Latest / Political Capital with Rob Shaw / We're Back! What did we miss? Oh... | Political Capital Daily

Transcript

We're Back! What did we miss? Oh... | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Airbnb.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Airbnb contributed over $ 2 billion in total economic contribution to
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: GDP in British Columbia last year. Hosting creates an additional
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: income stream for hosts, fuels visitor spending in communities, supports
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: jobs across industries, and contributes substantial tax revenue for local governments.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Today's show also supported by Helijet. Your connection between Victoria, Vancouver, Nanaimo,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and the world now earn Aeroplan points with your scheduled
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: or chartered flights For more, visit helijet.com. Now on to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the show. It's Monday, August 31st, 2026, and this is
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily. Well, good morning. Welcome back to Political
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Capital Daily, catching you up on everything you need to
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: know about B.C. politics each and every morning, setting the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: agenda for the day, putting into context a wild time
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: in B.C. politics. Boy, have we got a lot to
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: catch up on since we last spoke at the end
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: of June. The B.C. Conservative Party has, and I'm putting
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: this charitably, imploded. into a dumpster fire located inside a
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: nuclear reaction shot out of a cannon into the center
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: of the sun, which just so happens to be going supernova.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Six MLAs have quit in the last two weeks, setting
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a lack of confidence in leader Carrie Lynn Finlay. They
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: say she is disrespectful, uncommunicative, has purged the party and
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: caucus of its best staffers, hired a bunch of loyalists
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: who are questionably competent and come with a ton of baggage.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: pushed the party far right with its policies, waged an
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: unnecessary war against that evil mainstream media, tanked fundraising, sunk morale,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: unnecessarily replaced the caucus leadership team with unqualified individuals, and
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: focused on loyalty tests to herself versus the good of
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the party and the team. That is just a fraction
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: of the drama, if you can believe it, going on
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: inside the B.C. Conservative Party. Quick recap here of some
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: of the reasons that the MLAs quit, in case you
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: missed that flood over the last couple of weeks. Kamloops,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Peter Milibar, who you might remember Finley suggested was in
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: a conflict of interest as a politician because his wife
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: was Indigenous, stepped aside. Delta South's Ian Payton quit, saying
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: he'd been offered a job and a salary equivalent to
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: an MLA by KLF's chief of staff to vacate his riding. Incentives,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: by the way, are banned under the criminal code. That's
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: a whole other issue. Prince George's Rosalind Byrd quit, revealing
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Finlay had screamed at her and hung up the phone
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: when she refused to quit her riding for a leader's by-election.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Richmond's Theresa Watt quit after Finlay called her a Communist
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Chinese Party member in a text and then refused to
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: sufficiently apologize for that. Comox Valley's Brennan Day quitting, saying
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: he can't follow the leader into what he called the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Tea Party North. And Abbotsford's Bruce Bandman, an OG conservative,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the second MLA to defect. from BC United to join
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: John Rustad back in 2022, quitting, saying Finlay is just
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: plain unelectable and needs to resign for the good of
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the party more. Folks are rumored to be heading out
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: the exit door. The Conservatives now sit at 31 seats
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: down from 44 when they were elected in 2024. If
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: they lose 13 more seats, which is not inconceivable at
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: this point because people might quit, then the BC Conservatives
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: will lose the official opposition status should all those Independent
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: MLAs band together to form a new party. Right now,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: only Milibar and Payton have agreed to work together on
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: that new party. The rest are sitting as independents. But boy,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: oh boy, in terms of things to watch for today,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: we had been expecting a major caucus meeting from the
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: BC Conservatives. So all of this would fit into that
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: ongoing meltdown. It was supposed to be a major press
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: conference by the leader as well. But that was before
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Finlay cancelled both of those on Sunday. Does that head
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: off a showdown with more caucus members? I think that's
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: probably unlikely. But it does allow the leader to say
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: she's focusing on her first day of by-election campaigning. So
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: we will keep you up to date on the conservative
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: calamity daily here on the show. There's no shortage of
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: things to talk about. On that, also today, some other
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: things you've got to watch out for today on BC
