In a recent letter, Mr. Bernard Miron made reference to some issues that I had raised re: the current Liberal government. Evidently, he seemed to have missed the essence of my statement of these issues. By so doing, it might seem to indicate that he may be in concert with Ms. Clark and company. However, it may only be an indication of same, who knows?
First of all, I did not blame the current government for initially fostering some of the issues that I raised. The “Fast Cats fiasco” is something that Mr. Miron seemed to think that I blamed the current Liberal government for. Nothing could be further from the truth. Had he revisited this issue, he would have rediscovered the fact that the NDP under Glen Clark brought us these ill-fitting white elephants. My reference to the selling of these ships was to point out that they were “given away” by the current government, irrespective of the leadership of the government. True, the leadership changed, however, the main team of horses, except for one, did not. The giveaway makes them all guilty by association for the action that took place.
Mr. Miron emphasizes the fact that Dave Barrett and the NDP caused many economic growth problems for B.C. while being the official government of the time. I have no argument with his take on this. However, one’s political persuasion might well be the key to finding fault with the other guys. In reference to this I bring such issues as: the B.C. Rail fiasco; B.C. Hydro smart meters; the poor showing of the promise of mega-jobs in the province; the failure of Ms. Clark to really put teeth into her “family first” statement; and the fact that the child poverty level in this province is atrocious, just names but a few. There are others as well. Maybe these issues were not important to Mr. Miron. Hmm, I wonder?
I agree with Mr. Miron that electing an NDP government is not a guaranteed “cure-all and fix-all” for B.C. Socialism has not worked in this province that well before, why should it work any better now? To think that Adrian Dix and company would charge in like an errant white knight and make B.C. right with the world is pure folly. Our democratic system, as open as it might be, is not, as we all should realize, without shortcomings. This is shown by the current state of our provincial party system. It’s a Catch-22 situation.
The big question might be: Do we vote with our heads or our hearts? Do we vote on electing a party as being “the lesser of the two evils” or do we consciously investigate the real track record of all possible parties before casting a ballot? That time is coming sooner than we think folks. I would ask Mr. Miron, “Will your homework be done for the upcoming electoral exam?”
Ron Barillaro
Penticton