Merry Christmas!

Hi all,

Just wanted to apologize for not being as active as of late. With the holidays fast approaching, it has been difficult to find time to make a post. If there's one thing I've discovered quickly about having a blog is that, it requires quite a bit of work. But I promise to make the time and will strive to stay committed. My original intentions were to make this blog interactive and thought that there would be more content contributors/authors. It has now been about a month since I've started this and I have come to conclusion that this may not be the case. In any event, I do plan on keeping this going by seeding it with more articles I find about what's happening with government services in the news. I hope those of you who have been following and have been involved will continue to do so as I have found your opinions helpful.

This Christmas, I am tasked with hosting a dinner for my in-laws. Instead of cooking a turkey, I have challenged myself to try a prime rib roast dinner. To some it may not be, but to me it's a big undertaking as I've never done it before. Fortunately, I have been able to acquire an awesome recipe from a close set of friends of whom I've had the pleasure of experiencing this dinner during a recent visit. It's my first prime rib roast so I'm a little nervous but I am excited about making this work. Cross my fingers and will let you know of the outcome. Hopefully nothing gets burnt, I've invested in a good meat thermometer to prevent this from happening.

In the meantime, I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope that you are able to spend quality time with yourself, your family and friends, cause really, that is truly what it is all about :)

Support Independent MLAs - An alternative?

These are definitely uncertain times politically, and voters are probably thinking, who do we vote for in the next provincial election? The 2 articles below describes that maybe it wouldn't be a bad time to vote for independent MLA's who represent the community. Party structures like the NDP and Liberals have party disciplines that an independent representative is not obliged to. The first article provides some information on Vicki Hungtington who is an independent MLA representing Delta South.

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/BC-Politics/2010/12/09/IndyPolitics/

The second article discusses the potential for independents, like Bill Bennett, Bob Simpson, Blair Lekstrom, Vicki Huntington to get together and discuss whether they have similar interests. If so, could there be an opportunity for a new formed party?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/pros-and-cons-of-forming-a-new-party-not-lost-on-independents/article1823043/

NDP and Liberal party leadership watch

Well it's been a busy week for myself and for what's been happening in the news! Since my last update, there has been tons of political upheaval. To recap, NDP leader Carol James has resigned and now the party needs to work on a leadership convention to find the next party leader. The 13 dissidents (so-called Bakers Dozen) within the NDP party has caused enough turmoil  and infighting which ultimately influenced Carol James' to discontinue as their leader. To Carol's credit, she boldly made this decision in the best interest of the people. She believed that her party was not going to accomplish anything by continuously fighting with each other and if she stepped aside, the NDP would hopefully sort things out between themselves and be able to re-unite and strengthen the party again. Next blog post will focus on the NDP leadership race. Below is a link to Carol James resignation:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/12/06/bc-carole-james-challenge-leadership.html

As for the Liberals, Christy Clark, has joined the race to be Premier. A survey was performed to see if she would be a good Premier, and apparently the public opinion result scores her highest amongst the other candidates. One of her primary objectives is to keep the NDP out of power. Her plan to kill the HST does not seem to be popular move within the Liberal party. I think this is a good strategy to win back votes for the liberal party.

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Leyne+Clark+plan+kill+carries+risks/3949887/story.html

BC Politics - Changes on the Horizon

BC Politics has never been more fascinating to follow. To date, we have the Liberal Party who are currently seeking backfill of the Premier's seat. Current candidates for this leadership are George Abbott, Mike de Jong, Kevin Falcon and Moira Stillwell. Christy Clark is said to still be considering in joining the race. The new leader will be selected February 26, 2011 and will replace Gordon Campbell. Check out this link to see each leader's platform:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/11/29/bc-liberal-leadership-candidates.html

The NDP party seems to be in turmoil and divided in the support of their leader Carole James, and request for a leadership convention has been raised by Jenny Kwan, a longtime respected NDP member:

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Longtime+Jenny+Kwan+calls+leadership+race/3913467/story.html

An emerging party, called the BC First, is gaining in momentum in providing British Columbians an alternative party to vote for. Chris Delaney has joined the BC First party, you may have seen him as the HST organizer who fought alongside Bill Vander Zalm. Below is an article that explains why Mr. Delaney has opted to leave the BC Conservatives to join BC First:

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/capitaldiary/archive/2010/09/28/delaney-hops-parties-to-bc-first.aspx

Some questions and thoughts I have brewing:
What if NDP's do not run a leadership race as suggested, would members who do not support Carole James defect to the BC First? What about former Minister of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum - Bill Bennett, who was let go recently by the Liberals, would there be an interest for him to join BC First? This would make for very interesting politics..