Frankly Speaking

All 12 cars and one locomotive of an Amtrak train travelling from Seattle to Portland derailed Monday morning north of Olympia, with the locomotive and several cars crashing onto the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 and damaging at least five vehicles. Three people were killed and many were injured. The train was the first regularly-scheduled Amtrak train to use the rail line, which has been rehabilitated at a cost of $181 million in the past few years for use by both Amtrak and Sound Transit commuter trains. The crash comes just four days after a study on high-speed rail between Vancouver, B.C.and Portland was released to the Washington State legislature. Photo from startribune.com High-speed rail between Vancouver and Portland got a boost last week – and then suffered a very serious blow on Monday morning, when an Amtrak train derailed south of Tacoma. A study commissioned by the State of Washington was released on Thursday to the state legislature's joint transpo

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 Fi

Photo by Lance Peverley, Peace Arch News As moderator of Tuesday's all-candidates forum in the South Surrey-White Rock riding, I was placed in the midst of the standing room-only audience to ask questions to the candidates on behalf of the organizers and citizens who emailed their questions to the South Surrey and White Rock Chamber of Commerce.  The federal byelection in South Surrey-White Rock takes place on Monday, Dec. 11. The byelection has captured considerably more interest than usual, largely because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has visited the area twice to campaign with Liberal candidate Gordon Hogg. This is unprecedented for Surrey and White Rock. Never has a sitting prime minister spent that much time and energy campaigning for a single candidate, and no party leader has ever spent time in South Surrey or White Rock during an election. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer has also visited the area twice, and Green Party leader Elizabeth May is scheduled to