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Wanted: Your personal stories about Christy Clark, good, bad, indifferent

March 7th, 2011 · 25 Comments

Christy Clark has touched a lot of people’s lives, from her time as a student at Burnaby South to her junior-politico days as head of the Young Libs at Simon Fraser University, and from MLA to talk-show host.

I’m working on a long-term profile of our premier-designate. I’ve talked to a lot of the usual (and some unusual) suspects already. But I’m trolling for more, to get a complete picture of her. Please get in touch at francesbulaATgmail.com if you knew her in any of her incarnations or if you have an interesting story to tell about even a one-time meeting with her. (Email, don’t post on the blog, please.)

For those panting to comment, what do you think her potential impact on B.C. cities might be? Housing, environment, transportation, crime, schools — they’re all things Clark has taken positions on.

Looking at the record during her time as a politician and talk-show host, what are your predictions about what might be her top agenda items and her positions on any of them.

No cheap slagging, please. The Grade 9 lunchroom is closed.

Categories: Uncategorized

  • Jorel

    Christy Clark certainly seems to have a lot of pep! And the fact that she is a Federal Liberal and won’t kowtow to PMSH is fantastic, as the previous Premier went along with PMSH like a cowed schoolgirl

  • Joe Just Joe

    Not sure that not playing nice with the Feds will do her any good. Look at Vision, they’ve learned that playing nice with Victoria can be helpful. Hope Christy can learn that playing nice to those up the ladder has it’s benefits.

    Don’t have any personal stories to share though.

  • Walrus

    She will do a good job. She’s down to earth and a real person.

  • Glissando Remmy

    The Thought of The Night

    “Flabbergasted (def) – Adj. – as if struck dumb with astonishment and surprise;”

    Starting with… ‘No cheap slagging, please. The Grade 9 lunchroom is closed.’
    Well, I expected this one, in the typical Vision style. Sshhh.
    Let’s not disturb the Lady of… Shallow.
    It was only a matter of time.
    How about expensive slagging as in $$$?

    Let’s roll the film now, shall we?

    Christy Clark – Minister of Education (no pun intended)

    SCENE ONE – The government had decided not to fund salary increases for teachers for the academic years 2002–03 and 2003–04, leaving the province’s school boards with no choice but to absorb the cost and cut services; the biggest year of funding shortfall…TRANSLATION: reductions in learning-assistance time, special-education support, library time, supervision-aide time.

    SCENE TWO – SOS members collected the signatures of about 14,000 people on a petition calling for full provincial funding of the cost of public education. Some parents took these signatures to Clark’s office, but the education minister refused to meet them. She dismissed them

    SCENE THREE- Christy’s tenure as education minister was marked by a lot of conflict, a very combative approach, a pretty aggressive approach to the teachers’ union.

    SCENE FOUR – BC Choo Choo Train FIRESALE cloud over her Railway Station.
    Still in denial…

    Now you go Frances, and paint her a princess!
    All quiet on the Western front.
    Last time I witnessed a pre-ordered Bio. with a strong intro to a shady character was during last year’s VIF Festival. Almost three hours of stunning documentary film-making, and no bathroom brakes. Maybe you could get some pointers for the Clark story…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG7ww78jA1Mlark

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

  • gmgw

    I find it disturbing in the extreme that during Clark’s campaign, she went out of her way to promise that among her first moves as Premier would be to lobby the Feds to reverse the decision they made to overrule the provincial government’s incredibly wrongheaded approval of the Taseko Mines Prosperity proposal, which would see pristine Fish Lake in the southwest Chilcotin turned into a giant tailings pond.

    I can understand a provincial Premier being a tad concerned about having the federal environment minister run roughshod over one of your government’s decisions, but instead of being quite so visibly eager to loudly and publicly osculate the bloated buttocks of the BC mining industry, perhaps Ms. Clark and her cabinet colleagues might take some time to reflect and to consider why the Feds took this action.

    Given her status as the newly-crowned leader of what might best be described as the Post-Socred party, there was never a snowball’s chance in hell that I would vote for her anyway, but if this disgusting display is any indication of the sort of line Ms. Clark will be taking on environmental issues in this province, I will be doing everything I can to ensure that her tenure as Premier is as short-lived as possible.
    gmgw

  • boohoo

    …but she promised a new holiday!

    My wife who is a teacher upon hearing Clark won the Liberal race simply said ‘great, we’re going on strike’.

  • Morry

    No print portrait would be complete without soliciting Mr Alex Tsakumis’s views.

  • spartikus

    In the Globe today, Clark promises to lower taxes for “families”.

    Since B.C. is already running a deficit, what services will be cut?

    No answers on that, of course.

    Speaking as a member of the demographic she alludes to, I don’t want another $75/yr reduction in taxes if I have to pay out 3x to 4x more in “user fees”.

    Clark also insinutes she is going to look in to the proposed Hydro rate hike. All well and good. I’d suggest she look into some of the arrangements Hydro has made to “buy high, sell low” that are the true root cause of the rate hike.

    It’s all more of the same, imho.

  • mezzanine

    @ spartikus

    Are you against road tolling and vehicle levies?

    The devil is in the details, but I would avoid being dogmatic about user fees.

  • spartikus

    The devil is in the details

    True enough. Expanded thoughts time permitting.

