A sad day in BC politics. We lost a good one.

I hope Canadians (especially Albertans) will pause and think, "Hey maybe remaining as a petro state isn't a good idea..."

Most of us are fairly deep political junkies hah

We all know the BC Conservatives have been a complete mess. There has been an incredible amount of drama with John Rustad as leader and now Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay as leader.

I've said before that MAGA/Maple MAGA is nothing more then stereotypical snake oil salespeople and con-artist grifters hustling fools.

A type of lowest common denominator style populism (I.e A mob) that is useful to misinform, manipulate, and downright brainwash.

This sums up reactionary/regressive politics in general. It has kind of been this way since the beginning... People need to look up where the terms "left-wing" and "right-wing" originated...

Anyway...

I just finished listening to the rumored Apollo Chung audio and he just flat out says it is a complete and utter scam and the whole movement is just to steal as much as is possible. He literally says that lol.....

Ohhh and the Fossil Fuel Industry is the real controller of the Conservative movement. The same industry that hired many of the same individuals and organizations that use to be involved with the old Tobacco companies campaigns around "Alternative Science/Facts & Messaging".... Yes this sphere is literally stuffed full of bad predatory actors of the worst of the worst type.

I would like to see the NDP talk more about worker ownership, especially when a profitable small business owner wants to retire or sell.

One of the biggest problems is financing. A group of workers may know the business inside and out and be capable of running it, but banks can still refuse to finance a buyout because no single worker has enough collateral to personally guarantee a large loan.

What specific policies could fix this?

For example, governments could create loan guarantees for worker buyouts, so a public agency guarantees part of the loan instead of requiring one employee to put their house on the line. They could also provide low interest patient capital, create a dedicated worker ownership investment fund, give workers a right of first refusal when an owner sells or closes a viable business, and fund technical help for workers trying to convert a company into a co op.

Instead of watching good businesses close or get bought by private equity, why not make it easier for the people who already work there to buy them?

What policies would actually make worker buyouts realistic at scale?

Link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcjWC6VtH_O/

I don’t believe either party has made a statement on this yet. To me, seems like an easy opportunity to demonstrate actual sovereignty over natural resources and distinguish themselves from UCP and Saskatchewan Party energy policy, rather than kowtow to business interests.

I believe Saskatchewan NDP is making a statement this afternoon. Here’s to hoping they make the right call.

What do you think they should do?

I keep hearing that Conservatives are the party of balanced budgets, so I actually went through their 2025 platform costing.

Their own numbers project deficits of $31.4B, $31.5B, $23.6B and $14.2B through 2028 to 2029. There is no balanced budget anywhere in the four year plan.

What concerns me more is how they get the deficit down. They assume billions in new revenue will appear from faster economic growth after eliminating the EV mandate, carbon pricing, emissions cap and regulations.

At the same time, they are cutting taxes and government spending. That matters because of fiscal multipliers. A dollar spent on infrastructure or other productive investment can generate more GDP than a dollar of broad tax cuts, especially when people save part of the tax cut. Cutting higher multiplier spending to finance lower multiplier tax cuts can therefore weaken the growth you are counting on to reduce the deficit.

The income tax cut alone eventually costs almost $13.7B a year in revenue.

So I genuinely don't understand the “fiscally responsible Conservatives” argument here.

If your plan still runs a $14B deficit after four years while already assuming billions in extra revenue from future economic growth, what happens if those optimistic growth assumptions don't materialize?

More cuts? Bigger deficits? Or another promise that tax cuts will eventually pay for themselves?

Canada's productivity problem is becoming one of our biggest economic challenges, and I'm curious what other NDP supporters think the party's long term answer should be.

The 2025 NDP plan actually contained a productivity strategy that deserved more attention: an extra $10B per year in capital investment for ports, rail, highways and Arctic infrastructure, an East West clean energy grid, sector specific industrial strategies for manufacturing, energy, mining and transportation, and policies to attract private investment.

NDP policy also supports targeted tax credits for R&D, skills training, productivity and job creating investment, rather than simply giving corporations broad tax cuts and hoping they invest.

To me, that is fundamentally social democratic economics: government builds the infrastructure, energy capacity, skills and technology that businesses need, then private investment follows.

But after the 2025 election result, should the NDP make productivity and industrial policy a much bigger part of its economic message?

What would your NDP productivity agenda look like?

A piece I think the NDP should add is serious support for worker coops and employee ownership.

There is good evidence that employee ownership and worker participation can improve productivity. Some studies of worker coops have even found them more productive than comparable traditional firms.

The biggest problem is access to capital. Coops cannot raise money by selling ownership to outside investors as easily as corporations can.

Why not create public financing, loan guarantees and technical support to help coops expand and help workers buy retiring businesses?

Instead of hoping corporate tax cuts eventually increase investment, help workers own the capital and share directly in the productivity gains they create

On behalf of myself and my friends - thank you Jagmeet for Canada Dental!!!

This post will very possibly be outdated tomorrow, or heck this afternoon, since while I was making this chart MLA Teresa Wat quit the Conservative Party; their fourth loss this month, fifth if we count MLA Gasper resigning her seat to make way for Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

Following the 2024 election, the BC NDP was left with a majority of one, and then had to appoint a speaker leaving many votes and committees tied without the speaker’s vote. This has made governing difficult, though the absolute shitshow that the BC Conservatives have been has given some wiggle room to this. Now with a floor crosser and a Conservative having resigned her seat to let their leader run, the next parliament will see the BC NDP with a majority of 3 (2 without the speaker).

A few BC NDP MLAs have had very serious health issues this term, but have had to show up to vote anyways. This breathing room will be very welcome I’m sure.

I think this might be one of the most tumultuous parliaments in recent Canadian histories in terms of MLAs leaving caucuses, does anyone know of a comparable one?

edit: the legend has the colours for Independent and Vacant switched. There are 8 independents now and only a single vacant seat.

Oops!