Thoughts on BC Politics and More

USED WITH PERMISSION -- The following letter was recently sent by Peter Ladner to Rick Peterson of Suits and Boots. Peter Ladner is a retired entrepreneur, journalist, politician, author and grandfather .   Peter Ladner: Retired entrepreneur, journalist, author & grandfather Thanks for hosting and organizing the  Suits and Boots  “Face-to-Face Resource Sector Tour” event (held) in Vancouver. It is so good to get those with opposing views in the same room, instead of fanning the flames in our protected echo chambers. I wish I had added two things when you gave me the opportunity to talk. The first is can we just shut up about the foreign-funded radical conspiracy, and shut down the war room that ennobles it? It has been thoroughly debunked by Sandy Garossino and Markham Hislop — not because Vivian Krause’s facts are wrong, but because they are carefully selected to weave a fraudulent narrative that elevates her by demonizing organiza...

Encana’s gone. As have thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investment capital in Alberta over the past decade. And with a minority Liberal government in Ottawa, it feels like things can only get worse – not only on the energy file, but for all of Canada. Stewart Muir, Executive Director of Vancouver-based  Resource Works ,  posted last week this must-read piece on what the federal election means for energy and unity  in Canada. Here’s what he says the Liberal resource sector policies, including C69 and C48, have done so far: “ We know for a fact that in 2018 alone, 37 major projects worth $77 billion were cancelled in Canada. The CEO of Enbridge recently stated that more than $30 billion in investment has been lost due to major pipeline projects being cancelled or stalled. The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy said that pipeline capacity constraints mean $14 billion a year in lost revenue per year ”. “ Today,...

Good morning ... and I hope your Victoria Day Long Weekend is going well.   Another seven days have passed with over two dozen commentaries posted, including a record number for a Saturday ... four. We’ve talked about timber sales ... we’ve talked about the Tanker Ban in the Senate ... Suits and Boots have added the Canola farmers to their organization ... and the upcoming Quest Sawmill closure in Quesnel, by Tolko Industries. Other topics this week included debt and deficits with the federal Liberal party of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ... and the upcoming Money Laundering inquiry that Premier John Horgan’s NDP government has finally been pressured into calling. Of all the topics we discussed this past week, here are the top 10 that had the highest readership: #10 ... This is an important first victory, but our battle (to sink the tanker ban) hasn’t yet been won ... http://acuriouslookatpoliticsinbc.blogspot.com/2019/05/this-is-impo...

May 15 th , 2019: Suits and Boots Launches Campaign in Support of Canadian Canola Farmers Canadian grassroots group Suits and Boots launched a nationwide #StandUpToChina campaign today to persuade China to lift its ban on Canadian canola entering that country, first implemented in March. “ Today, we are standing up for Canada’s Prairie farmers, who are being used as pawns in a diplomatic and trade-war chess game between the U.S. and China that has nothing to do with them ,” said Suits and Boots founder and Edmonton businessman Rick Peterson.  “ This is causing immense pain in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba as well as in B.C., Ontario and Quebec. Our canola farmers are crushed, and need Canadians’ support .” Suits and Boots’ 3,700 supporters have mobilized in the #StandUpToChina campaign to persuade China to lift its ban on Canadian canola, as well as peas, soybeans and pork, which have also been restricted. This morning, Suits an...

Last week, when I sat in the Senate Committee meeting in Calgary with Brad Schell, I began thinking about prairie fires. As I listened, and as Brad and I spoke on Bill C-69 on behalf of Suits and Boots , I thought about the upcoming Alberta election being held tomorrow and how it just might prove to be the spark the sets off a prairie fire. I could imagine the fire – a smoking wall of western Canadian frustration.  It would sweep from Manitoba through Saskatchewan and Alberta, across to British Columbia, sparing only the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Fantasy as it may be, that’s been the thought crossing my mind in the past few weeks as I’ve watched the Bill C-69 Committee hearings unfold. There is a clear, palpable and strong undercurrent of deep discontent across the resource-producing sector of Western Canada. You know it – everyone at Suits and Boots does. It’s one of frustration, and increasingly, lost hope that things will e...

