Posted by: Chris Sandve
RE: “James Building an Online Presence” (Vancouver Sun)
Carole James’ efforts to build an online presence starting with the launch of a YouTube video pale in comparison to the strong Internet-based campaign that the BC Liberal Party has been building for almost a year.
In May 2007, the BC Liberals launched a YouTube channel and released our “Countdown to Election 2009” video, which has received close to 1,000 hits to date. We also posted some of our 2005 campaign ads and for a few months, the top search result for “BC NDP” on YouTube was our 2005 “Same Old NDP” advertisement.
In addition, the BC Young Liberals have posted a series of video testimonials from members, which have been viewed over 2,000 times in the last 6 months.
Overall, our YouTube videos have received a combined total of over 5,000 views, 100 times more than the NDP’s videos, which have less than 50 total views so far.
Carole James’ efforts to build an online presence are a desperate attempt to catch-up to the strong Internet-based campaign of Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals. While Carole James plays catch-up, the BC Liberals will continue to move forward with an online message that reaches out to all British Columbians.
Chris Sandve
President
BC Young Liberals
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Right Move on Evergreen Line
Posted by: Chris Sandve
Today, the BC Government and Translink announced that the Evergreen Line will use SkyTrain-like technology known as Advanced Light Rapid Tranist (ALRT).
This is the right move for the Evergreen Line. Using SkyTrain technology will shorten travel times, increase ridership and reduce operating costs.
The original plan to build the Evergreen Line using Light Rapid Tranist (LRT) technology where tracks would be placed alongside roads instead of above or below them was met with a lot of skepticism from local residents. It's great to see those concerns being addressed.
Today's announcement ensures that the Tri-Cities will recieve the best public transit service possible from the Evergreen Line project. Congrats to Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon and the BC Liberal government for showing leadership by stepping up and making the right changes.
Today, the BC Government and Translink announced that the Evergreen Line will use SkyTrain-like technology known as Advanced Light Rapid Tranist (ALRT).
This is the right move for the Evergreen Line. Using SkyTrain technology will shorten travel times, increase ridership and reduce operating costs.
The original plan to build the Evergreen Line using Light Rapid Tranist (LRT) technology where tracks would be placed alongside roads instead of above or below them was met with a lot of skepticism from local residents. It's great to see those concerns being addressed.
Today's announcement ensures that the Tri-Cities will recieve the best public transit service possible from the Evergreen Line project. Congrats to Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon and the BC Liberal government for showing leadership by stepping up and making the right changes.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
BC Patients Satisfied with ER Care
Posted by: Chris Sandve
Yesterday, the BC government released province-wide survey indicating that 85% of patients rate BC's emergency care service as good to excellent.
Christy Clark dedicated part of her show on CKNW yesterday to comments on these results. I found it interesting that the vast majority of callers backed up the survey results by saying that the emergency service they had recieved was also very good.
It's great to see BC's health care system working for those who need it the most. And it's great to see BC citizens taking pride in a health care system that is truly one of the best in the world.
Yesterday, the BC government released province-wide survey indicating that 85% of patients rate BC's emergency care service as good to excellent.
Christy Clark dedicated part of her show on CKNW yesterday to comments on these results. I found it interesting that the vast majority of callers backed up the survey results by saying that the emergency service they had recieved was also very good.
It's great to see BC's health care system working for those who need it the most. And it's great to see BC citizens taking pride in a health care system that is truly one of the best in the world.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
More Nurses for BC
Posted by: Chris Sandve
Today, Health Minister George Abbott announced that 521 nurses from the United Kingdom have joined Lower Mainland hospitals over the past two years due to a targeted recruitment effort by the government.
Recruiting and training qualified health care professionals is by far the most effective way to build a successful and sustainable health care system. Since 2001, the BC Liberals have added over 3,300 nursing spaces at post-secondary schools across the province which has led to the graduation of over 7,500 new nurses in the past five years.
