Thoughts on BC Politics and More

  Saying it doesn’t trust the government to do the job, the group that had been pushing for an environmental review of the Bamberton quarry expansion says it is considering launching its own cumulative-effects analysis of the project on the Saanich Inlet.   The Saanich Inlet Protection Society, which had pressed the province to do an environmental review of the quarry expansion near Mill Bay, said despite vague promises the environment would be top of mind as the project is considered for approval, they’ve been given no assurances that any kind of study of the inlet will be forthcoming ...   CLICK HERE to read the full story

Today is day #6 on our journey of “20 for 2020” .   As I mentioned at the outset of this series, five of the twenty come directly from the BC Conservative Party, and this mornings commentary is no exception.   The next BC government must be committed to ... Sustainable Resource Development British Columbia is the most diverse province in Canada. Our resources are under fire and now is the time to act. We will negotiate and find new trade markets to return safe and sustainable Forestry, Natural Gas, Fishing and Farming industries back in the hands of hard-working British Columbians . From siding with environmentalists over the well-being of industry and resources workers, even though we have some of the best enviro protections in the world ... to wasting millions in court battles and fights over developing job-creating pipelines ... to doing little in the way of demanding federal action in the softwood lumber dispute with the United States ... to shacklin...

Montreal now has 7 Ministers serving in Cabinet On Wednesday Prime Minister Trudeau announced his new cabinet. Anyone who thought having less seats and a minority Government would in turn result in a smaller cabinet will be disappointed to learn otherwise. By the numbers the new cabinet now has 37 Ministers, in contrast to the 31 Minister's announced by the Prime Minister after the 2015 majority. In order to add so many new Ministers, in some cases a new Ministry had to be created. As an example we now have a Minister of Middle Class Prosperity. This is perhaps the first time where a well-known political talking point has now become a Ministry. At this point it is unclear what will be the mandate of this or any Ministry as the official mandate letters have yet to be released. Not counting Prime Minister Trudeau, of the remaining 36 Ministers, 18 are female and 18 are male as the gender quota policy of the Prime Minister remains unchanged. What has changed is...

Shortening commutes for tens of thousands, reducing congestion, boosting the economy, saving the environment, proven effectiveness, improving employers’ bottom line, fantastic Return on Investment (ROI) – why delay? Commuting is a twice-daily living nightmare for millions of workers in this province, and congestion keeps getting worse. Businesses groups on the North Shore and in the Sidney area have been calling for action. They cite long commutes as adversely impacting recruiting of new employees, absenteeism,  morale, mental and physical health, productivity and retention, while congestion can cripple their freighting and delivery efficiency. Health authorities and school districts are similarly struggling to find, motivate, and retain good employees while keeping HR costs in line. Currently politicians at the federal, provincial and municipal levels are assembling multi-billion-dollar commitments to expand transportation and transit infrastructure, the s...

Remember when fast food containers were made of styrofoam? Well those days are long gone and public awareness continues to grow with respect to the huge amount of single-use waste collecting in our landfills and recycling depots. In recent times special attention is focusing on the impact of plastic items that are finding their way into our aquatic environments and causing tremendous problems for marine animals and the overall health of our oceans. I wrote a post back in January called “Reduce, reuse, recycle. In that order”.   It was about our rate of consumption and our ravenous appetite devouring the earth's limited resources at a rapid pace. This week, the provincial government announced they are planning to expand our recycling efforts and they want the public's input on what should and should not be included. This is a priority that I and my colleagues share with our BC NDP colleagues and we are happy they have started this process. 23 Britis...