Thoughts on BC Politics and More

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

How badly does the NDP government not want to talk about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples anymore? Very badly, judging by debate on one of two First Nations treaties that were hustled into the legislature as the DRIPA crisis was reaching full boil last month. The government made a vain attempt to steer away from DRIPA during debate on the K’ómoks treaty covering parts of northern Vancouver Island, even though DRIPA is specifically cited as an integral part of the treaty. The Conservative Party of BC Opposition is intent on exploring every aspect of the contentious law that recognizes Indigenous rights to full partnership in most provincial decision-making. It’s an obvious way to score political points. It is also warranted by the implications of the court decision last year that created the controversy ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

The province’s cancellation of contracts for as many as seven new long-term-care homes is drawing attention to the thousands of older people languishing in hospital beds while ­waiting to get into a home, with some dying on the wait-list. Laura Kyle says her mother, Barbara Donaldson, spent seven months in hospital with Parkinson’s, first at Victoria General and then at the Gorge Road Health Centre, before dying in September. She says that Vancouver Island Health Authority officials had told them that the wait for a long-term care bed could have taken another two years ... CLICK HERE for the full story

During Question Period on May 20, NDP house leader Mike Farnworth shut out Conservative efforts to find out how much the government is spending on a suite at BC Place Stadium during FIFA World Cup. The Jobs and Economic Growth Ministry told theBreaker.news that the cost for the 10-person, catered suite is $475,000, via the City of Vancouver’s host city supporters’ program ... CLICK HERE for the full story

It’s not yet at a Carney-level of turnaround, but Christine Fréchette has given the Coalition Avenir Québec new life and, just maybe, new hope that the October provincial election won’t be an unmitigated disaster for the governing party. Last week in this newsletter, I highlighted two new Quebec polls from Pallas Data and Liaison Strategies that put the Parti Québécois and Quebec Liberals (PLQ) in a tie, with the CAQ rising to either 18% or 19%. This week, we have a new poll from Léger for Québecor — and it suggests that the trends picked up by Pallas and Liaison are continuing to boost the CAQ from potential spoiler status to long-shot contender ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

IMAGE CREDIT -- Premier David Eby (Facebook) Yesterday (May 20th) the Official Opposition attempted to move a reasoned amendment to the second reading of Bill 20, the K'ómoks Treaty Act, 2026, that would refer the subject matter to the Select Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs before the Legislature proceeded further. The amendment was voted down by the NDP government.   The amendment asks the House to pause the treaty ratification until the committee has examined, in public, overlap issues raised by neighbouring First Nations, the substantive changes the government made between the publicly-released Agreement-in-Principle and the final Treaty, and the implications for British Columbians.   "Modern treaties are supposed to bring certainty. That is the whole point," said Scott McInnis, MLA for Columbia River Revelstoke and Official Opposition Critic for Indigenous Relations.  “This Treaty inserts UNDRIP as an authoritative source for its own interpretation...

The following is a condensed version of Kamloops – North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer’s remarks, to the BC Legislature, on the afternoon of Tuesday May 19th : I rise today to continue remarks on Bill 20, the K’ómoks treaty, and to address what I believe are some of the most important constitutional, democratic and governance concerns facing this Legislature today. At the centre of this debate are two major issues. First, unresolved overlapping territorial boundaries tied to this treaty process. And second, the growing legal and political consequences arising from the provincial government’s implementation of the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, more commonly known as DRIPA. Much of the government’s defence on DRIPA rests upon references to the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, commonly known as UNDRIP. And this is where we must begin having a more honest and mature conversation in this province. UNDRIP was never originally designed to function ...

Canada’s former environment minister says a new proposal by the federal government to allow major projects to proceed even if they result in wildlife extinctions is “morally wrong.” “The rules were put there for a purpose and I would be extremely reluctant to see them changed,” David Anderson told The Tyee. Anderson played a major role in getting Canada’s Species at Risk Act passed in 2002 when he was environment minister in a Liberal government ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has pushed a pipeline idea that the BC government dismisses as a figment of her ­imagination to a fast-tracked national ­priority that could break ground just 15 months from now. That has left Premier David Eby sputtering in indignation. The awkward, tangled history of pipelines in BC shows that is not the best stance. He’s been reciting a litany of reasons why another oil ­pipeline through BC is a bad idea — no proponent, no ­financing, no firm customers, no route, etc. And yet, here we are: A concept the B.C. NDP has been fighting in various forms for at least 15 years has moved from a memorandum of ­understanding between Ottawa and Alberta to an ­“implementation agreement.” And that agreement has a shockingly fast timeline ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

