Thoughts on BC Politics and More

  I recently read Jamie Watt’s book entitled “ What I Wish I Said - Confessions of a Columnist ”. It’s an excellent collection of columns he’s written for the Toronto Star over the past five years, with extremely honest, refreshing and candid takes looking back on his work.   Jamie wrote a column on January 5th of this year that I think is extremely noteworthy, looking back through the lens of our activities at that time with Centre Ice. The title of the column was “ In 2023, Canadians Deserve a Grand Vision from our Political Leaders” .   At the time that column was published,  Centre Ice  had been around for nearly 10 months. We had quickly evolved from a  Conservative  platform to one that represented a wider scope of  Canadian  voices. And so we changed our name to reflect that.   We were getting ready for the third of our three policy conferences that attracted speakers and attendees from all three major federal politi...

I’d like to thank you and all our  Centre Ice Canadians  supporters for three significant accomplishments: 1. “Thank you!”  for the strong support of Advisory Council Chair  Dominic Cardy’s   announcement last week  that he’s leading a group that is launching  The Canadian Future Party.  If you’d like to learn more and get involved, please  click here. 2. “Thank you!”  for the strong fundraising support over these past few weeks. We have now  raised the full $30K  required to pay the final amount owing on the national survey that was a key factor in the decision to move ahead with the formation of a new party.  As you’ll see further below, to fully wind up our efforts we’ll need to raise a final $3,500 for our last remaining legal and accounting fees - if you can help with that please  Donate Here.      3. “Thank you!”  for your huge support over the past 18 months that has allowed us ...

Three weeks ago, we announced that Centre Ice Canadians would task a working group to explore whether it makes sense to launch a new, centrist federal political party in Canada.   The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Thank you, in particular, to everyone who replied to our volunteer coordinator, Julie Smith, when she emailed last week asking for volunteers. If you missed that, here’s the link.   We still have a long way to go before we can green light starting a new party.   We need to see sustained growth in three critical areas before we can make a decision on or before September 20th:     SUPPORT: We are an evidence-based organization, so we need evidence that we’re on the right track. This includes whether you would be willing to sign on as a member if we file the application for a new party with Elections Canada? We need 250 members to make that happen, but we want 1,000 people from across Canada to come forward and sign up. ...

The following is a “Bottom Line” commentary from Rick Peterson , who is currently seeking the Conservative Party of Canada nomination for the federal riding of Edmonton – Strathcona.   This is currently the only seat, held by the NDP, in the province of Alberta.     I remember clearly the day, when I was a young father, that I got a phone call at the office at 1:45 in the afternoon, in the middle of a hot summer day, that has since forever shaped the way that I think of child care.   “ Hi Rick. Sorry to bother you, but I have a bit of a problem .”   Oh-oh. This can’t be good.   It was the young woman who my wife and I had hired to look after our two-year-old son. With a long waiting list for daycare and no suitable private alternatives in our neighborhood, and with both of us working hard at different businesses in offices across town from home to make ends meet, we’d found someone who would come into our home every day and babysit our s...