Latest / Political Capital with Rob Shaw / July 24, 2026 - Trump tariffs, SOGI funding, recall fails | Political Capital

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July 24, 2026 - Trump tariffs, SOGI funding, recall fails | Political Capital · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

0:02
Speaker 1: Check podcasts.
0:11
Speaker 2: Well, hey everyone, and welcome to Political Capital, your source
0:14
Speaker 2: for all the latest NBC politics. I'm your host, Rob Shaw.
0:16
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us for our last episode here before
0:19
Speaker 2: a summer break for August. We'll be back in September
0:23
Speaker 2: to cover the return. Well, I guess the legislature starts
0:27
Speaker 2: in October, but the political agenda heats up again in September.
0:31
Speaker 2: We got lots to talk about. This week. We're going
0:32
Speaker 2: to bring in the pod squad. Jillian Oliver is here
0:35
Speaker 2: and Jeff Ferrier is here. Angelo is off this week.
0:39
Speaker 2: Thanks to both of you for being here. I want
0:42
Speaker 2: to start with Donald Trump. He once again just kind
0:46
Speaker 2: of cannonballed into the political waters this week, upset the
0:50
Speaker 2: entire agenda. We have Premier David ebe at Prince Edward
0:55
Speaker 2: Island for a Premier's meeting and the Prime Minister shows up.
1:00
Speaker 2: Trump is announcing fifty percent tariffs on Canadian goods like
1:03
Speaker 2: hockey sticks and dairy and alcohol. And then the Premieer
1:07
Speaker 2: comes out our premiere and gets kind of aggressive in
1:11
Speaker 2: his language, says there's not a chance in hell alcohol.
1:14
Speaker 2: American alcohol is going back on the store shelves, and
1:16
Speaker 2: BC suggests at one point that maybe we restrict critical
1:22
Speaker 2: minerals to the United States. Let's just start there. I
1:26
Speaker 2: guess Trump waiting in what it means for the political
1:29
Speaker 2: agenda provincially, and then Ebe's kind of response, which is
1:32
Speaker 2: quite hard, and I guess we can throw in the
1:34
Speaker 2: conservative response, which was we should put American booze back
1:38
Speaker 2: on the shelves as a sign of good faith to
1:41
Speaker 2: the Americans of Jillian that the stew of developments. What
1:46
Speaker 2: do you make of it?
1:48
Speaker 3: Well, obviously, I think it's everybody's exhausted by all of this.
1:53
Speaker 3: I think on the federal landscape, this coming just after
1:59
Speaker 3: so much news that Canada has sort of capitulated to
2:04
Speaker 3: give the Americans a greater share of the Gordy howbridge
2:07
Speaker 3: holes really underscores for a lot of people that concessions
2:13
Speaker 3: don't seem to be working, and that Trump is going
2:16
Speaker 3: to continue to fire these things at us no matter
2:18
Speaker 3: what we do. And so it's interesting to see this
2:22
Speaker 3: sort of split between some of the premiers like Scott
2:26
Speaker 3: Mow and Daniel Smith, who want us to take a
2:28
Speaker 3: bit of a softer approach, have not taken American boos
2:31
Speaker 3: off the shelves. Some of the opposition parties like the
2:33
Speaker 3: VC Conservatives this week that came out saying we should
2:36
Speaker 3: make that concession as well here in BC. And then
2:38
Speaker 3: the stronger attack that EB and Ford are taking saying
2:42
Speaker 3: that we should go harder and threaten to restrict things
2:44
Speaker 3: like critical minerals. I think that it seems like Ford
2:49
Speaker 3: and Ebe are more in step with where the public
2:51
Speaker 3: is at currently. But it's also interesting, of course that
2:55
Speaker 3: they're the two premiers with the lowest approval ratings and
2:59
Speaker 3: seem to be probably trying to use this to bolster
3:02
Speaker 3: their own domestic standing rather than potentially actually influencing the
3:08
Speaker 3: federal tactics.
3:10
Speaker 1: Yeah.
3:10
Speaker 2: No, good point. It's popular to fight Donald Trump, Jeff,
3:14
Speaker 2: and we've seen EB do this before. Does this benefit
3:17
Speaker 2: him in a way the Trump return? And what does
3:21
Speaker 2: it do to the sort of political dynamic here in BC?
3:24
Speaker 1: Do you think? Yeah? I think David Eb fighting the
3:27
Speaker 1: Trump tariffs is good politics. Canadians in the past year
3:33
Speaker 1: have rewarded leaders who stand up to Donald Trump. We
3:36
Speaker 1: saw that with the election of Mark Carney's Prime Minister.
3:39
Speaker 1: We've seen it work out well for Doug Ford and
3:42
Speaker 1: David Eb as well as highest approvals actually happened when
3:46
Speaker 1: the Trump tariffs were first put in place, and EB
3:49
Speaker 1: got elbows up and was seen as fighting on behalf
3:53
Speaker 1: of British Columbians. I think what you're seeing from David
3:57
Speaker 1: Eb here, he's chosen to lead for that reason. He's
4:00
Speaker 1: been talking tough about critical mineral export bands, he's been
4:04
Speaker 1: talking about keeping US liquor off of BC shells. Well,
4:08
Speaker 1: the terrorists remain in place, and I think at exactly
4:13
Speaker 1: the wrong moments the BC Conservatives have been sending the
4:16
Speaker 1: opposite signal on this liquor on shelves in British Columbia matter.
