Many moons ago an old fart was asked what he thought of politicians. He replied "They should all be drowned at birth". I think he had something there.

This morning, I received an email from a voter in the Kamloops South Thompson riding.  He was passing along the words of a friend of his, regarding news that the government had allowed a contract with the teachers to be negotiated, that included unlimited massage sessions on the taxpayer tab.

The language in the email was strong so I am only going to included the opening sentence ... and then the close of what he had to say:

 

just heard a clip on the news that has me setting my hair on fire!

 

The blame must go to the Ministry of Education who negotiate on our behalf and allow this totally unacceptable &$^%$#@$ to happen!  I am reminded of the justification for raising MLA salaries, “in order to attract the best and the brightest” Duh?

This is, in my tiny perfect mind  just another example of “serve two terms and hit the pension jackpot”! As soon as we understand that as the primary agenda of our politicians we will be better able to deal with it.

Clearly what we need sometime in the future (after you and I have gone on to our reward) is a Maggie Thatcher to get rid of the unionized monopolies that are driving BC into bed with the Greece’s of the world.  Another NDP govt in BC  will surely revive the underground economy and drive good things away.  

How the hell did we allow ourselves to get into this stupid mess?

 

Now first, I wish to say that I do not agree totally with what this person had to say -- however I can understand the frustration that has driven then to have such a strong negative thought, and opinion, of the political process.

Now, the individual that sent me the email also had their own thoughts to share, and again I am going to pass them on for you to read:

 

Peter:

This is from a friend of mine who has a way with words.  The language is a bit strong but, if you intend to swim in the cesspool of BC politics, you will get used to it.

I do not read contracts because my eyes glaze over quickly, but my friend has a keener eye on him than most.  The government negotiators who permitted this "benefit" to be included in the last go-around with the BCTF should be publicly exposed for the incompetents that they are.

I sure pine for the days when we had the Social Credit Party running things.  They too were no angels and shifty at cutting corners BUT at least the province was humming and not wallowing in debt.  Sadly, they imploded.  Our only hope is a resurrected BC Conservative Party, one who closely resembles the Socreds.

Deep down the NDP and the Liberals have the same DNA but, like competitive kids in a family, they don't get along.  And, they have proven, over and over, that they cannot be trusted to live up to their fiduciary duties.  Thus the province keeps going further and further into debt. 

Our crown jewel of Crown Corporations, BC Hydro, has been raped and robbed so often that, in the real world, would be bankrupt.

So, it is no surprise that this perk (massages) was permitted to sneak into the last BCTF contract.  One only has to look at the competency of the players.

"The role of unions is to help members in the work place. Using the dues of union members in partisan politics is not, in my opinion, a role they should be engaging in

BC Conservatives believe that support for political party's should come from individual people --- NOT from BIG business -- NOT from BIG labour.

I do not believe that monies union members pay in dues, should be used for partisan purposes, not at least without them members having an opportunity to decide by secret ballot if this is something they are in favour of.

The following is just one more reason why I believe this should not be permitted. Here we have the leadership of the BCGEU not only is blatantly supporting the NDP and using the dues of union members to do so -- support for this cause appears to be so weak they are now basically pleading for members to take part.

The campaign, "BCGEU Votes" is an outreach program, and while it does not outright call for the support of the NDP, there is little doubt as to who the recipients of their time and energies will be.

This campaign is not about promoting what is right for the majority of hard working British Columbian's. No, instead they say that "Getting our members out to vote is critically important for our union."

They also state, "The future of our union, our members and our province, depends on it."

You can read more about it in the following email, which was provided to us, by a member of the BCGEU.  In fact -- two emails were received from them. The second shows that there does not appear to be a lot of support for this campaign.

In part, Karri Bepple states, "I haven't had a lot of people respond to me about the Saturday, April 6th event - I know it's a few short weeks away and I would really appreciate if you can help me get the word out to more members."

Many of these areas have been noted with BLUE italics in the two emails provided to me.

It appears they are now having to offer prizes in the hopes of having people come out to attend their workshops. Again these areas have been noted in BLACK italics

PEOPLE should support what they believe in. Politics is not where big business and big labor should be calling the shots.

The role of unions is to help workers in the work place – spending the dues of union members in partisan politics is not in my opinion a role they should be engaging in.

That's what I believe -- what say you?

Let's 'stay sharp' Kamloops.

I'm Peter Sharp -- I'm a BC Conservative -- and I believe in BC.


NOW ... here are the two email messages which I had forwarded to me:


From: Kari Bepple <kari.bepple.bcgeu@gmail.com>
Date: 12 March, 2013 3:19:13 PM PDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Political Action Campaign - BCGEU Votes! needs your help!

Hi folks, 

You are receiving this email because you are members that are involved in activism - some on your local exec, some as stewards, or bargaining reps, or OHS reps or all of the above! I felt it made sense to send this out to you all first! 

BCGEU has launched a membership outreach campaign called BCGEU VOTES! Our Provincial Executive has made this a priority for the union and the objective of the campaign is to outreach to all of our members and confirm that they will get out and vote!! I recently spent two days in training and will be overseeing the campaign for area 05 for the next two months. - here is a message I received at training last week from our President, Darryl Walker:

"This is perhaps one of the most important campaigns our union has ever undertaken. The future of our union, our members and our province, depends on it."  

This is our opportunity to really make a change for the better—especially for our members and families. Getting our members out to vote is critically important for our union and hopefully we will see change. You are key to making this happen.  

With your help, we are going to talk to our 65,000 members about the importance of this election--in lunch rooms, at meetings, over the phone, through social media and other communications, and on the doorstep. 

17 key members, working with staff, will put together a campaign plan to engage and mobilize our members around the election.  

For those of you that don't know me I am the local chair of 305 and I'm heading up the political action team (area 05) for BCGEU Votes! I will be on book off until May 14, 2013 working out of the area office. I have a few things I'd appreciate your help with. 

If you have some time you can spare to come out and help me get the word out to members, I'd appreciate hearing from you! I will be entering people's names that volunteer into draws for prizes and will make sure everyone is fed whenever they come out! 

I am planning a number of events over the next few months where I will build a team of volunteers to go to the doorsteps of our members and encourage them to get out and vote or to come in and do some really easy phone banks that I will make fun and worthwhile. It will be members engaging members. 

I am looking for union members to give as little as two hours of their time and I guarantee we will make it fun. I hope that every Local will come out to help do this. We are going to be issuing prizes for the local that gets the most participation with door knocking/phone banking combined. Perhaps there is another local you can challenge???