Thoughts on BC Politics and More

If a group feels that its rights have been unreasonably restricted, then it is free to challenge those restrictions in court. Recent weeks have seen claims made in Victoria about whether there is a right to hold protests in the streets and whether the city is obligated to facilitate such protests. What does the law say about this? Three sources of law are relevant ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Macklin McCall, Critic for Solicitor General & Public Safety, is demanding the BC NDP government answer for the deadly gang violence in Surrey over the weekend that left two people dead and two others seriously injured. On Sunday evening, two men were shot and killed in an underground parkade on 133B Street near 70B Avenue. Earlier that morning, two more men were shot outside a gas station at 72nd Avenue and 152 Street, both transported to hospital with serious injuries. A vehicle was found burning near 144 Street and 84 Avenue shortly after the homicides. This tragedy is the inevitable consequence of a public safety crisis years in the making. In the past two years alone, Surrey has recorded 96 reported extortion's, 16 shootings, and 2 arson's, resulting in 51 victims. “Surrey has been sounding the alarm on violent crime for years. Families are afraid, businesses are under threat. This government has had every opportunity to step up on public safety and has repeatedly chos...

... this 30th anniversary (of the Winds of Change Conference) sees Canadian Conservatives not only defeated, but divided: the satisfied versus the resentful; the trustful versus the mistrustful; insiders versus outsiders. These splits do not map exactly onto the splits of 1996. Those were essentially regional: energy-producing West versus energy-consuming Centre. This time, the splits are about relationships to authority, expertise, and institutions ... CLICK HERE for the full Commentary

The province’s economic strategy needs to look beyond shovels in the ground and confront deeper weakness in private-sector growth  The BC government’s economic development strategy is increasingly centred on facilitating a new wave of large projects—mainly in the energy, mining and infrastructure sectors. Such projects are important and offer the tantalizing prospect of kick-starting a struggling economy. Advancing more projects will generate good jobs, foster new business for local suppliers of “inputs” (like engineering, technical and financial services), and add billions to the economy. But on their own, a few big projects will not be sufficient to sustain a healthy pace of growth or materially move the dial on overall economic well-being ... CLICK HERE for the full story

More Canadians now say economic growth should be a bigger priority in Canada’s energy policy than protecting the environment, a new Angus Reid Institute report suggests. The pollster released a report Monday indicating 61 per cent of Canadians now see economic growth as the biggest priority in energy policy. The question offered two options on the top priority shaping federal energy policy: economic growth or environmental protection. That’s a shift in public opinion since seven years ago, when the same question had 55 per cent of Canadians saying the environment should be the top priority in energy policy ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Caroline Elliott is an articulate, policy-driven candidate promising to lead — and unite — BC Conservatives at a moment when voters are fed up with Premier David Eby’s NDP government. “We have a 10-point lead right now in the polls. The best way to blow that is to divide ourselves,” says Elliott, front-runner in the BC Conservative leadership race. “A divided party is the biggest gift we can hand the NDP" ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Provincial records show the NDP government has spent nearly $100 million on the second phase of the Burnaby Hospital expansion and seven long-term care facilities — projects now all on indefinite hold. The province announced on April 30 that contracts had been cancelled for Phase 2 of the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment and those related to the construction of long-term care homes in Kelowna, Fort St. John, Delta, Abbotsford and Mission. The fate of long-term care developments paused in Squamish and Campbell River remains unclear ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Lisa Pineault was in her 30s when she developed a medical condition that required regular doctor appointments in Vancouver over several months. For the average BC resident, visiting a specialist multiple times a week could be an inconvenience. But Pineault lives on Haida Gwaii, and a trip to the Lower Mainland requires either a two-hour flight or a multi-day road trip involving ferries and long drives. So it was sheer luck that Pineault’s medical needs coincided with a work secondment to Vancouver  ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

"We are t ired of a government that keeps concentrating more power in its own hands while making it harder for the public to hold them accountable" ~~ Trevor Halford, Interim leader of the Conservative Party of BC   Debate on Bill 9 continued through the night and into the early morning hours, with the House sitting until approximately 4:00 a.m. after the Official Opposition introduced a hoist motion to delay the bill for six months to allow for greater public consultation on legislation Conservatives view as an assault on British Columbians’ right to freedom of information, transparency, and government accountability.  The motion was voted down by the NDP government before further debate was shut down and the House adjourned by the government to silence further discussion on the bill. Trevor Halford, Interim Leader of the Official Opposition, released the following statement: “We are not tired because we stayed up until 4:00 in the morning debating Bill 9. We are tired of ...