Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Until early in the week of October 23rd, a very interesting scenario, in BC politics, was being set up.  What you say?  Well it appeared, at least at first glance, that perhaps for the first time in decades, the people of British Columbia might actually have more than two viable parties from which to cast a ballot for. Back in the early 1950s, British Columbians elected members to the Legislative Assembly from the Conservatives, Liberals, Social Credit, Labour and the NDP (1952 / 53).  Again, in 1972 and 1975, voters sent MLA's to Victoria from the Conservatives, Liberals, Social Credit and the NDP. This time around, again at least until early last week when the BC Conservative Party bounced newly re-elected leader Dan Brooks from his post, it appeared that perhaps, we might again see members from four parties in the legislature. And with good reason. 1)  The NDP are stubbornly disenfranchising one of...

WIKIPEDIA: The British Columbia Conservative Party is a political party in British Columbia. First elected as the government in 1903, the party went into decline after 1933. On July 18, 2013, John Cummins resigned from the position of party leader.   Dan Brooks was elected the new leader of the party on April 12, 2014, then resigned at the party's Annual General Meeting on February 20, 2016. Brooks was re-elected as leader at a leadership convention held on September 17, 2016. GLOBAL NEWS: The British Columbia Conservative party is leaderless again.   Dan Brooks says the party’s board has stripped him of his leadership on a technicality.   “They don’t have a leader, they don’t have any money, they don’t have any idea of who could be the leader. The only thing that is going to save (them) is a miraculous emergence of a very high profile individual politician who thinks they can somehow save the BC Conservatives,” he says. “They’re like pray...

Yesterday brought us more news on the Fentanyl front.   In a story from the Victoria Times Colonist, it was said that ... "B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake lies awake at night worrying and wondering why the federal government is allowing other countries to smuggle deadly fentanyl into our country. “ There’s a headline in the Kamloops paper today ,” Lake said in an interview last Friday. “ A young man at a wedding using cocaine and he died. And this is a story we’ve heard again and again and again. That is not addiction. This is poisoning .” I took a few minutes, this morning to head to my trusty research tool, Google, to check a few facts regarding Fentanyl, and came up with two things I wanted to share" BC Coroners Service: " Illicit Drug Overdose Deaths in BC" There were 555 apparent illicit drug overdose deaths from Jan to Sep 2016. This is a 60.9% increase over the number of death occurring during the same period in 2015 (345). Individual...

The next provincial election in BC is just six and a half months away, and what we would expect from the NDP is definitely in their campaign plan.  But what's happening with an ally of theirs however ... the BC Federation of Labour?     The labour union, which should be championing increased high paying union jobs ... you know the ones that support families (and that grows union membership) ... is instead fighting for higher minimum wages, and opposing resource development.     In an August 31st story in the Georgia Straight the BC Federation's Irene Lanzinger said they're backing the New Democrats.  She stated; " ... the vote largely comes down to one issue: the minimum wage. “The NDP is the major provincial party that has committed to a $15 minimum wage and recognizes that that’s what people need [in order] to be above the poverty line .”     Of course NDP leader John Horgan is ready to comply, as he has already stated that i...

On October 2nd, I wrote a post entitled, " Where will those votes go? Most likely to the BC Liberals, while those individuals hold their noses to place their"X" on a ballot " I started off by saying: On September 27th, an online petition suddenly appeared on iPetitions.com. Individuals were asked to sign for the following reason: QUOTE: "Complaint against Dan Brooks for deliberate violation of party constitution" (please join me in supporting this worthwhile cause) It lasted for three days, and then was taken down. What's interesting, and no longer available to be seen, was the comment that Dan Brooks had illegally used the membership list in his quest to regain the leadership of the BC Conservative Party, and some questions as to interference in the website of a fellow leadership candidate. So, what happened to the petition?  Did the organizers have second thoughts, or did the Board and Executive of the BC Conserv...

Recently, two stories in the news, caught my attention.  One was in the Metro News, entitled Investing longer in teens leaving B.C. care would more than pay for itself , which stated: You have to spend money to make money, and that adage may apply to foster care as much as it does to business, according to a new study. For the nearly one thousand 19-year-olds who “age out” of B.C. foster care system every year, an economic report released Monday has found that spending just $57 million in supporting those youth until age 24 would more than pay for itself — and potentially even save taxpayers nearly five times that amount . The second was in the Tyee, entitled Life Skills Program for Former Foster Kids Seeks Boost , made a couple of comments I found both interesting, and sad: ... when life skills coach Linda Liss’s most motivated client, a young First Nations woman who had aged out of foster care, joined a gang, Liss knew it was the child welfare s...

