Poli 305 - BC polítics 6 - Premiers

There was a sense of scandal around his government and people compared him to Vanderzalm, but he himself and didn't do anything wrong to warrant his resignation.

• 1. Similar to WAC Bennett and David Barrett, he was flamboyant
• 2. He loved to give speeches and be behind the camera.
• 3. He was a populist political leader which was different from Mike Hartcourt.
• 4. he was a union organizer and quite ideological for the modern in NDP

• 1. He was not the consensus builder Harcourt was
• 2. He was more socialist than Hartourt

BC premiers have promoted mega projects as a way to stimulate the economy

Glen Clark was a mega project premiere

• The building of the fast ferries. The idea was to build two lightweight catamaran berries made of aluminum. Was to go from twassen to Nanaimo.
• 1. the cost increase dramatically over the course of the project
• 2. and there were concerns over the large wake they would create.
• 3. The time savings would only be about 15 to 20 minutes

He was very unpopular among the Liberal Party, and he was accused of giving a casino license to a friend of his in exchange for building a deck for him. he went to court and was found not guilty, but the political damage had already been done.

Ujjal Dosanjh :

• 1. he was attorney general and had approval for his handling of the Tsilquot'in standoff.
• 2. He was the first Indo Canadian and first non white premier as well as being an immigrant

2001

• 1. Like Mike Hartcourt he was the mayor of Vancouver
• 2. Was part of a right of center political party in Vancouver called non-partisan Association NPA

• 1. He wanted to change politics in a way that I made it very difficult for the NDP to do what they wanted
• 2. He wanted to dramatically reduce personal income tax to the end ep couldn't tax and spend because no government that raises taxes would last.
• 3. He wanted to reduce the size of the state

• 1. He sold BC Rail but BC government still owns the tracks
• 2. he privatized BC Ferries in a way, he set up a structure where it was no longer under the cabinet minister but it was more like a private company.
• 3. he proposed to sell the Coquihalla Highway and privatize BC Hydro but was opposed strongly

• 1. he helped to promote the Olympics in Vancouver / Whistler
• 2. his government built the new convention center in Vancouver. He thought it would enhance the economy but it hasn't really worked out well because it is not being used to capacity.

He introduced the HST right after the election. There is a debate to whether he actually promised not to bring it in but the public felt that the text was illegitimate.

there was a push within the Liberal caucus to have him step down largely due to the HST, and Stephen Harper appointed him as High Commissioner to the u.k and so he stepped down.

Populism has taken on a different form in BC with referendums rather than within the political parties

• 1. Recent premiers such as Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark have been
• Less flamboyant
• 2. Less populist

She has been described as a managerial premier

• 1. When there are ethnic differences in the country that justify a division. this applies to Canada, so that Quebec could have a degree of self government
• 2. Countries that were geographically large, federalism was a way of distributing government across the country. Especially in the 19th century due to a lack of communication

They had to go to San Francisco and then take a train to Chicago and then go up to Ottawa from there

• 1. Federalism is a benign imperialism. the country can expand its control through federalism as long as they could control the military.
• 2. Federalism is a form of empire building by Canada

BC probably would have been a part of the United States

• 1. Section 91 discusses the powers of the federal government
• 2. Section 92 discusses the powers of the provincial governments

Canada: works in practice but doesn't work in theory.

Canadian federalism is open to interpretation and is always changing

• 1. He wanted a unitary government but Quebec and Ontario wouldn't go for that. he wanted the provinces to be mere municipalities
• 2. He wanted a very strong central government to avoid a civil war as had happened in the United States

• 1. Canada now is the most decentralized country in the world.
• 2. the provinces in Canada spend more than any sub national governments in any other country

• The idea was that the federal government should give the areas of most importance including military and shipping
• the provinces would get a smaller powers including health care and education
• However, since 1867 these ideas have turned around. Now health care and education are extremely important

• 1. Reading making is an area of federal jurisdiction but since natural resources are provincial the BC government must be involved
• 2. Fisheries are an area of federal jurisdiction but it is important to the provinces
• 3. Criminal law is in the area of federal jurisdiction, yet policing is provincial so there is overlap

The safe injection site in Vancouver was established in a three-way discussion. The provincial government negotiated an exception with the federal government for Insight. When the Conservative government came to power they tried to get rid of it but the courts decided it was a health care initiative under provincial jurisdiction not a matter of criminal law under federal jurisdiction.

• 1. Aboriginal people: negotiators told the federal government that they had resolved the Aboriginal and his shoes yet this was not true but the federal government accepted it
• 2. Land grab: Negotiators wanted to make the biggest land grab they could and since there was no eastern boundary at the time northeastern BC was taken as negotiators insisted that it was part of BC even though geographically it is prairie land and makes sense to be a part of Alberta
• 3. Railway construction this was a part of the deal for BC to enter into consideration. In 1818 the boundary was created at the 49th parallel but it was not brought all the way to the Pacific coast so the British wanted to have a land connection across North America to secure the territory north of the 49th

As the railway took time to be finished there was a separatist movement in DC. The railway came to Port Moody in 1885. the federal government wanted to establish the mechanisms of national unity by linking the country together

Federal funding for programs is a way to establish unity across the country. Policy links. BC has an ambiguous relationship with Canada and the other provinces as British Columbians tend to have a very strong identity. Both levels of government are trying to capture the identity and loyalty of the people of British Columbia.