Federal Election - 2015 (British Columbia)

just found this link:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/27/tory-bill-would-add-30-new-mps-t...

Official Opposition:

Victoria MP takes over health critic's role

http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/289648741.html

Would Funding Boost Save the CBC?

NDP would bolster budget if elected, but critic says money alone isn't the problem

The CBC will have more cash if the New Democrats are elected to govern the nation later this year. But a funding boost might not be enough to help the troubled public broadcaster, says one of its most outspoken critics.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair announced Thursday that his party will restore $115 million in funding cut from the CBC in 2012. Those cuts will lead to the loss of 650 positions at the public broadcaster by the end of this year, the CBC has said. They're on top of $357 million in cuts ordered by the Chretien government in 1997.

The party said it wants to bring the $115 million back over three years to enable the CBC to be an "independent" broadcaster.

The NDP also pledged to bring in a new process for nominating members to the CBC's board of directors.

"In today's fast-paced environment dominated by instant media from a variety of sources, it is more important than ever to have an effective public broadcaster with quality programming that offers Canadians a window onto their world -- at home and abroad," said the NDP's outline of the plan.

Problems are 'structural'

Writer and journalism instructor Andrew Mitrovica is a former CBC employee, where he worked at the Fifth Estate.

Now an outspoken critic of CBC operations, he said while "money is always good," the NDP would also need to take a look at the inner workings of the public broadcaster if it wanted to successfully fix the organization.

"They need to think more deeply about organizational and structural problems at the CBC," Mitrovica said. "You've got to look at some of the people running the CBC."

He said there's been a corrosive element in the broadcaster that has been eating away at what the CBC is supposed to be about, and furthering the private financial interests of a few people rather than fulfilling its role to serve the public at large.

NDP Heritage critic Pierre Nantel agreed the situation goes beyond money. Part of that, Nantel said, includes the culture of using casual workers.

Casual staff may work regular fulltime hours at the CBC, but aren't official staffers enjoying the same protection of the union or the benefits. Some, he said, work up to a decade under those conditions. Others leave for greener pastures.

"We are losing our youngest and most promising resources for Radio Canada and CBC," Nantel said.

New board process needed

Nantel said the NDP idea to begin an independent commission to pick the board of directors for CBC will help shape how the organization operates, adding the current board has too much of a connection to the ruling Conservatives.

"Of 12 members, 10 of them have given money to or are members of the (Conservative) party," he said. "This is obnoxious, it cannot be."

Canada's public broadcaster was hit by criticism after it was revealed that top personalities such as Amanda Lang and Rex Murphy received speaking fees from outside organizations.

thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2015/01/22/NDP-Would-Fund-CBC/

Jenny Kwan to run for federal NDP seat in Vancouver East

British Columbia NDP MLA Jenny Kwan, seen in 2009, has hailed MP Libby Davies as ‘iconic.’
(DARRYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/jenny-kwan-to-run-f...

Quite the contrast between a community newspaper which lives, eats, and works in the community as opposed to the right-wing Liberal and Conservative driven agendas of the mainstream press.

Good on the Straight's Charlie Smith 

Jenny Kwan demonstrates broad support in bid for NDP nomination in Vancouver East

Jenny Kwan says she's eager to battle Stephen Harper and help form the first NDP federal government.

urrounded by a couple of hundred supporters at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre, Kwan opened her speech by thanking everyone in the room, including aboriginal elders, family members of missing and murdered women, representatives of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, labour leaders, and her friends.

"I cannot tell you what that means to me, how much your encouragement means to me, as I embark on this journey," Kwan said.

Then she forcefully declared: "My name is Jenny Kwan and I want to be the next MP for Vancouver East."

She's the third person to enter the race to succeed Libby Davies, who won't seek reelection. Vancouver-Kensington MLA Mable Elmore and SFU's director of media and community relations, Scott McLean, are the other two candidates. No nomination meeting has been scheduled.

Kwan, a former Downtown Eastside Residents' Association activist, also said that she wants to be part of the first-ever NDP federal government under the leadership of Thomas Mulcair.

"Vancouver is a unique place in our country because we care not just for ourselves, but because we care about each other and we care about our community," she said. "Here in Vancouver, we're prepared to fight for what we believe in. What we need in Ottawa is someone who is fearless to take on the prime minister and...I'm a fighter and I'm not afraid to take on Stephen Harper."

She added that when it comes to ideology versus science, she will be on the side of evidence-based science every time.

Kwan reflected on her days at a city councillor from 1993 to 1996 when she was the only Coalition of Progressive Electors representative against 10 NPA politicians. Between 2001 and 2005, Kwan was the one of only two NDP MLAs in the legislature holding the 77-member B.C. Liberal caucus to account.

"If you have to fight until 4 o'clock in the morning for a community, you know you can count on me," Kwan said. "I've had my share of around-the-clock debates in the provincial legislature. You will remember Bill 29 where the B.C. Liberals tore up contracts [and] stripped HEU health-care workers of their fundamental right to collective bargaining. I was there to fight against the Liberal government on your behalf. And five years later, Bill 29 was found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada. No matter what level of government tries to violate your constitutional right, I will be there to fight for you."

