Blake MacKenzie, a former member of the B.C. Conservative Party board of directors, issued the following letter of resignation on Monday (August 23):
It is with deep regret that I wish to inform you that I am resigning effective immediately from the Provincial Board of Directors as Director at Large, and canceling my membership in the party.
I have lost confidence in the leadership of the party and the direction it has chosen to follow.
I have been deeply concerned by the backroom dealings and the amount of power that has transferred into the hands of an unelected group of self ordained political brokers to guide the party. Those of us who were actually elected back in September are being trampled and moved out of the way in favour of appointed, unelected people who are now controlling the party. I would have thought the party would have learned its lesson from 2004 where operatives working for both the BC Liberals and the federal Conservatives came in and caused maximum disruption and prevented BC Unity from merging with the BC Conservative Party.
The Party is now dominated with mostly political appointments by the TAG group and their leader Randy White. The Provincial board has been taken over by those closely allied to the federal Conservative Party and their members currently involved in the BC Liberal Party.
I cannot and will not support this type of activity in the party. Some of our finest talent in the party is being marginalized because of their opposition to the HST. Chris Delaney is the most public figure in our party and the leadership regards him as though he is a liability to the party. His treatment by the TAG leader Randy White, President Wayne McGrath, and Conservative MP John Cummins can only be described as disrespectful and disingenuous. The one person who could point thousands of people to our party and has, with his involvement as a leader in the Fight HST organization, helped to demolish the BC Liberals, is considered by these unelected newcomers as not good enough to side with or mention his name in conjunction with the BC Conservative Party name. Shame!
I can no longer support a party that sides with the BC Liberals and the federal Conservative Party over the HST and over the people of BC. The people of BC have spoken and the party leadership in the BC Conservative Party will not listen. Pretending to listen is not listening. We all know where the HST policy is going to come from; it will be developed by federal Conservatives as a watered down version that still accepts the HST to make sure their political masters in Ottawa are satisfied. I know the people of BC will not approve.
The party is now in the hands of outside, unelected interests which contradicts one of our most important constitutional philosophies - representing the interests of British Columbian’s first above all others.
The party leadership considers working with failed BC Liberal politicians and federal Conservatives who supported the HST, over attracting the hundreds of thousands of people in BC who oppose the HST, and oppose those who gave it to us. I for one will not be part of watching the party be taken over by a group of people, only to see them bring forth the same type of top down, backroom, undemocratic politics we were trying to replace in the BC Liberal Party.
I believe the choices made by the leadership of the party, including the TAG leader Randy White and the Fed Cons will fail, and the BC Conservative Party will collapse into obscurity.
I will continue to work together with all others of good faith for the betterment of British Columbia to ensure BC stays in the hands of the people of BC, and out of the clutches of those who would use her for their own ends.
Regrettably, Blake MacKenzie
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Comments
which is obviously shining through once again.
So many questions.....
I guess the bottom line is that having a party which represents the best interests of the people is looking less and less likely.
I have always been and will always be a NDP supporter and worker. I believe they have the best interests of people of all political stripes at heart, but I know there are backroom dealings there as well.
I have great respect for Mr. Delaney but I never have and will never support the conservative party. It's heartening to see at least one Conservative has some ethics and a conscience. He must be a "Red Tory". We know Harper's goons don't have any. Too bad Gordo's LIbARalS haven't a conscience or any ethics at all.
I don't think the NDP has been all that quiet, given that the Fight HST campaign has one of their top strategists, Bill Tielmann, working on it. In addition, several NDP MLAs have worked on promoting the petition, and Carole James has appeared at a number of the rallies.
The party has been also been strongly encouraging members (of which I'm one) to back the petition. However, when one considers the knee-jerk, reactionary, Canwest-sucking "OMG da 90's wuz da holocawst" mentality among many B.C. voters, I think the NDP braintrust has been smart in playing a supporting rather than leading role in the HST fight.
Also, New Democrats took the lead in fighting the Lieberals joke of a Carbon Tax, only to be stabbed in the back by David Suzuki, Gregor Robertson and their band of Liberal apologist eco-capitalists in the opening week of the 2009 campaign. On the HST it's once bitten, twice shy for the NDP.
Correct me if I am wrong, but Have never read Carol James or the NDP officially say that if they took office they would eliminate the HST. Yes they have supported the petition, but only in a capacity to let it takes its political course, never the idea of the petition itself. Its a safe distance, but they would be stupid to rally against it, or the political merits of the petition itself.
