Frankly Speaking

NDP leader John Horgan is likely to be the next B.C. premier within a few weeks. I've got a few thoughts about the state of B.C. politics, following today's announcements and accord-signing. First, the NDP-Green accord is ambitious, but is mostly in line with what a majority of voters were looking for. It's safe to say that most wanted a stronger environmental commitment in the form of carbon tax increases and opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline twinning; a move towards a new electoral system, and correctly putting that option to the public for a final decision; and referral of the Site C project to the B.C. Utilities Commission. The NDP had their way with removing bridge tolls - a big issue in Surrey, Langley and Maple Ridge. With their 41 seats, they also prevailed on issues like the minimum wage, which they say will rise eventually to $15 per hour. They also will cut MSP premiums in half at first, and look to removing them entirely. The accord calls for the ...

Grace McCarthy was one of the most influential B.C. politicians from 1966 to 1994, and a trailblazer for women in politics. Her death Wednesday comes at a time when B.C. politics is in turmoil. She was one of the last living persons to have served in the cabinet of Premier W.A.C. Bennett, who first came to power the last time B.C. voters elected a minority government - in 1952. It is symbolic that results of the closest election in B.C. history were finally confirmed on Wednesday, just hours before news of the death of Grace McCarthy became public. A younger generation won’t know McCarthy’s name, but she played a key role in B.C. politics for many years and almost certainly blazed the trail for the current generation of female politicians. Her work in uniting the right after the NDP were elected in 1972 under Dave Barrett was absolutely critical to the future of the Social Credit Party and its ideological successor, the BC Liberals. She served as deputy premier under Bill ...

Frank Bucholtz photo Jason Cook, executive director of Langley Health Services and site manager of Langley Memorial Hospital, talked Tuesday to members of Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce about health challenges in Langley. He was joined by emergency room physician Dr. Robert Anthony. The fentanyl crisis involves many more people than the high-profile drug addicts on the streets of Whalley or Vancouver’s downtown eastside. It involves people who overdose in their homes or at parties. In many cases, they die because those around them don’t know what to do. Jason Cook, executive director of Langley Health Services and site manager of Langley Memorial Hospital, emphasized the importance of awareness in combating the scourge of fentanyl, when speaking about health issues to Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce Tuesday. There were 30 deaths from fentanyl in Langley in 2016, and the people most susceptible were men between 30 and 50. Dr. Bob Anthony, an emergency room p...

Jinny Sims (top), newly-elected MLA for Surrey-Panorama, could be in the provincial cabinet should the NDP take power. If the BC Liberals remain in power, new Surrey-White Rock MLA Tracy Redies (bottom) could be in cabinet. We won't know which party will take power until sometime next week at the earliest, after absentee ballots are counted. As the uncertainty over which political party or combination of parties will form the next provincial government continues, it’s worth contemplating how the South Fraser and Fraser Valley regions will be represented in the new government. Of course, there need to be local MLAs in the cabinet. There also needs to be a strong commitment by cabinet and caucus members to work towards resolving important issues affecting communities in the eastern portion of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. This is the fastest-growing area of B.C. and has many pressing issues which require the attention of the provincial government. These inclu...

It’s been 65 years since there was this much uncertainty following the results of a provincial election. On June 12, 1952, B.C. voters used the new transferable ballot system, and after numerous rounds of counting, a brand-new Social Credit minority government was in place. It took weeks to determine which party won – but at the end of all the counts, the Socreds had 19 seats and the CCF (forerunner of the NDP) had 18. “I don’t know what government we got. I don’t know what government we didn’t get. I don’t know what government we are going to get,” Barry Mather wrote in the Vancouver Sun, the day after the 1952 election. This year isn’t much different, at least thus far. We don’t know what government we will have after the absentee ballots are counted in two weeks – NDP candidate Ronna-Rae Leonard won Courtenay-Comox by nine votes, BC Liberal candidate Jim Benninger is the former commanding officer at CFB Comox, and many members of the military almost certainly voted via ab...