DalNet IRC Channel #recall-bc
Leslie Schentag (wy497@victoria.tc.ca)
Mon, 26 Oct 1998 18:22:49 -0800 (PST)
A copy has also been sent to The Green Party Of B.C. Listserv.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 14:53:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Leslie Schentag <wy497@victoria.tc.ca>
To: gremlinresearch@hotmail.com
Subject: DalNet IRC Channel #recall-bc
Dalnet IRC Channel #recall-bc
This Channel was opened on October 26, 1998 by Gremlin Rearch Consultants.
An Independent Research Facility. We are non-partisan and belive the time has
come for change for the better.
The purpose of #recall-bc is to spark debate and form a common ground to
initiate a massive recall campaign to force the current NDP Government to
account for their current policies and practices.
As we all know, the current NDP has been implicated in a number of scandals
and cases of extreme mis-management in certain areas of social policies,
healthcare, forestry, the environment, lottery terminals, gambling, and
the list goes on.
Well, this is one voter that has had enough. It is time to overcome this
general apathy and become counted. If you have had enough TELL THEM
THAT.
Sitting around bitching will not get rid of the status quo. There is
enough evidence to call for that.
One of the things that really struck this voter was an article in the
Victoria Times-Colonist. Front Page, Sunday October 25, 1998.
"NDP DECARES "WAR" ON THE MEDIA"
First off, go to a dictionary and look up the definition of war. Think about
the definition for a few seconds.
Then we come to the first paragraph of the article.
The NDP government has declared war and is asking local supporters
to swell it's war chest with cash contributions to fight the media.
Further into the article, according to a letter from party President
Bruce Ralsen,
"Daily you see the media assaulting us with implications the the
NDP is ruining B.C"
"And unless you and I challenge this right wing vision og B.C.,
we're going to lose some of the basic rights and services we take
for granted."
This voter wonders whether or not be like The War On Drugs, The War
on Tobacco, or the War on Welfare Fraud, The War on the Mis-use of
HealthCare.
Well, lets have a fast look at some of the facts here.
1.) The amount of Social Assistance payment has decreased over the last
5 years. In 1993, the average payment was $575.00 per month for a single
employable male, and a basic income range. Today the payment are $500.00
and no income range, if you declare ANY INCOME, 75% of the income is
deducted from your next payment. This voter has proof, I declared an
income of $10.00 and $7.70 was deducted from the next payment.
It is a system that openly promotes fraud, from the deductions to the
type of housing.
This voter is facing an eviction notice following the violation of
city-bylaws outlawing the use of apartment buildings as rooming houses,
renting each bedroom in each apartment, while using a common area. Social
Services set up the rental agreements and arranged a direct payment of
rent to the landlord, in full kowledge of what the landlord is doing.
The recipient would really bitch as he now has a stable warm place
to live.
And yet, when I was in the welfare office, what do I see but a flyer
for the same agency that found me the place that now has evicted me
because of city-bylaw violations. It is very hard for me to find a place
to live and I have even more trouble because I have a dog, and I will NOT
get rid of my dog, she is my companion, and my security when I am out
camping in the bush for solitude. What does that mean for me, the street
and homelessness. I lose everything I have worked for in the last 2
years. Well, I was living in a parking lot when I first got involved with
the Green Party of B.C. during the last provincial election. They were kind
enough to give me a place to rest my head in return for security duty.
Four days later the 7 candidates from Greater Victoria sat down and had a
meeting and agreed to pay $7.00 per wk. per candidate based on
demonstrated skills and abilities in keeping the office open and running
smoothly. I was not on Social Assistance at the time, I was living solely
on the generousity of others, but here, now, I had a paying job. We all
know what happened after the election.
That leads me to point 2.
2.) In the recent months here in Victoria there has been a
growing intolerance to the plight of the homeless, street kids and people,
dog owners and the poor in general.
The various minister's responsible for housing, youth services,
mental health and other are using a progressively harder line in dealing
with the problem.
People caught living in abandoned buildings with be charged with
trasspass or break & enter depending on circumstances. Aggressive
panhandlers will be charged with public nuisance or verbal assault. Under
the Mental health Amendnemt Act, if a person is deemed to be a danger to
himself or others, on the recomendation of 2 doctors can be forcefully
committed to the proper facility.
3.) Healthcare- Nurses going on strike, Hospitals closing,
doctors quitting and leaving B.C, AIDS, HEP-C, HEP-B, HEP-A epidemics.
4.) War on Drugs. The Attorney General has announced the forming
of a provincial police force to deal with the problem of drugs on the
streets of our cities. He is planning to create a separate police force
and court sytem to deal specifically with the problem of drugs there-by
alleviating the current major backlog in the courts and allowing local
police forces to deal with other more pressing problems.
Here is another good one for you:
"TOBACCO KILLS"
"MARIJUANA IS FOUND TO HELP PREVENT STROKES"
Which one is illegal?? Ask yourselves, What is wrong with this picture??
And the Major crackdown in the Lower Mainland Lets take a little
trip here to: <L1><a href="http://www.cannabisculture.com">Cannabis
Culture Magazine</a>, and find out just what exactly is happening in
Vancouver.
And yet, hasn't the Chief Coroner of B.C. and the Chief Constable of
the Vancouver City Police stated in a press release to the media that,
"The time has come to admit defeat on this war on drugs, we have LOST,
the time has come to change the laws and focuss more on harm reduction
rather than enforcement. Seems the Attorney General likes to listen to
his Chief Coroner.
4.) Forestry- Mills closing, wood rotting at distributors due
to lack of sales, more clear-cutting in Special management Zones. i.e The
Upper Wlbran Watershed. This voter was there and saw the destruction of
the forests and learned they were cutting three more blocks in the
upperwater shed. Right near the upper spawning beds for pacific salmon.
This writer could continue endlessly about the NDP. But the point is,
what we need to do is form an united front and launch as many recall
campgaigns as we can. The NDP has a majority government, so with launch
the campaign in EVERY NDP RIDING. I know that the chanches are bleak, but
one must also remember, we only need 5 constuencies to agree to a recall,
thereby forcing another provincial election.
The Green Party Of B.C. ran 71 candidates in the last election. If the
candidates for the ridings the NDP held launched a formal united recall
campaign it would be unprecedented in BC Politics. It wouls also send a
very strong message to the voting BC Public that the Green Party is
committed to improving the quaility of life in BC. And it would also force
the general media to take a serious look at the Green party as a whole,
and a serious showing of solidarity within the party itself.
The channel #recall-bc is already a registered channel on Dalnet
Take this link to reach <L1><a href="telnet://telnet.dal.net">Telnet
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once finished with that process type /join #recall-bc
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