Today's announcement is futher proof of the success the BC Liberals have had at attracting and training qualified health care professionals, providing the foundation to strengthen and sustain our health care system.
Today, Health Minister George Abbott announced that 521 nurses from the United Kingdom have joined Lower Mainland hospitals over the past two years due to a targeted recruitment effort by the government. Recruiting and training qualified health care professionals is by far the most effective way to build a successful and sustainable health care system. Since 2001, the BC Liberals have added over 3,300 nursing spaces at post-secondary schools across the province which has led to the graduation of over 7,500 new nurses in the past five years.
Today's announcement is futher proof of the success the BC Liberals have had at attracting and training qualified health care professionals, providing the foundation to strengthen and sustain our health care system.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Leading the World in Climate Change Research
Written By: Zach Poturica
With the great leadership by Premier Gordon Campbell, yestetday marked yet another historical landmark in the fight against Climate Change,our BC Liberal Government announced a commitment of $94.5 Million towards a new Climate Change Research Centre to be located at the University of Victoria. The growing policy on Climate Change is becoming a highlight for the Liberals, since becoming involved, BC now leads the way in terms of dedicated research and in terms of enhancing Green infrastructure, This bold move by Premier Campbell, will make Climate Change a thing of the past, these actions will work to further reduce our GHG's by 33.3% by 2020, 80% by 2050 and a Carbon Neutral Province by 2010
With the great leadership by Premier Gordon Campbell, yestetday marked yet another historical landmark in the fight against Climate Change,our BC Liberal Government announced a commitment of $94.5 Million towards a new Climate Change Research Centre to be located at the University of Victoria. The growing policy on Climate Change is becoming a highlight for the Liberals, since becoming involved, BC now leads the way in terms of dedicated research and in terms of enhancing Green infrastructure, This bold move by Premier Campbell, will make Climate Change a thing of the past, these actions will work to further reduce our GHG's by 33.3% by 2020, 80% by 2050 and a Carbon Neutral Province by 2010
Friday, January 25, 2008
BC Driver Licenses get Smarter
Written By: Mackenzie Gans
The Premier announced a pilot project to add extra information to our driver’s licences, such as an RFID tag that will allow you to sail through the border. The information on that tag will probably be your fingerprint and everything visible on your licence, including your photo, signature and address. It’s a great move because the US State Department has recently started adding an RFID tag to their passports, so this is definitely the way the world is going. You drive up to the border, flash your licence at the scanner, and after a brief confirmation of your photo and criminal record you’re on your way. With the wait at both sides of the border getting longer and longer, let’s hope this radio tag comes in sooner rather than later.
The Premier announced a pilot project to add extra information to our driver’s licences, such as an RFID tag that will allow you to sail through the border. The information on that tag will probably be your fingerprint and everything visible on your licence, including your photo, signature and address. It’s a great move because the US State Department has recently started adding an RFID tag to their passports, so this is definitely the way the world is going. You drive up to the border, flash your licence at the scanner, and after a brief confirmation of your photo and criminal record you’re on your way. With the wait at both sides of the border getting longer and longer, let’s hope this radio tag comes in sooner rather than later.
Proud to Support BC Liberal's Transit Plan
Written By: Ciaran Olsen
I think it’s a great opportunity for British Columbians that the Campbell Government is increasing funding towards a major transit initiative. B.C is finally seeing Light Rail Rapid Transit spread throughout the Metro Vancouver area connecting communities like Richmond, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam and Port Moody with transit choices while protecting our Province by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Our Provinces’ decision to expand transit opportunities is making transit option easier for BC’s students, with expanded routes to UBC and SFU and many BC Colleges, combined with increased security measures, Student can now feel safer when travelling to and from classes.
With the introduction of RapidBus BC, This will greatly reduce greenhouse gases as well attract more passengers as these routes represent a faster, reliable and more secure transportation network. BC is becoming a landmark leader in expanded transit options, with these initiatives being put in place, we can rely on saving our environment while using safer and more affordable public transit.
