Premier Campbell Quits

[Mazrim]

Campbell did a good job, but he was far from the praise Pinner is giving. When the going was tough though, he made the unpopular decisions and made sure the province didn't dig itself too deeply into a hole (it could have been worse than you see now). I'm still baffled at some of the sudden decisions they made, like abruptly ending the toll booth on the Coquihalla.

[HotHotHeat]

It's sort of amusing that the furthest left leaning province has essentially kicked out their premier because he raised taxes in the most traditional and cliche manner possible.

[Pinner]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

All 9% of British Columbians who support him agree!

But then, your approval rating will drop faster than the Oilers in the standings when it takes less than two months for all of your major campaign platforms to be revealed as lies.

Campaign platforms, we won't be going to the polls until 2013.

[Bertuzzied]

The new premier for BC should quash all the unions there. Maybe BC might have a chance on not being communist after all.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Pinner

Campaign platforms, we won't be going to the polls until 2013.

Ahh whoops. change "less than two months" to "less than 14 months" in my last post - for some reason I read his election win was May 2010 instead of May 2009 on the Vancouver Sun timeline.

[Blaster86]

The fact a guy who lied through his teeth at every turn as long as he did is a testament to how terrible Carol James is as a party leader. The fact Carol James became a party leader is a testament to how idiotic the NDP is.

[Pinner]

Todays speech etc. it's pretty short.

http://www.globaltvbc.com/Campbell+w...666/story.html

[evman150]

Among my favourite Campbell initiatives was his almost tripling of university tuition right out of the gate, just in time for me to start at UVic!

Oh and I`m pretty sure we have the lowest minimum wage in Canada.

Somebody touched on it earlier, but I 100% agree that the only reason Gordie`s been in this long is because Carole James is remarkably unappealing.

[Pinner]

Originally Posted by evman150

Among my favourite Campbell initiatives was his almost tripling of university tuition right out of the gate, just in time for me to start at UVic!

Go to school in the states then if you don't like the cost of your education.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

There isn't really any other conclusion that can be drawn.

I suppose it's also possible that the HST objectors have researched the issue, and are just intellectually deficient, but I think uninformed is more likely.

I had someone try to explain to me that it was hurting their business, since they had to pay HST on inputs now. But they were paying PST on inputs before, and now they're going to get the HST on inputs refunded to them on their HST return. They're better off but are too uninformed or too stupid to get it.

It has bugger all to do with the HST as a tax, it has everything to do with the fact that they ran on a policy of not bringing it in and then a month later brought it in, just as they ran on a policy of not privitising BC rail and then a few months later privitised them and promised not to tear up contracts and then once elected tore up the hospital workers contract.

On three major policies the liberals have explicitly run on one position only to do the complete opposite once elected. It doesn't really matter whether the policy was good or bad, people don't like getting bs'd.

[CaptainCrunch]

[rubecube]

The problem isn't so much the HST itself, but that Campbell blatantly lied about it and then implemented it in the worst way possible, creating a massive PR fiasco.

[Red_Baron]

I see where this thread is going...
Anyways, I'm glad he's gone. I'm paying an extra $70-100 a month on items that weren't previously PST taxable and I'm above the income tax cutoff so all it looks like to me is $940-1200 less that I have available for spending a year. That means the company that can write off the PST on the materials that would have been included in the product that I can't afford makes zero instead of not saving 7% on the cost.

[Pinner]

Originally Posted by Red_Baron

Anyways, I'm glad he's gone. I'm paying an extra $70-100 a month on items that weren't previously PST taxable

I don't believe your numbers are right, and I'm wondering if you've factored in the large, very large tax breaks to you and business owners ?

You guys are right about sneaking the tax in, but it was the only way. Unfortunately the average voter does not know what is good for them

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I think he's a brutal person, who was a total hypocrite. Deficits are illegal....than he changes it. I can drink and drive, but will make the penalties in BC uber stiff, and give the Police way too much power to enforce traffic laws. He more or less lived this long as BC Premier because he wasn't the NDP. He dropped the ball against the NDP in the 1996 election and should have been ousted than as leader of the BC Liberals. He should have been forced out after the Drinking and Driving in Hawaii, but somehow survived. His party overall did do decent things for the province, but in my opinion he's always been a terrible leader.

This is just a political ploy for the Liberals to get a new face in so that the NDP can't run a we're not Gordon Campbell campaign, and the Liberals can keep up their we're not the NDP mantra. Which wouldn't be so bad for BC because the last thing they need is to go back to the NDP.

Agree with you that I don't like the guy one bit, and I know a few people who have worked with him who have really nothing good to say about him personally

But I do think politically the party has done a good job under him, and him stepping down with enough time to keep the NDP out of power in the next election is good for the province as a whole when a lot of his predecessors at Premier have gone down to the bitter end.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Pinner

I don't believe your numbers are right, and I'm wondering if you've factored in the large, very large tax breaks to you and business owners ?

You guys are right about sneaking the tax in, but it was the only way. Unfortunately the average voter does not know what is good for them

so you'd prefer a dictatorship then?

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

But I do think politically the party has done a good job under him, and him stepping down with enough time to keep the NDP out of power in the next election is good for the province as a whole when a lot of his predecessors at Premier have gone down to the bitter end.

Last 4 elected premiers in BC, all ended up resigning rather than get beat in the next election when their popularity was beaten down. Vanderzalm, Harcourt, and Glen Clark all resigned before dropping the writ. Although the NDP probably made the most improbable comeback in history when Glen Clark took over from Harcourt after the Bingo scandle and basically stole a sure thing from Campbells Liberals.

Who's in line to become the next leader of the BC Liberals anyways?

[Pinner]

Kevin Falcon seems to know what he's doing.

[edn88]

I hope for BC's sake that they do not vote in an NDP government.

And I have to agree - if you have to have a PST and a GST, then having a HST is really the smart thing to do. BC - if you hate your HST so much, get rid of your PST - ie. stop spending so much public money!

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Pinner

Kevin Falcon seems to know what he's doing.

He's certainly got the whole posing-for-cameras act down pat.

I haven't lived in BC for some time, but when he was Minister of Transportation he certainly didn't do anything ground breaking or spectacular. I'd be curious to know how the Health portfolio has done since he took that role.