willy

I think Layton should pass the bong he keeps hoging it.

Will the new ferries not run in BC? They will provide jobs for the workers at BC ferries. If they are here faster and cheaper, they will put BC ferries in a better financial position. Should the workers at BC ferries not benefit from a well managed company? They will also have the money and time to focus on new smaller boats for the other runs. Will the efficiency not also allow them to create more economic activity? This is money for three big capital assets. This is not a waste.

They did bid. 9 companies put bids forward and The Washington Group was one of them. An industry does not put a bid forward a company does. The Washington Group did not make the short list. Two bodies were in place just to evaluate the fairness of the bidding process. As part of the governance structure of BC Ferries they have a great deal of process to awarding major contracts and all the processes were followed. The decision will be made and it is a done deal. If we are to build more ships here that company needs to get more competitive. By the way the spirit class ferries come in over budget and late.

ceemes, When you go to a doctor, do you care where he finished in his class? How about your home builder? Are people and businesses interchangeable? IMO, the European companies have demonstrated a superior product and a greater experience level with building large ferries. BC will likely win many contracts for the smaller boats. Let me rephrase that The Washington Group will win many contracts. If Kyle Washington continues to make BC Ferries look bad, they may not.

You see, I am not a big fan of the charter. Randy talks about adding responsibilities to the charter to go with rights. I tend to agree with him.

UBC added 72 seats to the medical school this year and they are full. They may need to add more but the problem is not empty seats in our universities. They covered this the Vancouver Sun today. We in BC are attracting physicians from eastern Canada at a good rate. By the way the largest growing expense in managing healthcare has been new drug treatments. If the feds took part of that expense it would bring them up to 25% and they could negotiate from the strongest position with drug companies.

They have the time and hopefully they will use it to complete the merger between the two parties. ________________ As for the justice issues, Randy White was strong on this issue and in the election his views on abortion got him moved. It is a shame as his real passion was for victim rights and justice. _________________ Not sure what you mean. Hey the fall session has not started yet. The opposition does not run government. When I said in good time. I mean when it can make a difference. Right now it is a waste a breath. The government is the Liberals.

Did you know more books are printed today than ever before. Newspapers are still printed at growing rates. Yellow pages is still the most common advertising for business. The paper industry was over producing through new efficiencies and growth in the Russian lumber industry.

So was the gun registered. If it was registered, how did that help stop the crime. As for the other stuff, I am going to a bbq this weekend and I will speak to a couple of senior MP's in the Conservative party. I will be sure to ask and report back what I hear. Hey, I don't know Harper's strategy but I am looking forward to him taking an aggressive public position on many issues. For the most part I can't wait until the Conservative convention in the spring. We need policy and soon.

takeanumber, on this we agree. Martin is backpedaling and Klein has aces. The feds need to buck up on healthcare. I hope Klein gets support from other provinces. Good article today (Vancouver Sun) on physician movement in Canada, it seems Alberta has become the magnet and favorable government was sited as the reason.

If you are that smart, go and fix our problems. Maybe you are concerned that no one else will believe you to be as smart as you claim. Hey I know I am not as smart as I think I am.

Let's start with some of your questions. They have been asked and answered. Harper would like to see a national pharmacare strategy. As the Americans will pay for the missile defense and they only want access to the NWT he is most likely for it. The two judges seem to be very liberal in political thinking and that would be a great reason for conservatives to not like the appointment. It has noting to do with gender. The gun control issue. Was it not a hand gun used in Toronto. The long gun registry still would not help this domestic violence problem. I am sure the Conservatives are strong on locking up thugs who beat up on women. takeanumber, you know his opinions on these issues. You don't like most of them but they are far from hidden.

Wow, Wow, Barbara Yaffe, is just mad because he doesn't make the media's job easy. He will talk when it is time. What brilliant questions were they going to ask anyway?(how was your summer) Maplesyrup, you hate the Conservatives. This is not to strong is it. Why does any position Harper comments on matter to you anyway? (or doesn't comment on) Should you not pay a little more attention to see if happy Jack is making any sense?

