Thoughts on BC Politics and More

 IMAGE:  South Delta, March 24th I attended a Peter Milobar event today. The room was packed. People were standing. Wouldn't be surprised if he needs bigger venues soon. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Dude's a coach. If you went to a hockey rink or a baseball diamond and you saw him walking around, you'd just assume he was coaching a team. He even speaks like a coach, sports analogies and all. He's on the field to win, has a strategy and he's going to play fair. When he yells at the refs, they've probably screwed up. He doesn't care what colour jersey you supply him with because what colour jersey he wears won't change how he plays the game.  TAKEAWAYS: - He dislikes SOGI and will repeal it but solidly supports the Canadian Charter re: protecting students from bulling and discrimination. - He will repeal DRIPA and green-light government lawyers to argue in favor private property rights in court, which is something the NDP is currently preventing. He says this whil...

IMAGE CREDIT : Govt of BC   While it’s a “ No ” to SOGI for me, the issue has returned to the forefront of political conversation, as the Conservative Party of BC continue the process of electing a new party leader. The pro-SOGI argument sounds compelling on the surface, but it leaves out a key reality that people aren’t reacting to SOGI because they “ don’t understand it ,” they’re reacting because they see how it’s actually being applied in classrooms and feel they’ve been left out of the conversation. Saying SOGI is “ just about belonging ” oversimplifies it. In practice, it’s not just posters and storybooks. There have been real examples in BC where parents raised concerns about age appropriateness and transparency. School districts have used SOGI resources that go beyond basic anti bullying and move into identity-based discussions that some parents feel should be introduced at home first, not assumed by the system.  For example, the issue of parental notification around g...

I walked into the small, no-frills room at the public library with a sense of anticipation. The topic was the parents’ rights movement. The event was advertised as accessible to everyone, regardless of prior knowledge on the topic. I was curious to see how “Philosophy Café” would tackle a topic that’s become a political lightning rod, especially in the wake of a U.S. presidential executive order declaring there are only two genders. As the audience began to settle in, the moderator caught my attention ... CLICK HERE for the full story

... Lost in the maelstrom of vitriol and virtue signalling was any constructive discourse on parents’ actual concerns. Protests and counter-protests drown out the quiet voices Recently, SOGI-related protests and counter-protests have erupted in B.C. (and the country) where misinformation abounds and any number of conspiratorial, nefarious or sexual intentions are attributed to the program and its administrators. Yet, amid the emotional rancor, credible concerns exist. A fact many SOGI supporters, including the Premier it seems, dismiss out-of-hand as misinformed or bigoted rhetoric. Many SOGI advocates categorize people as either for it or against it, with no nuances in between ... CLICK HERE for the full story

It was advertised as a protest focused on children and families. But at a rally in Vancouver, an antisemitic slur was hurled. In Ottawa, a flag with a Nazi swastika was displayed at a park. And at protests across Canada, protest signs equated education and advocacy about LGBTQ2S+ issues with pedophilia. Last week, protests co-ordinated under the banner of “1 Million March 4 Children” took place in cities and towns across Canada. In many cities, including Vancouver, those protests were met and outnumbered by counter-protests supporting the rights of queer people, especially trans youth. Parents and political candidates who oppose sexual orientation and gender identity being taught in schools have been a vocal part of elections and debates since the 2018 municipal elections in B.C., two years after the province required that public and independent schools include gender identity and sexual orientation in their anti-bullying policies. The 2022 school board elections saw even more “paren...

BC United Leader Kevin Falcon says the concerns of parents marching in an upcoming rally to oppose sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum in schools shouldn’t be dismissed. Falcon responded to a question about the Hands Off Our Kids march, which is planned to take place Wednesday in communities across Canada, at a news conference Tuesday in Vancouver. “When it comes to a point where parents are feeling a need to protest in the streets, that's telling you something — it's telling you that they feel excluded and ignored in what's going on in the schools,” Falcon said. “I think it's important that we don't just dismiss that outright, that we recognize that there are legitimate concerns that are driving some of these concerns among parents” ... CLICK HERE for the full story in Vancouver is Awesome