Prime minister's help and record of service propel Gordon Hogg to Ottawa

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's two appearances on behalf of Liberal candidate Gordon Hogg were a huge factor in Hogg winning the byelection on Monday. Another factor was Hogg's longtime commitment to people in the area through service as a White Rock mayor and councillor and MLA for 20 years.
Photo by Jay Sharma, Mahi Photo Studio

As I had predicted on Friday on CBC Radio's The Early Edition, Liberal candidate Gordon Hogg won the byelection in South Surrey-White Rock on Monday.
He won for two main reasons - his engaging personality and solid track record as a community leader for the past 50-plus years, and two campaign appearances by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
For the first time since 1953, Surrey (and White Rock) representation in Ottawa is 100 per cent Liberal. This is amazing, particularly to those of us who covered Liberal campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s, when the party's candidates regularly placed a distant third in federal elections.
Kerry-Lynne Findlay of the Conservatives kept the byelection competitive, losing by about 1,600 votes to Hogg. Turnout was about 38 per cent, much lower than in a general election, but quite a bit higher than the turnout was in three other federal byelections on the same day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bad day at Black Press

Image
News today that Black Press has voluntarily entered creditor protection and could be sold to a three-way partnership is the latest in a long string of bad news stories for community newspapers. David Black, longtime owner and founder of Black Press, is out of the newspaper business after more than 50 years. It has been a sad day for me. I have spent the past 46 years involved with the community press, mostly as a reporter and editor. I was a Black Press editor for 16 years with The Langley Times, retiring from full-time work in 2015. I am particularly saddened when I think of the many great people I worked with at various newspapers, most of them now owned by Black Press. Some still work there, some have retired, some have left this world behind. Community newspapers have been struggling to find an arrangement that works for them, as businesses, and for their readers, for the better part of 20 years. This became a particular challenge when smart phones, notably the iPhone, made their a
Read more

Capital parcel tax biggest culprit in massive Surrey tax increase

Image
Property taxes in Surrey jumped by far more than the 2.9 per cent claimed by Mayor Doug McCallum. The biggest culprit is the capital parcel tax, which jumped by 200 per cent for every single property in the city. This is steep - and regressive. Many Surrey residents are upset about the boost in their property taxes. Some say they have gone up 15 to 20 per cent - a far cry from Mayor Doug McCallum’s claim that they were only boosted a modest 2.9 per cent. Property taxes are complex although Surrey, to its credit, breaks down the portion collected for its operations quite specifically. Not all municipalities do so. The Surrey property tax bill also includes a significant amount for schools, as well as small amounts for B.C. Assessment Authority, Metro Vancouver and TransLink. There is no doubt that McCallum’s claim was misleading, right from the moment council adopted its 2021 budget. A 200 per cent increase in the parcel tax, from $100 to $300, ensured that everyone’s taxes would rise f
Read more

The Arbutus Corridor - an historic route with a bright future

Image
This timetable board once was located at the Marpole station of the B.C. Electric Railway, where V&LI interurban trains went north to Vancouver, south to Steveston or east to New Westminster. It has now been relocated to the Cloverdale station of the Fraser Valley Heritage Rail Society. On Saturday, we had a chance to walk along a portion of the former Vancouver and Lulu Island rail line, better known as the Arbutus Corridor. As it turned out, it was an auspicious time to do so. On Monday, an agreement between the City of Vancouver and Canadian Pacific Railway was announced. CPR will tear up the rail line and turn the corridor over to the city, for $55 million. This 11-kilometre stretch of rail line from Kitsilano to Marpole was once a key link in an important transportation corridor. The V&LI line was built by Canadian Pacific Railway, starting in 1900, and by 1902 trains ran between downtown Vancouver and Steveston. At that time, there were just two stops outside the d
Read more