The government has committed to funding 40% of the Metro Vancouver Mayors' 10-year transportation plan. Investments in transit and alternative transportation options to the single-occupant vehicle are greatly needed in the lower mainland, capital region and other areas in the province. We could be doing much better...
The Camosun Innovates program receives “Technology Access Centre” grant (or TAC grant) funding from the federal government as part of the of the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s “College and Community Innovation” program. In 2017, it was one of the only BC institutions to win a CCI grant award....
With the framework for legalizing the recreational use of cannabis moving through the legislature, the provincial government must legislate how it will be distributed. Bill 31 creates the distribution rules for recreational cannabis. Leveraging the well-established liquor distribution system, the province, will at...
The Government of Canada is legalizing cannabis. The provincial government must now develop a framework for the legal recreational consumption of cannabis. Bill 30 is the legislation to control and license the newly legalized industry in British Columbia. Critics on both sides have pushed on this legislation. It has...
I tell salmon stories often. I am a Brentwood kid who grew up on the water; just one in a long line to fish the Salish Sea. We come by it honestly, descendants of the Coast Salish reef-netters, the Pacific salmon are part of our family. So many of us who live in Saanich North and the Islands have fished these waters. Salmon are a vitally...
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jASfUu5AfVs[/embedyt] Episode 013 - The Public Circle LIVE! (Banning Big Money) Friday, May 11, 2018 The Public Circle LIVE! is a weekly live broadcast by Adam Olsen from the Saanich North and the Islands Constituency Office in Sidney, BC. Adam discusses various issues in British Columbia politics and the...
Bill 23 creates residential rental tenure zoning. The initiative is perhaps the first of its kind provides local governments a tool to ensure important rental housing assets remain rental housing and that town councils can identify areas to zone future rental housing. The Bill amends the Local Government Act and the...
Indigenous place names have marked and identified important locations throughout British Columbia for countless generations. Following contact and settlement of European people new names were added and signs were erected. Bill 19 expands parkland and begins to reattach Indigenous place names to those important places....
With the legalization of cannabis coming later this summer, the federal government has but the provincial government's under considerable strain to ensure that our laws are consistent. Unfortunately, much of the federal framework is still unknown greater an even bigger problem for the province's. Ending drugged...
The BC Greens campaigned on evidence-based decision-making. We have often criticized government for making a political decision, or decisions that benefit a donor. Bill 18 is mandating local governments to complete and publish a housing needs assessment every five years. The goal of this legislation is to collect data...
The quota system implemented by the federal government has essentially privatized a public natural resource. The result has been that large corporations have purchased the quotas consolidating them and making it harder for owner operators and smaller operations to compete. Since moving in this direction there are far...
For the past several months I have stood several times in the legislature in defence of wild Pacific salmon. Folks might be wondering why? As a person of W̱SÁNEĆ heritage, I come from an ancient line of reefnet (SW̱OLE) fishermen. We have strong teachings about our relationship with all living things around us, even...
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS2OySHIQwk[/embedyt] Episode 012 - The Public Circle LIVE! Friday, May 4, 2018 The Public Circle LIVE! is a weekly live broadcast by Adam Olsen from the Saanich North and the Islands Constituency Office in Sidney, BC. Adam discusses various issues in British Columbia politics and the riding of Saanich...
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0B1Dg6DGWI[/embedyt] Episode 011 - The Public Circle LIVE! (Natural Resources) Friday, April 27, 2018 The Public Circle LIVE! is a weekly live broadcast by Adam Olsen from the Saanich North and the Islands Constituency Office in Sidney, BC. Adam discusses various issues in British Columbia politics and...
Apparently the truth is not a necessary component when claiming someone else is "mutilating the truth." In an attempt to smear the BC Green Caucus for standing up for what is in the interest of British Columbia, Resource Works has published a blog post about a question I asked in Question Period on Monday April 23, 2018. In the process, they let...
I have made it abundantly clear, I care a lot about wild salmon. It is the most important renewable natural resource on the coast of British Columbia. The provincial government is waffling on whether they are going to extend or cancel the permits for the open net pen fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago. They could...
Canada and British Columbia continue to act like resource colonies, supplying the world with raw resources. It has not always been like that we once had bustling coastal and rural communities that refined natural resources, adding value and manufacturing made in British Columbia products. So, while we chase Kinder...
010 - The Public Circle LIVE! (Wild Salmon) Friday, April 20, 2018 The Public Circle LIVE! is a weekly live broadcast by Adam Olsen from the Saanich North and the Islands Constituency Office in Sidney, BC. Adam discusses various issues in British Columbia politics and the riding of Saanich North and the...
Historically, as women enter professions, they have seen a reduction in both pay and prestige. This has been the case across the spectrum and is now being repeated in the attention to their mental health has received. While the gender pay gap is well known, the gender PTSD and workplace stress gap is less so. Work...
Government has introduced a Bill to address the growing problem with renovictions and compensating tenants who are evicted due to renovations, demolitions and manufactured home park closures. Balancing the need to upgrade rental units and keep housing affordable in an environment where the market is out of control is...
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neLDGQQo0QI[/embedyt] I hosted my latest Community Dialogue last Saturday, this time we talked about agriculture. It was an excellent event with about 30 people in attendance. We covered a lot of ground and my staff took notes of the conversation. Finding solutions to increase food soveriegnty will...
Protecting our coastline I responded to a Private Members' Motion that was originally put forward by MLA Dan Davies (Peace River North). As Mr. Davies is away, MLA Peter Milobar (Kamloops-North Thompson) put the motion on the floor. The motion is as follows... Be it resolved that this House urge the Government of B.C....
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkwBNTOyMVs[/embedyt] Episode 009 - The Public Circle LIVE! Friday, April 13, 2018 The Public Circle LIVE! is a weekly live broadcast by Adam Olsen from the Saanich North and the Islands Constituency Office in Sidney, BC. Adam discusses various issues in British Columbia politics and the riding of Saanich...
This week in question period I and my BC Green Caucus colleagues, Andrew Weaver and Sonia Furstenau, focussed our line of questioning on the natural gas industry. In late March, the provincial government announced an aggressive package of incentives to LNG Canada to attract a final investment decision on their project in Kitimat, BC. In fact, the...
You might remember the controversial firings of health researchers in 2012. It ended very poorly! Bill 13 amends the Public Service Act implementing recommendations empower the Merit Commissioner to review just-cause firings. In summary, four health workers were publicly dismissed and the government announced that...
Corporate welfare expanding... This week in Question Period my colleagues, Andrew Weaver and Sonia Furstenau, and I have been asking the government about their energy policy which is nothing more than an extension of the BC Liberals policy. Instead of establishing a visionary transformation to a low-carbon 21st...