I consider it ludicrous that the fall session will end tomorrow. This tells me nothing except that this government is devoid of vision and a strong will to work for the betterment of the province. If the best they can come up with for a whole legislative session is 9 days of work, then they are not worth paying for. I cannot believe these guys complain about the Federal government stepping on their jurisdictional toes when they cannot even find enough to do!

Let's be honest, if it weren't for the fixed election date, the Liberals would be calling an election right now. They have no choice to but to wait. At the same time, it serves no purpose for the House to remain in session (at a cost of approx. $28,000 a day) when government is able to act quickly. Clearly, given Jenny Kwan's atrocious display at the end of today's sitting, the NDP is not interested in conserving taxpayer dollars. But we knew that already!

Not enough government business for them? Horsefeathers! All the policy departments in government and crown corporations were told to forget about getting most of their legislative amendments through the House this session, because the agenda was too full! All they would consider were those bills that were 'important' - to them.

Meanwhile, the regular legislative work - read 'not high profile' - is not getting done. Nor does it have a hope in hell of getting on the agenda in the next session - right before the election. So, dozens of minor bills, each with a practical reason for being required, are gathering dust on a shelf until, at the very earliest, a year from now.

So much for your tax dollars at work.

To put things in perspective, the Texas Legislature meets every other year.

Braeden,

You should be glad the Fall session is ending...this way the NDP will have more time to dream up a policy platform that is so badly needed if the NDP is to have any hope come May 2005.

mojo -did you even read this week's Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act? Can you name a more boring, lower profile bill in all of BC History?

My apologies...evidently Carole James does have policy...it involves fabricated emails that she claims are "leaked" and suggest all is not well in our medical system.

Wow, who knew that our medical sytem has problems ? Of course Carole offers no solutions and offers only criticism (for a change) and the really gutless part...does not identify the so-called author of the email - Nice leak ! What great politics! We can all create our very own "leaked" emails in the absence of offering real policy or solutions.

Didn't Joy make the same argument in the leg. today ? Nice to see Carole once again playing the role of follow the leader. Small wonder the NDP continues to drop in the polls.

Can't the NDP do any better ? Adrian Carr got more media today.

The Misc Stat Amend Act is not an uncommon occurance in BC. There are often minor amendments to many different statutes that need to be passed

Kevin, a great portion of what you say is correct (A strange compliment, I know). BC Politics has become such a shambled mess.

I find that the NDP, indeed, has very little direction at this point, and struggled with this problem in government too. I also find though that the BC Liberals have far too much direction, and indeed that theirs is the wrong direction and a far stray from true comtemporary "Liberal" policies. This is why I was baffled by the news of the Legislature closing early today. How could a government with so much direction (negative in my opinion, obviously positive according to some others) suddenly run dry?

I'm not so concerned with Jenny Kwan not allowing Royal Assent, because her job is to represent her constituents, who in her riding of Vancouver-Mt. Pleasant I think are unlikely to support the legislation at hand. What concerns me more is how well this government's MLA's will continue to be paid despite not actually being in the "Rockpile."

Watch, they will argue that this means more time in the riding. Yes! Indeed it will, more time to prepare for the election. The 4 year cycle is a joke and an excuse for governments to get distracted, a task already far too easy as it stood before. One or two month campaigns are quite enough - Governments should be for governing, not simply getting elected.

Kevin: This entire site is made possible by unnamed sources leaking documents, yet you seem to find it reputable. Some people don't name those who need to remain anonymous.

Barry Penner whining about the $30,000 cost of keeping the Belleville Zoo in session is typical BC Liar butterscotch!
The Liars haven't denied that the cost of running those "Best place in the world to be a Drunken Driver (Premier?)" ads is $35,000 a pop, so for five grand less the Liars have to show their faces in public for another day.
Poor Liars, sob, boo-hoo!

NEWSFLASH - Its an election year you nincompoops. You don't shackle politicians to their legislature seats to debate and pass miscellaneous statutes amendment acts cobbled together by the bureaucrats.

The government passed a couple of high-profile, politically significant bills and now they're done. Pretty simple.

Fixed election dates create a longer election cycle. Whether that is good or bad I'll leave up to all of you. Right now it certainly doesn't seem very good for Carol James and the NDP who seem to be sitting around and waiting for game to start. 'Nother NEWSFLASH - its game on Carol.

