Frankly Speaking

Santa Claus has a bag full of goodies for the newsmakers among us. This is an update of a sneak preview of gifts Santa has for some of the newsmakers who affect our lives. The original was written in the midst of the windstorm of Dec. 20, just before the power went out at my home and in thousands of other places on or near the B.C. south coast. Of course, that was the day the White Rock pier broke apart in the storm, and the day the electoral reform referendum results came down. As a result of all that, Santa let me know that an update of the gifts he was giving was required. Over a bowl of Christmas cheer, I acquiesced. Santa had to change his list quite dramatically this year – even as late as Thursday, Dec. 20. So many of the politicians he had gifts for were summarily dumped by voters in October, and that didn’t give the elves in his workshop much time to retool. However, he’s managed to do his best with the time he had available. He knew earlier that Linda Hepner ...

Construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project will continue, but under federal ownership. The federal government is taking over Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline and obligation to twin the pipeline, for $4.5 billion. The federal government announced today (early this morning, in fact) that it will spend $4.5 billion to buy the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, and continue construction of the twinned pipeline between Edmonton and Burnaby. This wasn't too surprising, given Kinder Morgan's deadline of May 31 for a final decision on whether to proceed with the project, given the protests, court challenges and intractable opposition of the B.C. government. Black Press has done an excellent series on this project, giving extensive background to explain its many ramifications. The intent is to help readers get a more detailed understanding of the controversial Kinder Morgan pipeline twinning project. The project has prompted plenty of p...

Ousted federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair. The federal NDP, assembled in convention in Edmonton, did an unprecedented thing on Sunday. The delegates removed their party leader by a 52 to 48 per cent margin. The loss of confidence in Tom Mulcair which culminated in the historic vote amounted to what National Post columnist Michael den Tandt calls a "day long execution." That's a pretty apt description. While the federal party has been all but torn in half now, this vote will also have a devastating effect on the B.C. NDP, and on NDP provincial parties across the country. The first to be punished will be the Manitoba NDP, now in the midst of an election campaign. Incumbent Premier Greg Selinger (who barely survived a revolt against his leadership) and the party are down significantly in the polls. The Progressive Conservatives seem posed to win big when the Manitoba vote takes place on April 19. In B.C., the next provincial election takes place in May, 2017. The two main...