Evan Saugstad: Let’s make life free!!

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — And the biggest winners of BC’s October 19, 2024 election are ……..

1. – Safe drug dealers;
2. – Contractors to build more jails for unsafe drug dealers;
3. – pipeline workers for more LNG;
4. – pipeline protesters who can now retire with full government sponsorships;
5. – the 41.5% of adult residents who pay no income taxes; (highest percentage in Canada)
6. – the 58.5% of adult residents who pay BC’s income tax; (lowest percentage in Canada)
7. –  or none of the above, as after this election, the fights will continue, with the only winners being those we elect?

Tired of the electioneering yet?  How many friends have you erased from your Facebook memory for their incessant and annoying election posts?

Glad its soon to be over?  Bet that joy will only apply to the 45% of voters who cast their vote for the winning party and the other 55% who voted for the other “guys” will scream foul and want to do it over, while the 40% who did not vote will still wonder what the election was all about, why there must be elections and when was that election?

Did you know that in the 2020 BC election 3,524,812 residents were registered to vote.  53.86%, or 1,898,553 put down the remote, got off their couch and cast their vote.  As of today, BC Elections is reporting over 1 million of the estimated 3.55 million residents eligible to vote have done so in advanced voting.

Hmmm, in 2020 BC’s population was 5.15 million, today it is about 5.6 million, yet the number of registered voters has stayed about the same.  What does that say about a Province who cares?  That some just don’t care much about elections? Got a conspiracy theory on this one?

Is the most notable moment from this election, so far, Rebel News posting on YouTube of a young man and women being filmed and then interviewed while they vandalized BC Conservative Party signs in the Tri-Cities (Coquitlam) area along the Lougheed Highway?  And when asked, claimed it was their duty to limit the number of signs one can see erected by an “extreme” right wing party and that really, election signs are public property, and one can do with them as they so choose?  

Dear Momma and Poppa of your dear little vandals; Did you recognize your little sweethearts in that video? Did you really teach them to be active and take responsibility for what ails our society?  Or, maybe you wonder how such nice kids can grow up so wrong and send their names to the police and on their behalf, volunteer a little of their time in a brand new Conservative jail as an appropriate re-education opportunity!

Or is it more notable that the BC Conservatives have now decided they can out spend the BC NDP in a race to the bottom? And in our Peace River North Riding, there are still questions and concerns about who is really a conservative in their ideology?

Boggles my mind that the electorate, and yes, me too and from someone who pay the taxes would want to support any party that believes the only way to get elected and govern is to spend, spend, and spend some more with no consideration as to where that spend, spend and spend some more comes from? 

Do you wonder how anyone can believe and vote for a Daivd Eby that promises he will fix everything that he as broken and that really, it isn’t his fault that he let criminals rule the streets, or let housing prices sky rocketed, or that it is ok to spend your welfare cheque on fentanyl (maybe he has a point as those recipient cheques wouldn’t be needed for long), and that if elected, he will fix it all and how he has now seen the light and will end the BC carbon tax grab (notice he didn’t say he wouldn’t just call it something else and carry on)?  Do you wonder why anyone would believe David that it is still Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark’s fault in deceiving BC residents that we can have balanced budgets and still look after our province and residents needs?

Doesn’t the leader of the Greens sound so wonderful and smart as she quietly admonishes David and John about their deceitful budgets and colonialist agendas while she would quietly go about turning BC into a park where everyone works less, lives longer, and has a more fulfilling life?  Yes, those who work hard, make money and look after themselves would no longer need to worry about that part of life, as Sonya will ensure you too are happy after you donate whatever you make to those who so unfortunately are unable and unwilling to work and look after themselves.

Do you wonder of the BC Conservative wisdom of releasing their Party Platform a few days before the final vote?  Do they think it is better we don’t know and understand what they are saying, or is it they realise, most just don’t care, so put it out, as in this day and age, a platform has only got a thirty-day guarantee.

So what is missing, what hasn’t yet been promised, something that we really need and can sink our teeth into …. 

Got it, nobody has yet to promise “life should be free”.  Bet it could be a sure winner.

Why do we need money, or pay taxes, or why do we need to go to work when we really don’t feel like it?  Shouldn’t government be able to look after it all?  Can’t they just print more money, make things happen while I lay on the couch and listen to the Premier tell me how they can give me more, or watch the Canucks loose, or Fox News extoll the virtues of Doanld Trump, or CBC wistfully write about Pierre Poilievre’s demise?

On the brighter side, I am retired and that sounds like some of what I already do!!

As some say, money grows on trees and in BC, that is what we have lots of.

Evan, and yes, still like elections, even after reading all those silly and misleading Facebook posts that strive to make the other “guy” look worse than they really are.  And despite the election season being over, it is still hunting season.