This week the BC Conservative Party announced a new leader ... the Senate was holding community meetings on Bill C69 ... the federal Liberal government was ramming though another omnibus bill to hide things ... and we talked about independent journalism. All that and more ... including these next ten commentaries ... the most read of the week. #10    ADAM OLSEN”   Round-Up? Woodwynn was either organic or was on the way to becoming organic. The future of it was to achieve organic status. It runs next to Ḱ ENNES, an important watershed within Saanich and Central Saanich http://acuriouslookatpoliticsinbc.blogspot.com/2019/04/adam-olsen-round-up-woodwynn-was-either.html #9   Richard Neufeld: S ome Provinces are calling Bill C-69 unconstitutional and a federal infringement on provincial jurisdiction, and others calling for its outright defeat http://acuriouslookatpoliticsinbc.blogspot.com/2019/04/richard-neufeld-some-provinces-are.htm...

Tomorrow (April 9 th ), members of Canada’s Senate will be hearing voices ... voices of pain from the Prairies. The Senate’s standing committee on energy, the environment and natural resources will be in Calgary that day to hold hearings on Bill C-69. Suits and Boots has been asked to speak to the committee. I’ll be there representing the Suits in our group, while honorary chair Brad Schell, a retired oilpatch hauler from High River, will be there on behalf of the Boots on the ground in Canada’s resource sector. We will bring written testimony from about three dozen Canadians, mainly from the Prairies, who have written us about the pain they feel — caused by the current regulatory dysfunction and virtual shut down of new pipeline construction. It was our 3,700 members’ grassroots work writing, phoning, and emailing senators that got us where we are, so we thought it appropriate their voices get presented to the Senate this month.   T...

Unfortunately, SNC-Lavalin continues to dominate the news ... and those sunny days for justin trudeau seem to have evaporated ... there’s talk to Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott forming their own party ... and after months and months and months of talk, we are still talking about Ride-Hailing. These stories and more made up what you read about this past week.   Here are the top 10 stories : 10) It’s outrageous the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications is flying over Alberta and Saskatchewan to go to BC, but not including those provinces in its travel plans http://acuriouslookatpoliticsinbc.blogspot.com/2019/04/its-outrageous-senate-committee-on.html 9) FELDSTED: Whether Wilson-Raybould and Philpott would have remained in the government caucus is a side-show. It makes no difference to examination of the core issue http://acuriouslookatpoliticsinbc.blogspot.com/2019/04/feldsted-whether-wilson-raybould-and.html 8) Its impossible to...

Rick Peterson (back) and Brad Schell (front) Rick Peterson and Brad Schell have been invited, on behalf of Suits and Boots, to speak in front of the Senate Standing Committee – Energy, the Environmental and Natural Resources Committee on April 9 th .   Mr Peterson and Mr, Schell will appear before the Senate committee examining Bill C-69. They plan to talk about why this bill is bad for Canada, and working Canadians. Recently they have called for stories, and perspectives, to carry into senate committee hearings on Bill C-69 – this has already generated dozens of responses. Clearly, Canadians working the resource sectors are both passionate and well-informed. Here is an example of what’s been written and sent to Suits and Boots: " The pain and difficulty cannot be understated. This is not a small-scale, regional problem. This is much larger and on its current course is likely to get much worse. Getting a national resource strategy correct should be a top ...

The following message from Jeanne of Victoria (a former Alberta resident), was sent to Suits and Boots.   They have approved the reprinting of it here: I used to live in Alberta. I now live in Victoria BC, land of retired civil servants, but my family and friends still live in Alberta. Bill C-69 matters to me because I know it is wrong to eliminate the livelihood of some people in Canada, to benefit the narrow ideology of a few ... especially at a time when a majority government can push through what it wants. If there is a purpose to the Canadian Senate, it is now to give a sober, second look at a flawed bill and send it back. This is what I ask, and here is why.   We are a federation, but right now that aspect of our country, and of our economy, seems to be forgotten.   When I was living in Alberta, our family earned a livelihood in a part of the province where gas and oil development was one source for a healthy economy -- side b...

Senators call on Suits and Boots for Bill C-69 input ~~ March 28, 2019 Suits and Boots has been invited to appear before the Senate committee examining Bill C-69.    The organization’s founder, Rick Peterson, and Honorary Chair Brad Schell, a retired oil patch hauler from High River, Alberta will appear at the hearings being held by the Standing Senate committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources in Calgary on Tuesday, April 9. “ This is an amazing honour ,” said Peterson, an Edmonton businessman who launched the not-for-profit with six investment industry colleagues last April, “ and we’re humbled that the Senators would like to hear the voices of our 3,700 members from coast to coast .” “ This invitation is testimony to the hard work and persuasive abilities of every one of our supporters who phoned, emailed and wrote the Senate about this campaign since we launched it last September. And the fact that our lobbying on behalf of ...