A look at news stories around BC:
In Prince George:
The controversy surrounding the Privacy Act court case involving Prince George City Councillor Brian Skakun refuses to die. The PG Citizen reports that the City of Prince George has paid $12,000 to an unnamed individual, with regard to the Kitty Heller report, in exchange for the person not suing the City in return. The City also refuses to reveal how much its' legal costs are for the original Privacy Act case and the court injunction launched by Councillor Skakun to prevent PG City Council from censuring Skakun, but Skakun has revealed that his legal costs to date are roughly $20,000 - read more here
In Williams Lake:
Arts/Culture, Sports and Environmental groups can now re-apply to the Province's Community Gaming Grants starting Monday - see more details here. This is in response to Skip Triplett's report on the whole Community Gaming Grant system released this past Friday. The deadline to apply for these 3 groups is Monday, Feb 13th with an expected decision for successful applications by Friday, March 30th
Meanwhile - did you apply for a Project or Operating Grant with the Central Cariboo Arts & Culture Society (CCACS) ?? If so - you have until 5pm Monday to get your paperwork in - see more details here. After that - the CCACS will be forwarding to the Central Cariboo/City of WL Joint Committee its' recommendations as to who should be awarded grants for Projects or Operation Grants. I expect those recommendations to go forward to the Joint Committee's February meeting
In Kamloops:
Former Kamloops Mayor and Kamloops Daily News Editor Mel Rothenburger looks at the road ahead as Kamloops Council lays out the path to hire a new CAO (Chief Administrative Officer) for the City of Kamloops - read his column here
Editor's Note - the suggested course of action that Rothenburger lays out for Kamloops Council to hire its' new CAO is one that Williams Lake Council should have used to hire Brian Carruthers as its' new CAO in 2009 and hope the Williams Lake City Council of the day will use the process suggested by Rothenburger when hiring the next CAO for the City of Williams Lake
In Lillioet:
An update on the on-going saga around the sudden resignation of former Lillioet Mayor Ted Anchor and former Lillioet Councillor Kevin Taylor - read here. Lillioet CAO Grant Loyer reports that the upcoming by-election will cost Lillioet taxpayers' less than $5,000. In the meantime - Lillioet Council is planning to hire a election officer to conduct the by-elections (should a full by-election be necessary - if more than 2 people file election papers' for either of the Offices of either Lillioet Mayor or Councillor). The earliest that a by-election could be held would be March 31st, 2011, but that entirely depends on when Lillioet Council officially appoints the Chief Election Officer which then triggers a 80 day window to conduct the by-election and the Local Government Act requires a by-election to be held on a Saturday.
Finally - Wendy Fraser of the Bridge River Lillioet News asks: An explanation please! - read her column here
In Provincial Politics:
Later today, the Premiers' of the 10 Provinces and 3 Territories will be meeting in Victoria to discuss the post 2014 Health Care deal and what to do next - read the CBC story here.
Meanwhile - BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix suggests that BC Premier Christy Clark flip-flopped on the new health-care financing arrangement that Ottawa announced earlier this year and further suggested that she has no clue how to run the Province of BC - read here
Editor's Note - while I don't agree with Mr. Dix, I do however agree with Clark that health care should be not financed at the rate of straight per capital but it should be "age-adjusted per capita" given BC has a huge seniors' population and many other jurisdictions in Canada do as well. Harper and Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty suggest that health care transfer should grow at the rate of 3% and tied to the rate of growth in the economy. Meanwhile - I think it would be appropriate to have a "conversation" on what the future of the entire Canadian health-care system should be, similar to what occurred prior to the passage of the Canada Health Act in the 80's prior to any decisions being made between Ottawa/Provinces & Territories with regard to future Health Care transfers from 2015-2025
Also - The Province's political columnist Mike Smyth says that Christy Clark has now become a "Federal Conservative" simply by hanging out with Federal Conservative Leader/Prime Minister Stephen Harper - read here meanwhile Vancouver Sun columnist Jonathan Fowlie says a local hockey game where Harper joined Clark (he is a enthusiastic hockey fan) at her son's hockey game this past Thursday -should go a long way to show her Federal Conservative side (notwithstanding her previous history with the Federal Liberals') - read that here
Expect BC Conservatives to play her previous relationship with Federal Liberals... in an attempt to get further provincial Conservative votes... from the BC Liberals' to the BC Conservatives...
Finally - former Langley MP Randy White suggests that the BC Conservatives could receive "official party status" in the BC Legislature, even before the May 2013 BC General Election - read here
In Federal Politics:
Tim Uppal - The Federal Minister of State for Democratic Reform announced Friday on Twitter (and a formal press conference later) that the federal government would put forward amendments to the Federal Election Act to permit Canadians to announce voting results even while voters' in other provinces/territories in Canada are still voting - read here
Editor's Note - I'm glad to see this amendment, given the age of Facebook, Twitter and blogs. I don't subscribe to a view that a blackout of voter results - whether on TV/Radio or even in the electronic world would lead to issues with the overall Federal general election
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