will cancel and what they are against. GMB, gone. Highway 1 widening to Abbotsford, gone. Site C, trying to kill. LNG, trying to kill. Kinder Morgan, essentially gone.

But in return they have not presented anything new.

There have been no major transit plans announced (the Liberals were also promising 40% funding for Broadway and Surrey LRT last election, same as the NDP, so nothing new there)

No pleasant surprise of a south shore commuter rail.

Or a sudden, 60% coverage of Translink projects, get the shovels in!

No surprise announcement that they are looking to extend the M-Line to UBC in a single project.

Or a surprise that the Victoria LRT will move forward (or rebuilding the existing Island railway).

Hell, just to stick it to the Liberals while throwing in a token highway project for the transport industry, upgrading the SFPR to full freeway standards!

So what are they offering that we would not have gotten anyways under the Liberals?

You would think by now we would at least have heard hints or rumours of major plans / projects.

I voted for the NDP because they promised to get big money out of politics. If they follow through on that promise (and it appears they will - they would be stupid not to) then I will be happy with my vote. Even if they plunge the economy into recession and don't build a damn thing I would be happy with my vote.

Why? Because restoring our democracy will be the single most important piece of legislation passed in my lifetime to date. Does that mean we'll remove corruption from the province entirely? No, but at least we know the politicians will be answering to us and not the people/corporations who fund our elections. We'll be better off in the long run.

Anyways, it's too early to tell what the NDP will actually move forward with (or won't). But if they go "BANANAs" then they won't have my vote again in four years.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by urbancanadian

I voted for the NDP because they promised to get big money out of politics. If they follow through on that promise (and it appears they will - they would be stupid not to) then I will be happy with my vote. Even if they plunge the economy into recession and don't build a damn thing I would be happy with my vote.

Why? Because restoring our democracy will be the single most important piece of legislation passed in my lifetime to date. Does that mean we'll remove corruption from the province entirely? No, but at least we know the politicians will be answering to us and not the people/corporations who fund our elections. We'll be better off in the long run.

Anyways, it's too early to tell what the NDP will actually move forward with (or won't). But if they go "BANANAs" then they won't have my vote again in four years.

They have "introduced" the funding legislation already, don't know if it's passed though. But yes, that was the #1 priority for me too. Also restoring education funding and social assistance.

Besides, it's easy to look back at the Liberals with rose-coloured glasses in terms of transportation infrastructure, but the 40% of the Broadway and Surrey rapid transit projects was only introduced at election time, and still would have required a referendum on local taxation. They were no friends to public transit. Glad they're gone.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

They have "introduced" the funding legislation already, don't know if it's passed though. But yes, that was the #1 priority for me too. Also restoring education funding and social assistance.

Besides, it's easy to look back at the Liberals with rose-coloured glasses in terms of transportation infrastructure, but the 40% of the Broadway and Surrey rapid transit projects was only introduced at election time, and still would have required a referendum on local taxation. They were no friends to public transit. Glad they're gone.

The Canada Line and Evergreen extension would have been at grade LRTs if it were not for the Liberals.

Rubber stamping a shitty LRT proposal *cough, Surrey, cough* does not equate to being a friend to public transit IMO.

Also under the Liberals we received 3 new major road bridge crossings (Port Mann, Pitt River, GEB) plus the SFPR (as poorly executed as it was it is still better than nothing, which was the NDP's position), numerous new / improved interchanges, the Sea to Sky upgrades, etc...

All the NDP have done is cancel projects so far...

I can understand people's reasoning for voting for the NDP, but I can tell you that out of the friends and family I know who voted for the NDP, a large portion of them are quite angry about the GMB cancellation and he highway 1 widening to Abbotsford cancelation.

Infrastructure and transportation are my two key social / political issues, and so far things don't look good.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

The Canada Line and Evergreen extension would have been at grade LRTs if it were not for the Liberals.