Why is it that the NDP supporters don't seem to care about how they spend other peoples' money? They never did explain their decision to use a non-union pollster - when it was THEIR money they had to spend for a change. Mind you, "Their" money is, in large, made up of donations from unions and other groups that its members don't support the NDP and have no say over their money going to them.

In 47 minutes, Safe Streets passed 3rd reading, the LG arrived to assent, and the house was adjourned. So what did Jenny accomplish for that $30,000? The Liberals dont even have to show their faces in public for an hour -they're all going back to their ridings now.

The corporate tax deductible contributions are a part of the contributions to the Liberal party. It compromises up to 85% or more of Liberal party funds.No great brain chemistry to figure out whose interests they represent and how the Board of Trade and others want to make sure their bread is buttered nicely. But hey, working people who have their cheques deducted for income tax every day will figure out who actually stands up for them when the boys run over them in their Bentleys. Apparently you support no debate as well as you attempt to stifle any voices which may speak up to your ideas in our legally sanctioned forums of government, namely the legislature.Democracy is pretty inconvenient for those who like to run ramshod over others. Gloat if you want but there is a cost to everything including absolute power. Unbelievable that you are griping about parliammentary debate. The beginnings of Totalitarianism come from such ignorance as those of you who wish to shut legitimate dissenting voices down in the way that you would like to do so.Check out Latin America and see what your kind of thinking produces.

Why is it that Liberal supporters don`t seem to care about how they spend other people`s money? They`ve still never explained why they lied about BC Rail, even though it was our company, owned by the people. Mind you ,"their money", is in large made up of donations from large corporations , unlike the NDP who receives most of its donations from private individuals.

NEWSFLASH - By making Carol James their leader, the NDP foolishly conceded 2005 - next election 2009.

Braden,

Thanks for the candid response. As much as I am supporter of the B.C. Liberal government, I don’t believe having a huge majority, as is the current case is in the best interests of Democracy. How did we get here? Because of the completely inept job done by the former NDP Government. It was so bad, that virtually everyone and his dog voted Liberal, and in the process some dogs (no names mentioned) even got elected.

While I agree with much of what the Liberals have done, I don’t agree with all of it. I firmly believe if we had decent opposition (no disrespect to Joy she has done beyond well given her status) The only way we are going to get more opposition and a better-balanced government is to get more opposition members elected.

Thus for the NDP to try and pretend that the 90’s did not happen – the very decade ultimately responsible for our current huge majority government, the cycle is likely to continue itself. Likewise people are sick and tired of constantly hearing criticism; and yet it is all Carole James much less anyone else in the NDP does.

Did anyone watch BCTV this morning? That idiot NDP Brar actually criticized Campbell for taking 3 1/2 years to give Municipalities their traffic revenue back. Municipalities have been waiting over 20 years to get those revenues back and Brar just pointed out that Campbell gave it back, nobody cares about the fact that it took 40 months, only that it happened – hugely stupid politics on his part.

Now Carole James comes out with this stupid idea “Gordon Campbell is forcing average families to pay more than their fair share of the costs of education, with no end in sight to tuition increases. With a $1 billion surplus, we can afford to put on the brakes and freeze fees next year” Carole do your homework – we are just getting caught up form the last do nothing for post secondary education freeze. If you look Canada wide a BC Student would have to go all the way to Quebec to get a cheaper post secondary education, and that is un-fair?

Why in gods’ green earth (other than to buy the student vote of course) would James resurrect an OLD NDP policy that did not work the last time around? Why is Brar hi-lighting that Campbell gave municipalities traffic revenue back. I am telling you the NDP is in serious trouble if they cannot come up with some new and innovative policy. Old “got booted out” policy like tuition freezes on top of old school hacks like Harry Lali will doom the NDP to another dismal defeat.

Small wonder STV voting seems like such a good idea to Citizen’s Assembly

That idiot Brar, says the fiberal parrot, who opines his desire for democracy with a bigger opposition representation. Your hypocrisy knows no bounds but hey... you are a Fiberal who believes everything he hears on BCTV propaganda. You Fibs are so fragile you cannot even handle two NDP members debating legislation and call for an end of the debate because it is costing tax dollars. That is your appreciation of democracy. A waste of your tax dollars. And where did you get your info on the lowest tution fees next to Quebec. It is amazing how telling the same fibs over and over becomes truth in your mind Kevin. How about the fact 8000 people were lining up for a union job and part time ones at that. Signs of a booming economy. Wage rates have fallen, labour standards have regressed through the Employment standards Act and people are hungry for a living wage,retail sales are down but hey, things are great under this government and their regressive pro big business agenda.Hey , and how about that progressive Mayencourt that Sean is lauding as a champion for the gay community?

