With the Conservative Party of BC’s announcement this afternoon, of their candidate for the up-coming by-election in the riding of Vancouver – Quilchena, there is now a four-way race to become the next MLA. Premier Horgan called the by-election just one week ago, following the resignation of former BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson. Of all candidates declared to date, including the new Liberal leader Kevin Falcon, only the Conservative candidate actually resides in the riding. A source in the party, that I’ve been acquainted with for several years, told me yesterday, “ I’m more excited than at any point in the last five years with the party. Our candidate is an absolute perfect fit! ” And who will carry the banner for BC’s Conservatives? It’s now retired Dallas Brodie, who after attending Princeton had a long and successful career as a lawyer including working in Legal Aid and with the BC Tenancy Act. She also happens to be the daughter of Robert Gordon Bro
DAN ALBAS -- Playing politics with military procurement does little more than leave our forces with aging, less effective aircraft that are very costly to fly
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has long held a firm position on the Lockheed Martin F-35 multi-role jet fighter aircraft. In 2015 his promise to Canadians was clear “ We will not buy the F-35 stealth fighter bomber ”. PM Trudeau further stated the F-35 “ did not work ” and that “ It no longer makes sense, if it ever did, to have a stealth, first-strike capacity fifth-generation fighter ". Things changed this week as the Trudeau Liberal Government announced that it has now decided that the F-35 will be the preferred replacement aircraft for the CF-18. Negotiations will now begin to purchase 88 new F-35 fighter jets at a currently estimated cost of around $19 billion. What was also very interesting about this Liberal decision was that recently released documents obtained under 'Access to Information' revealed the Liberal government communication strategy to justify purchasing the F-35 was developed two years ago, in 2020. Why was a “communications strategy” requir