At 1 PM Saturday the Rally began right on time. I had arrived at 12:45 and there were already people with signs on the sidewalk along Highway 97. At that point there were about 40 people there. All Mad as Hell at how we were being manipulated. There was plenty of horn honking on the highway from Ranchers, citizens and quite a few truckers.
By the time the rally started the numbers had almost doubled to over 70 folks. And that didn't include some youngsters who saw that their future was affected. There were about 10 of them.
The numbers may seem a bit small but for a small community like 100 Mile House they are significant. And all these small communities in the Cariboo Chilcotin add up.
The co-ordinator for the Cariboo Chilcotin arm of the Anti HST rallies, Eric Freeston, started the process at 1PM. The theme appeared to be "Wake up Donna Barnett, stand up for your constituents and vote against this draconian tax grab.
Speakers included a pensioner, a labour leader, a physician (retired), and others. All had different things to say but the common theme was WAKE UP DONNA.
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All in all it was pretty upbeat. After the rally I had an opportunity to speak with a young man who is a tree planter. He related a couple of stories to me one of which was on the aftermath of the Queen of the North sinking. I'm going to try to write down what I remember of what he said. But hopefully he will contact this blog and relate the story. I found it significant because it was about the arrogant attitude of some MLA's and Campbell toward a seemingly simple question he had asked.
6 comments:
Gary...I watched Donna Barnnett in the legislature last week making a throne speech...
She was weak, head down,I thought she was going to collapse, but like good little toadie she read her PAB script.
I was thinking to myself, why on earth did that riding oust Charlie Wyse for Donna Barnett, granted Charlie wyse was long winded but he knew his file, what does Donna bring to the table,nothing.
Does she make appearences in town,answer emails,answer phone calls, I was born in Williams lake,still have relatives there...Prestwitch.
Gary..Is Donna Barnett aware that she is toast if she votes for the HST? Although she is toast if she votes against it.
But at least she could walk through town with her head up.
All I see of Barnett is when she attends a riding association meeting or when there is a puff piece in the local media.
Usually it is about how she all of a sudden "found" 15 or $25,000 for some small thing around town. I allege it is candy she has begged from the Chief Liar. It's there solely to placate the masses.
There was a piece recently where she was asked how she would vote on the HST. She gave the answer that she would vote in the best interests of her constituents. Which number one is a deflective answer. Number two it says to me that she will vote the party line. And number three using the deflection thinks she isn't lying.
One other thing. The only time I had a conversation with her I tried to draw her out. She is vehemently opposed to the NDP and she didn't look me in the eye. She deflected her visual attention.
This HST fight is proving to be a real 'us vs them' issue. Never has it been so clear that our war with the Libs is really a class war. All of Gordos' toadies are doing so at their own choosing. No one is forcing the likes of Barnnet or any of the other MLA's to act as a puppet of the party. It really is interesting to see all these people committing political suicide over this issue, considering the amount of time and energy it took them to get elected in the first place. Can it really be easier to defy all your voters instead of the likes of one sociopathic leader???
islandcynic
Hi Islandcynic and welcome.
By "us vs them" can I assume you mean the actual voting public vs big business. Because what I witnessed yesterday was a virtual cross section of voters in this area.
There were definitely some Liberal voters there. Although they may not have been in the majority, none the less they were there and they were not heckling.
As far as no one forcing people like Barnett to vote for this I would disagree. Reasons for that are 1. she works for a control freak micro manager. and 2. her answers to questions (when she answers them ) are veiled and I allege scripted.
They constantly use "back in the '90's the NDP..." to avoid questions. It makes me so angry.
I read a while back, there are people taking a petition to Point Grey. It seems the people there, dislike him as much, as the rest of this province does. Where are Campbell and Hansen's heads at? They have destroyed thousands upon thousands of jobs. Citizens have lost their jobs, their homes, their vehicles. How do citizens, who have nothing pay these outrageous taxes and, the HST on top of it all? The speech from the throne said Scintillating, wonderful opportunity, seize the glow, and nothing else. The budget was made up by a lunatic. Campbell and Hansen have placed BC, second from the bottom, of the poorest provinces in Canada. They gave millions of dollars to, banks, large corporations, gas and oil company's. They also gave big business, huge tax deductions. Of course, so did Harper. Corruption and greed, is what governs this country. BC citizens are hit twice, by greed and corruption, because of the BC Liberals. Hopefully, Campbell and Hansen, have enough sense, to start shipping red tents, to every corner of this province.
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