PolitiCoast: The BC Politics Podcast

The BC Liberals consider a name change, the federal Conservatives talk membership numbers and reports covering heat deaths, freedom of information and elections. Segment 1: A record breaking race Conservative leadership: More than 600,000 may vote in race | CTV News Conservative leadership hopeful Pierre Poilievre tables bill to ban COVID-19 vaccine mandates Brown says he won’t run for the C...

The only winner of this week’s Conservative Party leadership debate were people who didn’t watch it. The Conservatives’ Edmonton debate: Yikes – Paul Wells ‘That’s bull****’: David Dodge fires back at Poilievre’s criticism of the Bank of Canada | Financial Post Patrick Brown would push for no-fly zone over Ukraine | True North Patrick Brown under fir...

The Special Committee On Reforming The Police Act recommends creating a new provincial police service and what to do about the shortage of family doctors. Links Transforming Policing and Community Safety in British Columbia  [pdf] BC should ditch RCMP and form its own police force, committee says | CBC News   Minister’s statement on Police Act report | BC Gov News Almost a million...

The latest Conservative leadership promises and a roundup of assorted news. Links At least 8 Conservatives now officially in the race to lead party | CBC News Poilievre Will Fire Gatekeepers And Build Homes ( backgrounder ) Charest promises to permit more private health services as Poilievre attacks his record | CBC News Charest commits to ending lockdowns by revitalizing Canada’s healthcare...

A byelection is called for Vancouver-Quilchena and Conservative Leadership candidates release housing and childcare plans Links Segment 1 2022 Vancouver-Quilchena By-election Candidate nomination closes for Vancouver-Quilchena by-election   Segment 2 Conservative Party of Canada announces dates for its leadership debates Jean Charest Announces Flexible Family Friendly Policies    Do...

The federal budget is out but do the housing measures live up to the hype (no). There’s also lost happening in BC and we chat with  Bowinn Ma and Christine Boyle about their news podcast. Links Segment 1: Budget Budget 2022 Liberal government tables legislation to force online giants to compensate news outlets Segment 2: BC Roundup Province to increase housing, services near transit hub...

We talk plans: UNDRIP, Emissions Reductions and to buy fighter jets.   Links Segment 1 A New Path Forward Historic action plan guides UNDRIP implementation in BC | BC Gov News BC reveals 89-point action plan to advance the rights of Indigenous Peoples | CBC News Segment 2 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Clean Air, Strong Economy – Canada.ca Dr Sara Hastings-Simon reaction Emissions Reduc...

A possibly historic supply and confidence deal between the federal Liberals and NDP. Then the latest from the chaos that is Alberta politics. Segment 1: SACA Delivering for Canadians Now « Canada’s NDP Cost estimate of a federal dental care program for uninsured Canadians Provincial and Territorial Coverage for Children’s Dental Services – The Health of Canada’s Children and Yout...

We look at the CRTC decision banning RT from Canadian airwaves. Then we look at a BC Supreme Court decision finding the province did Fets wrong when they seized their whisky. And maybe daylight savings will finally end because the worst Senators weren’t paying attention. But first we announce the winner of the Greatest BC Premier Bracket! Links The Full Bracket CRTC bans Russian state-contro...

From 34 premiers down to two. Over the past several months we’ve been pitting BC’s premiers against one another to find the greatest. Inevitably we were headed to this conclusion: Social Credit titan WAC Bennett and the NDP legend Dave Barrett. To make the case for these two premiers, we invited experts in the two premiers, people who literally wrote the books on them. David J Mitchell...

Canada and BC find ways to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Conservatives release the rules for their third leadership since we started recording. Links Vote in the Greatest BC Premier Bracket semifinal Segment 1: Empty vodka bottles British Columbia pulling Russian products from government liquor stores | Globalnews.ca BCI is Actively Working to Sell Remaining Russian Securities...

From the almost mundane to the perpetually unprecedented – we’re talking budgets, the end of an emergency declaration and war in Europe. Links Greatest BC Premier Bracket voting Budget BC Budget 2022 Main budget doc: Budget and Fiscal Plan 2022/23 – 2024/25 Highlights From 911 calls to child care, here are 10 things you need to know about BC’s budget BC budget moves in the right...

