Thoughts on BC Politics and More

The upcoming federal byelection in Battle River–Crowfoot has set a record for the most candidates ever on a ballot in Canada. It’s the work of the so-called Longest Ballot Committee, who recruited 201 of their own candidates as part of its ongoing protest against the lack of progress on electoral reform. (A little more on that later.) It’ll also be a memorable byelection because it will give Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre a seat in the House of Commons — assuming he wins it, of course. But will it be remembered as the “most important byelection in Canadian history”? That’s what Poilievre modestly called it in a recent email blast to party supporters ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

In contrast to an uptick in the national inflation rate, British Columbia’s rate fell in June to 2.1 per cent year-over-year, from 2.3 per cent in May. Core measures also declined, with inflation excluding energy dropping to 2.7 per cent from 3.0 per cent while inflation excluding both food and energy fell to 2.5 per cent from 3.0 per cent. That said, BC’s inflation rate remained higher than the national reading of 1.9 per cent ... ... While BC residents are seeing some price relief, tariff-related shocks are filtering into prices. Vehicle prices are rising, as are goods such as clothing and footwear, pointing to some impacts of Canadian retaliation against U.S. tariffs ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The Council of Forest Industries wrote a letter to the New Democrats earlier this month, outlining more than a dozen proposals to rescue a struggling industry. “BC’s forest industry is in crisis,” wrote COFI President Kim Haakstad in the July 14 letter to Forests Minister Ravi Parmar. “Fibre availability is at historic lows, permitting systems are gridlocked, and investment is retreating in the face of prolonged uncertainty. The risk is not gradual decline — but accelerated facility closures, job losses, and the permanent erosion of forest industry capacity" ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

A scathing open letter from Campbell River Mayor Kermit Dahl has amplified growing concerns across British Columbia’s coastal communities regarding the collapse of the forestry industry under the NDP government.  The BC Conservative Caucus is standing in full support of Mayor Dahl’s call for urgent action to save what’s left of the coastal forestry economy. “Mayor Dahl is right, this is not a natural downturn. This is a made-in-Victoria crisis caused by policy chaos, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and a government that talks about resilience while watching mills shut down,” said Ward Stamer , Official Opposition Critic for Forests and MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson.  “Campbell River, Port Alberni, Powell River… these aren’t just dots on a map. They’re working communities that have been abandoned by the very government that promised to protect jobs.” Since 2019, coastal harvest volumes have plummeted by over 40%, and more than 5,400 direct forestry jobs have disappeared in just the...

A former Kelowna bank robber, who got fired because he wasn't very good at his new IT job, has been awarded $10,000 after the BC Human Rights Tribunal found the man's criminal past was a factor in his dismissal ... He'd used a different last name and lied, saying he didn't have a criminal record ... ...  MotiveWave argued that Verhaegen's crime was violent and threatening, and as he worked in their home that was related to his employment. However, the Tribunal didn't buy it. "It is not enough to say that someone has committed a crime that harmed people (as Verhaegen did) and therefore cannot work in an office in a home with children in it. The law requires a more nuanced and contextual analysis" ... CLICK HERE for the full story

In fiscal year 2024-25, the Moe government ran a budget deficit — its fifth in seven years since Scott Moe became premier in 2018. Budget deficits come with costs both for taxpayers and Saskatchewan’s economy. If the Moe government wants to avoid these costs, it should heed lessons from the Romanow government of the 1990s, which moved Saskatchewan out of the red and into the black ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

... “Forestry in B.C. has long been more than just timber and mills; it quietly supports infrastructure, rural access and emergency response in many regions,” said Jerome Gessaroli, the report’s author and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Montreal Economic Institute, in a Monday statement. “If that foundation erodes, it could trigger disruptions in everything from wildfire suppression to Indigenous economic development.” The report notes that forestry companies have built and maintained an estimated 620,000 to 700,000 kilometres of remote roads across BC ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Dozens of safer supply pilot programs lost federal funding earlier this year and Ottawa says there are no plans to re-up its financial support. Starting in 2020, Health Canada provided financial backing to 31 programs across the country that offered "prescribed alternative" opioids to people with addictions. The overdose crisis has rocked Canada over much of the past decade. Health Canada reports that more than 52,000 people have died of an apparent opioid overdose since 2016 ... CLICK HERE for the full story

If there was a single issue in rural BC that edged the 2024 provincial election into a near-victory for the upstart Conservatives, it may have been the push by Premier David Eby to legally enshrine “shared decision-making” with indigenous people on Crown land use. Opposition town hall meetings in early 2024 drew large, raucous crowds, concerned the NDP government’s proposed Land Act Amendments would give the more than 200 BC indigenous groups a legal veto over land use across the province’s vast public lands. Word got out about the proposed changes, which amounted to Indigenous groups having a legal right to stop projects of their choosing, whether they occurred on Crown land, or were in the public interest or not ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