Higher gas prices driven mainly by the war in Iran pushed inflation higher in April but some economists argue the conflict’s looming costs haven’t been fully captured in the latest price data. Inflation rose to 2.8 per cent in April, Statistics Canada said Tuesday -- the highest annual inflation rate since May 2024. StatCan’s April report marks a jump from March’s inflation rate of 2.4 per cent, though a Reuters poll of economists had expected inflation would accelerate even more to top three per cent ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Why were our forebears more adventurous than we are today? Was it just that they had more empty space to explore, no GPS or instant communications to keep them safe, no social welfare state to protect them?  It’s all that and more, writes Murray Lytle. The derring-do of days past, he argues, sprang from a value system that admired courage and saw risk-taking as a social virtue – even a duty – that could expand knowledge and build a better world as well as protect the nation. Lytle urges our society to shake off its smothering safety culture and rediscover a sense of adventure ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The biggest comprehensive literature review to date has confirmed that Indigenous stewardship bolsters conservation goals. The literature review was published recently in People and Nature and found “a clear, positive relationship” between conservation and Indigenous stewardship, said lead author William Nikolakis, associate professor at the University of British Columbia faculty of forestry and environmental stewardship. “The evidence is clear that Indigenous Peoples’ lands do deliver conservation outcomes that are superior to, or at least equal to, state-run protected areas,” he told The Tyee. This is despite Indigenous lands largely not being protected by or formally recognized by their country, and Indigenous Peoples around the world largely not being paid for their stewardship by the state ... CLICK HERE for the full story

This summer could mark the final season for the Canadian Forces Snowbirds in their current form, as the Department of National Defence prepares to unveil a plan critics warn could ground the aerobatic team for years. Defence Minister David McGuinty is expected to announce changes Tuesday to the future of the Snowbirds, the iconic aerobatic squadron based in Moose Jaw, Sask. Critics fear the retirement of the CT-114 Tutor jets after the 2026 flying season — combined with what is typically a lengthy procurement process — could sideline the team for years, interrupting a tradition of more than five decades of aerial performance ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Canada is grappling with debates over national identity and security as well as international trade. Ottawa is navigating U.S. tariffs and Donald Trump’s threats of higher trade duties ahead of this July’s review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, while also managing populist and separatist movements, hate crimes, and broader pressures on national cohesion ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of Mark Carney’s second political honeymoon? Although the federal Liberals continue to lead their Conservative rivals in public support, new data from Liaison Strategies suggest the government’s approval ratings have taken a hit in recent weeks. Naturally, nuance is key here: net approval remains comfortably in positive territory, but the recent movement in the numbers can hardly be dismissed as mere statistical noise. According to the latest Liaison update — a two-week rolling poll fielded from May 4 to 16, 2026 — 56% of respondents approve of Mark Carney’s performance as Prime Minister of Canada, against 36% who expressed disapproval ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The U.S. undersecretary of defence said Monday that the United States is pausing a long-standing military board, claiming “Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments" ... ...  Colby said the United States can “can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality” in the post, where he shared a link to a transcript of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. Carney never mentioned U.S. President Donald Trump during the widely applauded speech where he described a “rupture in the world order.” The address did garner the president’s attention and following the speech Trump referred to Carney as “governor.” But Canada has not been the main target of Trump’s ire in recent weeks ... CLICK HERE for the full story

When The Bureau published its analysis of Bill C-2 last fall, the diagnosis was unsparing. Ottawa had confused expansion of state power over ordinary Canadians with the enforcement tools Canada actually needs to confront the Chinese Triads, Mexican cartels, and hostile-state networks that have turned Canadian cities into operational platforms for the hemisphere’s most dangerous criminal organizations. The government has now repackaged that same flawed instinct under a new number. Bill C-22, the so-called Lawful Access Act, deserves the same verdict. The critics arriving at that conclusion now span an extraordinary coalition ... CLICK HERE for the full story

IMAGE CREDIT :  CBC News   Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced a landmark agreement today committing Ottawa to designate a new pipeline to BC's west coast as a project of national interest by October 1, 2026, with construction approval targeted for September 1, 2027. The deal pairs the pipeline with a new industrial carbon pricing framework and a fall 2027 construction start. British Columbia, the province where the pipeline ends, where the jobs would land, and where the export terminal would be built, was nowhere at the table. "This is a nation-building deal, and the BC NDP have been locked out of the room," said Trevor Halford, Interim Leader of the Official Opposition.  "While the Prime Minister and the Premier of Alberta were doing the hard work of growing the Canadian economy, the NDP is on the sidelines calling this pipeline a 'fiction' and an 'energy vampire.'  He chose petulance over partnership, and now BC ...

