Thoughts on BC Politics and More

“What’s in a name?” 13-year-old Juliet Capulet memorably says in Act II, Scene II of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet . “That which we call a rose,” she continues, “by any other name would smell as sweet.” This brilliant adage has been written and spoken on innumerable occasions since the Bard’s play first premiered in 1597. I’m certainly guilty of having used it in a column or two. Well, that number just reached three. It’s almost impossible not to think of this proverb while watching the party name change battle in Alberta play itself out. This political tug-of-war started during the summer and may be finally heading into its final act. The story begins with Peter Guthrie and Scott Sinclair. Both of them were United Conservative Party (UCP) MLAs up until this year. Sinclair, who was first elected in 2023, was kicked out of the UCP caucus in March when he refused to support Premier Danielle Smith’s budget. Guthrie, who served as minister of energy and minister of infra...

All the words of our magnificent English language have meanings, and those words and their meanings belong to all of us who speak and write in English. Which is to say I can declare myself to be a progressive conservative if I wish, and those of you who read this column are free to debate that proposition if you are so inclined.  So it is both unnerving and amusing – even in this age of financialization and marketization of everything – to learn that the United Conservative Party of Alberta is ready to go to court to stop a couple of former members who happen still to have seats in the Legislative Assembly from using those words to describe their political philosophy and their political party ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Polling stations have opened across Newfoundland and Labrador for this year’s provincial election ...  ... Liberal Leader John Hogan voted in the east end of St. John’s alongside his wife, Gill. He told reporters that he is confident in his party ... PC Leader Tony Wakeham voted alongside some of his political staffers, also marking the second anniversary of his selection as the party's leader. With a smile on his face, he told reporters the PCs had a great campaign ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The Alberta Party has voted to rebrand itself as the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, reviving a name once dominant in the province’s politics. Members approved the change in hopes of offering Albertans an alternative to the UCP and NDP, with advocates arguing that most Albertans fall somewhere between the two camps. “We seem to be a province of almost 50/50 progressives and conservatives; that’s a starting point,” said longtime Alberta Party supporter and commentator Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean. Mitchell-MacLean, who rejoined the Alberta Party in protest of what she described as the UCP’s arrogance and disregard for accountability, argued the new name reflects a coalition of voters who want practical policies instead of ideological battles ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Two former United Conservative MLAs will join with the centrist Alberta Party and file to rename it the Progressive Conservatives, and they'll abandon initial plans to launch a new party under the old brand that ruled Alberta for 44 years ... ... Alberta Party president Lindsay Amantea proposed that the Independent MLAs join her existing party's fold, and together they could file a name change to "Progressive Conservative" with Elections Alberta. "We figured, well they have the infrastructure; we have the momentum and the people," said Guthrie, Smith's former infrastructure minister. "So we decided, this is something that could get us to official party [recognition] faster without getting caught up in these legal wranglings with the UCP that they like to play" ... CLICK HERE for the full story

So let's put the conclusion up front. How much confidence can you place in two MLAs who want to revivify a party that's dead and buried and more particularly, didn't exactly embody the virtues they want to highlight in their new creation, whatever it's called? Not so much. Worse, it represents the kind of principled conservatism that splits the vote and gets the NDP elected ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

With election day fast approaching in Ontario, voters will soon pass judgment on Premier Doug Ford’s decision to call a snap vote before his mandate expired. On Feb. 27, Ontarians will cast their ballots in a battle between Ford’s Progressive Conservatives (PCs), Marit Stiles’s NDP, Bonnie Crombie’s Liberal Party, and Mike Schreiner’s Green Party. The election had previously been set for June 2026 under provincial legislation. However, rumours that Ford might call an early election had been floating around Queen’s Park for months as the governing PCs had been enjoying high approval ratings in pre-election polls. “Early elections aren’t uncommon in Canada, but they can be a double-edged sword" ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Tonight marks an important—if late—moment in the Ontario provincial campaign: a 90-minute televised debate from CBC’s Toronto Broadcast Centre. Will the debate shift the momentum of this campaign? It’s always possible, especially if one of the leaders stumbles, but for momentum to change, voters need to be paying close attention. And right now, it’s unclear whether they are. (Though that could change!) ... CLICK HERE for the full story

