PolitiCoast

Ian interviews North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma

A look at the difference between open and closed lists and a check in on Brexit

Live from The Drive

Trudeau calls one byelection but snubs Jagmeet Singh and Burnaby South, while voters in Nanaimo will be looking at a provincial (and maybe? federal byelection) soon. Controversies continue to surround the proportional representation referendum as we approach the big Horgan v Wilkinson debate. And Trudeau unveils his carbon pollution pricing scheme (it's not a tax anymore). Also: Ian will be at VanPodFest on Thursday, November 8 at 2pm. Details at vanpodfest.ca And also on Thursday, we'll be hosting a debate watching party at The Drive Coffee Bar on Commerical Drive from 6-8:30pm (the debate is 7-7:30pm). The event is free but please buy food/drinks to help meet our minimum spend.

Proportional representation: A fairer vote or the path to chaos? How should British Columbians choose their elected officials? That question is being put to the province this fall as the current first-past-the-post electoral system is put against three variations of proportional representation. At this panel, moderated by the hosts of the BC politics podcast PolitiCoast, the Hon Suzanne Anton QC speaks in support of the current system and Seth Klein makes the case for why we should change our voting system to proportional representation. Thanks to Canadian Club Vancouver for hosting us.

Speculation tax, employer health tax and cannabis is legal

We speak to Alyson Tan, founder of Policy Pop-Up, a new effort to engage millennials in conversations about complex policy issues that are in the news. Then we look at BC's Auditor General's latest report on tax expenditures, why the homebuyer credit is bad and why transparency is good. And the IPCC has a new report out basically conceding that no one is doing enough to stop catastrophic climate change and we're all going to boil. Plus quick takes!

BC Today's Shannon Waters joins us for an update on the first week of the legislature's fall sitting, BC's LNG deal and NAFTA 2.0: USMCA.

Scott speaks to BC's Attorney General David Eby about the money laundering inquiry and the upcoming fall session.

The Conservatives gain a new MP through a surprise floor crossing from the Liberals. BC is going to have one single cannabis store open on October 17 but you'll have to drive to Kamloops to visit it. But first, we respond to feedback around Doug Ford's decision to invoke the notwithstanding clause (and why it's off the table again). Plus quick takes on Senator Larry Campbell's hot water, tent cities in the Capital Region, racists exploiting a murder in Burnaby and the finance committee consultation.

Maxime Bernier's launched his new party: The People's Party of Canada and everyone's already made the requisite PP jokes. Meanwhile in Ontario a court ruling invalidated Doug Ford's attempt to halve the size of Toronto's City Council, so naturally he is invoking the Notwithstanding Clause to overrule the courts. And one former BC premier decided to weigh in with her thoughts on the matter. Everything is seriously normal in Canadian politics. In our quick takes we cover Burnaby's spending on the TransMountain pipline fights, the UBCM, the provincial rent increase and possible renter's rebate, a non-profit using an NDP MLA's office for partisan purposes, how the federal NDP are doing and why Saudi Arabia doesn't want as many of our light armoured vehicles. This cut has a shortened version of our quick takes. For the full length discussion, become a supporter at patreon.com/politicoast Full shownotes at politicoast.ca

We check in on Canada's desperate attempts to save NAFTA and how BC's paper industry narrowly avoided massive US tariffs.

In this episode, we talk to our resident legal analyst Micah Goldberg about BC's lawsuit against big pharma, the Federal Court of Appeal's ruling crushing the TransMountain pipeline expansion and the Sasquatch case. Then we look at what happened at the federal Conservative convention and we talk about how partisan we should be when a controversial figure like John McCain dies. Plus our usual handful of quicktakes.

BC Today's Shannon Waters joins us for our 100th episode live show! We talk about what the legislature's been up to over the summer and what's coming up this fall. Then we get into Maxime Bernier's decision to split from the Conservative Party of Canada to launch a new party. Then we have quick(ish) takes on Christy Clark's podcast reemergence and who the best BC cabinet members are. And we close off with some audience Q&As. Support us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/politicoast

Next week, join us at The Belmont in Vancouver for our episode 100 live show at 7pm on August 23. RSVP at politicoast.eventbrite.com Fires, statues and Conservatives - with political scientist Stewart Prest. BC is on fire, again. We break down whether this is the new normal and how we can derive some hope for better politics in an emergency. Then we get into the statue debate set off in Victoria where the city council decided quickly to remove a statue of Canada's first Prime Minister John A MacDonald from outside city hall. At the same time Justin Trudeau is reportedly discussing creating a new statutory holiday for Reconciliation. For our main segment, we look at the latest eruption between Maxime Bernier and Andrew Scheer, as well as a preview of the Conservative Party Convention. It looks like the nativist and anti-immigrant sentiments are picking up in the party and social issues are coming back to the fore. Plus our usual quick takes.