4:21
Speaker 1: It puts EB on the right side of the issue,
4:23
Speaker 1: the Conservatives on the wrong side of the issue, and
4:26
Speaker 1: that's the terrain we have right now.
4:29
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, it is. The Conservative position was kind of interesting, Jillian,
4:33
Speaker 2: that you could appease the Americans in some way or
4:37
Speaker 2: show them good faith by giving them what they want liquor.
4:41
Speaker 2: And then the NDP responded by saying, almost calling the
4:44
Speaker 2: Conservative traders, saying, you're sort of selling out the province
4:49
Speaker 2: in some way with that. That's a pretty loaded dynamic
4:52
Speaker 2: in provincial politics too.
4:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.
4:55
Speaker 3: I mean, I think they realize that their best hope
4:57
Speaker 3: is is to try to tie the BC Conservatives to
5:00
Speaker 3: that sort of like right wing megabrand of politics as
5:03
Speaker 3: it becomes increasingly toxic not only here but down there
5:06
Speaker 3: as well. I don't, honestly, I don't even know what
5:10
Speaker 3: to say about the VC conservative strategy.
5:12
Speaker 4: It's just very strange to me.
5:13
Speaker 3: It's hard to think that there's any other motivation other
5:16
Speaker 3: than they do just feel a bit more affinity with
5:20
Speaker 3: folks on the right end of the spectrum in the States.
5:22
Speaker 3: But it's interesting. It's not like this is anything super
5:27
Speaker 3: new for the NDP either, and we still see really
5:30
Speaker 3: low approval ratings for eb So. I mean, it's going
5:32
Speaker 3: to be a question of if you can turn things
5:35
Speaker 3: around using this or if he needs more. I think
5:37
Speaker 3: it's that he needs more as we get closer to
5:39
Speaker 3: an election.
5:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jeff, let's bring in some of the approval numbers.
5:43
Speaker 2: Angus read out this week saying that the premier's approval
5:46
Speaker 2: rating has fallen to twenty seven percent, down from forty
5:50
Speaker 2: percent in December, part of a continued difficulty with his popularity.
5:55
Speaker 2: We've talked about it on previous shows. People who are
5:59
Speaker 2: unsure about his perfer performants are rising and the number
6:03
Speaker 2: of the approval number amongst indyp voters in the last
6:06
Speaker 2: election for the premier has dropped from seventy eight to
6:09
Speaker 2: fifty three percent. You have that part, and then you
6:11
Speaker 2: have Research co Op with a survey saying people were
6:14
Speaker 2: kind of ambivalent about the federal BC pipeline deal. All
6:19
Speaker 2: that money that we've talked about in the past for
6:21
Speaker 2: housing and the different things that BC got in exchange
6:24
Speaker 2: for kind of quieting down on the Alberta pipeline. Those figures,
6:28
Speaker 2: what stands out for you there and what do they mean?
6:31
Speaker 2: Do you think?
6:32
Speaker 1: I think what stands out for me on these EB
6:35
Speaker 1: approvals is that there's no sugar cony in them. They're bad.
6:39
Speaker 1: But here's the puzzle for me. I think EB, as
6:42
Speaker 1: you've noted on that MoU with Alberta, has been doing
6:45
Speaker 1: well in recent weeks and months on substance, but he's
6:49
Speaker 1: losing on perception. I think Eb's got the right to
6:53
Speaker 1: govern and face voters at the next election. It is
6:56
Speaker 1: government delivering significant policy wins. You've mentioned the MITS money
7:01
Speaker 1: for LNG, it's money for North Coast Transmission Line which
7:05
Speaker 1: brings mine. It's money for housing, it's a new Fraser
7:09
Speaker 1: River tunnel. But those wins aren't translating into political support.
7:14
Speaker 1: And if that doesn't change over the next few months
7:17
Speaker 1: with the Captain Canada fighting Trump fight, I think there'll
7:21
Speaker 1: be some discussion, some honest reflection.
7:22
Speaker 2: About why during the perception. As Jeff points out, I
7:27
Speaker 2: guess politics is perception. I don't know if that's the phrase,
7:30
Speaker 2: but if the perception of what the premier is doing
7:33
Speaker 2: is leading to him becoming more popular, these numbs seem
7:38
Speaker 2: to be a bit difficult for him to swallow.
7:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think there's been a couple of
7:43
Speaker 3: things that, in particular I've turned off that base of
7:48
Speaker 3: the NDP that have happened in kind of overshadowed all
7:52
Speaker 3: of those other announcements, And I think the biggest one
7:54
Speaker 3: is actually the condo bailout, or the perceived condo bailout.
7:57
Speaker 3: I've been hearing that all over the place for people
8:00
Speaker 3: confused about why the NDP would would do something like that,
8:04
Speaker 3: and you know, just really goes against their brand for
8:07
Speaker 3: the first sort of like eight years that they were
8:09
Speaker 3: in office, their differentiation with the BC Liberals and PC United.
8:14
Speaker 3: That's the party for the wealthy and the well connected.
