I'm not Lisa.

I'm not Lisa, my name is Julie
Lisa left you years ago
My eyes are not blue
But mine won't leave you
'Til the sunlight has touched your face
                                    popular song by Jessi Colter from her album, An Outlaw.

Somehow it seems to fit. You try to pretend something is the same but it has changed. The song is about human nature. About the inability to face a disappointing situation. It seems to me that many British Columbians are struggling with this malaise right now. Trying to simply put food on the table and forcing themselves to believe things are not that bad, but they don't want to be told.

What I am trying to say is, I am telling you. And all the posts here are telling you that the BC Liberals have changed the lives of all of us. And we have to accept and face it. Perhaps it has not affected you just yet, but it will, and may be irreversible if we allow it to go on. 

But I am not an NDPer. I do not vote NDP. And having said that, I am not a BC Conservative either. Or a Liberal. Or any other underground cellar plotting party. Although I noticed once that Richard the Troll of the BC Rhinoceros Party got more votes than many of the mainstream party candidates.  IF you can even call the current crop of MLAs main stream these days. They behave like fringe parties raping a Third World country! And have a 'what's in it for me' mentality.

And the Outlaw idea fits too. It seems to me that the BC Liberals are working against the people of BC, not for us. The legislation and the rules and laws brought in seem to be hurting British Columbians instead of helping them. Only favoring a select few. And like outlaws, money is the driving force. Ethics and honesty left you years ago. Along with Lisa.

So how can one judge these people and organizations that want political power now? You of course, can only assess them on their recent actions. Christy Clark is bludgeoning her way straight ahead, pretending there never even was a Gordon Campbell, all the while ignoring our salmon fishery being destroyed by foreign owned fish farms. All the while sucking up to Harper's Enbridge tar sands oil pipeline which has the ability to destroy pristine wilderness forever, (Valdez, Alaska has still not recovered, and Exxon hasn't even paid all their fines) in favour of Alberta oil exports to China. All the while ignoring the BC Rail train robbers who took the whole train! Christy Clark continues stomping out bush fires right and left and pretending nothing is wrong. Christy, the elephant in the room is you and it is 6 million dollars wrong!

What about the BC Conservatives? Well they have been suspiciously quiet, but they have not been attacked seriously by those in power. John Cummins, ex MP, now an MLA and leading the disenchanted right, just smiles and mumbles he would do it better. Hmm, I wonder if he would admit that most of Canada thinks the Brian Mulroney inquiry is the biggest embarrassment we've ever had?
What are Cummins' ties to Steven Harper and his disassembly of our environment laws with Bill C38? And yes, that bill hurts BCers because it clears the way for Alberta to sell its oil to the Chinese without concern or real input from British Columbians. The BC Conservatives have little to go on and we have to guess what they would really do. But hoping is not good enough, is it? The BC Conservative party seems a potential vehicle for fleeing Liberals to hide in.

And the NDP. Yes, they do have a track record. But chanting Fast Ferries is getting old, no one remembers the melody anymore. How long can the Liberals dredge up weathered scare tactics? Adrian Dix is also keeping quiet, preferring so far to edge into the campaign slowly and without hyperactivity. Clever of him. He is trying to look serious like a leader. And what about schooling, health care and unions, all NDP favorites. UBC constantly complains about the education level of students entering higher studies as incompetent to move ahead. Can we do better? Our health care presently is second to none, because of the people practicing the on-the-ground jobs. Unions? Dave Barrett passed back-to-work legislation. Would an NDP party governing BC have a deleterious effect on the people of the province? Or a positive one? It IS about the people who live here.

I suppose one has to look at the immediate past of BC politics and ask what gains we have had with the present government. And then ask what effect they have on you personally. Seems the only thing to me is the fact that everything is judged with a dollar value today. 

No one seems able to account for any of our tax dollars and it is almost like we are starting out to pay for anything new as if it needs all new dollars. As if there is no General Revenue. The new Port Mann crossing tolls will likely be about $4.00 per crossing. So a guy going to work 5 days a week into Vancouver, is going to have a $160.00 hit every month! That's nearly 2 THOUSAND dollars a year. A difference maker in your enjoyment of life and support of a family. It is not always about dollars. It should never be about greed.

I still have trouble with this because I am old enough to remember old WAC Bennett proudly saying, "No more tolls for British Columbians."

My eyes are not blue
But mine won't leave you
'Til the sunlight has touched your face, and there are thousands of voters out here who are waiting and watching and wondering if any sunshine is ever going to touch their faces. Or the faces of any MLAs. So far, with the present people in power, it looks like rain!
The only ones I hear saying how prosperous we are are those shareholders with a profit agenda or the heads of greedy corporations, most of them foreign owned, enjoying their tax reductions while that guy crossing the Fraser every morning to make a buck is paying for it all.

A change is needed. A big change. We have to face our situation. We have done it before. We have to get back to province building and consider the future of British Columbia, FOR the people of BC. The world is going to get harder to live in in the future, we need to gather and hold on to our resources and quit selling them off. Sometimes I feel like we have been raided and robbed and the train robbers are just waiting around the next bend for more.
And that is just wrong. I want to be proud of my province.

Sometimes we need to throw the outlaws out and start over again. Like cleaning under your sink.

Lisa left years ago.