Rubber stamping a shitty LRT proposal *cough, Surrey, cough* does not equate to being a friend to public transit IMO.

Also under the Liberals we received 3 new major road bridge crossings (Port Mann, Pitt River, GEB) plus the SFPR (as poorly executed as it was it is still better than nothing, which was the NDP's position), numerous new / improved interchanges, the Sea to Sky upgrades, etc...

All the NDP have done is cancel projects so far...

I can understand people's reasoning for voting for the NDP, but I can tell you that out of the friends and family I know who voted for the NDP, a large portion of them are quite angry about the GMB cancellation and he highway 1 widening to Abbotsford cancelation.

Infrastructure and transportation are my two key social / political issues, and so far things don't look good.

I am very happy with what the Liberals did on the Canada Line and Evergreen Line. Road infrastructure construction was well-done too. But that doesn't cancel out the referendum and general under-funding of transit. I have transportation (more-so transit) near the top of my voting wishlist too, and the referendum instantly destroyed any chances of me voting Liberal, regardless of my views on other issues. They may have done the right thing with their insistence on SkyTrain, but they also did the wrong thing with the referendum. Like I said, it's easy to look back on things and wonder, but that's true regardless of who wins.

The NDP hasn't rubber-stamped anything yet. If they don't put up a fight against Surrey's LRT I'll be disappointed but the idea that the Liberals would not have allowed it is pure speculation.

And I'm angry about the Massey Tunnel re-evaluation, not cancellation, too. I live in Ladner for god's sake. But when it came to deciding between that bridge getting built as planned and our transit system being funded properly, it wasn't a difficult choice for me.

I voted Green by the way.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Well, we did get the surprise SFU Gondola announcement. So that's one good thing.

The rest of things will take time though. It's not like they just sit on a pile of feasibility level engineering studies and can get them going at a moments notice.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

Well, we did get the surprise SFU Gondola announcement. So that's one good thing.

The rest of things will take time though. It's not like they just sit on a pile of feasibility level engineering studies and can get them going at a moments notice.

I think that was a Mayor's Council decision that somehow got buried in all the other fun stuff.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

So, it is now mid October.

Not trying to start a big fight but this is my main problem with the NDP.

So far all I have seen is what the NDP have / will cancel and what they are against. GMB, gone. Highway 1 widening to Abbotsford, gone. Site C, trying to kill. LNG, trying to kill. Kinder Morgan, essentially gone.

But in return they have not presented anything new.

There have been no major transit plans announced (the Liberals were also promising 40% funding for Broadway and Surrey LRT last election, same as the NDP, so nothing new there)

No pleasant surprise of a south shore commuter rail.

Or a sudden, 60% coverage of Translink projects, get the shovels in!

No surprise announcement that they are looking to extend the M-Line to UBC in a single project.

Or a surprise that the Victoria LRT will move forward (or rebuilding the existing Island railway).

Hell, just to stick it to the Liberals while throwing in a token highway project for the transport industry, upgrading the SFPR to full freeway standards!

So what are they offering that we would not have gotten anyways under the Liberals?

You would think by now we would at least have heard hints or rumours of major plans / projects.

Let's see:
-Campaign finance reform which is long overdue
-Tolls repealed as promised
-Proportional voting mail-in referendum next year
-Firm commitments to replace seismically at risk schools in Vancouver (which the BC Libs dragged their feet on though they had billions for the GMB but not much to stop your kids getting crushed in an earthquake.
-Review of the wildly overbudget Site C dam.
-Firm commitments to bring Skytrain to UBC/Arbutus and rail to Surrey.

The NDP have never been about grandiose infrastructure projects, that is the stomping ground of the Socred/BC Liberal gang.

[GlassCity]

Anyone know if the BC Liberal leadership debate today will be available to watch anywhere online?

[Tfreder]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Anyone know if the BC Liberal leadership debate today will be available to watch anywhere online?

According to a tweet it will be live on the BC Liberals Facebook page. It will be great to see how everyone performs.