Premier Eby Hires Comedian to Write Speeches

Eby now makes speeches on a lighter note with comedic touch

Political reporters covering British Columbia politics were surprised to learn Premier David Eby has hired a comedian to help him write his speeches.

While Eby is on the serious side, after all, he governs the province, does he need to show he's funny too?

Being a premier is no laughing matter!

Demers is a comedian and friend of Eby's

But earlier this week the Conservatives released a copy of comedian Charlie Demers' contract showing he is being paid $156 an hour. The Conservative finance critic immediately pounced on this, questioning the hiring of a comedian to be a speechwriter was a good use of taxpayer money since the province is already over $11 billion -- yes billion -- in debt.

When asked about hiring Demers (who is also a friend), Eby didn't think it was funny.

"Charlie is one of a group of speech writers," Eby said. "Today, for example, I'm delivering five speeches. I would love to be able to write my own speeches the way that I used to. But I do need support to be able to respond to each event that I go to. Speech writers are a necessary part of the job."

Sure, we get that, but a comedian?

However, this isn't Demers first time speech writing for a politician. He has written stuff previously for Energy Minster Adrian Dix and the late former Premier John Horgan. Demers has strong ties with the NDP.

Taxpayers are probably not amused a comedian is writing the premier's speeches...

Carney Gets Down to Business

Carney to visit Trump next week, and King Charles is coming

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the media this morning, his first press conference following the federal election.

He made several announcements, including that he will make a trip to Washington on Tuesday to see US President Donald Trump to reset Canada-US relations, which have soured significantly since Trump took office in January.

"Our old relationship, based on steadily increasing integration, is over," Carney said. "The questions now are how our nations will cooperate in the future and where we, in Canada, will move on."

King to read throne speech

Apparently Carney's team is trying to prepare for every possibility during talks with Trump, as he can be unpredictable. But it seems Carney is intent on setting the ground rules when it comes to dealing with Canada as a sovereign nation -- not the 51st state.

"It will be a complex negotiation," Carney said. "I'm not pretending those discussions will be easy. They won't proceed in a straight line. There will be zigs and zags, ups and downs."

Also on Carney's to-do list is to choose his cabinet ministers and write the throne speech -- that King Charles III will read on May 27, when parliament opens a new session. Queen Camilla will also come for the occasion.

"This is a historic honour which matches the weight of our times," Carney said. The last time a monarch gave the address was back in 1977 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Meanwhile Elections Canada has done a recount and the Liberals are back to 169 seats, as the party's candidate in the riding of Milton East-Halton Hills South beat the Conservatives by just 29 seats.

Earlier the Liberals had lost a seat to the Bloc Quebecois in another recount.

As for Pierre Poilievre, who lost his seat in the Ottawa riding of Carleton, one MP has offered to give up his seat in Alberta. Damien Kurek had handily won the riding of Battle River-Crowfoot easily with 82 percent of the vote.

Poilievre to run for seat in Alberta by-election

Carney was gracious enough to say that he will call a by-election as soon as possible so that Poilievre can return to the House as leader.

"I've already indicated to Mr Poilievre that... I will ensure that it happens as soon as possible. No games, nothing," Carney said in the press conference.

As prime minister, Carney could have made his opponent wait a maximum of six months before calling a by-election. But he is extending a peace branch, perhaps in a bid to get things done in parliament. 

Meanwhile Poilievre posted a statement on X saying: "It is with humility and appreciation that I have accepted Damien Kurek's offer to resign his seat in Battle River-Crowfoot so that I can work to earn the support of citizens there to serve them in Parliament."

We will be watching this by-election closely...!

Poilievre Wants to Stop Scams on Seniors... But Can He?

Poilievre wants to protect Canadian seniors from scammers

Less than two weeks to go before the federal election on April 28 and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has pitched the idea of preventing seniors from being scammed by passing the "Stop scamming seniors act", forcing banks and telecom companies to use state of the art technology to detect scams.

Not only that, there will also be automatic blocking of seniors' accounts when there are suspicious transactions, and a 24-hour hold on high-risk transactions for seniors. There would also be active reporting to the public of how many scams have been stopped, while those who are convicted of these scams would be sentenced to at least one year, and up to five years in jail.

While these proposals are well-meaning, how would it all work?

Poilievre doesn't seem to understand that many scams don't originate from Canada but abroad and the nefarious ways they can "mistakenly" text someone and strike up a conversation and soon becomes a trusted friend. 