Also, New Democrats took the lead in fighting the Lieberals joke of a Carbon Tax, only to be stabbed in the back by David Suzuki, Gregor Robertson and their band of Liberal apologist eco-capitalists in the opening week of the 2009 campaign. On the HST it's once bitten, twice shy for the NDP.
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I couldn't agree more.
For whatever reason -- advertising revenues? -- it's a story none of the media, including the self-proclaimed alternative media, are willing to accept or cover.
And I would add that the various academics who signed caustically worded, anti-NDP "op-ed" pieces that seem to have been written in large part by the BC Liberal Govt's notorious Public Affairs Bureau, aren't going to be of much help either. They are ideologically wedded to both the carbon tax and the HST, which they insist must be called a "value-added tax" despite the blindingly obvious fact that it's practically indistinguishable from a retail sales tax. They are so wedded to these two policies that they are unwilling to say or do anything that would amount to criticism of the Premier and Government who brought in those policies.
And then there's their sneering personal contempt for Carole James, coupled with their stark fear that another NDP tuition freeze might have an arresting impact on academic salary adjustments.
Rod Smelser
Why arnt their tougher laws, and why isnt there a hawk eye on how things are done within political parties?
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Political financing is tightly monitored and controlled by Elections Canada and Elections BC.
There is no similar level of scrutiny on the commercial mass media or on NGOs
Rod Smelser
I joined and then took a hike many months ago/I knew where that deal was heading and it wasn't my way - Blake's taken a hike----when is Chris bustin a move?
McKenzie publicly confesses to fleeing the Seniors dinner and bun throwing contest (hereinafter BC Conservative party) - as does Vetro-by way of political inference. Chris Delaney stays - and is being 'abused' apparently - by these wretched Seniors at BCC.
McKenzie - Vetro - Delaney (particularly) all served exceptionally well in the machine like organization called Fight HST - led by former Social Credit premier Bill Vander Zalm - who apparently won't go near any political party (and who -on good authority- was disinclined to go near the BC Conservatives from the beginning)---
Vander Zalm's Fight HST signed up - depending on how you calculate it - 33-47% of voters - based on 2009 provincial election results -- that is the value of his name over the organization.
Chris Delaney--Blake McKenzie-Sal Vetro and Unity BC got 3.3% in 2001 (arguably while the NDP was as hated as BC Liberals are now) - but prior to that -- Vander Zalm and Reform BC has 24% (before federal Reform changed name to Canadian Alliance).
According to Blake McKenzie "Chris Delaney is the most public figure in our party and the leadership regards him as though he is a liability to the party. His treatment by the TAG leader Randy White, President Wayne McGrath, and Conservative MP John Cummins can only be described as disrespectful and disingenuous". ----- The BC Conservatives are around 6-8% in the polls --- Reid/ROBBINS.
Our private polling www.robbinssceresearch.com (iou GS ad $) has Vander Zalm - at 25-40% popularity (conservatively) in the province--and maybe as high as 50 PERCENT in some spots. That is impressive!
Vander Zalm is a shrewd politician and no experienced politican wants to give back those kind of numbers readily - that's alot of British Columbians--you have to expect he and his wife Lillian are going to want to have a heart to heart -- because my calculations suggest a new third party in BC goes nowhere without him---but can't wait a year to start -- and it is unlikely (higher standard - law of diminishing returns) that Recall will be as successful as the Fight HST.
The opportunity to fill the political vacuum will likely decrease and not increase over time.
The Fight HST ensemble clearly led by Vander Zalm needs to decide now if they are exclusively a political organization - or have other ambitions and the latter is unlikely to work unless Vander Zalm is at the head. Campbell - James both have done the calculations -- Vander Zalm and Delaney need to recognize these much sooner than later.
Yes, it does take a tiny bit more effort to go to the net, when you can just clap your hands and the TV is on. But for those that check the http://fightHST.com site REGULARLY, they are pumped and ready for action!
Also, there are a plethora of good websites with REAL INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS who's RSS feeds are well worth keeping up with. They do all the work surfing and researching, and putting it all together, we just have to READ. But again, that seems to be a lost art these days.
An excellent site to start your journey is http://dollarpages.org
Message to Liberals: YOU'RE GOIN' DOWN! [lol!]