8:16
Speaker 3: They're the party of real estate developers and wealthy corporations,
8:20
Speaker 3: and we're the party for the people. So to come
8:23
Speaker 3: out and have a perceived bailout for the development industry,
8:26
Speaker 3: I think has really struck a chord with a lot
8:28
Speaker 3: of people that the NDP is not who they've purported
8:30
Speaker 3: to be.
8:32
Speaker 4: We still don't know the details of that.
8:33
Speaker 3: The government maybe could turn it around if they're able
8:36
Speaker 3: to communicate that clearly, but it's much harder. And then
8:39
Speaker 3: I think the pipeline as well, to a lesser extent,
8:42
Speaker 3: but there still is a good chunk of NDIP supporters
8:44
Speaker 3: who don't want to see a pipeline and I think
8:47
Speaker 3: probably feel let down that the government isn't fighting it more.
8:51
Speaker 3: And then I think even for NDP supporters that do
8:54
Speaker 3: support the pipeline, itb just seemed kind of waffily and
8:58
Speaker 3: weak in his handling of it. And I think right
8:59
Speaker 3: now as a time where people are really looking for
9:02
Speaker 3: decisiveness and strength in their leaders, which is why I
9:04
Speaker 3: think you see EB came out so strong in Pei
9:07
Speaker 3: this week. Again, I don't think it's enough. I think
9:10
Speaker 3: that when people go to the polls it's going to
9:11
Speaker 3: be you know, who's going to improve my material conditions
9:14
Speaker 3: the best.
9:15
Speaker 4: And that's what they need to get to work on now.
9:18
Speaker 2: Just closing this out with you, Jeff. The number of
9:21
Speaker 2: people who are uncertain about the premier rising at the
9:23
Speaker 2: same time as people are uncertain about the opposition. Conservative
9:27
Speaker 2: new leader Carolyn Finley seems to paint a picture of
9:29
Speaker 2: an electorate that's maybe not sure where they stand on
9:34
Speaker 2: both of the leaders. And what does that do to
9:36
Speaker 2: the dynamic?
9:37
Speaker 1: Do you think, Well, it's a tough situation for the
9:40
Speaker 1: BCNDP to find themselves in. I was talking about the
9:44
Speaker 1: premieer doing well on substance and not on perception. It's
9:48
Speaker 1: kind of like a hockey team that outshoots the opposition
9:50
Speaker 1: forty two to eighteen every night and still is tied
9:55
Speaker 1: or doesn't win the game. And at some point you
9:57
Speaker 1: got to start talking about the chance is you create,
10:01
Speaker 1: stop talking about the chances you created, and start asking
10:04
Speaker 1: why the puck isn't going to the net. That's the
10:07
Speaker 1: challenge facing David Eby. The good news for him is
10:10
Speaker 1: that there's still plenty of hockey left and a chance
10:15
Speaker 1: for him to turn this around. But it's a real
10:18
Speaker 1: challenging game that he's in the middle of right now.
10:21
Speaker 2: Okay, let's take a quick break when we come back
10:23
Speaker 2: and talk about the SOJI funding debate that occurred this
10:27
Speaker 2: week right after this, Well, welcome back. The BC Conservatives
10:31
Speaker 2: out this week with a press release from Carolyn Finley
10:33
Speaker 2: saying she's very proud the BC government has defunded and
10:37
Speaker 2: ended the SOG one two three program Sexual Orientation and
10:40
Speaker 2: Gender Identity in School's module, the Conservatives saying they got
10:44
Speaker 2: a victory on this learning module that they feel and
10:49
Speaker 2: doctrinates children into radical gender ideology. But then the NDP
10:54
Speaker 2: out with Education Minister Lisa Bear saying that's a lie.
10:57
Speaker 2: Hasn't been defunded. Turns out, put all of this into perspective.
11:01
Speaker 2: It has been defunded. The government got rid of the
11:04
Speaker 2: funding for the agency that created SOGI, but the module
11:09
Speaker 2: still exists to be taught in school, so will continue
11:12
Speaker 2: to be taught. I don't know that's where this very
11:17
Speaker 2: controversial issue lies this week. Remember in the last election
11:20
Speaker 2: it's played very large and some Surrey ridings, especially different
11:25
Speaker 2: types of voters who didn't want sexual and sexual identity
11:29
Speaker 2: in classrooms at all the Conservatives have seized on this
11:31
Speaker 2: issue quite a bit. Jeff, this back and forth on
11:35
Speaker 2: SOGI this week, what stood out for you on how
11:39
Speaker 2: this occurred.
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Speaker 1: Well, what striked me was that it was a week
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Speaker 1: of made up claims for a debate that needs to
11:49
Speaker 1: start with the facts. Okay, I've heard the arguments made
11:52
Speaker 1: by the conservatives about this is about parental choice, this
11:56
Speaker 1: is about government overreach. This is actually about whether LGBTQ
12:01
Speaker 1: kids have people standing up for them at school. This
12:05
Speaker 1: is an anti bullying program designed to keep kids safe.
12:08
Speaker 1: It exists because LGBTQ students are bullied more often and
12:13
Speaker 1: face higher risks of depression and suicide, and making that
12:17
Speaker 1: program a political target puts those kids at greater risk,
12:21
Speaker 1: and that's something that no party, no legislator should ever do.