A former cabinet minister for the BC Liberals is set to be the voice to bring renewal to the party as Kevin Falcon has a (relatively) decisive fifth ballot win in the party’s leadership contest. Meanwhile the BCNDP introduced a very stay the course Throne Speech. And in Ottawa and across the country, protests are paralyzing the police and all levels of government and tearing the Conservative...

Voting for the BC Liberal Leadership race is on now. We’ll know by Saturday evening who the new leader of the opposition will be. One of the people vying for that job is political outsider Stan Sipos. We talk to him about why he’s seeking the job. And then we look at the federal Conservatives, where the caucus invoked the powers of the Reform Act to remove Erin O’Toole as leader....

The BC Court of Appeal has overturned a previous decision that suspended the injunctions around Fairy Creek old growth logging sites. Erin O’Toole’s grip on the Conservative leadership is more tenuous than ever. And the trial of Craig James has begun. Links Vote in the Greatest BC Premier Bracket Teal-Jones wins appeal, injunction against Fairy Creek old-growth protests extended &#8211...

Ian returns to the podcast and we (belatedly) review our predictions for 2021 and look ahead to the year ahead. Plus a round up of the news. Vote in the Greatest BC Premier Bracket Links John Horgan announces he has completed his cancer treatment 2021 Prediction Episode (Ep 221: 2021 is off to a helluva start) BCCDC apologizes for creating confusion by repeatedly changing isolation advice  &n...

Our interview with BC Liberal leadership candidate Val Litwin & a round up of the week’s stories in BC and Federal politics. Links Val Litwin’s website BC Liberals launch review of new memberships ahead of leadership vote | Vancouver Sun Jas Johal’s thread British Columbians Ponder Who Can Deliver Affordable Housing – Research Co. Record number of new homes registered in B.C...

Stewart Prest returns to discuss the evolving pandemic, how BC is adapting to omicron and why is it so hard for governments to articulate what the covid response goals are. Links All travellers will once again need a molecular COVID-19 test before arriving in Canada | CBC News   Province strengthens COVID-19 measures for safer holiday season | BC Gov News B.C.’s contact tracing and test...

Our last episode for 2021! Provincially we’re facing the omicron variant and the NDP had a convention. Federally we got a fiscal update and some mandate letters. But first, vote for Dave Barrett vs Dan Miller in the Greatest BC Premier Bracket. Links Covid Caught flat-footed, Canada once again fumbles its pandemic response – Macleans.ca Ontario offers COVID-19 booster shots to 18 and u...

The BCNDP is under internal pressure over RCMP action against protesters and land defenders in Wet’suwet’en territories. The government is also facing criticism over the increasing death toll from the toxic drug crisis. Across the aisle, the BC Liberal race has a new contestant. Federally, the opposition is pressing the government over Winnipeg lab documents and the handling of the eva...

Ian & Scott debate the BC Government’s alleged lack of response to financial requests from the Fraser Valley Regional District and recent FOI changes before turning their attention to the latest happenings in the House of Commons. Links Vote in the Greatest BC Premier Bracket B.C. government criticized for slow flood aid response UPDATE: Sumas Lake will take weeks to drain, Highway 7 ope...

The House of Commons is back with a predictable throne speech and the BC legislature wraps up with predictable time allocation. Vote in this week’s Greatest BC Premier Bracket contest: The battle of the Bennetts . Links Throne Speech Building a Resilient Economy: A Cleaner & Healthier Future for Our Kids Five takeaways from a very cautious 2021 Throne Speech In a fiery speech, O’To...

A once in 200 year flooding event, precipitated by an atmospheric river, has devastated the province. We’re losing track of how many disasters we’ve had in the past couple years. You’d think this would mean our politicians would have found a coherent strategy to respond to the crisis. And amid the flooding the NDP have introduced a series of new pieces of legislation. But first,...

A roundup of news from Ottawa this week. Vote in the bracket Links No deal to support Liberals on table, but NDP open to working with government: Singh O’Toole leaves MPs who questioned vaccine policy out of his shadow cabinet Departing officials complain Commons clerk was partial to Liberals, fell asleep during question period Annamie Paul formally resigns as Green leader, will end membersh...

Urgently needed action will occur after a reasonable period. At least that’s the BC government’s message this week on old growth forest logging deferrals and drug decriminalization. And the Kevin Falcon campaign is rocked by sexual harassment allegations. Links Premier’s statement on his health | BC Gov News Vote in the Bracket HAPHAZARD HISTORY: The interesting life of Amor de C...