If Christianity continues to exist will be determined only if it is true. If Jesus was who he said he was, it will exist. If it is really bunk, well you draw your own conclusion. As for this it should be under the Religion and Politics heading if anywhere at all.

That is kind of my point. Why exclude give always? When I moved last year a welcome wagon visited me and gave me promotional stuff for the new area. Coupons, water bottle, key chain, list of churches, new rec book ect. As to the better question, it was off topic and little explained. I guess I was referring to bring in a question about church history. The reformation happened for good reason but the thing that unites the protestant and Catholic Church is much greater than what divided it. This has no relevance to being able to give away bibles anywhere in Canada.

Cartman, Most reasonable people will agree on the point that it would be nice to reduce poverty. If it were possible, it would be desirable to eliminate it all together. The challenge comes from how. I take a neo con approach. I believe people need to take an ownership of their circumstance and the government can only reduce the barriers for social movement. Social equity has no place in my world, only an improvement for the greatest number of people in living standard. The left thinks they can redistribute wealth and achieve a more equitable society. The underlying assumption would be that the equity would be an improvement for the bottom end and not just a bringing down of the top end of the income scale. Who is right? Neither likes poverty but the solutions are as different and night and day.

That would be saved by grace. The lamb was the solution. The war is won. The better question is what unifies the holy catholic church, not what divided it 600 years ago. As for the topic at hand, banning the handing out of bibles is silly. We are a free society right? If the secularists want to hand out something so be it, if Islam or Buddhist want to share information they should be able to. A free country is not to be free from information but free to decide what you want to do with that information.

How is he doing as a midlevel manager in a sign company? I hope Jimmy put him in charge of some good union employees. Hey he might be a good sales men but I look for a little more in a Premier.

As you said in the past, maplesyrup. It is common scence. Fast ferries Patronage (the heads of ICBC, BCHousing, ect.) Union payoffs (inflated contracts e.g. HEU) Questionable book keeping (before the election to state balance books only to find out after it was a lie) Killing any working relationship with Ottawa (militant stance) Killing any working relationship with US (US ships on Vancouver Island being annexed) A shrinking economy (Was down to one mine, consolidation in forestry and closures, corporate offices going to Alberta) Frozen tuition with no new resources (Hurting the ability to receive a quality education) Miss used Hydro revenues (needed massive reinvestment into our power system and they looked at wet winters as a means to balance the books) Ect. I really could go on and on.

Caesar, Quebec didn't sign the constitution in 82. In fact the deal was done with Quebec not in the room. Mulroney, tried to fix the problem with Meech Lake, but failed. Then in Charletown he tried to make everyone happy and failed again. I give him props because he went for it. We had real leadership in those days, for the last 10 years we have bureaucratic management. (nothing I can think of as worse) Yes, I would have to say in my time the best PM is Mulroney. I lived through the Klien revolution and for him to maintain the support he did through the changes to the province is impressive leadership. I have also had personal experience with Don Getty, Glen Clark, Mike Harcourt and Gordon Campbell. Glen Clark takes the prize for being the big looser.

Good luck with that. Boy won't you be surprised if you are wrong.

Love the guy. Good man. I look forward to another 4 years of his leadership. We are finally getting somewhere as a province. Major investments in infrastructure, and business growth. Ceasar, think carefully. If we all work for minimum wage, can it really be expensive anymore to live in Vancouver. Someone would have to pay. It is called a demand curve. So if you find Vancouver expensive, maybe it is because you don’t offer an equal value for service. I have no problems living here, and I live quite well.

Good man. A politician of a less politically correct time. Very entertaining . The only thing I can see wrong with him was that he used to be a Liberal.

Not sure, the story was on talk radio today. I am sure we will hear more soon. I tried CKNW's website but they don't have the story listed. Consolidation of unions sounds a lot like corporations.

Side note: The IWA is in talks to merge with a major American union.