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Politics Agenda. As I mentioned, it's the first day of
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: campaigning in that Abbotsford Mission by-election. Because Finlay did succeed
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: in getting one MLA to quit, Rianne Gaspar, who promptly
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: was awarded the job of Deputy Chief of Staff to
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the leader. Premier David Eby had six months to call
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: this by-election, but he moved quickly. It is now on
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the books for September 26th. It's not totally clear. If
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: the Premier called the by-election early because he knows Finlay
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: is in trouble, and now she has to campaign while
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: being attacked and facing that implosion, or if he called
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: early because he actually wants her to win and be
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: ensconced in the legislature before she's forced out as party leader,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: so she's waging this perpetual civil war as an MLA
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: inside the House, which benefits the NDP as well, or
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: even if the NDP think they can win Abbotsford Mission,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: a historically right-of-centre riding in the Fraser Valley who's only
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: really broken by the NDP in that 2020 snap COVID
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: election by John Horgan, when Pam Alexis, a local mayor,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: won the seat for the BC NDP. Alexis is back.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: She's the NDP's candidate again in this by-election. She was
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: not a particularly strong agriculture minister when she was in government,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: but she certainly has a name in the riding. Centre
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: BC also announcing a candidate. Lachwinder Jha ran in other
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: ridings in the past. She has been a federal liberal candidate,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: and a federal NDP candidate. So that is center BC's candidate.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: The new party by Milibar and Payton is not fielding
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: a candidate. They don't even have a name yet. They
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: don't actually even technically exist. The BC Greens, I asked them,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: they have not said if they are fielding a candidate
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: in this by-election. And then there is 1BC, leader Dallas Brody,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: announcing it would be, in her opinion, unethical to run
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: against a leader trying to get a seat in the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: apparently forgetting we all have the internet, and could go
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: back to her running against liberal Kevin Falcon in the
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: 2022 by-election in Vancouver-Quilchena, where Falcon was a leader seeking
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: a seat in the legislature. So clearly, ethics are malleable
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: in that case. The 1BC leader obviously trying to curry
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: some favor with the Conservatives to get accepted back in
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: that party. There's been tweets over the summer of Finlay
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: and Brody having lunch. talking about cooperating. Finlay retweeted Brody's
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: unethical tweet saying, thanks for the unity. So that is
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: something to watch as well. 1BC is cozying up to
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: get back into the BC Conservative Party. Just a couple
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: other items here I want to launch on the agenda
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: for today. It's Federal By-Election Day in three ridings across
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Canada for MPs, one of them being in North Vancouver
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: at Camp Alano. So watch out for that. Prime Minister
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Mark Carney's former Deputy Chief of Staff, Brayden Cayley, is
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: making a play for that seat. And he's up against
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: conservative Stephen Curran and the NDP's Stephen Tweedale and Green's
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Shelley Luce. So we'll see the results later on Monday night.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: That would be later tonight. I don't know the exact time.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: You can tune into CBC News World, I'm sure, for
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: the live coverage of that. Also today, Lisa Baer with
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: a press conference, the education minister in BC at 1 p.m.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: on funding for before and after school care, an area
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: the province has been pushing to get out of the
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: $ 10 a day daycare situation it is not able to
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: fully fulfill. And the last item to watch for today,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I'm sure there's many others that are going to develop,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: but the launch of a new campaign called the Build
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Them Here Coalition in Vancouver, a group of 15 unions
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: ranging from the BC building trades to the steel workers,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: allied shipyards, other groups in the marine shipbuilding sector demanding
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: that the BC government and BC ferries get moving on
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: a plan to build the next round of ferries in
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: here in British Columbia and not outsource them, like they
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: are doing, to China for the next four vessels. Last year,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: BC Ferries choosing China over local shipbuilding, getting grilled federally.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: The Premier getting asked if he would reverse that decision,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: saying the next round of ships will be built in
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: British Columbia, but the sector saying we need to know
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the number, we need a declaration from BC Ferries saying
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: that they will put a local premium on on local
