Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Last night, in Kamloops, I and a dozen others had the opportunity to meet with Conservative Party of BC leadership Candidate Kerry-Lynne Findlay. Including a brief Q&A, she spoke for an hour and a quarter on a number of topics, although the majority of that time was spent talking about issues surrounding the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). Like all other candidates, however, she has been clear in stating that under her leadership, and a BC Conservative government, it will be cancelled. She also spoke to the need for all conservatives to unite and come together as a single force against the NDP government of Premier David Eby. “ We need all the conservatives. We need conservatives to come together.  I'm talking to the independents ”, Findlay stated. She then went on to discuss what can’t be done right now, a direct reference to a deal the Fulmer campaign struck with OneBC leader Dallas Brodie just days ago. “ As a leadership contender, you...

Want to ease the burden of health-care costs, and especially hospitalization? Easy. Just spend whatever it costs to provide all Canadians with free vaccinations — for life. The other day I went to the local pharmacy for my flu and COVID-19 shots, which are free to all B.C. residents. I asked the pharmacist about the vaccination for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. I learned that it would cost me about $300. And a vaccination for shingles, recommended for adults age 50 and older and sometimes administered together with the RSV vaccine, costs about $160 per dose. Like most people, I pondered whether it was worth spending that amount to stay out of hospital and maybe stay alive; older adults are at highest risk for RSV complications, and shingles disproportionately affects adults aged 60 and older. But I decided I had better uses for the money. Then I asked myself: Why should any of us old folks pay for any vaccine? ... CLICK HERE for the full story

I used the term "stale dated pandemic-related issues" on a recent post, and I shouldn't have. When I wrote that, I had in mind the signs warning against the harms of COVID vaccines, and not about the continued medical restrictions on real people today. As I've said lots, that sign is stale-dated because anyone who took the vaccine has already taken it and everyone who hasn't, won't. There's no one left to save. What I wasn't thinking about is the continued vaccine mandate in BC for some public employees. Some of the comments on here pointed that out, but it was a private message that really made me feel the angst these restrictions caused and were causing. BC is the only jurisdiction in Canada that still require vaccines for some public employees and refuses to hire back the unvaccinated, and even many doctors mutter privately under their breath about it. Since there are no major outbreaks in the other nine provinces that have lifted the restrictions...