Today, we have a guest post from a Social Media friend of mine, Sandy Mcdougall.   Recently, following the death of a friend's son due to an overdose of fentanyl, I questioned, “When will t he hurting end?” The answer to that question is still unclear but hope is emerging that our community cares and is willing to work together to bring to an end the epidemic of drug overdose deaths. In the past, I have complained bitterly about drug use and drug trafficking in our downtown neighbourhood but the time has come to put an end to the blame game and join the growing number of dedicated people who are earnestly seeking ways to solve the myriad of problems involved in this terrible ongoing tragedy. Nowhere has there been greater evidence of the commitment of those dedicated people than at the public forum on fentanyl held Wednesday night at Westview High School. From community leaders to admitted drug users, hundreds of people crowded into the Westview gymnasium to...

The Vinyl Cafe's Stuart McLean I wonder how many reading this, listen to the Vinyl Cafe, with Stuart McLean, Sundays at noon on CBC radio.   I love it ... and I especially love the stories he tells.   I have several of his books as well.   One I started reading just yesterday (and which I am already over halfway through) is called, "Vinyl Cafe Turns the Page". This question is just for those who have heard Stuart McLean read a story aloud.   When you 'read' one of his books, is there a voice in your head that sounds like Stuart?   There is for me. Meantime I digress. In McLean's book the "Vinyl Cafe Turns the Page" is a story called "Stamps" ... it starts with the following paragraph: Choosing a hero is a delicate business -- one that shouldn't be taken frivolously.   For the heroes we choose, whether real or imagined, whether from the world of fact or from the pages of fiction, will determine, to a gre...

The Armchair Mayor , Mel Rothenburger, gave me an interesting read this morning.  Entitled, " Thank you, Lord, for giving us more places to buy $5 coffee and $40 wine ", it was a sarcastic, yet accurate, portrayal of what some at least find most important in their day to day lives.   It got me to thinking about what really is important, at least to me, as an immediate need ... having a family doctor (our family has had four in the past 24 years ... all who have eventually moved from our city to greener pastures).   Unless you've been hiding under a rock these past several years, we are all very well aware that nearly a third of the population of Kamloops residents is without a family doctor. The insanity of this situation ... the fact that it has been an ever growing epidemic for many many years  ... and that no provincial government (NDP or Liberal) has found a solution to this BC health care crisis ... is quite frankly, ridiculous! BC Liberal He...

Sometime back I saw two words linked together; they were, "Social Responsibility".   One person commenting on this concept basically said that they don't belong in the small 'c' conservative world -- another said they mean nothing.   As a small 'c' conservative, I have to respectfully disagree.   Referencing the two words, they can, and should, mean the following: SOCIAL ... relating to the way in which people in groups behave and interact ... relating to human welfare ( well-being / safety ) and the organized welfare services that a community provides RESPONSIBILITY ... the state, fact, or position of being accountable to somebody or for something ... somebody or something for which a person or organization is responsible The words 'Social Responsibility' should NOT, in my opinion, be something negative which is attached only to the left side of the political spectrum.   Being socially   responsible is something we as ...

On September 27th, an online petition suddenly appeared on iPetitions.com. Individuals were asked to sign for the following reason: QUOTE: " Complaint against Dan Brooks for deliberate violation of party constitution " (please join me in supporting this worthwhile cause) It lasted for three days, and then was taken down. What's interesting, and no longer available to be seen, was the comment that Dan Brooks had illegally used the membership list in his quest to regain the leadership of the BC Conservative Party, and some questions as to interference in the website of a fellow leadership candidate. So, what happened to the petition?  Did the organizers have second thoughts, or did the Board and Executive of the BC Conservative Party threaten some kind of legal action?  These kind of discussions are generally held in camera, so we will likely never know.   Backing up a few days to September 25th, I posted the following on social media: A new Board Execu...

A "UN" envoy in BC, studying housing here, says: " We really need to focus on accountability mechanisms. There just simply aren’t enough mechanisms worldwide dealing with the implementation of the right to housing and ensuring all levels of government remain accountable ". UN Special Rapporteur on Housing, Leilani Farha: ‘ I’m in a rich country where I’m seeing gross inequality in homelessness and insufferable housing conditions .’ She went further, to say, " ... the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, under Article 11.1 and that basically says everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing, food, and clothing . What do I think? Yah, about those accountability mechanisms ... and the rights (?) people should Bombed out Syrian city of Aleppo have. Maybe instead of taking a blind eye approach and twiddling there thumbs / wringing their hands, the UN could spend some of it's atten...