I take back my statement about Sean championing Mayencourt. In fact it was a very balanced article.

Actually SB it called having kids...believe you me when you go University shopping and add up the bills, BC has the best deal going, you tell me where to find a better deal this side of Quebec and I will be the first to send you a thank you card.

As for your observation regarding the Union job line ups – I think that told us what most in BC already know – Imagine the lineups if all of the HEU cooking and cleaning staff were being replaced…there would be thousands of people after those “poor underpaying, disrespected, poor us” jobs. It’s called a reality check SB.

From a public policy prespective, a tuition freeze addresses some of the financial hardships seen by students struggling to make ends meet.

On the flip side of the coin, the previous prolonged tuition freeze has cut into universities' budgets, which need to address classroom space availability and infrastructure upgrades.

It's all a zero sum game.

To address the thousands applying for a longshoreman's position for roughly 500 positions, one must remember that these jobs pay around $30/hour inclusive of benefits.

In addition, these positions opened up as a result of the tremendous growth in overseas container traffic.

Roberts Bank Superport will likley see a 3-fold increase in container traffic growth within the next 15-20 years.

Substantial employment opportunities will be created when the new berth and terminals will be completed.

These well paying union jobs are nothing to sneeze at.

For the record, Statistics Canada data indicates that as of 2003/04, average undergraduate tuition fees in British Columbia ($4,140) were higher than the national average ($4,025). [1] The B.C. numbers for 2004/05 are even higher than last year due to yet more tuition increases this year (15% increase at SFU, similar increases at UBC, UVic, etc.).

At SFU, tuition fees were frozen at $2,310 per semester from 1995/96 to 2000/01. According to the Bank of Canada's tuition calculator, $2,310 in 1995 dollars is worth $2,764 in 2004 dollars. Tuition fees at SFU are now $4,269 and getting higher, and similar figures are true at other institutions. [2] In terms of real dollars, tuition fees are now 54% higher than what they were in 1995.

Kevin Larson's statement that "we are just getting caught up from the last do nothing for post secondary education freeze" is incorrect. We got 'caught up' quite a while ago - two years ago at SFU - and the fees have been zooming up ever since then.

Sources:
[1] http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/educ50a.htm
[2] http://www.sfu.ca/analytical-studies/FactBook/k-financial/k05.pdf

Titus -do you think that $24m province wide is adequate compensation for a 2005/06 tuition freeze?

Those numbers you gave are per full year of classes (2 semesters), not per semester.

Anyway, since I have time to kill, I played with some numbers from Stats Canada...Provinces with lower tuition than BC are: Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Manitoba, and PEI (in PEI's case, by $7).

By province, percentage of total university revenue from student tuition:

Nova Scotia: 27.83%
Ontario: 26.36%
New Brunswick: 25.46%
Prince Edward Island: 25.00%
Alberta: 21.23%
Canada 19.2% - NATIONAL AVERAGE
Manitoba: 18.67%
British Columbia: 16.95%
Saskatchewan: 15.73%
Newfoundland/Labrador: 15.48%
Quebec: 8.89%

By province, percentage ot total revenue from provincial government:

Quebec: 59.24%
Manitoba: 53.05%
Newfoundland/Labrador: 52.74%
British Columbia: 50.76%
Saskatchewan: 50.28%
Canada: 47.16% - NATIONAL AVERAGE
Alberta: 46.36%
Prince Edward Island: 45.21%
New Brunswick: 43.97%
Ontario: 37.30%
Nova Scotia: 36.13%

Also, BC is #9 (ahead of only PEI) when it comes to percentage of university revenue from the federal government, with 6.83% versus the national average of 8.26%. I'm not interested enough to go figure out per-student federal funding, though.

[1] http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/govt41a.htm

Good to check out TheTyee and an article from Gary Collins and a reply from Will McMartin. Especially you Kevin Larsen.It might shake up your on going story about your liberal government and it's addiction to fibbing.

As MA notes, my numbers were indeed for one year of studies, not one semester. I stand corrected.