A Dime a Dozen Blog

After seeing the last BC Liberal budget, I dropped out of a project I had been working on for their youth wing and sent them this email:

“Just saw the budget. Don’t contact me again.”

Every day, I’m happier I broke ties with those people.  The latest by way of SDA is Bill 42 which will put a 5 month long pre-election restriction on third party spending.  That is to say that for 5 months before an election – 5 months! – you will not be able to fully exercise your right to advocate for or against a candidate, party, or issue.

This from an anti-Bill 42 website set up by a coalition of BC unions:

Bill 42, the Election Amendment Act, places extreme limits on public interest advertising and communication in B.C. from December of this year until the May, 2009 provincial election…  Bill 42 changes the definition of third party advertising to include “an advertising message that promotes or opposes, directly or indirectly, a registered political party… including an advertising message that takes a position on an issue with which a registered political party or candidate is associated.”

…Bill 42 actually places new limits on democratic participation.

Bill 42 DOES NOT restrict political party donations.

Bill 42 INCREASES political parties’ campaign spending limits to an amount that can only be reached by the BC Liberal Party, with the support of corporate donations.

And Bill 42 places new limits on ID requirements for voter registration that disadvantage low income and homeless people in our communities.

More here.

The BC Liberals were supposed to be a coalition of the centre and the right.  After a decade in power, it appears as if the ideologues have lost their hold and left it to the lifers.  BC needs a new conservative party.