As we get to the end of 2010 - I thought I would take a moment to review my top 5 local political stories and my top 5 provincial political stories
Top 5 Local Political Stories:
1) Community Arts Council "Piano-for-Debt" Deal - see my blog post here, but this is something that I still hear complaints from residents on this deal and in fact, it may become an issue with residents' as candidates for Councillor and Mayor start to campaign in the fall of 2011
2) Duncan Barnett resigns as CRD Area 'F' Director - see my blog post here. A By-Election has been scheduled for Saturday, January 15th, 2011. It will be interesting to see if Duncan's choice of Joan Sorley as Alternate Director for Area 'F' helps her campaign in becoming Area 'F' Director, given that Mr. Barnett is still highly respected in Area 'F'
3) CRD "State of the Region" Meetings - In a new innovative idea and at the suggestion of Area 'B' Director Roberta Faust, the CRD held sub-regional "State of the Region" Meetings in 100 Mile House, Williams Lake and Quesnel. See my blog post on the meeting in Williams Lake in October here. At its' December 10th meeting, the CRD Board has decided not to pursue State of the Region Meetings for 2011. I believe that this is a mistake on the CRD's part and think that if they continued it for a year or two more, public participation will rise. Think about this though - many Town Halls in rural areas get between 6-10 people, yet the CRD continues those year after year.
4) Prosperity Mine denied Federal approval - See my blog post here. Much work is being done to turn a "no" into a "yes" for Prosperity Mine and believe 2011 may see some progress on this front. The community needs to see what the Federal Cabinet (Ministers Day, Shea, Baird and Strahl) has to say on a re-submitted Prosperity Mine proposal early in 2011 and I, for one, am look forward to that information
5) Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook says "Yes" for seeking 2nd Term in June of 2010, a full 14 months!! before local election plans are usually declared (Sept/Oct 2011) - see my blog post here, but this was a major misstep on Mayor Cook's part as she should have side-stepped this question in June of 2010 as most Mayors' would do and answered that she would announce her election plans when the time was right to do so
Top 5 Provincial Political Stories:
1) Gordon Campbell steps down as Premier and BC Liberal Party Leader - See my blog post here. A reminder that BC Liberal Party members' select the next BC Liberal Party Leader and 35th Premier of BC on Saturday, February 26th, 2011
2) Carole James steps down as BC NDP Leader - See my blog post here
3) HST passes BC Legislature - See my blog post here
4) Anti-HST Petition declared valid - See my blog post here
5) Vision Vancouver (Vancouver Civic Political Party) declares war on bloggers and Vancouver local media -see my blog post here
2010 was definitely very busy, politically - both provincially and locally - and we'll have to wait and see what 2011 brings. I sincerely hope 2011 is both positive and fruitful for all of my blog readers' wherever they may reside
SBF
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