Joe Cardoso, B.C. Conservative Party candidate for Boundary Similkameen welcomed party leader Wilf Hanni to his riding last Saturday to present the BC Conservative’s platform for agriculture.

Hosted by Bill and Darlene Freding at their Southern Plus Feedlot near Oliver, ranchers and farmers crowded into a hayshed, complete with bales of hay and a herd of cattle lowing gently behind a nearby fence. Wilf Hanni said he felt at home, that the smell of hay took him back to his boyhood on a ranch in southern Saskatchewan. He also spoke of the problems that are faced by everyone involved in agriculture, and that rural ridings in British Columbia are perennially ignored by whatever government is in power. “They always, and they always will, favour the concerns of the large population centres, where they get the votes.” He assured his audience that when the BC Conservative MLAs hold the balance-of-power between the Liberals and the NDP, that he and his MLAs will remember where they are from, and they will force the government to pay attention to rural needs. “And when the BC Conservatives form the government…not this year but maybe next time, we will still be a grass-roots party, and the cabinet will include Joe Cardoso from Boundary Similkameen and MLAs from other rural ridings.”

Joe Cardoso presented the Platform for Agriculture, which includes support of federal-provincial programs, regulations that make fiscal sense, removal of the carbon tax, a task force to work on the inter-generational transfer issue, and the Reconciliation and Recognition Act.

Joe again emphasized the unfairness of the Carbon Tax. “This tax is not to help the environment. It is a tax grab to move rural money into the transportation infrastructure at the coast.” “It makes no allowance for farmers and loggers, who have to use carbon fuels to carry on their industries. And the money collected is not going back into those industries.” he said. More quietly spoken then most politicians, Joe’s straightforward presentation of the platform drew warm and boisterous applause from his audience.

Bill Freding spoke of the problems to ranchers that the new meat packing rules are causing. He said that Johnson Meats, the slaughter and meat packing facility run by Bob Johnson in Oliver will have to close in a matter of months, because its class of license will no longer exist. Bob Johnson was collecting signatures on a petition to extend the Class C licenses. His family has owned and operated the business since 1928.

“Bobby’s place has always produced good meat,” said Jane Stelkia. “No one has ever had any problems. It’s those big producers…like Maple Leaf Foods, that cause the problems.”

An interesting sidebar to the day’s event was the presence of Liberal candidate John Slater and the president of his riding association. As a member of the media commented “The Liberals have to be worried, when they start turning up at BC Conservative events.”

Tom Shields, Media Relations Manager for the Cardoso campaign, ended the day with an impassioned description of what the carbon tax is going to do to us. “Everything that gets trucked in here…and that means everything, will cost more, because of this tax. There will be more and more empty stores all along our main streets, because everything will cost more, and we won’t be able to afford to drive to buy it anyway, so stores will go out of business.” He reminded everyone of the All Candidates meeting in Osoyoos on May 5th.

For the full text of the BC Conservatives’ Platform for Agriculture and the Party Policies go to www.bcconservatives.com or to www.joecardoso.com

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 28 April 2009 10:14 )

JOE CARDOSO—B.C. CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE IN BOUNDARY-SIMILKAMEEN Joe Cardoso is pleased to host BC Conservative Party Leader Wilf Hanni for the announcement of the party's platform on agriculture, Saturday April 25th, 2009 at 2:00 pm at the Freding feedlot on Black Sage Road.  Boundary Similkameen has been selected for the announcement because of the variety and intensity of farming in this riding.  Stockmen concerned about the abattoir legislation.....wine people concerned about interprovincial tariffs....fruit growers concerned about prices....every farmer has an interest in hearing the BC Conservatives' position on your livelihood.  Be there.  Be part of the change.  Change you can trust. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Joe Cardoso, Candidate for Boundary – Similkameen 778-515-0014 Tom Shields, Media Relations 778-515-0014 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it www.joecardoso.com

In 2001, after two terms under NDP rule, with all of the mismanagement of the economy, job losses and budget deficits that resulted, the voters of British Columbia elected the BC Liberals because they promised to get the economy moving and slay the deficit.

Thanks to a strong economy throughout the world, including America and Canada, British Columbia began to prosper and the BC Liberals were fortunate to see the deficit brought under control.

Unfortunately for British Columbians, many of the measures taken by the BC Liberal Government were very harsh and in some cases even dangerous, as they closed hospitals, schools, court houses and senior care facilities throughout the province. They also slashed the wages of health care workers and teachers and layed many people off.

The quality of Health care has deteriorated and the waiting times before receiving care have increased dramatically under both the NDP and the Liberals. Neither Party has any idea how to solve this problem.

The BC Conservative Party is the only Party in BC that is proposing concrete measures that will actually improve care and reduce waiting times. The BC Conservative Party will convert the method of payment to government owned health care facilities from the current annual cheque to a performance based payment system” (where the  amount the government pays the hospital is based on the services they actually perform). This will encourage our Health Care Professionals to consider their patients as “assets” instead of  “liabilities” and encourage them to increase services rather than cutting them back.

The BC Conservative Party will facilitate the “fast tracking” of accreditation for foreign trained professionals, including doctors and nurses. This will involve a test to see if the person is already qualified. If so, he or she will be given a license to practice. If not, he or she will be allowed to enrol in a program to obtain the skills that are required for licensing. Those programs will be made available for the people who need them.

This will allow patients to find family doctors and will relieve the tremendous pressure on hospital emergency rooms who report that 57% of their patients are not suffering an emergency. This will also allow us to re-open facilities that have been closed because staff could not be found to operate them.

Health care facilities, including hospitals and clinics which have been closed by the BC Liberals will be re-opened in small, isolated communities in the Interior and the North, where numbers and distance from existing care warrant.

We will open more long term care facilities in order to get long term care patients out of our hospitals and into a more comfortable and economical environment and to free up those hospital beds for acute care patients.

The NDP do not have the knowledge or the means to solve the problems that the BC Liberals have caused in health care for the people of this province. As socialists, they are incapable of running a strong economy that will provide jobs and income for the voters and tax revenue that the government can use to finance adequate health care.

The BC Liberals have proven that they are not interested in providing anything, including good quality health care to the people who live in the Interior and the North. They are just interested in helping their rich friends and throwing a $5.7 billion dollar Olympic Party in Vancouver and Whistler.

Only the BC Conservative Party has a plan for rebuilding our health care system and we will have the means to carry out that plan as the result of wise management of the economy of this province.

Wilf Hanni
Party Leader
BC Conservative Party

Last Updated ( Thursday, 16 April 2009 06:17 )