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Some fun news to share: I’m stepping in as Interim Executive Director of .
It started when MLA Dallas Brodie called to tell me John Rustad had expelled her from the BC Conservative caucus for her comments on Kamloops Residential Schools.
Rustad’s decision to remove Dallas Brodie from caucus crossed a major red line.
He chose to side with a rent-seeking reconciliation industry that is extracting tens of billions of dollars from British Columbians.
Buttressing this industry is unsupported claims of 215 bodies in Kamloops. Even today, we see the Legislature of British Columbia lowering the flag to half mast over yet again unsubstantiated claims. It is a grievance-based industry that is destroying the foundation of our province.
Think this is hyperbole? Let’s examine it.
The prosperity of British Columbia isn’t our money. Our wealth lies not in currency but in our capacity to sustainably produce goods and services. And these are some of the key components.
1. Natural resources. Our land, rivers, fish, forests, minerals, oil and gas, etc.
2. Infrastructure. Our ports, bridges, roads, and communications networks.
3. People. A more educated, healthier population increases capacity.
4. Man-made surroundings. Our houses, hospitals, schools, and factories.
5. Civic foundations. A sound legal system, governance, and culture.
Our prosperity and well-being is inextricably linked to our ability to tap into our resources, develop infrastructure, build hospitals and schools, and maintain a solid civic foundation with clear property rights and a consistent, sound legal system.
I hear politicians saying that British Columbia must become a province that builds, that we must unshackle, that we must increase manufacturing. And all this is true.
Ironically, many of those same politicians have not said a single word against the greatest impediment to achieving those goals. They appear to be ignorant of or afraid of the power of the reconciliation-industry lobby.
In the face of accelerating decline, driven in no small part by the strangulation of our land base, we can no longer stand idly by.
We are the only party pushing for Constitutional change to free our land base. Unlike other parties, we will drop UNDRIP, scrap DRIPA, and end billions of dollars in payments to the negative-sum reconciliation industry. We will put British Columbians first.
A OneBC government will unlock our land base (944,735 square kilometres) and drive energy projects, infrastructure, manufacturing, and innovation on a scale not seen in decades, sparking a new era of growth. We’ll pair that with smart spending to right-size the public sector and the largest tax cuts in over 20 years to ignite an economic boom in B.C.
OneBC will tackle the toughest challenges in education, healthcare, and housing with the same courage we are showing in confronting the reconciliation industry.
As for me, it is my duty and my honour to serve my province in this capacity, my home. Thank you to Interim Leader and to House Leader for their confidence.
I welcome others to join OneBC in tackling the greatest challenges our province faces. Not to profit from politics; rent seekers need not apply, but to help create a thriving British Columbia where our flag is not at half mast.
Finally, I encourage all of you to be courageous. No one knows where this will lead, but I can assure you of one thing: it won’t be easy, yet it already has been and will continue to be meaningful.
Thank you for all that you do,
Paul Ratchford
P.S. If you’d like to get involved, please reach out to me. Cheers!"
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