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 :)
Friday, December 24, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
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.
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?
Friday, December 10, 2010
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
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.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
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:
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:
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:
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..
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:
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:
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..
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Elections BC approves petition for Recall
The anti-HST movement, led by Bill Vander Zalm, had begun late November 2010 by starting with recalls to 2 MLAs. A recall for one MLA, was temporarily delayed (by 5 days) due to technicality of Elections BC's recall application process. In order to remove a Member of the Legislative Assembly from office, a recall application needs to be submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer of Elections BC. The recall application was initially rejected as the application exceeded its required limitation of 200 words. The technicality, determined by the Chief Electoral Officer, was acronyms such as MLA and others needed to be spelled out fully. Since then a new recall application has been resubmitted and a petition will be issued early December.
This article had me curious as to how the Elections BC recall process worked, so I thought I would investigate a little. In researching the Elections BC website, I found that the Chief Electoral Officer administers the Recall and Initiative Act. The act enables registered voters to petition to remove a Member of the Legislature Assembly from office. It's interesting that the recall process only applies to British Columbia and no other province, so it appears other provinces do not have a system such as this to grant their citizens the freedom of removing their members of government.
Historically, since 1995, 20 recall applications had been dealt with in Elections BC. Nineteen of the recalls failed as there were insufficient collection of valid signatures. The last remaining recall was halted in the process as the MLA resigned.
Once a recall meets the requirements of the application process, a petition is issued within 7 days to the applicant (aka proponent). The applicant has 60 days to collect 40% of the registered voters' signatures of that member's electoral district and once the petition is submitted, the Chief Electoral Officer has 42 days to verify the petition. If verification and application fees meet the requirements, then the member is held from office and a by election would need to be called within 90 days. The recalled member would still have the opportunity to run in the by-election. Keep your eyes out for the outcome of the BC recall results to watch the process in action.
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Elections+approves+petition+recall+Gordon+Head+Liberal+Chong/3907001/story.html
This article had me curious as to how the Elections BC recall process worked, so I thought I would investigate a little. In researching the Elections BC website, I found that the Chief Electoral Officer administers the Recall and Initiative Act. The act enables registered voters to petition to remove a Member of the Legislature Assembly from office. It's interesting that the recall process only applies to British Columbia and no other province, so it appears other provinces do not have a system such as this to grant their citizens the freedom of removing their members of government.
Historically, since 1995, 20 recall applications had been dealt with in Elections BC. Nineteen of the recalls failed as there were insufficient collection of valid signatures. The last remaining recall was halted in the process as the MLA resigned.
Once a recall meets the requirements of the application process, a petition is issued within 7 days to the applicant (aka proponent). The applicant has 60 days to collect 40% of the registered voters' signatures of that member's electoral district and once the petition is submitted, the Chief Electoral Officer has 42 days to verify the petition. If verification and application fees meet the requirements, then the member is held from office and a by election would need to be called within 90 days. The recalled member would still have the opportunity to run in the by-election. Keep your eyes out for the outcome of the BC recall results to watch the process in action.
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Elections+approves+petition+recall+Gordon+Head+Liberal+Chong/3907001/story.html
Monday, November 29, 2010
Health Canada Bans Lead from Childrens toys, paints, and coatings
As an uncle for 2 nieces and nephews, I feel better knowing that the federal government is taking action on making children’s’ toys safer. Lead in children’s toy products, if ingested or swallowed, can cause permanent brain damage when exposed over time. Health Canada is amending its regulations to lower lead levels in paints and surface coating materials also. Health Canada’s new regulation is among the world’s strictest.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
BC to disclose more private sector contracts after being ordered to release details on IBM deal
The world has changed drastically over the last 2 decades as the internet provides an environment for people and organizations to share as much information as possible. There are also more expectations and demands from people researching the internet to help gather and make decisions. This expectation poses a problem for government who has the challenge of determining what information to (or not to) share. From government’s perspective, there are privacy concerns. From the public’s perspective, especially as a taxpayer and government’s employer, government needs to be more transparent. Below is an article that indicates how difficult it can be to have government disclose information. The Freedom of Information and Privacy Commission has been trying to acquire out-sourced contract information relating to the IBM's Workplace Services contract worth $300 million, but has been fighting to get a full un-edited contract for 6 years. Transparency promotes trust, it’s interesting reading the comments at the bottom of the article on how most citizens feel about the whole situation:
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