Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Public Safety Deteriorates While Chronic Property Crime Continues to Hurt Communities and Businesses BC Conservative MLAs say British Columbians are still waiting for results from an NDP government that has spent a decade promising action on repeat offenders wreaking havoc on our communities. “British Columbians are paying the price for a justice system that too often gives repeat offenders chance after chance while law abiding citizens are left to deal with the consequences,” said Macklin McCall, Conservative Critic for Public Safety and Solicitor General.  “People deserve to feel safe in their communities, and that requires a justice system that prioritizes public safety, supports victims, and holds prolific offenders accountable.” A recent report out of Dawson Creek has once again raised concerns about repeat violent offenders with extensive criminal histories who repeatedly breach court-ordered conditions, fail to comply with probation orders, and continue cycling through the j...

Dr. Anna Kindy, Conservative Critic for Health, is calling on the government to take action as a Vancouver woman with a rare disease faces starvation unless she is given a crucial formula.   Lauren Paulsen, whose diet was already severely limited by a rare blood disorder called hyper eosinophilic syndrome, hasn’t been able to eat solid food for months after her jaw was broken during a dental surgery. Doctors have been petitioning the province to provide a specialized liquid formula that would meet her needs, but the government has ignored these requests. Lauren previously spent years fighting to get a prescription for Dupixent, which would have helped keep her disease in check, but was denied by the government, resulting in permanent damage.   “Lauren Paulsen is being failed by the government,” said Kindy. “Her family is advocating for her, her doctors are advocating for her, but the government is ignoring her. A healthcare system that will not provide life-savi...

The BC NDP Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, Christine Boyle, has claimed that it is becoming more affordable to rent in BC, and is celebrating NDP accomplishments in building affordable housing. But the reality of rental prices in B.C. remains quite troubling. “Despite Minister Boyle’s rosy statement, rental prices have actually increased in BC since the NDP came into power in 2017, and the factors that are causing a short-term decrease in some rental prices should be warning signs for BC’s economy,” said Linda Hepner, Conservative Critic for Housing . Since 2017, when the NDP formed government, average rents have more than doubled. The average rent for a one-bedroom unit has increased by: 236% in Kelowna 235% in Surrey 228% in Victoria 228% in Kamloops 221% in Vancouver 171% in Prince George 147% in Abbotsford “The short-term decreases in rental prices, which still remain too high, come not from responsible housing policy from the NDP, but from policy failures t...

Gavin Dew, BC Conservative Critic for Jobs, Economic Development, Innovation, and AI is asking " Why doesn't British Columbia have its own AI strategy ? " British Columbians have now heard two very different stories from this NDP government. In April, Minister of State for AI Rick Glumac told the Legislature that BC was working closely with Ottawa and pushing for a national framework on artificial intelligence.  In May, Minister Ravi Kahlon claimed British Columbia was actively shaping the federal government's AI strategy and helping lead the conversation. Now that the federal strategy has finally been released, Minister Glumac is suddenly criticizing it and suggesting British Columbia's concerns were not addressed, according to a statement given to BC Today. So, which is it? Either Minister Kahlon was wrong when he said British Columbia was helping shape the strategy, or Minister Glumac is admitting that despite all the government's talk, BC wasn't even a...

While British Columbians wait years for basic medical care, the NDP government has allowed non-residents to rack up $200.6 million in unpaid health bills since 2020-2021. New research from SecondStreet.org, obtained through a freedom of information request, revealed that people from outside Canada are coming to BC, receiving health services, and leaving without paying their bills.  The losses span every health region in the province. "British Columbians are not guaranteed timely access to healthcare, be it treatment or diagnostics, and this situation continues to deteriorate under the NDP," said Anna Kindy, MLA for North Island and Critic for Health. "Taxpayers are footing the bill for tourists' health treatments to the tune of over $200 million, enough to cover over 21,000 hip replacements in this province while British Columbians wait months to years for that surgery.” The research found BC has the worst record of any province in Canada examined so far. Under a dec...

