Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Ho-ho-ho, Merry Christmas! Who-who-who, deserves a candy cane or a lump of coal for 2025? The MMA Panel -- host Bob Mackin and Mario Canseco of Research Co and Andy Yan of the Simon Fraser University City Program -- made a list and checked it twice. Watch to find out who was naughty and who was nice ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

In an apparent response to growing backlash and some deteriorating reconciliation and First Nations sentiment among the public, business community, and property owners — stemming from the major implications of a Supreme Court of British Columbia ruling that sided with the Cowichan Tribes’ land claims in Metro Vancouver — the leader of one of the region’s most prominent First Nations is speaking out against such disruptive, court-driven legal cases ... ...  Musqueam Indian Band chief Wayne Sparrow said his First Nation’s long-standing strategy prioritizes negotiations with governments outside the court system when seeking the transfer of government-owned public land — within areas it considers its traditional unceded territory — to its community ...  CLICK HERE for the full story

Metro Vancouver politicians spent their last week in meetings before the holidays doing what politicians often do — blaming other politicians at other levels of government. “To some people watching this, it's going to look like we are actually the third Spiderman in that meme: we're also the ones pointing fingers at senior government," said New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone at a Mayors' Council meeting last week. He made the comments after a staff presentation that outlined new difficulties in getting expected funding for TransLink due to changes to how the federal government is funding transit. Later that day, other Metro Vancouver mayors signed a letter criticizing a different level of government — the provincial one — for their housing policies ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Tony Luck, BC Conservative Critic for Municipal Affairs and Local Government, is raising concerns after yesterday’s revelation that three of Metro Vancouver’s top executives are either terminated, on leave, or facing possible suspension -- and that it shows that it's time for the NDP government to immediately deliver on the structural reform it has promised over the past year. Said Luck, "With the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant now $3 billion over budget, the current leadership chaos now playing out, or the range of questionable financial decisions that have been previously reported on, it is time for legislative change on the Local Government Act to deliver the accountability that taxpayers deserve." The Conservative Party of BC is specifically calling for the creation of an Auditor General for Local Government to operate under the office of the Auditor General. It is now apparent that direct intervention and oversight at the provincial level is required and long...

  We're learning some stunning news about Metro Vancouver's leadership team. Catherine Urquhart has the exclusive details ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The City of Vancouver is drafting plans for the creation of 17 neighbourhood “villages,” where amenities can be reached within a five-minute walk or bike ride. Article content The plan envisions these local hubs would consist of a mix of housing types up to six storeys, a variety of small shops and services, including ground-floor retail in mixed-use buildings, more welcoming and greener public spaces, and wider sidewalks ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

The presidents of five Metro Vancouver BC Conservative riding associations have called on their party leader, John Rustad, to resign. The presidents of the Burnaby East, Burnaby North, Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, Coquitlam-Maillardville and New Westminster-Coquitlam riding associations released a letter on Friday stating “the success of our party depends on caucus acting with courage and conviction to initiate a leadership renewal. Only new leadership can put our party back on a winning path” ... 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

Marc Lee, senior economist in the B.C. office for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Whether it’s bumper-to-bumper congestion in Metro Vancouver or being able to get to a health care appointment in rural areas, BC needs to invest in a province-wide vision for zero-carbon transportation that thinks beyond personal automobiles as the preferred means of getting around. With the BC Federation of Labour, we published a 10-year, $22-billion public transit investment plan to significantly increase local transit services across the province to connect them into a more integrated whole. The plan aims to ensure that transit is affordable, accessible and inclusive — since many people cannot or prefer not to drive — while helping to meet BC’s greenhouse gas reduction targets . . . . CLICK HERE for the full story

Opinion: High housing costs and a stagnant economy are causing a large number of Canadians to "vote with their feet," says economist. ... the intra-provincial shift away to places like Vernon, Courtenay and Kamloops from BC’s biggest cities is just one migration trend. A large number of people are now also moving out of BC to other provinces — and from Canada to other countries ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Opinion: Foreign capital pours into the housing markets of 'gateway' cities like Vancouver. Local wage earners are left behind, explains a penetrating new book. The New York Times told the world about B.C.’s unusually grim housing crisis last decade when it ran articles with headlines such as the “Housing Frenzy that Even Owners Want to End” and “The Wild West of Canadian Political Cash,” which looked at developers’ outsized influence on governments. Those years of out-of-control, largely unregulated property investments, which caused drastic unaffordability in Metro Vancouver, are captured in bold, and sometimes painful, detail in a new book by David Ley, a University of B.C. geography professor emeritus ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Over the past several months, I’ve been clear about my concerns with the continued logging of high productivity old-growth. This past Spring, the BC Green Caucus called for a moratorium on logging old-growth hot-spots on Vancouver Island as an initial step. I think it is important to clarify, though, that there is some old-growth that I fully support harvesting. Much of it is hiding in plain sight in the fully-developed urban landscapes of Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria. I am talking about the beautifully preserved old-growth found in many homes built before the 1970’s.    Each year however, more than 1000 such homes are demolished in these communities. While the City of Vancouver has begun to implement regulations requiring a modest amount of recycling, a vast majority of the material from these homes end up in the landfill. That’s right, not only are we clear-cutting old-growth at unsustainable rates, we are also allowing beautiful old...

Thanks to the BC NDP government, families living in metro-Vancouver and the lower mainland will be treated to an array of free or low-cost concerts for three years, thanks to a $1-million grant to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO). WHAT ABOUT the Okanagan Symphony Society? A $1 million-dollar grant subsidized by taxpayers across the entire province . According to Lisa Beare, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, a free concert which was held at Sunset Beach last night (July 7 th ) was just one example of how this funding is to help make amazing entertainment more accessible and affordable for people in their communities. WHAT ABOUT the Prince George Symphony Orchestra? “ I’m proud to support cultural events like this, and couldn’t wait to hear the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in such a fantastic outdoor venue ”, Beare stated. WHAT ABOUT the Victoria Chamber Orchestra? The 2018-19 season marks VSO’s 100th anniversary. I...