The room was barely large enough to handle the crowd.CHARLIE SMITH

She also said that regardless of the outcome of the nomination race, she pledged to fight to elect an NDP provincial government with John Horgan as B.C.'s next premier.

Kwan spent a few minutes talking about the impact of colonialism on the first peoples of Canada. Quoting a report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, she said that "disappearances and murders of indigenous women in Canada are part of a broader pattern of violence and discrimination".

"Canada has a legal obligation to address the root causes of violence against indigenous women and girls," Kwan said. "How many more indigenous women and girls have to go missing before we have a national inquiry? If this were happening with any other community, would it be tolerated? Absolutely not. So why, why would we accept it when Minister [Bernard] Valcourt says this is a First Nations issue? This not just a First Nations issue. This is our nation's issue."

At other times in her speech, Kwan spoke about attending the annual women's marches in the Downtown Eastside to draw attention to missing and murdered women.

"While there is much to be proud of in Vancouver East, we all know that we have much to work on," she said.

She also focused some attention on the federal government's temporary foreign worker program and criticized a previous Liberal government for abandoning a national housing program

http://www.straight.com/news/813061/jenny-kwan-demonstrates-broad-suppor...

Jenny Kwan announces run for federal NDP seat in Vancouver EastBy Emily JacksonMetroShare this Article Emily Jackson/MetroJenny Kwan announces her bid for the NDP nomination to run in Vancouver East at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre on Jan. 25, 2014.

The B.C. NDP’s longest serving MLA Jenny Kwan will vie for the federal NDP nomination to run in Vancouver East against her caucus colleague Mable Elmore.

Flanked by supporters from the three local First Nations and the Chinese community at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre on Sunday afternoon, Kwan announced that she wants to graduate from her position as Vancouver-Mount Pleasant MLA and fill former NDP MP Libby Davies’ shoes. Davies is not seeking re-election after 17 years in the job.

“Vancouver East is a very special riding. It is a riding that I think is the conscience of this country,” Kwan said, noting that she has served the community for 25 years as a councillor and MLA.

http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/1270468/jenny-kwan-announces-run-for-...

Child Care Is a Worthy Investment: BC Banker

By neglecting to support it, we commit a double foul on the economy.

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/01/23/Invest-in-Child-Care/

Dumber than a sack of nails.

Plan to fail

http://www.nsnews.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-plan-to-fail-1.1740787

The real battle for Jenny Kwan is to win the nomination. Once she clinches that, it is over. She will be the next MP for Vancouver East

Jenny Kwan vs. Mable Elmore rumble for NDP nomination highlights ethnic politicking

http://www.straight.com/news/817236/jenny-kwan-vs-mable-elmore-rumble-ndp-nomination-highlights-ethnic-politicking

Harper announces tax breaks for LNG industry in B.C. to spur job growth

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced tax breaks Thursday for British Columbia's liquefied natural gas industry, though not a single project has yet reached a final investment decision.

Harper, who made the announcement at a technical university in Surrey, B.C., said companies will receive a capital cost allowance of 30 per cent for equipment used in natural gas liquefaction and 10 per cent for buildings at a facility that liquefies natural gas.

Tax relief will be available for capital assets acquired between now and 2025.

Harper said the tax incentives will provide the right conditions for the LNG industry to succeed and compete in the global economy while spurring job growth.

"Developing our natural gas resources and encouraging LNG export growth will mean good, well-paying jobs for thousands of British Columbians, including in our aboriginal communities," Harper told students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

"And it's diverse as jobs in construction, jobs in facilities, once they're built."

http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2015/02/19/harper-announces-tax-breaks-...

+

NDP MP concerned Bill C-51 will see pipeline protests labelled as national security threat

B.C. could become a flashpoint if the antiterror bill C-51passes, according to an MP who has served as legal counsel for the independent body that reviews the operations of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

RELATED STORIES

• Vancouver rallies to protest Conservatives’ “secret police bill” C-51

“Given that there are pipeline issues that seem to be pronounced in British Columbia more so than perhaps other parts of the country, then it is possible that we will be seeing this bill applied to people who are fighting pipelines, no question,” Murray Rankin told the Straightby phone Tuesday (March 10)

http://www.straight.com/news/409476/ndp-mp-concerned-bill-c-51-will-see-...

Here we go.

Going to miss Alex Atamanenko the neighbouring class act MP who is stepping down. 

Stetski kicks off federal NDP campaign

 Wayne Stetski, flanked by like-minded NDP colleagues at the local, provincial and federal level, officially kicked off his campaign this past weekend.— Image Credit: Trevor Crawley Photo

http://www.revelstoketimesreview.com/news/296484111.html

I'm not sure why Liberals keep trying to promote Elizabeth may and the Greens - the evidence suggests rising Green supports hurts the Liberals more than the NDP.