Thoughts on BC Politics and More

After three days as a non-member observer at the 2026 Conservative Party of Canada convention in Calgary, I feel I came away with a pretty clear sense of the party’s priorities: affordability, public safety, smaller government, pride in Canada’s post 1867 history, resource development, free speech, and a strong national defence. The message was all about rewarding hard work and merit rather than identity politics, and championing workers and youth. Many attendees openly rejected ideas around social justice, climate action, or diversity and inclusion. This summary of my experiences is my own and I have likely missed out pieces people may want to hear about. Happy to answer any questions here. Also, I know others who attended the convention might have a different set of takeaways and thoughts. I will try to get captions on most of the photos here soon. Thanks to my MP Frank Caputo and my good friend from electoral reform campaigns in BC, Bruce Hallsor, for being generous wi...

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION  It's always a challenge to work to improve social issues in community - homelessness, mental health challenges, substance use disorder. There are not easy fixes here. These issues also sometimes cause social disorder and criminal activity. Often our most vulnerable citizens are preyed upon and become victims of crime.   Over the past years, Kamloops council and city hall management have increased our capacity to work on social issues. We haven't seen ourselves as a primary funder and have worked hard to facilitate and coordinate effective work. We have had a lot of successes relatively recently helping secure more social housing in the community.   Unfortunately, the challenges for our most vulnerable citizens have increased. This was the trend before COVID, and COVID has made it much more challenging. Social disorder has increased. And there seems to be less accountability for really bad behaviour and criminal activity.   S...

Whenever I think about diversity and inclusion in Kamloops, my mind first goes to our amazing history of embracing diversity. I think about community leaders like John Fremont Smith, Len Marchand, and Peter Wing. I think about my Dad driving us to elementary school and little Arjun (I was once) almost always noting there was street we passed called “Singh Street”. I think about this community largely very much embraced my immigrant parents and their children.   I know; however, my thinking needs to try to engage with the whole picture. And there is definitely racism and discrimination in our community.   There is systemic racism in some of our most powerful institutions. I’ve lived these experiences somewhat but I know many many people who have experienced racism and discrimination much more that I.   The recent global spotlight on racism, after the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, has brought a lot of strong important emotions to the centre of p...