Furthermore, it is great to see the Premier taking action against global warming, by making more environmentally friendly transit systems, and planning ahead for the Lower Mainland’s population growth.
I think it’s a great opportunity for British Columbians that the Campbell Government is increasing funding towards a major transit initiative. B.C is finally seeing Light Rail Rapid Transit spread throughout the Metro Vancouver area connecting communities like Richmond, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam and Port Moody with transit choices while protecting our Province by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Our Provinces’ decision to expand transit opportunities is making transit option easier for BC’s students, with expanded routes to UBC and SFU and many BC Colleges, combined with increased security measures, Student can now feel safer when travelling to and from classes.
With the introduction of RapidBus BC, This will greatly reduce greenhouse gases as well attract more passengers as these routes represent a faster, reliable and more secure transportation network. BC is becoming a landmark leader in expanded transit options, with these initiatives being put in place, we can rely on saving our environment while using safer and more affordable public transit.
Furthermore, it is great to see the Premier taking action against global warming, by making more environmentally friendly transit systems, and planning ahead for the Lower Mainland’s population growth.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
On the Road to Victory!
Posted By: Stirling Dyer
This past weekend I had the priviledge of rolling with the BC Young Liberals on the Vancouver Island portion of the Road to Victory Tour, and if the levels of enthusiam that I witnessed is indicative we may have the most active and enthused youth wing ever conceived working to keep the Liberals in power in B.C.
A little background info on the Road the Victory Tour: Since mid-2007 the BCYL has been gathering in different areas around to province to plaster them with BC Liberal flyers. Our goal in this is to keep the enthusiasm for all the great things going on in this province up, and make sure that people make it out and vote Liberal in 2009. This past weekends leg of the tour brings us up to 14 areas covered, and over 6,000 flyers delivered!
So how did it go this time? To say the least, fantastic. To say the most… supremely fantastically awesomely great! After we caught the Ferry from the Mainland over to the Island, we got to meet our home for the weekend…. and wow were we scared.
This…. thing…. was our party bus for the weekend, and when we first saw it there was talks of impeaching Chris on the spot. But it grew on us all, and we were semi-affectionately calling it “The Duck” by tours end. We made a quick flyer drop in Saanich and then headed for downtown Victoria where we went for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and got checked into our Hotel. Of course a quiet evening sleeping and preparing for the miles of walking the next day just is not our style, so the crew went out to the Element, a local club.
Long story short, sleep came at about 5am, and we were up at 7am to start a full day of events. We hit up flyer drops in Victoria and Malahat and had a fantastic lunch at a swank Country Club. After parting from the Club the Road to Victory hit a major pothole. The duck quacked!
Just south of Duncan we thought all may be lost. With a geyser of steam shooting out of the engine, which we all took as a great photo op, no one knew if we were stuck. We had the best of luck and our godly driver was able to get us back on the road within a half hour, and off we went to Nanaimo for a reception with the local riding association.
Our hotel for the night was no where near Nanaimo though, so back onto the Duck we got and headed for Campbell River.
Sunday was a whole other matter. After 2 nights of partying, a full day of flyer drops, and almost zero sleep we had a massive quantity of zombies. But push on we did, and got 2 more full flyer drops in at Campbell River and Courtney/Comox! The trip back down to Nanaimo to catch the ferry was the quietest I had witnessed the Duck at any point, and everyone was pretty happy to be heading home for the recovery period ahead.
All in all, a great success all around! Great things happened, and even when our engine blew up or we were all suffering exhaustion we pushed forward. With this sort of group leading the way in BC Youth Politics, the NDP isn’t going to know what hit them!
This past weekend I had the priviledge of rolling with the BC Young Liberals on the Vancouver Island portion of the Road to Victory Tour, and if the levels of enthusiam that I witnessed is indicative we may have the most active and enthused youth wing ever conceived working to keep the Liberals in power in B.C.
