It’s Friday and we are nearing the end of the week. Time to take a look back at some of the stories
that made the news this week in British Columbia … stories about the people
involved in BC politics ... and that are impacted by BC politics.
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| Cartoon by David Parkins for The Globe and Mail |
…but there was Mr. Hawes on Monday, openly challenging his boss over
her handling of Community Living B.C., the beleaguered government agency
responsible for providing services to developmentally disabled adults. In doing so, he exposed frustration in
caucus, almost nine months after Ms. Clark took over from the controlling and
insular Gordon Campbell, that the new premier might be just as tone-deaf to
concerns from the backbench as the last one …
It’s amazing — and somewhat galling — listening to Premier Christy
Clark’s Liberals going ga-ga over the federal shipbuilding contract when this
is the same bunch that gave away our own shipbuilding work to Germany … the
same shipyard just awarded an $8-billion contract to build seven vessels —
including Royal Canadian Navy support ships and a major icebreaker — was “not
capable” of building three car ferries just a few years ago …..
Doctor
led B.C. Conservatives (Death of Dr. Scott Wallace)
… the always vocal politician was known for speaking out on many issues
during his political career, a run that stretched from Oak Bay council in 1967
to his last day in the provincial legislature in 1977.
That enthusiasm for improving health care and people's lives was an
extension of the efforts he put forward in his community, said family members
who shared stories about their father's philanthropic passion…..
An $8 billion federal contract for Coast Guard and navy support ships
could mean the end of ferries built in foreign shipyards, B.C. government
officials say. Jobs, Tourism and
Innovation Minister Pat Bell said Thursday the upgrades to Seaspan facilities
in North Vancouver and Victoria to construct seven new vessels will make the
company more competitive, particularly for specialty ships like the icebreaker
that is part of the contract …..
This past spring, $18.2 million was clawed back from the public sector
to buy carbon offsets from the Pacific Carbon Trust. This tax money should have
been spent in classrooms, hospitals, universities, senior’s care facilities and
other public services. Instead, it was funneled to private companies for
projects that supposedly reduced green-house-gas emissions over and above
“business as usual” and, therefore, “offset” the gases the public sector emitted
in 2010…...
Thomas Fleming, a University of Victoria emeritus professor, charges
that our overly politicized school system is rudderless, leaderless and
essentially broken. "It is in almost every respect a system built for
another age," he says. Bereft of
energy and bold new ideas, Fleming adds, it's a system that's profoundly
distressed and crying out for rejuvenation, with an education ministry that's
floundered since the 1970s. Indeed, the
well-respected educational historian says Victoria's capacity to direct public
schooling — and determine educational quality — is at its lowest point since its
founding nearly 140 years ago ……
In the rush to implement then premier Gordon Campbell's back-of-the-envelope
energy conservation policies, the provincial government didn't fully think
through the implications of its decision to outlaw incandescent bulbs … look,
nobody is against energy-efficient lighting and nobody is opposed to energy
conservation. But if people say the new technology isn't bright enough, won't
work with their existing fixtures, is too expensive and in the case of all
those migraine sufferers is increasing their physical suffering at the expense
of the provincial economy, I'd say it's time for a sober second look ….
… there is little question that
life at the Crown utility was far more complicated for Mr. Cobb after Christy
Clark won the Liberal leadership and became Premier. And it became more challenging yet when she
appointed Rich Coleman, a veteran cabinet minister with a reputation as a
hands-on micromanager to oversee the public utility.
With Mr. Cobb departing at the end of next month, that will become
someone else’s problem. The presidency
of Hydro is certainly one of the best jobs in the B.C. public service. But the
developments that preceded Mr. Cobb’s surprise announcement on Wednesday should
serve as a cautionary tale for anyone interested in succeeding him…..
Amid a flood of news Wednesday came word that the B.C. Liberals had
paid a small fortune to settle a lawsuit involving some high-handed treatment
of the owner of a uranium deposit near Kelowna … so you wonder why, after
fighting the suit for three years, the Liberals agreed to such a high price to
settle on the proverbial steps of the courthouse. The answer, I believe, was to avoid a public
airing of some exceptionally bad behaviour - conduct that the government itself
admitted in a statement of facts filed in court late last year…..
But the majority of Liberals patting themselves on the back for the
federal contract today kicked B.C. shipbuilders in the keister back then. That includes Christy Clark, who supported
building our ferries in Germany. It was right to reject Vancouver Shipyards for
the work, she argued, because parent company Seaspan wanted an open- ended
"cost-plus" contract where it could run up the price tag at will. That was denied at the time by Seaspan
chairman Kyle Washington…..
… the on-again, off-again debate over the proposed Prosperity Mine in the
British Columbia Interior has fresh momentum with an economic study that
concludes the project would boost provincial gross domestic product by
$11-billion and create 71,000 jobs. First
nations that have spent years fighting the project are scheduled to hold a news
conference in Ottawa on Wednesday to denounce the mine and call on the federal
government to cease any further reviews of the project …
Provincial elections in British Columbia may look and sound more like
advertising-laden American campaigns, now that B.C.’s Appeal Court has ruled
the province can't restrict election spending in the 60 days leading up to the
official election call. On Wednesday,
the B.C. Appeal Court panel upheld a lower court ruling that the government's
legislation imposing such a limit is unconstitutional…..
I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops … have a great weekend!
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