The Candidates of Vancouver Quadra
Hey, did you know that there’s a Canadian federal election on Tuesday? I might have forgotten to mention it here on NTBTWK. For those of you who love my special brand of political coverage, I hope you enjoy today’s posting . For those of you who don’t care about Canadian politics or Canada or, like, democracy and such, I shall return to other hard hitting issues, like how hot Rick DiPetro, goalie for the NY Islanders is, after Tuesday. Mostly.
A while ago, Rebecca posted a summary of the candidates in her riding of Vancouver Centre. And I thought, “Hey, that’s a great idea! I’m totally doing for that my riding too!” Then I got sick/busy/[insert excuse here]. Anyway. I’m doing it now. So there.
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Vancouver Quadra
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The candidates, in alphabetical order by last name, are:
Barens, Norris – Libertarian Party
- doesn’t have a website
- there’s a link on the Libertarian Party‘s website to an email address for Barens, but no info about the candidate
- I have yet to see a single lawn sign for Barens
- I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Barens is not a contender
Caplan, David – New Democratic Party
- shares his name with an Ontario provincial Liberal cabinet minister, making him a pain in the ass to Google
- has been in the Armed Forces, a lawyer, a financial analyst, a freelance writer, a homemaker
- has degrees in science, law, business administration and Chartered Financial Analyst
- now wants to be a politician – I’m not sure if he’s really diverse, or doesn’t know what he wants to do1
- there is little info available on Caplan, but in fairness he only took over after civil-liberties lawyer Kirk Tousaw, who had been the NDP candidate in this riding, stepped down on September 19 because he video smoking marijuana
- his website, such as it is
Grice, Dan – Green Party
- is a “new media and technology consultant” and appears to have a company that I have never heard of. I mean, I like to think I know a fair number of the tech peeps in Vancouver, but I’ve never heard of “VanAlive Communications” – has anyone else?
- He did his B.A. in Classical Archaeology and the History of Rome, Greece, and the Near East at UBC
- He answers the question “Why are you running?” with “I want to help modernize our political structure and help move Canada to a low carbon economy. I come from a generation that values ingenuity and I feel that we need politicians to be more responsive and more concerned with fixing the problems of today rather than worried about their public perception.”
- his website
Meredith, Deborah – Conservative* Party
- evil
- teaches at the evil UBC Sauder School of Business
- likes to stick “tackling crime” stickers on her evil lawn signs
Murray, Joyce – Liberal Party
- has been the MP for Vancouver Quadra since the by-election earlier this year
- formerly an MLA with the (admittedly, evil) BC Liberals before she was defeated in the 2005 election
- introduced a private members bill proposing to exempt bikes, bike accessories & repairs from the GST
- did her MBA at Simon Fraser University
- her website
As there was a by-election earlier this year where Murray beat Meredith by a mere 151 votes, many people suggest that this will be a tight race (and VoteforEnvironment suggests strategically voting for Murrary to keep out the Conservative*). The Election Prediction Project, which has a pretty good track record for predicting election winners, says that this riding is going to the Liberal. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they are right!
1I’ve been accused of this myself. At my interview, my eventual Masters supervisor, upon hearing I was doing a minor in Drama with my major in Honours Biochemistry called me “conflicted.” I told him I prefer to think of myself as well-rounded.
Curious: What makes UBC business school evil?
Hmmmn… that’s a rhetorical question, right?
UBC evil? Check!
Business schools evil? Check!
UBC business school doubleplus ungood? Double check! Or maybe it’s exponential and so four times as evil as the two separate entities.
But to give actual evidence, let’s consider how UBC seems far more concerned with unrestrictedly selling off its land to greedy developers who build market housing that neither staff, nor faculty, nor certainly not students can afford, and yet after putting in multiple such developments, the university manages to have a multi-year budget deficit–but can still somehow afford to increase the pay of its President and upper-level “executives.”
As for the business school, that is, the former Faculty of Commerce… I know: let’s charge our students an extra $500/year to renovate an existing ACADEMIC building, because it’s not like the costs of renovating should be totally borne by the university and the university alone given that it’s the central building of that Faculty and central to their ACADEMIC mission.
If I were studying Commerce at UBC, I would be incensed.
Oh and then there’s the fact that the (excuse me while I gag) “Sauder School of Business” charges their students more for undergraduate credits EVEN if those courses are offered by another Faculty (which charges the standard price per credit). Because yes, the B.Comm. is such a professional degree and so deserving of differential fees. If one even buys the whole garbage of paying more for certain programs, which is problematic in and of itself.
Education is education. It’s not business. It’s not about making a profit and it NEVER should be judged or gauged using business “metrics.” And it should be 100% funded by government for everyone who is capable and willing to pursue it.
Hello from Norris,
I know I am not a contender in this election my goal is to get as many votes as possible and send a message to the government that there are people that care about Liberty and we should be taken seriously.
If I where able to get 1,000 votes I would be a very happy person. The objective for me is to show that there is an alternative to the system we now have in all countries of the world and that alternative is individualism.
The opposite of individualism is collectivism that is the only system we have in the world today. Examples of collectivism in order of severity would be Stalinism, Maoism, Adolf Hitler’s fascist Germany, Idi Amin’s Uganda, Brian Mulroney, Pierre Trudeau and Steven Harper the list is endless and the list of suckers that believe in collectivism is endless.
Collectivism is where a group gets together and tells everyone else what they think is good for them. As collectivism can very in degree at any given time it ultimately boils down to someone else is in control of your life they will tell you what they think is best for you.
Some times this is a good thing as a kind ruler can do many good works take for example Adolf Hitler, his accomplishments still to this day are held as a shining example of when a good collectivist can acomplish if left with unbridled power. In the 193.’s Germany had health care they had day care they had the finest highway system in the world. All of this was pulled from the ashes of a devastating depression.
Joseph Stalin was another nation builder. The list go’s on.
Right hear in Canada we have everything that Nazi Germany had and we can be proud of our accomplishments. Collectivism can work very well I will be the first to admit that.
The problem comes when our leaders become adventurous. Since we opened the flood gates and gave our rights to govern our own lives to the all benevolent government we have to carry on with what ever plan they have in store for us because remember the majority tells the minority what is good for them.
If by some miracle if I were elected the first thing I would argue for would be that all M.P’s would have each bill read to them by the law clerk. They would have to sign an affidavit that they read and understood the bill. I would argue that there should be only one subject per bill. If bills had to be read they would be shorter and more concise. One subject at a time would ensure that bad earmarks could not be attached to good and worthy bills.
I would fight for a constitutionally limited government. This means we would have to say goodbye to the Crown of England.
History shows that criminals often infiltrate government and hold positions of power in our civil service. We should guard our rights jealously and say to the government we’re the government not you.
In Liberty I remain yours truly Norris Barens
Libertarian candidate for Vancouver Quadra
I did my Masters at UBC Commerce, and I don’t think all of them are evil.
[…] Barens, Libertarian candidate for Vancouver Quadra posted the following comments here, which are very provocative. He makes an important distinction between individualism and […]
In my parent’s riding, they have a candidate for the Christian Heritage Party, who sound like a whole pack of trouble. They’re the only part who are pro-life (or, as one of their fliers stated, they want to protect the lives of pre-children.)