It's after months of daily contact that the scammer eventually begins the extraction of money for "investment", and by that point the victim is so driven by the dreams of becoming wealthy that they will do whatever it takes to transfer the funds to the scammer.

Some of these conversations aren't even in English or French. How to stop these scams in other languages?

And what if a senior is legitimately trying to purchase a big ticket item? They need to wait 24 hours before they can make the transaction? It makes them feel like children.

In addition, it would be so hard for banks and telecom companies to detect scams -- while there are some bank tellers who are alert and flag customers who come in asking to transfer large amounts of money with strange requests, a lot of funds are transferred through setting up crypto accounts or online transfers. 

We could do with fewer spam calls and texts, but it's harder to crack down on scammers than Poilievre thinks and to educate seniors to be on alert...

Finally BC Election Results are In

Eby and the NDP will continue to hold onto power

Finally nine days after election day, British Columbia Premier David Eby has clung onto power with 47 seats, the Conservatives with 44 and the Greens with two. This afternoon Eby met with Lieutenant-Governor Janet Austin about forming the next government.

Elections BC released the finally tally, though two ridings, Surrey-Guilford and Kelowna Centre are too close to call and will be automatically recounted pending a judicial review.

Rustad accepts the election results

But the results show the NDP have to show British Columbians that they are willing to work hard in the areas of housing, healthcare, and affordability, as well as public safety and the opioid crisis, and Eby acknowledged this.

Meanwhile Conservative leader John Rustad is chuffed about how his party went from no seats to 44 in less than two years, but questions remain about how he will rein in people in his party who have racist leanings, like Brent Chapman in Surrey South, and Dallas Brodie in Vancouver-Quilchena.

Rustad must be breathing a sigh of relief that Conservative candidate Marina Sapozhnikov lost the Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding to the NDP. Sapozhnikov had spewed a lot of racist comments regarding Indigenous people, calling them "savages", and that they were not enlightened people.

Nevertheless the strong Conservative results also show voters were willing to hold their noses and overlook their racist outlooks and cast ballots for them in a desperate bid to kick out the NDP.

Furstenau with the Greens' elected MLAs

Although the NDP technically have a majority with 47 seats, they will still need the help of the Greens to pass legislation, and conversations between the two parties have already taken place. 

"Pending a judicial recount, it appears as though MLAs from different parties will have to work together for the Legislature to function effectively," said Sonia Furstenau, leader of the BC Green Party.

BC Elections Too Close to Call Tonight

The start of live TV broadcasts waiting for election results

British Columbia still doesn't know which party will govern it -- it's literally neck-and-neck between the NDP and the Conservatives because Elections BC is recounting 21 ridings as the votes are just too close.

So far, the NDP have 46 seats, the Conservatives 45, the Greens 2. Interestingly so far none of the independents, particularly the incumbents who were formerly BC United, have not made a dent at all.

Rustad giving a victorious speech tonight

The biggest winner tonight was Conservative leader John Rustad who was kicked out of the then BC Liberals and resurrected the blue party from the dead to have the best showing in 100 years. He is obviously chuffed at literally rebuilding the party from scratch. 

Despite his poor performance in the television debate, Rustad and his party has managed to turn the interior of the province deep blue with far less resources than the NDP, which won Metro Vancouver (except Vancouver-Quilchena) and the coastal areas. The results show voters are dissatisfied with the NDP and want change.

The biggest loser was David Eby of the NDP. The close vote is a repudiation of him wasting his two years as leader and not continuing on his predecessor John Horgan's positive streak and making things better for British Columbians. Instead Eby rested on his laurels and also dragged the province into C$9 billion in debt.

Tonight Eby ate his humble pie and has promised to work with the Green party to follow through on his promises.

Eby vowing to keep fighting Conservatives

Meanwhile even though Sonia Furstenau was considered the only adult in the room during the televised debate, she lost her seat tonight at the leader of the Green party. Part of the reason is she chose not to defend her seat in Cowichan Valley, but instead take on NDP incumbent Grace Lore in Victoria-Beacon Hill, a riding held by the NDP since 2005.

Nevertheless, the Greens managed to clinch two seats to maintain its political party status in the legislature, and will be the kingmaker to whoever wins the mandate to form the next government.

There are still some 100,000 mail-in ballots that also need to be counted! Perhaps tomorrow we'll know who won?!