A little background info on the Road the Victory Tour: Since mid-2007 the BCYL has been gathering in different areas around to province to plaster them with BC Liberal flyers. Our goal in this is to keep the enthusiasm for all the great things going on in this province up, and make sure that people make it out and vote Liberal in 2009. This past weekends leg of the tour brings us up to 14 areas covered, and over 6,000 flyers delivered!
So how did it go this time? To say the least, fantastic. To say the most… supremely fantastically awesomely great! After we caught the Ferry from the Mainland over to the Island, we got to meet our home for the weekend…. and wow were we scared.
This…. thing…. was our party bus for the weekend, and when we first saw it there was talks of impeaching Chris on the spot. But it grew on us all, and we were semi-affectionately calling it “The Duck” by tours end. We made a quick flyer drop in Saanich and then headed for downtown Victoria where we went for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and got checked into our Hotel. Of course a quiet evening sleeping and preparing for the miles of walking the next day just is not our style, so the crew went out to the Element, a local club. Long story short, sleep came at about 5am, and we were up at 7am to start a full day of events. We hit up flyer drops in Victoria and Malahat and had a fantastic lunch at a swank Country Club. After parting from the Club the Road to Victory hit a major pothole. The duck quacked!
Just south of Duncan we thought all may be lost. With a geyser of steam shooting out of the engine, which we all took as a great photo op, no one knew if we were stuck. We had the best of luck and our godly driver was able to get us back on the road within a half hour, and off we went to Nanaimo for a reception with the local riding association. Our hotel for the night was no where near Nanaimo though, so back onto the Duck we got and headed for Campbell River.
Sunday was a whole other matter. After 2 nights of partying, a full day of flyer drops, and almost zero sleep we had a massive quantity of zombies. But push on we did, and got 2 more full flyer drops in at Campbell River and Courtney/Comox! The trip back down to Nanaimo to catch the ferry was the quietest I had witnessed the Duck at any point, and everyone was pretty happy to be heading home for the recovery period ahead.
All in all, a great success all around! Great things happened, and even when our engine blew up or we were all suffering exhaustion we pushed forward. With this sort of group leading the way in BC Youth Politics, the NDP isn’t going to know what hit them!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
BC's $14 Billion Transit Plan
Posted By: Zach Poturica
On Monday Morning, BC Premier Gordon Campbell, and BC Minister of Transportation Kevin Falcon, announced the largest Infrastructure Initiative in the Province of British Columbia. BC's Transit Plan, a decade long plan totalling $14 Billion when complete will lead to the completion of:
-Evergreen Line, a rapid transit line connecting Port Moody, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam to the Millenium line at Lougheed Centre Station
-Canada Line, Connecting Waterfront Station to Richmond Centre and Vancouver International Airport
-UBC Skytrain Expansion, Connecting UBC's Campus to the Expo Line.
“One new transit line was committed to in each of the previous three decades; this plan delivers three lines in the next decade,” said Falcon.
The plan calls for $14 billion in investments, including $11.1 billion in new funding, with the Province committing $4.75 billion, and the remainder from partners, including the federal government, TransLink and local governments.
Increased security measures will enhance transit safety. Electronic gates and closed-circuit cameras will be installed at rapid transit and new RapidBus stations. A smart-card system for rapid transit and buses, which users can reload at vending machines or on the Internet, will be implemented.
Apart from the announcement of new Rapid Transit Lines, the creation of RapidBus BC which will create 7 RapidBus Lines in Vancouver and one each in Victoria and Kelowna
System upgrades will include the lengthening of Skytrain cars from 4 to 6 per train and the purchase of 1500 new Clean Energe Buses for communities around BC.
