Pete's Viewpoint

It seems like only yesterday that Premier Rachel Notley was demanding that protesters camped out on Burnaby mountain disperse after having lost another court challenge in regards to #tmx prep work being carried out. The Alberta Premier was loud and clear about her insistence that folks respect the law of the land and do as the courts demand. Well , funny thing about that; no sooner the Federal Appeals Court rules against the proposed pipeline that the good Premier throws a Trump-style tantrum and demands federal intervention. Now, I don't mean to make light of this; the pipeline project being put on hold (possibly stopped altogether) is a serious setback for a province who's primary industry is linked to the fate of said proposal. It wasn't long ago that 3rd party leader, Rachel Notley was campaigning on the notion of more diversification of the Alberta economy. She made serious political mileage in bashing 44 years of PC rule that put almost all of its economic eggs i...

Pseudo-libertarian Maxime Bernier made a stink during this last week. By railing against 'extreme PC and diversity', he woke up the crowd that also has a problem with diversity. This is music to the ears of those looking to replicate the Trump-style populism here in Canada, but its problematic as far as our own history. This goes back a fair distance in time, but the legacy of multiculturalism and diversity was born out of the aftermath of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The 1759 battle settled the Anglo-France question in the colonies with the British Army vanquishing the French. Out of the Seven Years' War between the two global empires, Quebec was ceded to England. But in that acquisition, the french speaking, Catholic settlers of lower Canada were allowed to keep their civil code, laws and customs, language and religion. The first patch was sewn into the mosaic of Canada, and its been that way ever since. This may be an over simplification of matters, and do...

I am not very comfortable with removal of statues and monuments as seems to be a trend going on right now. The City of Victoria voted to remove the statue of Canada's first Prime Minister, John A MacDonald on the 11th, and its stirred some serious debate since. Before I continue, I need to stress something. By no means am I glorifying certain individuals in our history with a shady or controversial history. MacDonald himself was not an angel.  And lets get some context here too. Many of the monuments and statues to important people were erected within their lifetime or shortly after. For example, a good number of battlefield memorials, monuments and the like were erected shortly after the conclusion of the US Civil War. Two sides fought a bloody war over slavery (or the "state's rights" to maintain the grotesque institution). Hundreds of thousands of men on both sides were drafted into a war and never came home to enjoy the years of peace afterwards; they...

But. You should examine this for yourself. It was announced that Jagmeet would seek a Burnaby area federal seat after Kennedy Stewart announced that he was bowing out for a run at the Vancouver Mayor's office. No big deal, right? Federal leader of the NDP doesn't have a seat yet, hails from a suburban Toronto area while a suburban Vancouver seat opens up. Cool. Ultimately, voters get to decide this. For reference, a chart was put together by Integrity BC that lists off some party leaders and their byelections over the years. Missing from this chart is Stephen Harper who ran for a Calgary area seat after Preston Manning quit the house of commons. At issue, raised by some, is that the act of triggering a byelection as a result of quitting parliament should have the outgoing MP/MLA (etc) be billed for the electoral costs of holding a byelection. Problem 1: Never in the history of Canada has that been done. Why should it be done now that the brown guy with a turban is...