Controversial Conservative Remarks Before Election

Brodie is third from the left, flanked by Greens and NDP

There are only days left until the British Columbia provincial election and already advance voting has seen the highest number of people coming in to cast their vote before October 19.

It's a highly contentious election with the New Democratic Party and in the latest polls the Conservatives are neck-and-neck. Earlier this week there was a televised debate between the three parties, NDP, Conservatives and the Greens.

That 90-minute debate revealed Conservative leader John Rustad not looking confident, hardly looking at the camera and having to go on the defensive as incumbent Premier David Eby launched numerous attacks, sometimes in concert with Green leader Sonia Furstenau.

But Eby was unsettled too, having to defend his record and not having much to show for his two years in power. Rustad said that Eby inherited a province that had a healthy bottom line of C$6 billion, but now is C$9 billion in the red, and what did he have to show for it?

The sniping between Rustad and Eby made Furstenau look like the only adult in the room, using the opportunity to explain the Greens' platform.

Then on Thursday evening, the neighbourhood I reside in held a Q&A with the candidates running in our ridings. Eby is in Vancouver-Point Grey, while Vancouver-Quilchena was the left-leaning stronghold of the BC Liberals, which morphed into BC United led by Kevin Falcon.

But in late August Falcon suddenly announced BC United was suspending its election campaign which resulted in total disarray; BC United candidates were not told of the news ahead of time and didn't know what to do, and neither did left-leaning voters.

In the end some candidates were taken up by the Conservatives, but some chose to run as independents.

So it will be interesting to see who will take Vancouver-Quilchena now that BC United is gone from the slate. 

I was surprised to see a number of Conservative signs up in my neighbourhood and even more so now that the candidate Dallas Brodie has been slammed by an indigenous leader for her racist remarks made at the event I attended.

An NDP candidate fired the salvo, bringing up Brodie's comments about First Nations people who want autonomy and equal footing, those rights come with responsibility.

"When a large percentage of your people are on the Downtown Eastside, it's important that you come and take responsibility for that piece as well. It's not okay to leave your people," she said.

Wade Grant of the Musqueam Indian Band attended the meeting and recorded the video of Brodie's remarks. 

"You could tell there were people in the audience who were uncomfortable with the answer," he said, adding that, "My reaction was one of disbelief for somebody who wants to be a leader in this province."

Many people were taken aback by what she said, as indigenous people in the Downtown Eastside is a complicated issue, and the reason why people end up there are for many different reasons. 

Brodie felt the moderator had cut her off, but he said she could use time in the next question to finish her remarks but she did not.

Nevertheless, it seems most people in the room were more supportive of the NDP and the Greens, and some political pundits are anticipating an NDP minority government propped up by the Greens.

We will find out soon enough...

BC Election Countdown

Voters are going to have a hard time deciding who to lead BC

The writ has dropped in British Columbia with less than 30 days to go before the provincial election.

In the last few weeks we've had so much drama -- in particular BC United suddenly ending its campaign and leaving its candidates orphaned -- that it gives the Conservatives an even closer edge to the incumbent NDP.

BC United leader Kevin Falcon has numerous missteps, from insisting the BC Liberals had to change to BC United, and then many of his star candidates defecting to the Conservatives. They want to win a seat, not be the opposition, if that.

The Conservatives have come out from nowhere in the last two years with John Rustad taking the reins after he was kicked out of BC United for not believing in climate change.

Meanwhile the Premier David Eby has squandered two years in power, making promises and not following through in issues like drug addiction, healthcare and housing. Now the province has mandated that all cities must densify and some municipalities are fighting back because one model doesn't fit every situation.

The healthcare system is on life support, with many hospitals in remote areas having to close on the weekends because there aren't enough doctors. Heck there isn't even enough family doctors so that emergency wards won't be overflowing.

Eby probably wishes he had called a snap election two years ago while he was ahead...

So it's neck-and-neck between the Conservatives and the NDP, though candidates who were unceremoniously left behind by BC United are running as independents on shoestring budgets. If they are elected they could form a new party.

Meanwhile, where does this all leave the voters of British Columbia? Very little choice. Either way they have to hold their noses to vote the lesser of two evils. 

People should still vote anyway because the parties need to know where BC residents stand on issues. But before then, the parties really need to listen to them and present platforms that provide real solutions. We're beyond promises.