Thoughts on BC Politics and More

2016 is hours away from wrapping up, and a new year looms just over the horizon.  Before I go though, I took some time this morning to have a look back at some stories from the blog this past year.   Not surprisingly, the two top stories were about the BC Conservative Party. " Wasting one more minute of time and energy in the BC Conservative Party, by anyone, is sheer lunacy !"  from February 5th   " Dan Brooks hold, on the helm of the BC Conservative Party, seems very much in question "  from October 20th   Following that, from October 9th, came " How Much More Then Could We Be Thankful For? On November 17th, " REALLY ... there aren't enough places already for people to get a drink? " caught peoples attention And " You are welcome to believe whatever you want. I have to tell you however, you are living in a dream world if you think the majority of British Columbians will agree with you .&q

Today is December 25th, the day many through-out the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Whether this is the actual day ... or even if it was exactly 2,016 years ago, is not really relevant to me.  For me, and so many others across the globe, the birth of Jesus represents human-kinds opportunity to have a Saviour -- one who we call the King of Kings. I love the story of Christmas ... I love to hear stories from others about Christmas past ... and I love all the special programs that I get to enjoy hearing on the radio.  Well many radio stations in my community -- not so much on our so-called national broadcaster however. There I have found, and heard, the most diluted pablum of holiday mush.   Never wishing to offend anyone who does not call themselves a Christian, the CBC, in a backhanded way, instead insults the millions of Canadians that have no problem -- issue -- or concern about calling this time of year what it is ... CHRISTMAS. Christmas, complete with Joy to The W

On Wednesday December 7th, Peter Fassbender (Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development) released information about on-going, and up-coming, changes it was making to the Community Gaming Program. He stated: “ I want to thank the Office of the Auditor General for completing their thorough performance audit of our Community Gaming Grants program. I am pleased that the audit found government has a suitable framework in place to administer the program, and we recognize that improvements are needed in some key areas. “The report outlines 10 recommendations, including the development of a performance management framework, and to evaluate the approach used in assessing applications. Government accepts all 10 recommendations ." A brief summary, and history, of gaming and gambling in British Columbia reminds us that: up to 1969 public gambling / gaming was illegal in Canada then in the 1970s non-profit organizations were able to generate

Bill Tieleman and the Tyee ... and Ezra Levant's The Rebel ... are singing off the same song sheet?? Say it ain't so!   But it is so, and I was as shocked, as you likely are, that they would come at the same story, from the same angle. Both stories, as you can see below, say that:   1.       Christy Clark and the BC Liberals are doing this purely for political gain 2.       Market price correction could seriously jeopardize these home buyers 3.       It could, again, drive market prices upwards   THE REBEL :   " BC Liberals program to aid first time home buyers comes with great peril " ... with an election only five months away, the last thing the BC Liberals want to see is for that bubble to burst since it would almost certainly cause them to be defeated ... while this program isn’t as crazy as the kind of policies we saw down south over a decade ago, it is awfully suspect and if there is a major price correction I won

“ What a terrible message ( Christian schools state that it's teachers should not participate in things like public drunkenness and watching porn ),” said former Vancouver school trustee Patti Bacchus.   “ Something like that, it just goes backwards. It’s flat-out discrimination and a violation of someone’s human rights .” Oh really? That's just crap to put it plain and simple! It's a good thing she, as a Vancouver school trustee, did get canned! And, why shouldn't Christian schools have that kind of policy in place? If not, then what really is the sense in having religious schools?   It is absurd to even consider that Christian Schools would have anyone but teachers with a Christian background as educators. Patti Bacchus, former Vancouver School Board Trustee Let's see, by Bacchus's own standards of discrimination, and the violation of human rights, should we allow men to staff women's shelters and women's s

Is it too late to weigh in on the Trans Mountain Pipeline ... now that it has been approved?  I don't think so. I, along with hundreds of thousands of Canadians, have long been saying YES to this job creating project ... a project that will generate billions in resources to local, provincial and federal governments. Taxpayers have been tapped, and tapped again and again, for more and more money.  I for one say, " We don't have any more to give !".  That said, I know that we need improvements to health care as more and more Canadians age ... for education to provide for new schools, and improvements to ones already in our neighbourhoods ... for training to help mature workers transition into the new economies ... for highway improvements ... and so much more. Those same naysayers are calling for more spending in these areas, and yet they seem to have no reality as to where this money can, or will. come from. Oh r

Today, we have a guest post from my friend Sandy, AKA "The Sidewinder".  While Sandy lives in the lower mainland, his piece is certainly fitting to our community of Kamloops, and hundreds of similar lives that are impacted in the same way, in our own city. We've now had a few years of the low barrier, harm reduction approach to solving or coping with our widespread illicit drug use epidemic. Maybe it's now time to review what has been accomplished. Almost every public health official, provincial housing authority, city councilor, police officer and drug counselor in this province openly acknowledge the growing tragedy of drug overdose deaths in British Columbia. According to Minister of Health Terry Lake, so far this year, more than six hundred deaths in this province are attributable to overdoses of illicit drugs. He also cited the use of fentanyl as one of the leading factors in this outrageous tragedy; although, I don't pers