Frankly Speaking

Finance Minister Mike de Jong The coming election (or “shareholders’ meeting,” as Finance Minister Mike de Jong called it in the Feb. 21 budget speech), is virtually the only factor driving provincial politics these days. After all, it is just over two months away – on Tuesday, May 9. The current session of the provincial legislature simply helps set the table for it, and the budget is by far the largest item on the table. Thus the budget must be looked at through a political prism. That’s why the biggest item in it was a significant cut in Medical Services Plan premiums. The premiums have been rising at a spectacular rate over the past five years, and have become a lightning rod for criticism of the government. Back in 2011, when Christy Clark became premier, a family of three paid $121 per month in MSP premiums, while a couple paid $109. This year, a couple or family of three or more pay $150 per month – $1,800 per year. Because many employers pay half of that cost a...

Surrey Memorial Hospital has the busiest emergency room in B.C. The fact that there is just one hospital in the 12th-largest city in the country is a damning indication of the shortage of services in Surrey. Surrey had 517,887 residents in mid-2016, according to census numbers released last week. The continued growth makes it the 12th-largest city in the country, not far behind Vancouver, which sits in eighth place with 631,486 residents. Interestingly enough, Vancouver is not just smaller than the two largest Canadian cities, Toronto and Montreal. It also smaller than Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton and Winnipeg, as well as the largest Toronto suburban city of Mississauga, which has 90,000 more residents than Vancouver. The Metro Vancouver area is the third-largest urban region in the country, and it wouldn’t be that way without large suburban cities such as Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond and Coquitlam. Burnaby is the third-largest city in the region, but at 232,755 residents, it is l...

Premier Christy Clark's job is on the line. Voters in 87 B.C. ridings will decide on May 9 if her government deserves another term. The 2017 provincial election takes place on May 9 – less than three months from now. Yet in Langley, the level of political activity thus far has been quite subdued. Perhaps the biggest change is that one of the two Langley ridings has been renamed, and significant portions of eastern Langley are no longer part of the former Fort Langley-Aldergrove riding. The riding, in place since 1991, has been renamed Langley East. All of Langley Township east of 248 Street and south of Highway 1 is now located in the Abbotsford South riding, while the portion east of 264 Street and north of Highway 1 is in the Abbotsford West riding. This effectively takes Aldergrove out of Langley, for provincial purposes. While this seems strange, considering that the two Langleys have been served by two ridings continuously since the 1991 election, it is not with...

Delta MP Carla Qualtrough was one of the five Liberal MPs elected in the 2015 federal election in Surrey and Delta. All but one of those wins came in ridings where the Liberals have had a hard time being competitive for decades. The broken promise on electoral reform may hurt their re-election chances, as in all five ridings they won, the winning Liberal candidates took significant numbers of votes from the NDP. The federal Liberal government pulled the plug on electoral reform last week – and the fallout in Surrey and Delta may not be fully noticed until the next election in 2019. Four of the six local MPs commented after the about-face by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They said the reversal was disappointing, but not completely surprising, given the magnitude of the task and the lack of consensus about a new system. Conservative MP Dianne Watts took the opportunity to tease her Liberal opponents (five of the six local seats are held by Liberals), saying “that was a prom...