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Candidates offering little

Soon, both the Liberals and NDP will choose a new leader.Of interest to some, no doubt, but a matter that should concern all of us.

Soon, both the Liberals and NDP will choose a new leader.Of interest to some, no doubt, but a matter that should concern all of us.

With candidates of both parties seemingly utterly focused on being elected, we may well ask, ‘What do they have to offer?’

Other than the lame duck proposal to lower the voting age, there hasn’t been anything resembling an agenda that may be of benefit to the people of B.C. Not even the merest suggestion of a platform people can identify with.

After all the inter-caucus turmoil in both parties where the messenger deemed him/herself more important than the message, are we going to end up - yet again - with some self- serving politicians whose main interest is to maintain their power and our ignorance ?

With the great mass of the easily manipulated where patriotism is used to great effect to camouflage the widening tears in our social fabric, there could be a real possibility of a continuation of the policies of the last nine years.

After all, those going ballistic over an Olympic gold medal are not likely to take note of such ‘trivialities’ as child poverty.

With the upcoming referendum on the HST and a possible early election, we can only hope for a sufficient number of the more level-headed to prevent a ‘business as usual situation.’ 

Those with a memory able to recall the BC Rail scandal, the partial privatization of BC Ferry corp., the virtual give-away of run-of-river contracts, BC Hydro, increased unemployment, the creeping privatization of public health care and, yes, the HST.

In an earlier letter to the Times, I asked, ‘Where is the NDP going ?’ After all the internal bickering - about what? - I’m none the wiser today. It would’ve done that party no harm to offer the working people of B.C. a vision of a future direction to which they could relate.

Footnote: The intimidating figure of $1.6 billion to be paid back to Ottawa should the HST be rescinded rather pales into insignificance when we consider that Mr. Campbell, on our behalf, paid virtually $1 billion for Olympic security alone !

Peter van Iersel

Fruitvale