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Speaker 2: Jermane, what do you think of the fact it is
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Speaker 2: the government has actually reduced they've eliminated the funding to
12:31
Speaker 2: this ARC foundation that created SOG, But the SOGI module
12:35
Speaker 2: still exists to be taught in schools, So although you
12:38
Speaker 2: could say it's defunded, it hasn't ended. Is that an
12:42
Speaker 2: important distinction or is this like politically what do you
12:46
Speaker 2: think of all this I don't.
12:47
Speaker 3: I think it's a bit of a nothing burger and
12:49
Speaker 3: was a huge overreach from the Conservatives because I think
12:53
Speaker 3: that the constituency that they've been trying to pander to
12:57
Speaker 3: by being against SOGI cares whether or all this is
12:59
Speaker 3: being taught in schools, and it's still being taught in schools,
13:03
Speaker 3: and the government has been looking for ways to reduce funding.
13:05
Speaker 3: The Finance Minister famously said she was looking under every
13:09
Speaker 3: rock for places they could save money. So they contracted
13:12
Speaker 3: an external foundation to create the curriculum.
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Speaker 4: They created it, it exists.
13:17
Speaker 3: It doesn't need to be updated, I guess in their assessment,
13:20
Speaker 3: and so it makes sense for the funding to come
13:23
Speaker 3: to a conclusion if they've already had the product in hand.
13:26
Speaker 3: So I think it was a bit of a weird
13:29
Speaker 3: overreach and to me speaks to the fact that cary
13:32
Speaker 3: Lynn Finley is really still getting her footing in BC politics.
13:36
Speaker 4: I think it's hard to shift.
13:39
Speaker 3: Out of campaign mode into sort of like regular politics mode.
13:43
Speaker 3: During campaigns, you want to get out as much content
13:45
Speaker 3: as possible, as many press releases, as many social media
13:49
Speaker 3: posts as possible, and just sort of like really fled
13:51
Speaker 3: the zone with anything that can win you votes, but
13:55
Speaker 3: in sort of regular times you're subject to a little
13:57
Speaker 3: bit more press scrutiny, a little bit more publics. Routiney,
14:00
Speaker 3: the public's a little bit less engaged, and I think
14:03
Speaker 3: that maybe this is a little bit more of that.
14:05
Speaker 3: They sort of just somebody showed them this. They didn't
14:08
Speaker 3: check their work. They came out super strong, and it
14:10
Speaker 3: turned out that they were not being totally accurate. So
14:14
Speaker 3: I think that kind of just shows that she's still
14:17
Speaker 3: sort of finding her footing as an opposition leader.
14:20
Speaker 2: And yet, Jeff, I mean, it generated coverage. Right when
14:22
Speaker 2: you're in opposition and you're trying to make an issue
14:24
Speaker 2: into the public, what is the value or the risk?
14:28
Speaker 2: And you take an issue like government's ended funding on something,
14:31
Speaker 2: and then you put one extra layer on top where
14:34
Speaker 2: it's like, well this has ended the program entirely, that's
14:37
Speaker 2: not true, but it generates a bunch of explainers and
14:40
Speaker 2: people are writing and talking about what happened to Soji like,
14:44
Speaker 2: is that a valid sort of political strategy for an
14:46
Speaker 2: opposition to use?
14:48
Speaker 1: You know, I think Chilean's right that this is pandering.
14:51
Speaker 1: It's pandering to right wing folks who oppose these anti
14:56
Speaker 1: bullying programs for kids, I think. But what interests me
15:01
Speaker 1: on this is the fact that the Conservatives threw this
15:04
Speaker 1: out there, but they never made anyone available to speak
15:09
Speaker 1: to it, or to answer questions or be accountable for
15:13
Speaker 1: how inaccurate their claim was. And it's a pattern with
15:17
Speaker 1: this party. Their communication strategy is, let's push stuff out
15:23
Speaker 1: on our own channels on social media, where we speak
15:26
Speaker 1: to our own universe of voters and media be damned,
15:30
Speaker 1: because we don't want to have to answer questions. We
15:34
Speaker 1: don't want to have our ideas scrutinized by the public.
15:38
Speaker 1: And I think that it speaks to a party, as
15:42
Speaker 1: Jillian says, that is trying to find its footing, or
15:46
Speaker 1: that has found its footing and has just decided that
15:50
Speaker 1: public scrutiny is something that wants no part of.
15:53
Speaker 2: It is an interesting strategy for the Conservatives to not
15:56
Speaker 2: make the opposition leader available to most media and sometimes
16:00
Speaker 2: and you ask, and I asked for a opposition critic
16:02
Speaker 2: this week on a story and got told nope, no,
16:06
Speaker 2: just no. That's very odd to me. That strategy doesn't
16:09
Speaker 2: make a lot of sense. But in this particular case,
16:12
Speaker 2: their press release generated something we're talking about it, and
16:17
Speaker 2: I guess that's some type of a win for them. Okay,
16:19
Speaker 2: we're going to take a quick break. When we come back,
16:21
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about the recall campaign against Dallas Brody.
