Thoughts on BC Politics and More

The BC Conservatives are expected to announce their new leader on Saturday ... the announcement at a leadership convention in Vancouver could also represent a pivotal moment for the governing NDP, which Angus Reid Institute president Shachi Kurl says has suffered a "brutal, bruising" spring session. "It has not been this government's finest hour," she said, after controversies over the government's handling of Indigenous relations, the province's finances and health care ... CLICK HERE for the full story

As separatism burbles in two provinces, it's worth remembering how federalism in this country should, and should not, work. The common good is a universal goal that cannot be realized universally. At best, that good can only ever express itself locally, among a specific people, in a specific time, and a specific place, and through social bonds among groups of people. Aristotle called this kind of social connection, which he believed was a precondition for a healthy social order, a “civil friendship.” “Civil friendship” exists on a spectrum of social ties somewhere between the personal bonds of a family and the transactional bonds of a commercial enterprise — but closer to the family than to the corporation. A man might willingly die for his family or his country, but only a fool would die for corporation. Let’s start there, with a discussion of Canadian federalism ... CLICK HERE for the full story

It was a big week for Prime Minister Mark Carney's one-liners. On two occasions he made headlines for his offers to help U.S. President Donald Trump with his vow to "make America great again" and his advice to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith given what he saw first-hand with Brexit.  Plus, ardent environmentalist Steven Guilbeault has finally had enough, and why one bill proposing easier access to digital evidence has privacy and tech heavyweights sounding alarm bells.   The week that was Let's start with the most recent development because it could be the most consequential of the week.  While some Liberals may have bristled at Carney's offer to ...

Dozens of protesters carrying placards gathered in a park in Burnaby to rally against the provincial government’s cancellation of a construction contract for a hospital expansion in the city. At Avondale Park in Burnaby, about two minutes drive from the hospital, protesters on Sunday held up yellow signs with slogans reading: Burnaby matters. Premier David Eby said earlier in May that plans for the Burnaby Hospital expansion aren’t dead despite the provincial government’s announcement the contract had been cancelled ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Premiers representing the territories and Western provinces will gather in Kananaskis, Alberta, for a two-day meeting starting today. What's happening: Pipelines, separatism, equalization payments and Indigenous land rights could be among the hot topics discussed as the premiers sit down today in Alberta. BC's David Eby, Alberta's Danielle Smith, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Premier Wab Kinew of Manitoba are all expected to attend. Premiers at odds: Smith and Eby have been at odds in recent months after the signing of the memorandum of understanding on a potential new pipeline project to the Pacific coast. Eby criticized Smith's approach to separation and pipeline talks earlier this month. Both leaders have suggested the meetings could get awkward ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

... a second product of that earlier post was a question in the comments section: what about people - like libertarians - who don’t fit so neatly on the right-left spectrum? Does the Canadian Election Study data have anything to say about them? First, we should define exactly what a libertarian might be. The academic figure most often associated with libertarians is the Nobel laureate economist, Milton Friedman. So that’ll be as good a place as any to find a working definition. As a rule, Friedman believed that governments should engage only in activities that the market cannot do effectively on its own. For Friedman, those activities would be limited to ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is demanding Prime Minister Mark Carney step in and overrule the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) as it forces mostly American web giants pay more to fund homegrown media content. In an interview with CBC News, Poilievre said the CRTC's decision to triple the revenue streaming firms like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime must set aside to fund Canadian programming is akin to a tax on consumers and cannot stand. "This will be a consumer tax, it will all be passed on. Let's not be naive and pretend that the web giants or the streamers are just going to absorb it. Of course they're going to make Canadians pay more," Poilievre said ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

MLAs in the BC legislature have eased their minds about a number of glitches in the 2024 general election, but there are still worries about ­the misinformation and ­disinformation that was spewed during the campaign. Concerns, particularly in the Conservative Party of BC, about problems that emerged during the closest vote in ­provincial history prompted the unusual move this year of ­referring Elections BC’s final report to a special committee on democratic and electoral reform ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The BC government needs clarity from the Supreme Court of Canada on a landmark mineral rights claim, Premier David Eby says. But the lawyer representing the challenger says that they would have preferred the province respect the lower court's decision. Eby said Thursday it is very good news that the court will hear its appeal of a ruling that found the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the provincial mineral claims regime are "inconsistent." The BC Court of Appeal ruled in December that the provincial Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA, should be "properly interpreted" to incorporate the UN declaration into the laws of B.C. with immediate legal effect. That ruling set off the appeal from the province amid concerns that it could cause economic uncertainty ... CLICK HERE for the full story