The federal government says it is committed to supporting BC's struggling forestry sector in the face of U.S. import fees, and has announced a new $12-million fund to do so. But for those struggling, the help offered so far does not go far enough. "This is an insult," said John Brink, whose workforce at a trio of wood manufacturing plants in and around Prince George has dwindled from roughly 400 to about 30 people over the past year ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

As the BC Conservatives gear up to select a new leader this month, the five candidates share their thoughts with CHEK News on the province’s deficit, DRIPA, BC Ferries and transportation issues. Members of the BC Conservative Party will begin voting on their new leader on May 23, with the winner to be announced in Vancouver on May 30. To help British Columbians get a sense of who’s in the running, CHEK News reached out to each of the five candidates and asked for information on their background, as well as their opinion on key issues for British Columbians ... CLICK HERE for the full story

A Liberal government bill that proposes giving police and spies easier access to information during investigations has fallen into the crosshairs of U.S. tech giants and two American congressional committees, threatening to become the latest irritant in the Canada-U.S. relationship. The bill, this government’s second attempt at passing lawful access legislation, has already garnered intense domestic scrutiny from privacy and civil rights advocates, and is now attracting attention south of the border.  Late last week, the heads of two American congressional committees sent a letter to federal Public Safety Minister Anandasangaree calling for changes ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

BC Green Leader Emily Lowan is calling for a pause in building AI data centres in BC until the environmental, health and security risks of these ­facilities are properly ­understood and regulated. The federal government and Telus, the telecom company building the projects, describe the data centres as a bid to boost Canada’s sovereign ­computing and artificial-intelligence ­infrastructure. Two data ­centres ­— the cost of which have not been disclosed — will be in Vancouver and the other in ­Kamloops. Lowan said the current “build first, regulate later” model pushed by the federal and ­provincial governments is ­reckless and unacceptable for British Columbians ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government promised that Canada would become a vaccine hub. But did that ever happen? The answer, according to an epidemiologist, is “sort of.” The University of Ottawa’s Raywat Deonandan said Canada is in a better position now than it was six years ago, but some elements are still lacking. “We’ve got about a dozen vaccine manufacturing centres across the country, but only three can be scaled up to industrial-level manufacturing" ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

At a BC Conservative leadership debate hosted by the Canada Strong and Free Network last month, the concept of “Christian values” was brought up more than once, with one candidate asserting that “Christian values have an absolute place in this party.” Experts consider it a sign of a growing Christian-nationalist presence in Canada’s conservative politics ... CLICK HERE for the full commentary 

The Carney government’s move to let police forces seize and search small mail will mostly affect people who order illicit drugs through the post and represents a doubling down on “war on drugs” policies, experts say. “It’s not surprising because police organizations have been lobbying for this for over a decade,” said Ted Rutland, an associate professor of geography, planning and environment at Concordia University. Rutland studies urban policing and security as part of his work ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

The federal government is planning to adjust the clean electricity regulations to give more flexibility to LNG power plants and help to double Canada’s electricity grid by 2050. Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday unveiled Canada’s long-awaited clean electricity strategy, which aims to lower energy costs for 70 per cent of Canadian households. The strategy says construction will cost more than $1 trillion and public dollars will be used to cover some of the cost ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

Politics tends to lose its frenetic energy when a majority government descends upon Ottawa. But while Mark Carney’s Liberals seem safe from worrying about an election in the short term, that doesn’t mean that politics is about to get boring. Sure, there are still some elements of intrigue and uncertainty at the federal level — byelections, floor-crossings, defections and resignations, not to mention leadership questions — but most of the action seems to now be moving to the provincial scene ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

If Alberta Premier Danielle Smith were smart she’d treat Wednesday’s court ruling quashing Elections Alberta’s approval of the Stay Free Alberta/Alberta Prosperity Project petition for a separation referendum as a political get-out-of-jail-free card. After all, she could probably persuade her party’s separatist base the appeals were going to take forever, and in the meantime they’d need to re-elect her United Conservative Party so she could keep on pushing their cause. Then she could sign a pipeline deal with Prime Minister Mark Carney Friday and go for electoral gold ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Voting for the next leader of the Conservative Party of BC runs May 23-29. Ahead of the vote, candidates make their case, to Business In Vancouver, on some of the province's most pressing issues.  Q&A with Peter Milobar Q & A with Caroline Elliott Q & A with Yuri Fulmer Q & A with Kerry-Lynne Findlay Q & A with Iain Black  

A senior New Democratic Party parliamentarian has formally demanded that the Carney government release the full text of its secret law enforcement agreement with China’s Ministry of Public Security, echoing a set of facts The Bureau has been reporting for months, while warning that Ottawa’s continued refusal to disclose the deal is fueling legitimate fear among diaspora communities who have experienced or fear transnational repression by the Chinese state. Jenny Kwan, MP for Vancouver East and one of Parliament’s most prominent voices on Hong Kong and Chinese diaspora issues, wrote to Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree and Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand on May 12, calling the government’s silence on the agreement “particularly troubling” given what she described as the “problematic history of China’s foreign interference in Canada" ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

More Canadians are filing for insolvency, according to the latest data from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, as rising costs stretch consumers to their limits. Some 37,121 Canadians filed for insolvency in the first quarter of 2026 — the highest number of consumer insolvencies since 2009, when North America was reeling from the financial crisis. Compared to the same time period last year, insolvencies are up 8.5 per cent ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

The Conservatives and NDP sit on opposite sides of the spectrum, but they’re voicing similar concerns about the trajectory of Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) regime. The two opposition parties could be moving toward an unlikely alliance against further expansion, with a report on extending MAID eligibility to the mentally ill expected by summer ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

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