Pete's Viewpoint

Today, I’m happy and honoured to offer my unqualified endorsement to Lauren Semple for the Federal NDP nomination to the Nanaimo-Ladysmith ballot this fall. I have worked with Lauren in the community for 4 years now and I have only known her to be a tireless and fearless advocate on human rights and worker rights. In my background in the labour movement, Lauren and I share a similar vision of ‘what we demand for ourselves, we wish for all.’ As Lauren is the past President of Nanaimo Pride Society, this extends to all corners in our society as she championed the cause for equality; for women, for LGBTQ folks, justice for First Nations and many other marginalized peoples. Voters have stark choices to make in the 2019 election. Voting for Lauren Semple is a vote to defend our coast, champion fair taxes and adequate housing. With the same old corruption, the same old pandering to the 1%, the same old catering to Howe/Young Street while ignoring the main street and our neighborhoods,

To listen to the BC Liberals this morning about the good old days of the last 16 years is a step outside reality. They're accusing the NDP of taking BC backwards with the new budget. Nothing could be further from the truth. Its because the BC Liberals's mishandling of the real estate market that life became so unaffordable for so many. The NDP are out of touch with families & everyone trying to make a living in BC. With fewer homes being built, govt spending growing faster than the economy & punishing new taxes, BC is falling behind. We need a govt that believes in opportunity for all of BC. #bcbudget #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/BqG1Tvpiye — BC Liberals | Opportunity for all of BC (@bcliberals) February 19, 2019 What's worse, is that the government spending now underway is specifically to repair things neglected by the BC Liberals for their terms in office. From schools, teachers, healthcare, poverty and homelessness; everything was let to slide while they s

True to form, opponents of the new Employer Health Tax are leaping all over a report where the Victoria police chief states that his departments budget increase isn't large enough so he'll have to cut staff. Let's look at this. The city comes up with an additional $1.8 million and the EHT cuts into that by about $700k. So his effective increase is $1.1 million. Amiright? So, explain why this amounts to a budget cut of $1.1m? "Manak said council’s position would mean about a $1.1-million cut to the department’s core budget, including the loss of two officers working on integrated teams to help people with mental health and addictions issues" I get that politics are at play here, but if you're not going to deal in facts, then y'all need to sit down. My2bits.

Let me make something clear right away. I'm no Maduro supporter and I think his regime is no different than any other totalitarian regime elsewhere, except that they've mastered the art of pretending they're a functioning democracy where they are clearly not. It was a bold position to take when then Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced that our nation would not participate in the second Iraq with war along side George W. Bush. He was immediately demonized by Harper and the Conservative party, but the principal was right. Regime change is the domain of the oppressed to topple said regime. Once an external power intervenes (as America and UK did) they became the enemy. One can plausibly argue that this intervention is the spark that eventually created ISIS. But that is a debate for another day. So here we are with current US President Donald Trump arbitrarily appointing the opposition leader as "President" in Venezuela, and the nation's that opposed r

Just when the MSM was about to get serious about some honest reporting, this egg was laid by senior political reporter playing the 'both sides' card. Almost on cue. No Keith. The NDP doesn't get the blame for travel expenses that Craig James and Gary Lenz traded signatures on. It was unknown enough that it took Speaker Daryl Plecas by surprise when he dug around for the information. This 'both sides' narrative is a BC Liberal talking point because they know how ethically exposed they are already; this makes matters worse merely a week ahead of the Nanaimo byelection they're poised to lose. Now with this stink out there, it feeds into the narrative that BC Liberals are the party of crony capitalism and insiderism; so lets throw some mud at the NDP and make them to blame too. Nothing in the #plecasreport implicates the NDP government or any of its MLA's or cabinet ministers. How embarrassing.

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." Napoleon Bonaparte I am reminded by the BC Liberals behavior of the Republicans after the roll out of ObamaCare in the USA. They screamed socialism, big government, and a whole lot of other unsavory epithets towards President Obama and the Democrats just for the sin of trying to extend out the universality of healthcare coverage in America. The sin? The individual mandate; where every uninsured American was obligated to seek out insurance. To meet that legal requirement, several states and separately the Federal Government unveiled a subsidized exchange where individuals would be able to purchase a healthcare insurance plan - or subsidized one if they qualified. The Speculation Tax isn't healthcare, but its to address a problem that was left to fester while the last government was still in office. After the BC Liberals deregulated the real estate trade in 2005, handed the oversight to the industry i