VicPD has launched a dedicated, ongoing covert enforcement initiative focused on addressing disorder and crime in the downtown core, resulting in the generation of multiple drug trafficking files and 16 arrests over the first two days.  The initiative, dubbed “Project 3D” (disrupt downtown disorder) and led by VicPD’s Strike Force unit, aims to disrupt criminal activity in problematic locations downtown and improve safety for residents, businesses, and visitors.  The initiative utilizes a combination of proactive policing strategies including high-visibility patrols, targeted surveillance, and undercover operations, in partnership with City of Victoria bylaw officers. Targeted areas include, but are not limited to, Pandora Avenue, Centennial Square, Ellice Street, Queens Avenue, Princess Avenue, Mason Street, and more.   Some notable files include:  25-28167: A man was arrested for trafficking cocaine while seated in a chair directly in front of an Island Health...

A damning new report from the Office of the Seniors Advocate confirms what families across BC have long feared: the long-term care system is collapsing, and nowhere is the situation more dire than under Island Health. Brennan Day, MLA for Courtenay–Comox and the Official Opposition Critic for Seniors’ Health, is calling it a “full-blown system breakdown driven by government neglect.” “Since 2017, the NDP has overpromised and underdelivered,” said Day. “Nowhere is that more obvious than here in Island Health, where wait times for long-term care have nearly quadrupled. They’ve had eight years. Seniors can’t wait any longer.” Key findings from the Seniors Advocate’s report include: Vancouver Island median wait times for long-term care have increased from 60 days to 230 days, among the worst in the province. Waitlists have tripled across BC since 2016, with Island Health making up a significant portion of the growth. Of the 5,000 care beds promised by the NDP...

Are you like me? Do you resist reading the morning news because there only seems to be “bad news”? I remember a time not so long ago when Leah and I felt it our civic duty to be informed. While enjoying our morning coffee, we would spread our newspapers out on our kitchen counter and pore over the headlines, picking out what we believed to be the must-read stories of the day. We would proceed to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly. Yet now, there seems to be none of the former and the bad is becoming uglier ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Premier David Eby used British Columbia's latest call for more power sources to invite American clean energy producers to the province after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized "ugly" windmills in Scotland. Trump called the wind turbines near his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland "ugly monsters," prompting Eby to issue the call to producers in the United States to come to BC, where there's support for clean energy. In the latest call to power, BC Hydro is looking for renewable sources to generate almost as much energy as the new Site C dam in northeastern B.C. BC Hydro's request for proposals is looking for up to 5,000 gigawatt hours of electricity from large clean or renewable projects in partnership with First Nations and independent power producers ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

British Columbia Premier David Eby tore into the federal government on Monday after Ottawa slashed ferry fares on the East Coast by 50 per cent. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the rate cuts for the Eastern Canada Ferry Services which serve P.E.I., Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec and Marine Atlantic, the constitutionally-mandated ferry service that connects Newfoundland to Nova Scotia, earlier Monday. The fare cuts were a federal Liberal election promise. Eby said major new subsidies for East Coast ferries but not for those in B.C. are a symptom of “structural unfairness" ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

U.S. President Donald Trump's successive announcements of deals setting baseline tariffs on the European Union and Japan are prompting questions about whether they're a road map for Canada to follow in trade talks. Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the bones of an agreement on Sunday. It sets across-the-board tariffs of 15 per cent on most European Union exports to the United States, along with a commitment by Europe to invest $600 billion US in the American economy and spend $750 billion on U.S. energy products — although there's plenty of fine print still to come. That makes it broadly comparable to the deal Trump announced last week with Japan: a 15 per cent across-the-board tariff and a Japanese commitment to invest $550 billion in the US ... ... because Canada is facing the threat of 35 per cent tariffs on some goods on the same date, does that mean Canada should be aiming for a similar agreement? ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Island Health has so far eliminated 117 non-contract jobs as part of its cost-cutting exercise under provincial direction, while the provincial health services authority — including BC Cancer and BC Ambulance — is warning of cuts to come. The goal is to put more money back into front-line patient care. There are about 2,500 non-contract employees in Island Health, which said the total number of job cuts will be revealed at the end of the process, expected to continue for a few more weeks ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

As he announces his refusal to sign on to the pipeline accord recently reached by Premiers Ford, Smith and Moe, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew appears to be wearing two hats. First, he wears his premier’s hat. He knows that any pipeline project must pass through Manitoba, and he is refusing to let it pass unless his terms are accepted. Here’s what he said: “Our government will not treat consultation as a box to check after decisions are made,” said Kinew on Wednesday. “We believe reconciliation requires shared decision-making from the start.” But the second hat Kinew appears to don is the feathered headdress of an Indian chief ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

IMAGE CREDIT:   Trade and Invest BC / BC Govt BC’s forestry sector would have been brought to its knees Friday by new American duties on Canadian softwood lumber, if it wasn’t already flat on its back from being hammered by years of provincial government policies. ... Forests Minister Ravi Parmar called it a “gut punch” for the industry. A more apt description would be kicking forest companies when they’re already down and curled up in the fetal position ... CLICK HERE for the full story