16:25
Speaker 2: Welcome back. BC's recall law remains undefeated. Yet another recall
16:31
Speaker 2: campaign failed to recall in MLA. This week. Dallas Brody,
16:36
Speaker 2: who had been facing a campaign in her riding of
16:38
Speaker 2: Vancouver Wilchenna, the one BC party leader, not even close
16:42
Speaker 2: the recall attempt against her, generating around thirty six hundred
16:46
Speaker 2: signatures when they needed fifteen thousand signatures. She went online,
16:52
Speaker 2: posting a photo of herself on social media with a
16:55
Speaker 2: cake decorated to read, at least you tried, what do
16:59
Speaker 2: we make a jillion? Of the recall campaign against Dallas
17:03
Speaker 2: Brody falling so far short twenty four percent of the
17:06
Speaker 2: required signatures, not even close? What does that do? I
17:13
Speaker 2: guess to Brody and to attempts of people to be
17:18
Speaker 2: critical of her in her writing.
17:20
Speaker 3: Well, I think yeah, it emboldens her for the remainder
17:25
Speaker 3: of the time that we all have together. I think
17:29
Speaker 3: it's a bit of an embarrassing effort on the part
17:31
Speaker 3: of the recall campaign. They should have been much more organized.
17:34
Speaker 3: You need a few hundred volunteers to pull off something
17:38
Speaker 3: like this. The threshold is really really high to get
17:41
Speaker 3: that many signatures is challenging under any kinds of circumstances.
17:45
Speaker 3: It's summer, when people are not at home, they're doing
17:48
Speaker 3: other stuff, they don't want to think about politics. And
17:50
Speaker 3: I think there is just like a lot of general
17:53
Speaker 3: sense of hopelessness and apathy in politics right now, especially
17:58
Speaker 3: because the US looms so large and it feels like
18:01
Speaker 3: the things that are impacting us are so far outside
18:03
Speaker 3: of our control, so very challenging circumstances, and they should
18:07
Speaker 3: have been better prepared, and you know, maybe picked a
18:09
Speaker 3: better time like the fall, when people are actually at
18:12
Speaker 3: home and not on vacation.
18:13
Speaker 4: To go knockdoors.
18:16
Speaker 3: I think it raises a lot of interesting questions for
18:18
Speaker 3: other do we need other accountability measures in BC politics, because,
18:24
Speaker 3: like you said, this has never been successful. They're even
18:27
Speaker 3: under different political circumstances. But yeah, I think you got
18:30
Speaker 3: to be better prepared if you're going to embark on
18:32
Speaker 3: something like this, and it's a shame that they weren't.
18:35
Speaker 2: Jeff, what do you think of the recall failing and
18:37
Speaker 2: you know. Dallas Brody's response to some media was, there's
18:40
Speaker 2: lots of people in my riding who like me. They
18:42
Speaker 2: like what I'm doing, and this shows that.
18:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's the recall camp. Recall campaign certainly didn't weaken
18:50
Speaker 1: Dallas Brodie. It actually strengthened her politics. Has an old rule,
18:55
Speaker 1: never take a shot, you can't land. And if you're
18:57
Speaker 1: going to launch a recall campaign, is Jillian's pointed out,
19:00
Speaker 1: you need the money, you need the volunteers and the
19:02
Speaker 1: organization to finish it. Otherwise, all you've done is give
19:06
Speaker 1: your opponent a victory lap. Now, I don't know if
19:09
Speaker 1: you've ever watched Kojack Rob Have you ever watched Kojak
19:12
Speaker 1: Telly Sabalis nineteen seventies TV show?
19:15
Speaker 2: I know what I'll rely on your recap of it.
19:18
Speaker 1: Well, Kojak used to say, who loves you baby? Now
19:21
Speaker 1: Dallas Brodie gets to ask the same question to the electorate.
19:25
Speaker 1: Her opponents tried to remove her and couldn't, and that's
19:29
Speaker 1: the headline she'll take from this.
19:30
Speaker 2: Should Jeff just staying with you, Should we change the
19:33
Speaker 2: recall law? On the one hand, I think it's good
19:37
Speaker 2: to have a high bar to remove an MLA from office,
19:40
Speaker 2: and the fact that it's never happened is maybe good
19:44
Speaker 2: in the sense that like it's a serious thing to
19:46
Speaker 2: overturn the will of the electorate for any MLA who's
19:50
Speaker 2: successfully won their seat. On the other hand, the fact
19:54
Speaker 2: that it's never been successful maybe indicates it's too high.
19:59
Speaker 2: I don't know both legitimate arguments on it.
20:01
Speaker 1: What do you think on recall legislation. I'm not a
20:04
Speaker 1: big fan. I think it's an ineffective way to get
20:07
Speaker 1: accountability from folks who may have changed party amidstream. I'm
20:12
Speaker 1: a big believer in the supplies to everyone in every party.
20:17
Speaker 1: Someone leaves the caucus or party that they were elected
20:21
Speaker 1: to serve, whether that's to an independent or to another party,
20:24
Speaker 1: they should step down from office, subject themselves to a
20:27
Speaker 1: by election, and be accountable to voters. That way. That
20:31
Speaker 1: strikes me as something that's more principle, more realistic and
20:36
Speaker 1: ought to apply to everyone.
20:37
Speaker 2: Julian just quickly change the recall law or is it
20:41
Speaker 2: good in a way that maybe we've never been able
20:44
Speaker 2: to recall anyone in the province.
20:46
Speaker 3: I think you got to strike a balance so that
20:47
Speaker 3: it can't be abused. There's other systems. In the UK,
20:50
Speaker 3: they have independent bodies that can issue suspensions from the
20:58
Speaker 3: House of Commons so they can investigate for different offenses,
21:02
Speaker 3: violations of false allowances, if people get convicted of a crime,
21:07
Speaker 3: and then they only need ten percent of the electorate
21:09
Speaker 3: to verify that. I think that's the system that makes sense.
