BC Election Day reactions

Van Media Coop has an interesting piece up from Ivan Drury on why he is voting for NDP despite their "do nothing platform". Spoiler alert: the first reason is because Christy Clark is the worst.

And The Tyee has a pretty comprehensive coverage area for BC elections, with reports on polls etc, including this article "Five Reasons to Turf Christy Clarks Crew" on "useful points to consider as you head to the polls today. The devil you know is not always better when they have a track record as astonishingly shitty as the BC Liberals"

Here is some of rabble.ca's best stories about the election so far (if you still need help deciding who to vote for, ha ha ha):

Christy Clark's excuses for child labour in B.C. defy logic and good public policy

In effect, in 2003, the BC Liberal government transferred responsibility for children's safety in the workplace from the Employment Standards Branch to parents and then took out ads in newspapers across the province announcing to employers they could now hire 12-year-olds.

Clark however, continues to ignore the demand side of the child labour equation, and clings to 'parent choice' language implying that parents, all of them, have the experience, and expertise to assess work site safety and the authority to enforce it.

Citing her own experience working when she was 12 years-old is an ignorant rationalization that betrays a narrow, middle-class, perspective that imagines child labour is about 'pocket money' and 'learning responsibility.' Clark's logic-defying conclusion that these debilitating work injuries might still have happened if the permit system was in place, reveals a stellar deficit in understanding the purpose of making and enforcing good public policy.  

Ten years later it would be nice to hear some reflection from the Liberals on the now measurable impacts of child labourers, but it seems that's wishful thinking.

[Podcast] 2013 BC Election: The Missing News

Derrick O'Keefe's op-ed: Enough is enough: There's no shortage of reasons to kick the B.C. Liberals out of office

Here then, in no particular order, are 10 reasons why Christy Clark and the Liberals richly deserve to be booted out of office. This could have been a much longer list.

The B.C. Liberals allowed gaping inequality to grow. Year after year, B.C. has had close to the highest rates of income inequality and child poverty in Canada. While the rich and corporations have received new tax breaks, welfare rates have remained scandalously low and social housing has received scant provincial support.

The B.C. Liberals lied and privatized BC Rail. Of the many election promises Gordon Campbell brazenly broke, this was one of the biggest. Not only did the Liberals privatize a vital public asset after saying they wouldn't, but the BC Rail scandal and subsequent criminal trial exposed the blatant corruption of the Liberals. Two senior B.C. Liberals eventually plead guilty, and the B.C. Liberal government agreed to pay their legal fees -- close to $6 million!

The B.C. Liberals' cuts hurt the most vulnerable. While allowing social assistance rates to stay at appallingly low levels, the Liberals imposed additional cuts against the poor who live with disabilities, and reduced access to assistance for those living with HIV/AIDS.

And so on.

Why vote green?

The time for compromise has come and gone. A certain temperature increase is inevitable -- already "locked in" -- but if we are to have any chance of preventing runaway global warming and the destruction this would entail, then we need to start saying no right now to the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure. Either we stay below the two-degree warming threshold or we don't. Politicians who only get us partway there are no better than those who don't even try.

This is the issue of primary importance during the election campaign underway here in British Columbia. Environmental questions are the ones with the most profound, far-reaching, and long-lasting impacts. Air, water, land, food, climate. These are not frivolous, "post-materialist" concerns that we have the luxury to think about only when there's nothing else on the radar. They are inescapably wrapped up in our collective survival.

In this context, limiting our consideration to just the NDP and the Liberals won't cut it. We British Columbians must "think globally" while we vote locally. It is time for us to embrace the Green Party.

Seriously?! Wow. Is it a difference between federal and provincial policies.

I have a friend who votes Conservative federally (I know. Just, don't even) and Liberal provincially (again. I know.)

My parents are in Port Moody, and in that small town, seems everyone votes for the person. The old mayor is up and looks like he'll take it no prob for the NDP.

Don't we want to increase the lesser?

Maybe I should have said "reduce the lesserness OF the lesser"....is that a thing?

Could this be an indication we have too many B.C. election threads?

Mind you, less might be more...

excellet Left Turn - as an Ontarian, I sometimes wish that I live in BC, where NDP govts are not a rarity.

Hi Wilf, and I'm sure that will happen to us too and for sure I'd want to stay in Ontario.

Full-on battle stations. How martial.

derrick, get better and watching the results from home is just fine and dandy.

I'm very excited derrick

These first numbers aren't turning out so well... 

this is not a good start, hopefully things start turning around soon

Early days yet, chaps. Hold your nerve.

Any idea what time we'll actually get a clear idea of the outcome?  I'm watching CBC Newsworld right now and the percent of polls reporting is still super low...