BLOG
Filter News By…
Legislative Archive
One door closes and another opens! Thank you!
At the end of the day there will be a new MLA-elect for Saanich North and the Islands. So much has happened in the decade since I first started trying to get elected to the British Columbia Legislative Assembly. Now I step back, as someone new steps forward. It was a tremendous honour to represent our communities and this beautiful territory. I...
Why are government actions failing to meet the urgency needed to protect wild Pacific salmon?
As the salmon go, we go! It is why I have spent so much time on salmon policy. As the industry is proudly depicted in a mural in the rotunda of the Parliament buildings it has become an example of the boom and bust economy that is the tradition of the British Columbia economy. Boom and bust. That’s...
Budget Estimates: Public Safety & Solicitor General moving toward oversight of BC Conservation Service
In final Budget Estimates exchange of the Spring 2024 session I reconnected with public safety minister and Solicitor General, Hon. Mike Farnworth. After several years of advocating for independent oversight of the BC Conservation Officer Service I received the clearest answer to date and it...
Motion 29: Amending the rules to increase legislative access to all private members (non-Cabinet)!
We often think that democratic reform is limited to proportional representation. However, as I have seen how the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia functions over the past seven years I have seen how undemocratic it is. The processes that have evolved over the years serves the majority...
Talk and log. Talk and log. Talk and log. BC NDP are rhetorically protecting old growth!
The BC NDP have perfected “talk and log”. Minister of Environment, Hon. George Heyman, has consistently disagreed with the premise of my questions. If you were to view the world through his rose coloured glasses you would see a fantastical uptopia. What seems to escape the Minister is while he is...
Is a mace still an appropriate symbol for power in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly?
As an MLA I often confront my relationship to power. I remember back to just a few days after I was elected in 2017 into the position often referred to as “the balance of power” I was asked about this in an interview on CFAX 1070. The question was something like, “how does it feel like to have the...
Why is the BC NDP government failing to support our children and public education system?
Despite their rhetoric, the BC NDP government is failing to meet the operational needs of school districts across the province. The BC Teachers Federation is advertising calling on the province to develop a human resource plan, acknowledging our children with the greatest needs continue to be let...
Playground for the super-rich or increased protection of most vulnerable renters?
British Columbia will spend more than $500 million to ensure the World Cup is a profitable venture for the FIFA. The cost of hosting the World Cup In Vancouver has already doubled in two years and we still have two years until we host the seven soccer games. Former Premier John Horgan described the...
Will the health minister limit nursing agencies and better support student nurses?
We have consistently heard from nurses, and the BC Nurses Union, that nurse-to-patient ratios are far from acceptable. Recently, the union surveyed their members. In a media release they highlight, “on a monthly basis, a staggering 81 percent of nurses say they experience verbal and/or emotional...
My duty to stand up for the Salish Sea never diminishes!
As the industrialization of the Salish Sea proliferates and overlapping authority of many governing bodies create bureaucratic gridlock, my duty to this territory will never stop. Now more than ever we have a much greater need to protect this fragile ecosystem and restore it to its once abundant...
Will the health minister meet the capital and operational needs of the Saanich Peninsula Hospital?
The health minister Hon. Adrian Dix and Island Health have both known that the Saanich Peninsula hospital requires significant operational and capital investments. Residents of the Saanich Peninsula have always stepped to support their hospital but with a recent story about cockroaches in the...
Budget Estimates: Housing ministry continues to fail the most insecurely housed British Columbians
I continue to be extremely concerned for the most insecurely housed people in British Columbia. While the provincial government has been aggressively making changes to zoning, the volume of non-market housing being constructed and securing the deeply affordable rental units. In budget estimates...
Denial to Recognition: Unpacking the importance aboriginal title recognition in British Columbia
For decades the judicial branch has been strongly encouraging the legislative and executive branches of government to address aboriginal title through negotiation, agreement, and legislation. The approach of the provincial government has been to litigate. This has resulted in the lawyers in the...