If you have ever spent any time in a casino, you probably understand the fallacies of chance and probability. For example, if the roulette wheel has landed on red 10 times in a row, people will bet on red, believing that the streak will continue, while others bet on black, “knowing” the same streak can’t possibly continue.  Of course, the wheel doesn’t know that it landed on red 10 times in a row, so the odds are the same on the 11th spin as they were on the first.  Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford is a talented retail politician. He is the son of an MPP and inherited a multi-million-dollar family business, yet consistently portrays himself as an everyman here for the little guy. His talent should not be dismissed, but neither should a lengthy streak of good luck that, like the ball on the roulette wheel, was entirely beyond his control ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

Nominations closed yesterday at 1 p.m. for Manitoba’s 43rd provincial general election with 189 candidates running.   Candidates’ names, electoral divisions and party affiliations are listed on Elections Manitoba’s website at  www.electionsmanitoba.ca/ en/Voting/Candidates/43RDGE .   Candidates endorsed by registered political parties are as follows: Communist Party of Canada – Manitoba (CPC-M): 5 candidates The Green Party of Manitoba (GPM): 13 candidates Keystone Party (KP): 5 candidates Manitoba Liberal Party (MLP): 49 candidates New Democratic Party of Manitoba (NDP): 57 candidates The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba (PC): 57 candidates Independent: 3 candidates   The Manitoba Party did not nominate five candidates and will be de-registered by Elections Manitoba. Under The Election Financing Act , if a registered party does not endorse at least five candidates in a general election, the Chief Electoral Officer of Manitoba must de-register the pa...

  Despite her 23 years as a politician -- and almost two as Manitoba's first female premier -- Heather Stefanson says she is still getting used to the public spotlight. She is more accustomed to working in the background.   "I'm not someone that seeks attention. I like to get things done," Stefanson said in an interview.   "I've always been ... a little bit of a behind-the-scenes kind of person. So I think that spotlight is not something I'm used to. It's not something I seek out. And I think that has been challenging for me because it's just not something that comes naturally to me" ... CLICK HERE for the full story

  In what could be a troubling sign for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a byelection this week in Nova Scotia, fraught with debate about the carbon tax and the state of the Liberal brand, ended in a once-safe provincial Liberal seat being lost in a landslide to the Progressive Conservatives.   As the federal Liberals grapple with the soaring cost of living and sagging poll numbers, political veterans across the Atlantic provinces say the byelection result could be a sign of things to come across Canada.   “It’s not uncommon for perhaps a swing riding to flip in a byelection, but for what had been a relatively safe seat to flip is something bigger,” says Stephen Moore, who served as director of communications for former Nova Scotia Liberal Premier Stephen McNeil.    The riding of Preston had been held by the Nova Scotia Liberals for the last 20 years, but the byelection saw their support collapse with the Liberal candidate placing third behind the Pr...

The gnashing of teeth by our neighbours, next door in Alberta, continues frothing away yesterday (July 25th).   On the heels of the Progressive Conservatives, and Wildrose parties coming together on the weekend, the NDP's Sarah Marjorie Hoffman, current Deputy Premier of Alberta, and Minister of Health in the NDP cabinet of Rachel Notley Sarah Hoffman got herself in a lather against the forces of evil -- that being the new United Conservative Party. Rachael Notley's Deputy Premier, Sarah Hoffman, had this to say: blah blah blah ... all conservatives hate LGTBQ ... blah blah blah ... we / me / you will know it because he's a white Anglo-Saxon male  blah blah blah ... he held views that were anti LGTBQ previously, and so those will always be his beliefs ... blah blah blah ... I will rake the new United Conservative Leader over the coals because as a self-righteous leftie I am allowed to do this ... blah blah blah ... no one had better eve r ...