Your Conservative Candidate In Penticton |
Chris Delaney |
Liberal Broken Promises |
the legislature on all matters not specifically identified as a vote of confidence. Almost never. The Liberals have held party line votes on virtually every bill. Dissent has been confined to the closed debates of the Liberal caucus room
Establish a Waste Buster website - Launched in 2001, shut down two years later
Ministers who exceed their budgets to face a salary cut Never enforced. Every time ministries were in danger of missing their targets, the government has exempted the ministers via legislation. When the premier faced an overrun on his office budget, the Liberals moved the offending programs to another part of the government.
Set a fixed parliamentary calendar, with sittings in the spring and fall. Adopted in 2001 but the government abandons the schedule at whim, any time it wants to avoid a fall session
Eliminate MLA pensions - MLA pensions had already been abolished by the previous NDP government when Campbell took office. His Liberal government restored a revised, albeit less-lucrative version of the MLA pension plan in 2007
Repeal the NDP gag law on third-party election advertising. Done. But replaced with a more restrictive Liberal gag law last year that has just now been struck down by the Courts
Enact workable recall legislation - "Not a priority," the Liberals say
Make it easier for you to have a direct vote on issues, via workable initiative legislation. Nothing done on that one, either
Hold an open cabinet meeting every month - Done throughout first term. Not since 2005
All major capital spending and land use decisions to be decided by cabinet publicly, in open meetings. Seldom done in the first term, never since
Improve access to information - according to Campbell himself: "Government information belongs to the people, not government. All citizens must have timely, effective and affordable access to documents which governments make and keep. Governments should facilitate access, not obstruct it. " The practice, according to a survey reported earlier this month: "The B.C. government is the second-worst province in Canada after Ontario for responding to freedom of information requests, according to a national audit commissioned by the Canadian Newspaper Association . . . . Overall, B.C. received a C-, just slightly ahead of Ontario."
Stop the expansion of gambling - Then Solicitor General Rich Coleman “As you know the New Era document commits to ending gaming expansion, recognizing the negative social impacts problem gambling can have on families and communities. The recent Cabinet decision reaffirms this commitment.” Number of slots in BC in 2001 = 2400. Number of slots in BC in 2009 = 10,150
Government Advertising - Campbell "Hon. Speaker, I'm amazed that this minister doesn't understand the difference. This side of the House told the truth with our mail-in; this government (NDP) has never thought of telling the truth. We're talking about this government spending $925,000 -- not to buy media, not to communicate, not to let people know that 5,500 people have lost their jobs and that we're trying to bring them back to work. The question to the Minister of Finance is: doesn't he really think that that $925,000 would be better spent on protecting children in the province of British Columbia?"
The Liberals then went on to spend $19 million on ads during the run up to the 2005 Electtion |