Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Provincial records show the NDP government has spent nearly $100 million on the second phase of the Burnaby Hospital expansion and seven long-term care facilities — projects now all on indefinite hold. The province announced on April 30 that contracts had been cancelled for Phase 2 of the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment and those related to the construction of long-term care homes in Kelowna, Fort St. John, Delta, Abbotsford and Mission. The fate of long-term care developments paused in Squamish and Campbell River remains unclear ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

What’s a politician worth? If you’ll stop laughing for a moment, let’s re-frame the question. We’ve veered into an unhealthy debate on this subject of value for money. More precisely: How much should a politician be paid – that is, how much ought to be in keeping with the scope of the job, the size of the community being served, and the scale of comparable roles in the private sector? CLICK HERE for the full story

Newly elected MLA Ian Paton has resumed his campaign against dumping on farmland and added one more, the issue of large houses being built on farmland. “An issue here, all over BC, is the illegal dumping of fill on our precious farmland, in BC" ... Paton said it has to stop because once construction excavation fill is dumped on top of the natural top soil, the land can no longer be farmed ... CLICK HERE for the full story

BC United has named its candidate who will take on NDP Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon in the B.C. election, Oct. 19. Amrit Pal Singh Dhot, who owns the Dhot Group, also volunteers for the Delta school district parents’ advisory council, and volunteers for Scouts Canada, will run in Delta North ... CLICK HERE for the full story

If an election was held this week, BC United MLA Ian Paton would have an easy ride to a third term to a comfortable seat in the legislature ... so far, no other candidates have been named to challenge him in Delta South when the provincial election takes place October 19. According to BC NDP headquarters, the party currently is focusing on the nomination process for its 56 incumbent candidates who already have seats in the legislature ... could mean the Conservative Party of BC will have a candidate in Delta South before the NDP because the Conservative nomination process is underway and should conclude next month . . . . CLICK HERE for the full story

The plan to build a new eight-lane George Massey tunnel crossing is still almost three years from beginning construction, but already there are concerns about disruptions and damage from the project. Delta South MLA Ian Paton, whose riding encompasses one side of the Delta-to-Richmond tunnel, said members of the public will be shocked once they realize some of the projected impacts to popular trails, parks and water access. “People aren’t going to be happy about it,” said Paton, who recently published a social media video with BC United leader Kevin Falcon to highlight concerns ,..,. CLICK HERE for the full story  

I came across an interesting story this morning, from the BC governments Environment Ministry.   To me, this is the ‘real’ stuff that can happen to make a change to the environment around us – not forced or pretend stuff that makes some people feel good, while there’s not real change actually being made ... The first time Chloé Dubois saw a remote beach littered with plastics; she was struck by the grim reality of how big the problem had become. It was 2012 and Dubois was participating in a shoreline cleanup along the coast of Alaska. Within five days, the dedicated group had picked up 18,000 kilograms (40,000 pounds) of plastic pollution. Dubois has also been active cleaning up British Columbia’s coastlines. “ It completely transformed my plastic usage and I knew I had to do something about it ,” said Dubois, who is co-founder and executive director of the Ocean Legacy Foundation. “ I think there’s a misconception that because we live in Canada, o...

Retiring Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington There will be no Vicki Huntington in the BC Legislature after the May 9th general election.   The Delta South MLA , who won victory twice as an Independent, announced several weeks back this will be her last term John Twigg, a former journalist who specialized in covering the BC legislature, came to appreciate Ms Huntington's insightful comments, and pointed questions, whenever she had an opportunity to make them, as well as her excellent responsiveness to constituents' concerns. " I've been watching the B.C. Legislature for about 50 years now and Vicki is by far the best Independent MLA I've ever seen ," said Twigg, comparing her constructive contributions to the work of Oak Bay Conservative MLA Dr. Scott Wallace in the 1970s. The great value of Huntington's service also was noted in the Legislature by veteran NDP MLA Leonard Krog, who stood spontaneously and broke some rules to give her a glo...