21:12
Speaker 3: But it's interesting there aren't a lot of remedies around
21:15
Speaker 3: the world for these kinds of things, and in most
21:19
Speaker 3: cases you just have to wait for an election.
21:21
Speaker 2: Well, it's a couple of years until the next election.
21:23
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if the recall campaign against Tara Armstrong.
21:26
Speaker 2: I don't think that ever officially began. Some people might
21:28
Speaker 2: be recalculating their efforts on whatever MLA they're looking at
21:33
Speaker 2: in the wake of just completely failing to come even
21:37
Speaker 2: remotely close the Dallas Brodie campaign. Is a very difficult
21:42
Speaker 2: thing to do, all right, continue our discussion here inside
21:45
Speaker 2: Political Baseball. This week, Premier David ebe announcing a new
21:50
Speaker 2: chief of staff, raising the question how many lawyers does
21:54
Speaker 2: it take to run a government? Because this chief of
21:56
Speaker 2: staff is a lawyer, another lawyer in an office full
22:00
Speaker 2: of lawyers, in top positions full of lawyers. In this government.
22:04
Speaker 2: Andrew Mercier is the new chief of staff. You might
22:06
Speaker 2: remember him. He was an MLA for the Langley He
22:09
Speaker 2: defeated Mary Polack, a long time at BC Liberal MLA
22:12
Speaker 2: and what people thought might be an Orange crush through
22:15
Speaker 2: the Fraser Valley, but four years later that reset itself
22:18
Speaker 2: a bit and that riding went to the Conservatives. He's
22:21
Speaker 2: also a lawyer for the Teamsters Local two three one
22:25
Speaker 2: and former executive director of the BC Building Trade. So
22:29
Speaker 2: do we have any thoughts on the premier getting a
22:32
Speaker 2: new chief of staff but also it being a sort
22:33
Speaker 2: of trade unionist lawyer former MLA I think he was
22:37
Speaker 2: a Parliamentary secretary and just if this is any type
22:42
Speaker 2: of sort of refresh or anything for the Premier in
22:45
Speaker 2: the summer of Jillian, why don't we start with you.
22:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's interesting.
22:50
Speaker 3: The other previous tepost staff didn't last that long, so
22:54
Speaker 3: it definitely seems like they are recognizing that things aren't
22:58
Speaker 3: working and they're trying to make a change. I remember,
23:01
Speaker 3: like I remember only a little bit about Mercier from
23:04
Speaker 3: when he was in MLA, but I think he always
23:06
Speaker 3: struck me as quite of a fighter and quite partisan,
23:09
Speaker 3: and so I think it is perhaps the Premier's office
23:14
Speaker 3: trying to get on a stronger, more decisive political footing
23:18
Speaker 3: and realizing that they're really going to have to fight
23:19
Speaker 3: for survival. I think the flip side of that is,
23:24
Speaker 3: you know, is he is he going to bring fresh
23:29
Speaker 3: ideas and can he kind of think outside of the
23:32
Speaker 3: box and outside of the sort of like same partisan
23:35
Speaker 3: playbook that they've already had. And that'll be interesting to see.
23:41
Speaker 3: And if we see any other big external changes come
23:43
Speaker 3: out of this, like a cabinet shuffle, big policy changes,
23:47
Speaker 3: big branding changes, we'll see.
23:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jeff, what do you think new chief of staff?
23:52
Speaker 2: Who it is, Does it mean anything in terms of
23:55
Speaker 2: the premiere and refreshing or what do you think of.
23:58
Speaker 1: This strikes me as a as a routine changing of
24:01
Speaker 1: the guard. First thing I'll say as all best wishes
24:04
Speaker 1: to Jim Erkowski as he continues to fight with his
24:08
Speaker 1: the health issues that he's got. Share a lots who
24:12
Speaker 1: came after him and before. Andrew had said right from
24:15
Speaker 1: the beginning that she was going to be there only
24:17
Speaker 1: for a few months in an interim role, and she's
24:19
Speaker 1: completed those now and that's why she's leaving, not because
24:23
Speaker 1: of any political fallout over anything. I think Andrew is
24:26
Speaker 1: someone who has experienced as an MLA experience in the
24:31
Speaker 1: labor movement, has got strong ties with MLAs from having
24:38
Speaker 1: served with them, and managing the caucus is an important
24:42
Speaker 1: job for the chief of staff, and he's trusted by
24:46
Speaker 1: the premiere. So and in terms of you know, will
24:51
Speaker 1: this person in this role by themselves be able to
24:54
Speaker 1: put a party on a new trajectory. I think he
24:57
Speaker 1: can implement that, be effective in implementing that. But at
25:01
Speaker 1: the end of the day, it comes down to the
25:03
Speaker 1: politicians and the direction that they set and their performance.
25:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, well, I mean in BC politics is something
25:10
Speaker 2: to note when you know, sort of senior positions switch around.
25:14
Speaker 2: I'll say this about Andrew Mercy. He's got great hair.
