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...

My column in The Surrey Leader and Peace Arch News for Friday, July 17 Yet another shoe has dropped at TransLink, which continues to be the target of enormous criticism from taxpayers and transit users. On Tuesday, it was announced that two of its most senior executives had been let go. Doug Kelsey, whose involvement with transit in the region predates TransLink’s creation, was most recently chief operating officer, and also president and CEO of the B.C. Rapid Transit Company. His 2014 salary and other payments totalled $355,000, and his severance is likely to total in the hundreds of thousands, if not into the millions, given how long he has been working with TransLink and its predecessors. Bob Paddon has been executive vice-president and was one of the most-quoted senior executives, given that part of his responsibility had been media and public relations. His 2014 salary was $299,000. He was also overseeing long-term planning, which has been thrown out the window by t...

The results are in on the transit plebiscite, which asked voters in Metro Vancouver if they backed an increase in the sales tax of 0.5 per cent to pay for transit improvements. Voters said "no" to a sales tax increase for transit in a resounding way - with 61.7 per cent opposed, and 38.3 per cent in favour. Surprisingly, the "no" forces won in every single municipality, except Bowen Island and Belcarra, both of which have little or no transit services. Vancouver, which already has the best transit service and stood to gain a subway line down Broadway as far as Arbutus, rejected the plan by a slim margin, with just under 51 per cent opposed to the new sales tax. The overall voter turnout was very impressive, with more than 51 per cent of the voting packages returned. However, a large number (38,393) were improperly filled out and another 2,513 votes were rejected, so the overall number of votes that were actually counted was slightly less than half. It's stil...