To so many central Canadians, Alberta’s sense of alienation is inexplicable, even contemptible. But for John Weissenberger, a transplant from Montreal who built his career, family and life in Alberta, what’s truly confounding is the West’s enduring faith in Canada.  In this sweeping essay – by turns passionate, lyrical and coolly analytical – Weissenberger explains the roots and reasons for Alberta’s frustration, charts the many ways central Canada has plundered and sneered at this most productive province, and makes the case that its grievances be treated seriously. Not just out of fairness, but because Alberta’s spirit and dynamism embody the best of Canada ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Many Canadians are growing increasingly worried about job losses and an approaching recession, according to new Bank of Canada research ... ... the bank noted that “fears of job losses remain elevated,” especially among younger Canadians, who reported a higher-than-average risk of losing employment. The concern stems in part from ongoing trade disputes, which have caused households to rethink their spending ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Federal officials pushed to approve Islamic-compliant home loans despite repeated internal warnings that the proposal was unworkable, according to newly released Access To Information records. Blacklock's Reporter says emails reveal the Department of Finance wanted to move “extremely fast” on Sharia-compliant mortgages in the months leading up to the April 28 election, despite concerns from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation ... ... CMHC staff said Finance was so eager to approve halal loans that it considered announcing the plan before evaluating its feasibility ... CLICK HERE for the full story

In our latest national survey, we asked Canadians to go beyond partisanship and consider a fundamental question: What qualities matter most in a Prime Minister? The answers were striking and reveal just how much leadership style matters right now. At a time defined by uncertainty, Canadians are craving steadiness over spectacle. They want a Prime Minister who puts the country ahead of politics (74%), understands the challenges facing ordinary people (72%), and has a clear, strategic plan (71%). Traits like calmness under pressure, evidence-based decision-making, and clear communication round out the top of the list. So, who best embodies this leadership profile today?  CLICK HERE for the full story

“Reconciliation” has been the watchword for Canada’s relationship with its indigenous peoples for the last 10 years. So, how’s that going? ... ... Our current impasse arises from 250 years of decisions that are now almost impossible to change because they have been made part of Canada’s Constitution, either by elected politicians or by appointed judges. “Big new ideas” are thus virtually impossible to implement. But there is still room for incremental innovations in public policy that focus primarily on economic opportunities benefiting Indigenous Canadians, i.e., on pursuing prosperity and the good things that come with that ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Let’s see. You are a member of the NDP’s national organizing committee. Your party has just been creamed in a national election, reduced in the House of Commons to seven members out of 343 members. In fact, for the purposes of parliamentary proceedings, you’re not even a ‘recognized party’ any more. Your last leader lost his seat (if not his pension) and has gone home to BC where Conservatives hope he will reincarnate himself as an advisor to BC’s NDP government… And here you are the party's organizing committee, and today is the day you start looking for a new leader for a party that can't afford wages or rent, and above all can't repay the bank loan it took to run the election you just lost. So, how to rebuild the party’s broad appeal?  Hmm. "Well, why don’t we look at the Democrats in the US, and do what they do?" "Great idea, let’s do that." The conversation had to be something like that ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Premier Eby’s mandate letter to Forests Minister Ravi Parmar ordered the ministry to help the forestry sector achieve a harvest target of 45 million cubic metres per year—a staggering 50% increase over last year’s total. That sounds good on paper. But it’s not going to happen. And when it doesn’t, you can already hear the excuses: permitting delays, overlapping consultations, a permitting backlog, and the usual regulatory maze. Now there’s talk of Ottawa imposing quotas on Canadian softwood exports to the United States, a move that would add even more uncertainty. And you can bet this NDP government will use it as another excuse to stand back and let the annual allowable cut continue to slide further downward, pretending their hands are tied. Well, we don’t have the luxury of pretending. Even if the total harvest is only 30 million cubic metres, BC Timber Sales should still be producing at least 6 million. Instead, it’s on track to deliver less than three. That’s not sustainable—not fo...

Conservative MLAs say the NDP government has lost control of the healthcare crisis in British Columbia, as local governments from Merritt to Nanaimo are now escalating mental health and addictions issues to Ottawa out of sheer desperation. IMAGE CREDIT : Neuroscience Institute “When mayors start writing to federal MPs instead of the Health Minister, it just proves the provincial government’s inability to deal with the crisis,” said  Claire Rattée , MLA for Skeena and Critic for Mental Health and Addictions. “Addictions, poverty, and mental illness are colliding across this province. The system is underfunded, unaffordable, and dangerously inaccessible,” Rattée continued.  “Experts say mental health should make up 12% of the health budget, BC isn’t even close. And now Merritt’s mayor is appealing to Ottawa because the province won’t act. This is all happening amidst a larger healthcare crisis in BC. We don’t just have gaps, we have total breakdowns.” In Merritt, ...