25:17
Speaker 2: He's got a big poof of hair on him. Looks
25:19
Speaker 2: like he teaches potions at Hogwarts. He's kind of a
25:21
Speaker 2: wizardly type fellow, and we'll be watching to see how
25:26
Speaker 2: he does in the Premier's office. Okay, let's do our
25:30
Speaker 2: plays the week here to wrap up the last show
25:32
Speaker 2: before the summer break. We just highlight interesting or funny
25:37
Speaker 2: or noteworthy items as our political Play of the week, Jeff,
25:40
Speaker 2: do you want to go first on this sure thing?
25:43
Speaker 1: The BC Conservatives spent the last number of months on
25:48
Speaker 1: the Alberta oil pipeline, chanting build Baby built. Turns out
25:54
Speaker 1: that there's an asterisk to that bill, baby build unless
25:58
Speaker 1: it runs through my riding. So Delta South BC Conservative
26:03
Speaker 1: MLA Ian Payton in The Delta Optimist this week comes
26:08
Speaker 1: out opposing the Alberta pipeline. It's terminus in Delta, proving
26:13
Speaker 1: the party's pipeline policy is apparently location based. Build it
26:18
Speaker 1: but somewhere else. And you know at fair play, everyone
26:21
Speaker 1: gets to stand up for the community. But it's a
26:24
Speaker 1: little rich to go from. We need this pipeline. Now
26:27
Speaker 1: build it, build it, build it to stop baby stop
26:30
Speaker 1: the moment it's in a BC Conservatives backyard, so Ian Payton,
26:35
Speaker 1: BC Conservatives play the week. Last play of the week
26:37
Speaker 1: of the summer goes to you.
26:39
Speaker 2: The BC Conservatives were so unhappy with the headline on
26:42
Speaker 2: that story that they instituted a ban on their MLA
26:45
Speaker 2: speaking to the Delta Optimist or its parent company. It's
26:49
Speaker 2: part of the very quickly widening ban of media Conservatives
26:55
Speaker 2: are putting in place.
26:56
Speaker 1: Say snowflakes. Snowflakes, that's weaken insecure. You can't talk to
27:01
Speaker 1: the media about your stands on issues, you know, that's weak.
27:06
Speaker 2: Yes, as a media I agree, good I do. I
27:12
Speaker 2: mean you got something to say, say it, But you know,
27:15
Speaker 2: like if you can't say it, that's on you, I guess.
27:17
Speaker 2: But Jillian, what's your play the week?
27:23
Speaker 3: I was going to go, honestly, kind of already in
27:27
Speaker 3: summers line is going to be an announcement from BC Hydro.
27:35
Speaker 3: They are adding twenty five hundred charging ports, which will
27:39
Speaker 3: triple the number of publicly available chargers for ebs and
27:43
Speaker 3: I think it's it's just good to see big announcements
27:46
Speaker 3: for climate measures that are also going to be tied
27:51
Speaker 3: to affordability and help people with the cost of transportation
27:56
Speaker 3: as we kind of really get into the middle of
27:58
Speaker 3: wildfire season and are reminded of the cost of continuing
28:02
Speaker 3: to use fossil fuel, and it's good to see the
28:04
Speaker 3: government kind of really start to square that circle of
28:08
Speaker 3: tying climate action to affordability.
28:10
Speaker 4: There's more to do. The Clean Energy.
28:13
Speaker 3: Canada has a call for them to make all new
28:16
Speaker 3: ACS also heat pumps, which would save people a lot
28:19
Speaker 3: on heating costs a lot of They've got a pal
28:20
Speaker 3: that forty one percent of people don't know that heat
28:23
Speaker 3: pumps also provide cooling.
28:24
Speaker 4: It's such a good solution.
28:26
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, it's good to see the
28:28
Speaker 3: energy mister on the right track and hopefully you can
28:30
Speaker 3: continue on that.
28:32
Speaker 2: I was going to pick that. As an EV owner,
28:36
Speaker 2: I have to say expanding the charging stations, but BC
28:40
Speaker 2: hydro is probably the single biggest thing that a government
28:43
Speaker 2: could do to introduce or to help people move to EV's.
28:48
Speaker 2: I know people think rebates, but if you can't charge
28:52
Speaker 2: in places where there's no private infrastructure to charge, you
28:55
Speaker 2: want to drive to Prince George, you're going to need
28:57
Speaker 2: different BC hydro charging stations along the way to let
29:02
Speaker 2: you do that. And for government to step into that
29:04
Speaker 2: I think is good and only helps. If you can
29:08
Speaker 2: create a network of EV chargers in the province, why
29:10
Speaker 2: wouldn't you And it's convenient and cheap, and they're fast
29:15
Speaker 2: and they're new, why wouldn't you get an EV?
29:17
Speaker 3: So yeah, they're going to put bathrooms at some too,
29:19
Speaker 3: So yeah.
29:21
Speaker 1: That proves my theory. God bless Adrian Dix.
29:26
Speaker 2: I mean, of all the ministers right now. He is
29:28
Speaker 2: the most active and moving for a government that feels
29:35
Speaker 2: stalled sometimes on the energy file. It is anything, but
29:39
Speaker 2: it is movement all over the place. The announcement of
29:41
Speaker 2: large scale utility batteries backups that is planning to bring
29:44
Speaker 2: into BC hydro this week was interesting too. That batteries
29:48
Speaker 2: can be used for peak demand if you charge them
29:52
Speaker 2: up in big battery farm, So that was an interesting
29:55
Speaker 2: announcement too. I will go with because this kind of
29:57
Speaker 2: fell through the gap here. So my political play that
29:59
Speaker 2: we is going to be Mike Bernier becoming the Center
30:02
Speaker 2: BC leader. I think we sort of because it happened
30:05
Speaker 2: on a weekend, we didn't quite get to talk about it,
30:07
Speaker 2: and then it became old news. But Center BC switching leaders.
