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 ...

Photo from @jwaldag Twitter account Ziggy Eckardt shows the massive ballot which German voters, who have proportional representation, have to fill out. He used it as a show-stopping visual aid at a town hall meeting on electoral reform in Cloverdale on Tuesday night. Eckardt has been active with the Conservative Party in Burnaby. It was fascinating to attend Cloverdale-Langley City MP John Aldag's town hall on electoral reform Tuesday night. The timing was questionable. Coming in the midst of the summer, when many people are away on vacation, and one day after a long weekend, it seemed very likely that it would be poorly-attended. Such was not the case. There were at least 130 people there, and several hundred more took part via Periscope and Twitter. The federal Liberals campaigned last year on changing the way Canadians elect MPs. Justin Trudeau declared that 2015 would be the last time MPs would be elected using the First Past the Post (FPTP) system. He said so when it s...