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: jobs and economic development. And we need to know how
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: many ships to plan out the growth, the labor force
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: securing the shipyard space. So that's launching today in Vancouver.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and we'll come back with
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: a couple other items to close out the show. As
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: I mentioned on the top, Political Capital Daily is free
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: each and every morning thanks to our premier sponsor this
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: fall season, Airbnb. You know, here in British Columbia, my
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: mornings start with a coffee roasted just a few blocks
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: away from where I live. Many of the days end
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: kayaking down on the water where Fanny Bay oysters are
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: shucked right in front of me. It is the magic
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: of a stay with Airbnb. You get real local hosts
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: who give you the best local tips. With Airbnb, you
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: book the neighborhood thanks to Airbnb.com. for its support. Back
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: to the show. Our cup runneth over with political topics today,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: so I'm just going to mention one more here. We'll
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: save a couple for later in the week. we got
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: lots of guests as always coming back from political capital
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: prime and uh other folks as the week progresses i
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: just want to mention bc politics on friday losing a
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: matriarch with the death of vancouver strathcona mla joan phillip
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: at the age of 74 phillip had been battling illnesses
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: for some time now but in the last session had
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: even gone so far as to vote from her hospital
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: bed to keep the eb government alive She passed away
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Friday and was celebrated by MLAs on all sides of
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the House as an indigenous trailblazer in BC politics. A
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: very kind, nice, actually quite funny person as well. Widely
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: liked and the wife of Grand Chief Stuart Phillip from
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. I remember interviewing Phillip
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: during her by-election run for the NDP in Vancouver Strathcona,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: then Vancouver Mount Pleasant, and she'd said she would come
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: into the legislature and deal with any misbehaviors that had
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: plagued previous MLA Melanie Mark. She said she'd handle it
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: like a grandmother, whacking them with a stick to get
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: them to stop being such brats. I thought it was
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: one of a highly amusing quote, put it in the story,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and part of the funny nature that she brought to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: BC politics. Most recently, you remember her in the news
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: when she refused to support Premier Eby's potential changes to
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: the Declaration Act to address recent court decisions that forced
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: the Premier to back down from those reforms. The question
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: that we have going forward on this is when Premier
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: David Eby will call a by-election for that seat. It is,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I think, somewhat odd, I guess, that he didn't do
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: it at the same time as Abbotsford Mission, perhaps do
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: the two of them later, but he did not. So
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: we're going to have two different by-elections on two different times.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: If the Conservatives win Abbotsford Mission with KLF, then they
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: will actually reduce the NDP majority back down to one
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: seat until the NDP win Vancouver Strathcona, which is its
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: safest riding in the province. It is one of the
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: ridings that the NDP have won for as long as
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I can remember, including when they were almost wiped off
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: the map by the BC Liberals in 2001, one of
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: only two ridings the NDP held. Joan Phillip won it
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: in 2023 in a by-election with 68% of that vote.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: So we'll wait to see when the premier does in
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: fact call that by-election. We've got some other items here.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: I'm actually going to save them for later in the week.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: We can talk a bit more. There was a great
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: business in Vancouver story about natural resource prices being misestimated
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: by the government, cutting a hole in the budget. There's
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: an interesting petition by BC conservative MLA Harmon Bangu on
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: repealing DRIPA that we can get into. Lots of topics.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: This is the first episode back. I want to thank
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to the
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: audio feed. We're in your email and audio pod box
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: at 5 a.m. every morning. Plus, there's Political Capital Prime
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: on Check TV, which is on YouTube on Fridays and
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: on Check TV on Sundays. You can catch me on
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Check TV. You can also read my columns in Business
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: in Vancouver and elsewhere. I really appreciate you tuning in
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: to the show. We'll be back tomorrow with all the
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: latest in BC politics here on Political Capital Daily. Take care.