We talk about his upcoming book: Are we too dumb for democracy? Jagmeet Singh's decision to run in Burnaby South and the war of words between Saudi Arabia and Canada. Plus our usual quick takes. RSVP for our ep 100 live show! https://politicoast.eventbrite.com Sign up for our Patreon to hear the full episode: https://www.patreon.com/posts/uncut-ep-98-too-20678380

Fair Vote Canada's Keith Poore joins us to break down the upcoming proportional representation referendum, and what MMP and Rural Urban Proportional Representation are.

Canada's premiers meet in New Brunswick, but did they accomplish anything? And a shooting in Toronto prompts a national outcry for gun reform. Plus quick takes on pipelines, Site C and more.

Ian's back from vacation so we have a full show to catch up on everything bcpoli. First, we talk all things salmon with BC Green MLA Adam Olsen. Then catching up on BC politics we look at Greyhound's decision to pull out of Western Canada, the BC government's labour infrastructure deal and kicking the ridesharing can down the road. We also talk about Trudeau's latest cabinet shuffle and then we're into the usual quick takes.

We spoke to Sean Graham, creator of dual member proportional, one of the systems on the upcoming electoral reform referendum.

We spoke to Patrick Meehan about a report he wrote for the Alliance of BC Students detailing a simple solution to student housing and how it's resulting in thousands of new spaces for next to no cost to the government.

BC's casinos are being used to launder money by the millions. Ian speaks to BC's Attorney General David Eby about the shocking details in the Dirty Money report by Peter German. Plus we look at the latest updates in the upcoming campaign for the PR referendum.

We dive into the MSP Task Force report with Lindsay Tedds and play part of an interview with The Docket's Michael Spratt and BC Humanist Association pro-bono counsel Wes McMillan on the Supreme Court of Canada's TWU decision. Plus a litany of quick takes from a surprisingly busy week.

MLA Leonard Krog announces a run for Mayor of Nanaimo but will only resign his seat if he wins. Maxime Bernier gets kicked out of Andrew Scheer's shadow cabinet for continuing to question supply management. And Ian speaks with the Out of Left Field crew about why the NDP can't seem to win elections. Check out their feed at https://soundcloud.com/outofleftfieldpodcast for the full discussion.

A grab-bag of bcpoli news including pipelines, electoral reform and more. Plus we end with our first reactions to the Ontario election results as they broke.

Canada and the USA go to war over steel, maple syrup and toilet paper. Meanwhile details emerge about BC's fall electoral referendum and we check in on the state of the Ontario election with TVO's John Michael McGrath.

The Government of Canada announced it will drop $4.5 billion to buy the Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline, will provide a loan to restart construction immediately and will fund the project to completion if it has to before selling it off. It's a big deal so we brought you an emergency podcast.

Rachel Notley uses the Western Premiers Meeting to try again to make the case for the Transmountain Pipeline while BC files suit against her Bill 12. Kinder Morgan also won two more lawsuits while they face another. Then, we turn our attention to the first year of Andrew Scheer's leadership over the Conservative Party of Canada.

The BC NDP are in hot water for deleted emails by senior staff and cabinet ministers. And the federal government looks to indemnify the Kinder Morgan pipeline from BC judicial actions.

Jillian P Stead, of the new podcast Majority of BC, joins us to look back at the year since the fateful 2017 BC election.

The rich are in revolt and some are calling for UBC to censor economist Tom Davidoff. So we brought Tom back to walk us through the school tax and how he's coping. Plus we look at David Eby's decision to cancel a town hall and Mike Harcourt's decision to interject himself into the debate.

The Government has filed its reference question with the BC Court of Appeal and dropped its new cannabis legislation. One question that we're still waiting for is the electoral reform referendum, and it's sounding like we'll have to wait until the fall for it.