Gavin Dew, MLA for Kelowna-Mission and Critic for Jobs, Economic Development, Innovation and Artificial Intelligence, is sounding the alarm on BC’s youth job crisis following the latest Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey, which shows rising youth unemployment, increasing unemployment overall, and continued losses in private sector employment across British Columbia. Youth unemployment increased from 14.4 per cent to 15.3 per cent in May, while more than 7,300 young people left British Columbia over the past year. BC's unemployment rate remained at 6.8 per cent, but total unemployment increased from 210,700 to 212,200 people while the province's population declined. "We are facing a youth jobs crisis. You see it in the stats and you hear it from youth and their worried parents," said Dew. "I'm getting more calls than ever from people desperately looking for summer jobs for their kids. More than 7,000 young people have left B.C. in the last year in search of...

Peter Milobar, MLA for Kamloops Centres and Official Opposition Finance Critic, released the following statement in response to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's 2026 Finance Minister Report Card, which ranked BC Finance Minister Brenda Bailey dead last among provincial finance ministers in Canada with an overall grade of "F":  "British Columbians didn't need a report card to know things are headed in the wrong direction. They see it every time they pay their bills, try to buy a home, or watch another government deficit pile up. But now an independent national organization has confirmed that NDP Brenda Bailey is the worst-rated finance minister in Canada. "After nearly a decade of decline under this NDP government, British Columbia has become a province where people pay more, government borrows more, and families get less in return. We have some of the highest debt in the country, repeated credit downgrades, and no credible plan to get our finances back on...

The federal government has announced new measures to support British Columbia's forestry sector, including $65 million in funding for projects across the province. While any support is welcome, it falls far short of the level of assistance other provinces have secured for key industries. Conservative Forests Critic Ward Stamer says the NDP government needs to take responsibility for its mismanagement of B.C.’s forest industry instead of trying to pass on the blame. Despite promising to create more jobs in the forest sector, the NDP government has overseen the loss of thousands of forestry jobs and 21 mill closures which have devastated communities. “If Premier Eby spent more time addressing the regulatory issues impacting the forestry sector than he did complaining about the federal government, we would not be in the position we are now,” said Stamer. “And instead of trying to place the blame for mill closures on Donald Trump, Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar should t...

The Alberta government has considered three different pipeline routes through northern British Columbia for a new major oil export pipeline, according to documents obtained by CBC News which provide a first glimpse into where the project could be located. Several ports on the northern coast are highlighted as options, according to the documents, which were shown to local community leaders during private consultations on the proposed project this spring. The provincial government is also exploring the idea of a fourth route through southern BC and a port in the Vancouver area ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Kerry-Lynne Findlay won the B.C. Conservative leadership race because she is an "authentic champion" of populism within the broader conservative movement, says an analyst who studies modern conservatism in western countries. David Black, who teaches political theory at Royal Roads University in Greater Victoria, said Findlay's victory over Caroline Elliott confirms the party's turn toward populism. "(Findlay) sought to apply purity tests during the debates, as part of her campaign strategy for the leadership, and she won that purity test," Black said. "She was the purest candidate with respect to populist bona fides." He added that Findlay, unlike Elliott, did not have to perform populism because of her credentials while serving under former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper and later Pierre Poilievre, the current federal Conservative leader ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Kerry-Lynne Findlay won the hard-fought battle to become the next leader of the Conservative Party of BC, but before she can advance on the premier’s office, she must first secure the peace within her own party. The former federal Conservative cabinet minister emerged as the leadership race’s unlikely insurgent. A political pugilist, Findlay cast herself as the grassroots outsider taking on the “insiders” with a “hidden liberal agenda” and “mainstream media gatekeepers" ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Former MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay has won the race to replace former British Columbia Conservative leader John Rustad on the fourth ballot, beating commentator Caroline Elliott. Findlay won with 51 per cent of the vote, just ahead of Elliott, who finished with 49 per cent. Three other candidates, starting with sitting MLA Peter Milobar, then entrepreneur Yuri Fulmer, and finally former BC Liberal cabinet minister Iain Black, were all eliminated in the three earlier rounds as the last-place finisher was cut from contention ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

