Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Hinton pushes stickers, faces criticism

Instead of finally extending the Veterans Independence benefits as promised, instead of finally appointing a Veterans Ombudsman as promised, instead of securing funding for the pine beetle crisis or the Kamloops Airport expansion, Betty Hinton has decided the best use of her taxpayer-funded time on the job -- according to the Kamloops Daily News -- is to persuade Kamloops City Council to place "Support the Troops" stickers on City vehicles. This comes after Toronto's government managed to raise an uproar by doing the same thing.
As Mayor Terry Lake said in response, “[T]his should be an individual choice whether people want to put a decal on their vehicle. I don’t think it should be mandated by any organization or government. It politicizes a very personal choice."
Indeed, many local residents' vehicles already have these troop-support decals on them without help from the City. Meanwhile, Kamloops is one of few Canadian cities to offer free parking to cars with veterans' license plates.
B.C. political blog The Galloping Beaver responds with excellent commentary on what this situation says about Betty. Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Voters for Change offers you some selected quotes about our M.P. from there:
  • useless as a bald snow tire on the Roger's Pass in January and dumber than a manhole cover
  • watched nationally for her next gaffe
  • incapable of independent thought
  • a demonstration of the "big C" conservative need for authority figures and centralized control. Reduce independent thinking to a minimum. Follow the leader. That's what makes Hinton and her particular ilk comfortable. No need to think things through; somebody will do that for you.
We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Cited article by Michele Young
Published July 17, 2007
© Copyright The Daily News in Kamloops

Cited post by Dave
Published July 17, 2007
thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm, looks like the bald tires got some traction on the manhole cover and delivered $6.6 million today for the airport...it was funny to watch Mr. Crawford and Mr. Sommerfeld (and John, Tina and Mel)squirm and try not to look too deflated.

Tough day to be a basher eh? Oh well...maybe Betty will get the Tran-Canada highway upgrade cash as well and then you can bash her for being pro-car/anti-green!

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't say anyone delivered more then long overdue airport funding and no pine beetle funding. The airport funding is necessary and shows, if you hassle Betty a whole lot, she will do some of her job. However, airport dollars in lieu of pine beetle funding is a disgrace. Infrastructure improvements do not mitigate the effects from a natural and environmental disaster. It is the same shell game used with equalization. Yes but No and the Yes is tiny compared to the No.

Anonymous said...

The whole point of Economic Diversification cash coming here for the airport is to create new opportunities that are not forestry dependant.

As for the history of the problem, in the south at any rate, when the beetle infestation was first noted in Manning Park the "environMENTALists" in their wisdom decreed that clearcutting and burning or pesticide treatment were irresponsible. The current dilema is direct result of the failure to deal with the problem when it was manageable.

To quote "The Boss" from the old song..."these jobs are goin' boys, and they ain't coming back."

The whole point of the bug money (1 billion over ten years) isn't to mitigate didley...it is to make a fresh start. There will be a slim number of harvestable trees for 3 generations.

Anonymous said...

Agreed and $6.6 Millions is a drop in bucket for diversification cash and isn't close to the amount needed to cover the damage of pine beetle regardless of whom, or what, is to blame.

This amounts to smoke and mirrors from Hinton and the Tories. One is a disaster and the other infrastructure. However, Tory logic lumps them together puts a ribbon on it and calls it a gift. Just like the equalization lie.

To think, we thought the Liberals were liars and crooks. They have nothing on these goons in office, ow.

Anonymous said...

No, wait a minute, the Liberals were liars, crooks and forgetful........as in they forget to get any money for the Kamloops airport.....or anything else here for that matter!!!

Anonymous said...

Everyone should drop their partisan game playing and just say "thanks"

Kelowna got their runway expanded in the 1980's when they had a government MP (Al Horning) and we
had the charismatic media darling but unproductive Nelson RIIS. That one step was a big factor in Kelown being the air transportation center it is today

Anonymous said...

We are a community that can cooperate to achieve great things. Those who cant leave their party membership cards behind for any occasion are as destructive to our progress and harmony as the battling factions in IRAQ.

And to those media who fan those flames and sometimes create them: shame on you.

Anonymous said...

The focus needs to be on the community. The federal Liberals gave us 15 million for the water treatment plant and the Tories gave us 6.6 million for the airport expansion. Thanks to both. I don't vote for Betty because she is always partisan and never objective. "Shameful" (in her words)litigation with Veterans has been replaced with no comment because the matter is before the courts. "Stealing from seniors" as even the consideration of taxing income trusts was when the Liberals were in power was replaced with banal statements illustrating no comprehension of the issue once she represented government. Thanks for the airport dough though.

Anonymous said...

Cons Libs NDP all profesional thieves and liars everyone