On Feb. 26, I and my BC Green Caucus colleagues, called for a full independent public inquiry into money-laundering in British Columbia.The call came after two weeks of questions in Question Period on the deeply troubling connections in our casinos, real estate market, luxury cars, horse racing, drug cartels and opioid crisis.Our Attorney...
The National Energy Board (NEB) just wrapped up the reconsideration hearing on the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project. Frankly, the latest hearing is just as bad as the first one, and with the same result. They recommend that the federal government approve the project. The reconsideration was necessary after a...
Over the past few weeks the BC Green Caucus has been asking the Attorney General about money-laundering. There are substantial allegations of corruption that need investigating. Indeed, the Attorney General is going good work on this issue and gone way further than the previous government. But, it is time to take this...
Since the beginning of the Spring 2019 session, the BC Green Caucus, has been asking government about money laundering in British Columbia.The focus has been largely on the bags of cash dragged into the casinos to be laundered by so-called "whale" gamblers.But, as we found out with Peter German's...
Money-laundering issues continue to grow. Over the past twenty years only 50 cases were heard and only 10 convictions. It is embarrassing and ridiculous. What is disturbing is that the Attorney General now alleges criminal organizations moved to Vancouver from the United States and received tax credits from Advantage...
Yesterday in Question Period the B.C. Liberals went after ride-hailing. Two things here. Their attempt to own this issue while spending the better part of five years ignoring it, is a perfect illustration of politicians serving their own interests, not the public interest. More on that in a minute. The narrative built to a crescendo of questions...
British Columbians have waited for ride hailing for a long time. The pace of change in our province is ridiculously slow on this issue. There are certainly issues about security that need to be addressed but these services have been hijacked by political wrangling rather than good public policy. This is not the first...
This week the BC Green Caucus has been asking Ministers in Question Period about the level of preparedness of their specific Ministry for climate change. In order for the provincial government to address climate change it must happen across the whole of government. Ministry by ministry, sector by sector. I had the...
The BC Green Caucus continues to raise questions in Question Period about the impact of open net pen fish farms in British Columbia waters. We have covered growing concerns over viruses, blood water discharge and the overall impact of aquaculture on wild Pacific salmon. This past Spring we heard about an unprecedented...
I have been invited to many meetings from forestry experts and advocates since my election to the British Columbia legislature. Each and every group has strongly criticized the approach of the Ministry and past decisions. When I have asked Ministry officials about these issues they have assured me that everything is...
I, and my BC Green caucus colleagues, have been canvassing initiatives on innovation from various government ministries in question period this week. There are so many opportunities for the provincial government to grow our economy through unleashing the creative power of British Columbians if we take tangible steps...
Since my election as the MLA in May 2017, I have had many meetings in my office and hundreds more emails, from constituents who do not have a family doctor. The lack of access to primary care is not just in Saanich North and the Islands but in ridings all across British Columbia. This long-standing issue was even the...
When the BC NDP government announced they were finally changing the medical services premiums (MSP), they were lauded by British Columbians who have been calling on for more than a decade. They struck a task force to advice government on the best approach to changing a system that generates billions of dollars each...
While in Official Opposition the BC NDP were highly critical of the BC Liberals plan for LNG. Perhaps they were not outright opposed to dumping megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment, but they were incredibly vocal on the former government's plan to sell-out future British Columbians for...
There have long been discussions about better connecting the Capital Region and Cowichan Valley Regional District by building a bridge across the Saanich Inlet. There is no doubt that we need better connectivity on Southern Vancouver Island but a bridge is not the solution. Not only will it cost billions of dollars to...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
What is up with the advertising spending? During the last four years of the BC Liberals the BC NDP harshly criticized the former government for spending millions of dollars of taxpayers money on what amounted to partisan campaign ads. Well, recent reports have come out that even though we have an NDP government, the...
In Budget 2018, the provincial government proposed several measures in an attempt to deal with a massive housing affordability crisis in British Columbia. One of the measures was a "speculation tax" which was part of the BC Green Caucus housing policy announced in earlier this year. There have been many concerns...
For four straight days in Question Period me and my BC Green colleagues have been asking government about their wild fish policy. We have noted that up to six different provincial ministries and one federal department all have responsibility for this file. Essentially, the policy is fractured, leaving wild salmon and...
I remain concerned about the government's response to rapid decline of Steelhead trout in the Thompson and Chilcoten Rivers. These fish have been listed as near extinction with only a few dozen fish returning to spawn. Many Steelhead are caught inadvertently, as by-catch, in the Chum salmon gill-net fishery. In...
My colleague Andrew Weaver asked the government about the objective of the housing policy announced in Budget 2018. He did not receive a clear answer. I continued to press government through Finance Minister, Hon. Carole James, on the objective of her budget. Is the goal to stabilize demand, bring down the curve of...