    It’s just my view that lowering the “tax burden” is not the same as lowering the “burden”. It often increases it.

  • Max

    @gmgw

    There has been a great outcry from the communites and their people that have been effected by the Taseko project stoppage.

    I understand your point and am against destroying any water mass.

    Perhpas Taseko can find a non-destructive way to move forward with this project.

  • David Hadaway

    I do know two good stories, unfortunately good faith and good taste require my silence on both.

    It is quite entertaining, however, to think that very soon Raul Castro will not be alone as the only party selected, unelected head of government in the Americas. Whatever next? An impotent legislature that rarely meets? Party cronies enriching themselves from public assets? Servile media toeing the party line?

    Personally I’m hoping for sun in January, music on the streets and great mohitos. Promise that and my vote is yours!

  • gmgw

    @Max #11:
    Having now read today’s Tyee story on Gwyn Morgan, one of Clark’s top transition advisors, I now understand why she’s taking an anti-enviromentalism stance right out of the gate. I strongly advise anyone naive enough to still think of Clark as a spunky soccer mom with fresh ideas to read that article. Scary stuff. We’re in for a rough ride.
    gmgw

  • Mary

    So now I am really confused. I just read the Tyee article on Gwyn Morgan (scary indeed GMGW), and cannot now square Vision’s support for Christy Clark. Are they that cynical? Do they think their green supporters will not connect the dots (to use Penny Ballem’s favourite phrase)?

  • Max

    @ Morry #7

    I am curious about AGT’s upcoming blog on the following:

    ….”And Monday, I’ll break major news on the BC NDP race and you’ll see why Adrian Dix’s campaign should have thousands of memberships immediately disqualified. But they were allowed by the wife of Vision Vancouver Clowncillor Geoff Meggs (a strong supporter of Dix) to commit such breathtaking membership dirty tricks that she, BCNDP Secretary Jan O’Brien, should be booted from the party and never allowed to return…’

  • Max

    @gmgw #13

    I listened in on too many town hall conference calls during the Liberal candidate selections; Falcon, Clarlk. Abbott and deJong.

    Every one of the candidates where asked about Taskeo by those that do not live in Vancouver and are still facing the aftermath of the econominc down-turn. Numerous calls about the mine and how the no go will effect their respective communities.

    People in the smaller communities rely on foresty, mining , fish farming etc to feed their families and put shelter over their heads.

    It is too easy for us that live in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland to hold opinions on how they fend for themselves without having to walk in their footsetps.

    I’ve not read what the Tyee has printed but as a publication that supports the NDP, I have zero doubt they have something to bang the drum about.

    Dix is the best thing that can happen for the Liberals and is seems he has ‘bought his way in’.

    At least the Liberal leadership vote was democratic.

  • Morry

    Christy Clark: good, bad, indifferent

  • Max

    Personally, I am looking forward to having a woman in place rather than some middle aged man.

    Women are now outpacing men in post secondary graduations and those that are entering the work force.

    Perhaps it is no longer the ‘old boys club’.

    Times are changing.

    Good luck to Premier Clark!!!

  • Otis Krayola

    @Max #18

    This is your International Women’s Day spiel? Or don’t you remember Rita Johnston?

  • Morry

    I fondly remember Gracie’s Finger…

  • Glissando Remmy

    The Thought of The Evening

    “From Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher to Christy Clark. From the Iron Ladies to the Nickel-56. Metals.”

    Otis K @ 19. I think when Max wished CC ‘Good Luck’ , she meant to say ‘Good Luck Chuck’:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igUnsyD-fp0

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

  • Deacon Blue

    “Jai guru deva om /Nothing’s gonna change my world…”

    Christie n me sang those lyrics over and over again in the back of a bus way back, just after high school.

  • gmgw

    Max@17:
    Fish Lake is many miles from the nearest human settlement of any size. Exactly which communities do you feel would benefit from filling it with toxic mine tailings (apart from the poor, suffering community of mining company execs currently to be seen standing on downtown street corners with their hard hats piteously extended to the passersby)? Maybe you should hold your nose and take the two minutes it would take to read that Tyee article. This province has far graver threats currently facing it than Adrian Dix, and at least one of them is currently serving as a close advisor to Christy Clark.
    gmgw

  • boohoo

    Why is the fact that’s she’s a woman mean anything? This whole idea of ‘she’s the 3rd woman to do this’ or ‘the 1st woman to do that’…so what? When do we stop doing that? It’s like we’ve got a big scorecard that we need to fill up with statistics.

  • Max

    @gmgw#23

    It is not a matter of which communities I feel will benefit from the Taseko Mine, I was simply repeating what I heard during the call-ins.

    Workers at these mines travel from all over. Mining provides good paying jobs in many areas where there isn’t much else.

    I have a friends whose husbands or partners work up north and travel down to the Lower Mainland every two weeks. It is far from ideal, especially for their kids, but the money they make can’t be made locally.

    I disagree that this lake should be sacraficed for any reason. And even though Premier Clark requests a reversal, I doubt the Feds will grant it. It has become a political football and they cannot afford another Kemass North mess.

    But, for the people the voted Premier Clark in, she will show that she has tried to work for them.

    And, I will read the Tyee article. (just for fun)