Campbell's Government has been leading a strong move ahead in efforts of dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 33.3% by 2020. BC's Golden Decade is a time Promises Made, Promises Kept, improving infrastructure to BC's growing economy allows us to benefit greatly from growth in our community by seeing return of a new services and opportunities
On Monday Morning, BC Premier Gordon Campbell, and BC Minister of Transportation Kevin Falcon, announced the largest Infrastructure Initiative in the Province of British Columbia. BC's Transit Plan, a decade long plan totalling $14 Billion when complete will lead to the completion of:
-Evergreen Line, a rapid transit line connecting Port Moody, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam to the Millenium line at Lougheed Centre Station
-Canada Line, Connecting Waterfront Station to Richmond Centre and Vancouver International Airport
-UBC Skytrain Expansion, Connecting UBC's Campus to the Expo Line.
“One new transit line was committed to in each of the previous three decades; this plan delivers three lines in the next decade,” said Falcon.
The plan calls for $14 billion in investments, including $11.1 billion in new funding, with the Province committing $4.75 billion, and the remainder from partners, including the federal government, TransLink and local governments.
Increased security measures will enhance transit safety. Electronic gates and closed-circuit cameras will be installed at rapid transit and new RapidBus stations. A smart-card system for rapid transit and buses, which users can reload at vending machines or on the Internet, will be implemented.
Apart from the announcement of new Rapid Transit Lines, the creation of RapidBus BC which will create 7 RapidBus Lines in Vancouver and one each in Victoria and Kelowna
System upgrades will include the lengthening of Skytrain cars from 4 to 6 per train and the purchase of 1500 new Clean Energe Buses for communities around BC.
Campbell's Government has been leading a strong move ahead in efforts of dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 33.3% by 2020. BC's Golden Decade is a time Promises Made, Promises Kept, improving infrastructure to BC's growing economy allows us to benefit greatly from growth in our community by seeing return of a new services and opportunities
Sunday, January 13, 2008
First Minister's Meeting in Ottawa
This past weekend, Gordon Campbell and the rest of the country's premiers and territory leaders went to Ottawa for the First Minister's meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. While the rest of the country's leaders went with a list of grievances for the Prime Minister, Gordon Campbell arrived with just three demands:
Open borders refers to the various tariffs between provinces that tend to slow down trade. To Premier Campbell's credit, TILMA, the Trade Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement between British Columbia and Alberta (to take full effect in 2009), is a huge step in the right direction as it will allow the exchange of goods and workers between the two provinces.
Premier Campbell clarified his final wish, open minds, with this quote:
"I think we have to find new ways of solving the problems that confront us as opposed to being upset that the old answers just don't work."
The problems he listed included competitiveness, productivity, the future of Canada's economy, and how to handle the slowdown of the US economy, which is so very closely tied to our own.
Granted, the meeting is over and most Premiers have only just arrived in their provinces and territories today, but all initial reports suggest the meeting was a huge success. Premier Campbell had this to say:
"There was a broad recognition that Canada has done well, but for us to continue to do well, we have to think in terms of our customers, our trading customers and the people that live here and build a bridge through this rapidly changing, and frankly, shifting economy, to an even better future."
I really couldn't agree more.
-James Plett
- open trade
- open borders
- open minds
Open borders refers to the various tariffs between provinces that tend to slow down trade. To Premier Campbell's credit, TILMA, the Trade Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement between British Columbia and Alberta (to take full effect in 2009), is a huge step in the right direction as it will allow the exchange of goods and workers between the two provinces.
Premier Campbell clarified his final wish, open minds, with this quote:
"I think we have to find new ways of solving the problems that confront us as opposed to being upset that the old answers just don't work."
The problems he listed included competitiveness, productivity, the future of Canada's economy, and how to handle the slowdown of the US economy, which is so very closely tied to our own.
Granted, the meeting is over and most Premiers have only just arrived in their provinces and territories today, but all initial reports suggest the meeting was a huge success. Premier Campbell had this to say:
"There was a broad recognition that Canada has done well, but for us to continue to do well, we have to think in terms of our customers, our trading customers and the people that live here and build a bridge through this rapidly changing, and frankly, shifting economy, to an even better future."
I really couldn't agree more.
-James Plett
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