30:11
Speaker 2: Karin Kirkpatrick moving from that role. She was always going
30:15
Speaker 2: to do it, sort of temporarily, I think, to get
30:17
Speaker 2: the party up and running. She did that and Mike Burnier,
30:20
Speaker 2: the former education minister Peace River South MLA, now the
30:23
Speaker 2: Center BC leader and he is out saying this is
30:25
Speaker 2: the party for folks who are unhappy with the Conservatives
30:29
Speaker 2: being too right and the NDP being too left. Although
30:33
Speaker 2: I'd say the anap's in the center now, but an
30:37
Speaker 2: alternative vehicle for people who want progressive social values but
30:44
Speaker 2: conservative fiscal positions is kind of center BC. Mike Burnier
30:48
Speaker 2: is a guy, I will say. Everybody likes him. It's
30:50
Speaker 2: a really nice guy. Whether he can pull this off,
30:54
Speaker 2: whether he can get the kind of space in a
30:58
Speaker 2: traditionally kind of too maybe three party political system in BC,
31:02
Speaker 2: depending on the year and the Greens and the past,
31:06
Speaker 2: we shall see he's got. There's one BC in the mix.
31:09
Speaker 2: There's all sorts of other elements that change the political landscape,
31:14
Speaker 2: but Mike Burnier given a shot to center BC. I
31:18
Speaker 2: don't know if either of you guys have any.
31:19
Speaker 1: I've got a nickname. I've got a nickname for Mike Burnier,
31:25
Speaker 1: Triple B baby Bear Burnier. It's not not too far,
31:29
Speaker 1: not so far to the left, so far to the right.
31:32
Speaker 2: He's just right, just just just right. Porridge.
31:36
Speaker 4: Yes, I don't know if that's going to catch on.
31:39
Speaker 1: But the parent, the parent thing with restad got some legs.
31:43
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think you're right.
31:46
Speaker 4: Good try. Yeah, sure, interesting choice. It's interesting that he's agreed.
31:51
Speaker 3: He's definitely somebody that like leans more on principle than
31:56
Speaker 3: on political calculation, which I think has sets them apart
31:59
Speaker 3: from it all. Maybe I would say all the other
32:01
Speaker 3: leaders and anything can happen. It's not I think it's
32:05
Speaker 3: not like too far of a cry to think that
32:07
Speaker 3: the exact thing thing could happen where they can get
32:09
Speaker 3: a MLA to come join them, either an independent or
32:12
Speaker 3: a disenfranchised Conservative that isn't happy with Finley, and then
32:17
Speaker 3: that gives them a huge platform in the legislature and
32:20
Speaker 3: things start to snowball. That helps them too, like if
32:23
Speaker 3: they can get on a debate stage in an election,
32:26
Speaker 3: and you know, they got a ton of work to do.
32:28
Speaker 4: But I don't think it's impossible.
32:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, you'll have to fight against the idea of the
32:33
Speaker 2: vote splitting, which he said. You know, he used to
32:36
Speaker 2: argue that that was a problem when he was a
32:38
Speaker 2: VC Liberal and now he's trying to argue against it.
32:40
Speaker 2: It's not a problem. The Greens constantly get hit with
32:42
Speaker 2: that during every provincial election. Don't split the vote. It's
32:45
Speaker 2: only two choices here and throw don't throw your vote away.
32:49
Speaker 2: There will be some people out there who say I
32:51
Speaker 2: don't like the Conservatives, but I don't like the NDP
32:54
Speaker 2: more and I'm not willing to do anything that keeps
32:57
Speaker 2: them in power. So I'll vote. Like there's all sorts
32:59
Speaker 2: of calculations will get in with the election, but putting
33:01
Speaker 2: an option out there if it lasts for two years
33:05
Speaker 2: is interesting.
33:06
Speaker 1: See the social media today. We tape on Fridays, and
33:10
Speaker 1: I was checking X or Twitter or whatever it's called
33:14
Speaker 1: right now against my better judgment, and I noticed that
33:17
Speaker 1: independent MLA Eleanor Stirco said that she is watching what
33:22
Speaker 1: Center BC is doing, watching it closely. So it sounds
33:26
Speaker 1: like maybe some overtures made. Sounds like maybe some interest
33:30
Speaker 1: from an MLA. Maybe we'll see Center BC have an
33:33
Speaker 1: MLA and the Legislative Assembly come October.
33:36
Speaker 2: Yep. Interesting. Okay, Well, thank you Gillian and Jeff for
33:39
Speaker 2: being here. Thank you for Angelo too, he's off this week,
33:43
Speaker 2: and thank you for everyone for listening and for watching.
33:46
Speaker 2: As I mentioned before, we're taking August off, but we
33:49
Speaker 2: will be back in September as the BC political scene
33:52
Speaker 2: gears back up, and we'll be there with all the
33:55
Speaker 2: latest in BC politics. Then until then, take care,