Frankly Speaking

Frank Bucholtz photo A stump is all that remains of a mature cedar tree that stood on property owned by Tara Ridge Estates. This is a very brief post. Time is pressing and I simply don't have enough of it to study all aspects of this issue, which I just learned of yesterday. A large grove of mature trees has been cleared from property owned by Tara Ridge Estates, adjacent to 76 Avenue in Willoughby. The northwest portion of this site (about eight hectares) is being proposed for exclusion from Agricultural Land Reserve, in order to allow for construction of the 212 Street connector and development of the remaining land. The connector is partially built and will connect Willoughby to the new 216 interchange on Highway 1. The trees were cut some time ago, but it is clear there were many very mature ones on the site. No trees have been left standing. Given that the land is within the ALR, any tree preservation bylaws would not apply. To the best of my knowledge, the land has ...

Photo from National Observer First Nations people in B.C. and across the country aren't too excited about the Canada 150 celebrations, as most of them do not have treaties. Many of them (but not all) feel planned developments such as Kinder Morgan's proposed twinning of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline will do significant damage to the lands they and their ancestors have called home for thousands of years. Despite years of favourable court rulings, governments have dragged their feet on treaties and other means of making First Nations people feel they are an integral and valued component of the Canadian mosaic. Canada turns 150 years old this week.   Celebrations of this milestone have been somewhat muted, when compared to the 100 th anniversary in 1967 which captured the attention and interest of nearly all Canadians and many people in other countries. It is worthwhile to remember what this country has achieved, look at where it is going and consider changes to ...

Finance Minister Mike de Jong is also the BC Liberals' government house leader. Mike de Jong, Abbotsford West MLA (who also represents northeast Langley) was the latest provincial politician to hold a news conference. His took place today, in Vancouver. De Jong is the government house leader and also minister of finance. He (quite rightly) said it is not up to the BC Liberals to strengthen the hand of an NDP minority government which will likely take office when the BC Liberals lose the confidence of the B.C. legislature. He does not expect a BC Liberal to stay on as Speaker once the government falls. A Liberal will likely to become Speaker on June 22, when the legislature is scheduled to meet. That will allow the government to present a throne speech He is also correct that the NDP-Green agreement seems quite shaky. We will know best how strong it is after there is an NDP minority government in place. For now, Green Party leader Andrew Weaver is making irresponsible statemen...

White Rock resident Beverly McLaughlin took this photo of the water in her washing machine last fall. She said "aesthetically, it's very unpleasing." On June 5, there were more reports of dark-coloured water coming from the taps in White Rock homes. Just when you think the White Rock water utility takeover couldn’t get any murkier, it does – both literally and, more importantly, figuratively. In just one week, the public learned that (yet again) the water is cloudy and disgusting to look at; the federal government has moved in to help Semiahmoo First Nation get clean water and get out of any dealings with White Rock’s water system; and the city and Metro Vancouver are pulling out all the stops in court to keep every possible detail of the takeover of the water system secret. The dirty water story came from Coldicutt Avenue resident Derek Sigurdson. He was leaving his house June 5 when he was stopped by a neighbour carrying a glass of brown water. “He said, ‘...

Rich Coleman's new responsibilities for BC Hydro, which he assumed in today's cabinet shuffle, are a signal that the BC Liberals want to deepen the fissure between the NDP and the Greens over the Site C dam project. The objective is another election, as soon as possible. Most people may think the revised cabinet announced by Premier Christy Clark on Monday is simply rearranging the deck chairs on the rapidly-sinking Titanic. On the surface, that is absolutely correct. However, a closer look at the new cabinet could lead to the conclusion that Clark is outfitting them with life preservers, in the strong hope that this new cabinet will all board life boats, and make their way aboard a new ship. The new responsibilities given to Langley East MLA Rich Coleman illustrate this point perfectly. He has been named minister of energy and mines, with responsibility for BC Hydro. He is still deputy premier, even though that fact was left out of the news release announcing th...

Travelling across the Port Mann Bridge may become free, if the NDP follow through with plans to eliminate tolling on bridges. An NDP minority government will likely be in place within the month. None of us have any idea of when the NDP will form a minority government in Victoria, but the agreement signed last week by NDP leader John Horgan and Green leader Andrew Weaver indicates it will happen. Now that the legislature has been called back (it will begin sitting on June 22), it's a fair guess that an NDP minority government will take power in late June or early July. That means some significant changes in the transportation realm, one of the hot button issues that attracted votes for both parties in Surrey and Delta. The NDP was the prime beneficiary, going from three seats in Surrey to seven NDP MLAs representing Surrey and Delta in the provincial legislature. This compares to four BC Liberals. Attention to transportation issues also helped the NDP win the two Mapl...