Many of you will be unaware of the fact that TransLink’s HandyDART service is not operated by TransLink. Instead, this very important shared ride service for people with cognitive and physical disabilities is contracted out to a third party — ultimately, an American, for-profit company called MVT. (The parent company of MVT Canadian Bus Inc.,…
Category: British Columbia
Three cheers for regulating campaign donations!
During the recent provincial election campaign both the NDP and the Green Party made strong commitments to electoral financial reform. Tuesday, the NDP came through with a bill that will go a long way towards creating a level playing field in that regard during provincial elections. The legislation tabled by the NDP will eliminate all…
Fair play would go a long way at ICBC
ICBC rates are set to jump again — this time by 6.4 percent. This follows the insurance corporation’s largest annual loss ever — a loss caused in large part when BC’s previous Liberal government withdrew massive amounts of money from the corporation and put the money into provincial coffers. Will the rate increase fix the…
Enjoy summer in our spectacular city!
With August fast approaching I should let you all know that my partner Penny and I are taking our annual August staycation. This means I won’t be blogging until after Labour Day. We already have a number of exciting items booked into our staycation schedule! What a great city to live in. A visit to…
The shadow of Geoff Meggs
Big news on the political front: Geoff Meggs is leaving civic politics and moving to the provincial scene, where he will be working for premier-designate, John Horgan, as chief of staff. While I have been very pleased with all of John Horgan’s other announcements so far, this one leaves a bad taste in my mouth….
NDP-Greens’ take on pro rep: the great transformer
With the results now finally in for the Courtney-Comox riding, it’s official — Christy Clark and the provincial Liberals failed in their attempt to obtain a majority. Better yet, BC’s NDP and Greens have entered into an agreement to bring down the Liberals. If all goes according to plan, we are about to witness some…
The nightmare of SRO conditions can be solved in an instant
With income assistance rates frozen for over 10 years now, welfare recipients have a very small amount available for rent. With the province of BC providing a single person on welfare with only $610 a month, SRO landlords are very limited in what they can charge for rent. So they use the low rental revenue…