| Commentary |
| Glen P. Robbins -- seeking leadership of the BC Conservative Party is announcing his innovative ‘T Squared’ program to finance post secondary education for long time residents of British Columbia. |
| Says Robbins 'The T Squared' program is one where those people who have resided in the province of British Columbia for six consecutive years and who are eligible for the post secondary programs they seek, will pay only 25% tuition cost at any post secondary educational facility in the province.” |
| Robbins says that the program will be funded by Corporations earning more than $2 million per year and based in part on total write-offs taken by that Corporation as it relates to vehicle use for business purposes. |
| Robbins asserts that “there is an absolute correlation between poverty and a lack of post secondary education opportunities in this province - long time BC residents should not have to go into debt to get the educational tools necessary to contribute to a society that will absolutely require better educated people to get beyond the problems presently confronting us.” |
| Robbins adds “the current BC Liberal government is much more comfortable with
an ill informed, uneducated and ignorant population -- one more easily manipulated by a government short on brains, integrity, ethics and new concrete ideas that go beyond the development of skyscrapers--that go beyond fancy names--with no action behind it.” |
| Robbins cites a recent talk episode of a call in to the Bill Good radio talk show (CKNW) -- (about the 20th show on the downtown eastside) relating to the problems on the downtown eastside---that Robbins described as “high drama inept BC Liberal government” comparing it to the HST debacle of the BC government” as an example of the kind of ignorance the BC Liberal government and the status quo applies to important policy discussions. |
| The moderator Bill Good cut me short saying that “The HST had nothing to do with … the downtown eastside.” |
| I said “Pardon?” |
| The simplest most obvious connection to “high drama” “inept” government involving the HST is that Campbell lied about the HST and lied about the budget. By doing so he forced the conversation about the HST after cheating to win an election -- hoping that many British Columbians would give up believing there was nothing they could do--and thereby forcing the conversation to be about the relative merits of the HST on the economy rather than the despicable way it (wasn’t) introduced to the public. |
| Robbins says “We have known about our downtown eastside problem for many years, we have known the Olympics were coming for many years, and now at the eleventh hour the issue is thrust upon us even as the BC Liberals government shoves through a new law permitting police to take “homeless” people away to shelters or prisons.” |
| The HST has a direct correlation to the downtown eastside as it showcases well the methodology of a “high drama” “inept” government to solve problems with potentially draconian measures at the last minute rather than expending the hard work and real brain power from the beginning. |
| “There are so many other levels at which the politics of HST (new government revenues) and the problems of the downtown eastside and poverty connect. It is regrettable that a long time professional like Bill Good would not be able to see this” adds Robbins. |
| “We can readily see from this example that even well informed long time political news broadcasters of the stature of Bill Good -- are often stuck in the rut of the short comings of political truths of convenience--where broader more important analysis is required.” |
| Issues relating to the collection of government revenues and their allocation are more important than ever in the province of British Columbia at this time as the province moves forward---do deal with them in isolation as the status quo seems to -- is most regrettable. |
| We can and we ought to do much better than this. |
| A Glen P. Robbins --BC Conservative ‘T Squared’ policy for post secondary education is just the beginning. |