MLA Column: Shipbuilding, the coastal economy, and supporting communities
In February 2021, I published a blog post celebrating the British Columbia coastline. It was a response to former Premier John Horgan’s editorial proclaiming that a “made-in-BC shipbuilding strategy” was on its way. There was nobody in a better position to make it happen. I wrote, “if this is the plan, let me know how I can help.” Four years...
Budget Estimates: Education and Childcare fails to meet targets and expectations!
For the past several years we have heard from the BC NDP government of their investments in education and childcare. At the same time, I have heard from my constituents and education professionals in Saanich North and the Islands the opposite. We are not seeing the results of the massive...
Environment minister has full control over Conservation Service. No independence, no oversight!
The BC NDP don’t want to confront the reality that their environment minister Hon. George Heyman has full control of the BC Conservation Officer Service (BC COS). As it is laid out in s. 106 of the Environmental Management Act, the service is “under the direction of the minister.” His colleague,...
Environment Minister slow in updating regulations for sampling biosolids to make sure they are safe!
I suspect the Environment Minister has not updated the Organic Matter Recycling Regulation (OMRR) over the past 15 years because of the cost. Cost of updating sewage treatment facilities to improve the quality of biosolids or safe disposal. Unfortunately, Hon. George Heyman has maintained grossly...
Confidence in public safety threatened as province continues fumbling Surrey police transition
The Surrey policing transition has been fumbled from the beginning. Public safety minister Hon. Mike Farnworth has allowed politics to lead the policy and the result has been expensive and unnecessary. Now the RCMP union President Brian Sauve is stating publicly that the Minister has issued...
BC Aviation Museum welcomes Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber to Saanich Peninsula
After many years, and several attempts, the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber will make one final flight from its home on Sproat Lake near Port Alberni, BC, landing on the Saanich Inlet before being moved to the B.C. Aviation Museum where it will be a permanent attraction for the Saanich Peninsula...
Introducing amendment to solitary confinement policy. AGAIN!
For the fourth time I have introduced a private members bill to amend solitary confinement policy. The bill prohibits a person from being held in solitary confinement if they are pregnant, at risk of harm or suicide, have a prescribed disability or require medical observation. The bill requires the...
Indigenous jurisdiction of child welfare must include proper funding support!
For decades Indigenous child welfare has been in the hands of the provincial government. Their policies have disrupted families, separating children from their parents and extended family, and had devastating consequences. In 2022, the province made large changes through Bill 38: Indigenous...
Creating First Nations mandated Post-Secondary Institutions
There is an important teaching that once you start something that you must finish the work. In 2018, the provincial government invested $50 million in Indigenous language revitalization. It kickstarted and reinforced Indigenous language preservation and teaching. These funds were critical for...
Housing policy still fragmented with weak measures for affordable and special needs housing
The BC NDP continues to deliver fragmented housing policy, addresses part of the problem part way. The changes represented in Bill 14: Tenancy Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 and Bill 16: Housing Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 are far from the actions that are needed to support people renting in British...
Amendments to Police Act are far from transformation of policing in British Columbia
After 15 months of deliberations, hearing from more than 400 individuals and organizations, and 1400 survey responses, the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act, tabled an all-Party consensus report on April 28, 2024. The report was comprehensive and offered a plan for implementing the...
HEY BC NDP! Are there other corrupted grant programs?
By now you have likely heard about the scandal brewing involving a grant program administered by the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation. The allegation that has been sent to the Auditor General is that the government contractor was both adjudicating the grant applications, and...
Budget Estimates: Engaging Minister Cullen on docks in the Southern Gulf Islands
Navigating dock management complexities on British Columbia's coast is a multidimensional challenge for the provincial government. In the Southern Gulf Islands, balancing the post-moratorium backlog of pending dock applications, environmental concerns, and fostering collaborative relationships with...