It’s been a century or so since surgeon and Burnaby sanatorium owner Dr. Robert ­Telford was opining in the Vancouver Sun about the urgency of launching a facility in BC that ­provided treatment for “drug fiends.” Debate had been heating up about these ­so-called drug fiends for a while. Fueled by racism toward Chinese labourers in the ­country, opium was the new enemy. Prohibition ­politics were in play, and an appetite for treatment was ­building. Everyone in the province had an opinion on whether to manage illicit drug use as a criminal problem or a social concern. But the commonly held view was that drug users were moral degenerates from the ­“underclass” who needed saving from the evil, soulless criminals selling drugs. The world has changed hundreds of times over since then ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

Whoever gets elected the next leader of the BC Conservatives on Saturday will inherit a party largely free of caucus drama—for the first time, perhaps, in its history. They can thank Trevor Halford, who as interim leader has helped stage a remarkable turnaround of the opposition party during the spring session of the legislature. The BC Conservatives have now gone five months without public fights, split votes, controversial bills or unauthorized renegade speeches that exploded into crisis management. That’s no small feat  ... CLICK HERE for the full story

BC’s recreational fishing industry lures thousands of tourists to the province each year generating an estimated $1.25 billion in expenditures, but it could soon be clubbed over the head again, ocean charter operators say. Following a round of public consultation that concluded in March, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is now set to revise the 1999 Salmon Allocation Policy, which could further limit recreational fisher access to coho and chinook salmon. A revision to the policy was launched in 2018 following a BC Supreme Court decision affirming Indigenous rights to commercial fishing on Vancouver Island. With those new rights legally bestowed and only so many fish to go around, charter operators and sport fishers alike are preparing for the worst—much greater limits on when they may fish and how many fish they can retain ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is blaming Prime Minister Mark Carney’s policies for Canada entering recession territory. Statistics Canada released a report Friday that said the economy contracted slightly for the second quarter in a row to start the year — a benchmark that meets some definitions of a technical recession. Some economists weighing in after that release said the recession talk was premature and argued that while Canada’s economy is soft, the declines are marginal and do not meet the definition of a widespread downturn. Poilievre said Friday there’s nothing technical about rising rates of mortgage delinquency, increased food bank usage and five quarters of falling business investment ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

If Team Canada brings the same gimmicky craftiness to the World Cup that the NDP government displayed in disclosing the costs of hosting it, then by God, we could win this thing! The BC government’s own betting parlour (PlayNow) is currently offering a $150 return on every dollar bet on that outcome. Those government odds makers don’t seem to recognize home-field advantage. But if Team Canada learns ball-handling skills from the way the BC government juggled the hot-potato cost issue, it might be worth taking a flyer on Canada to win ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The BC government provided its long-awaited update on the cost of hosting FIFA World Cup games in Vancouver Friday, showing the tournament is either getting more expensive or more affordable, depending on how you look at it. The gross cost of hosting seven matches at BC Place starting next month is now estimated at between $685 million and $729 million, according to the updated figures the province released Friday ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

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 

Yesterday, I published the latest version of The Maple’s annual database of elected officials at the provincial level who are landlords and/or invested in real estate. These annual releases are only possible because all provinces require their elected officials to fill out disclosure forms containing, in part, property they own, sources of income and investments, which are then made public. With that said, some provinces have far better disclosure report systems than others. After spending hours browsing through each province’s system annually, I’m well positioned to rank them, which I’m going to do here. This may sound dry or unnecessary, but it’s actually important ... CLICK HERE for the full story