Rob Shaw
@RobShaw_BC
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TV Politics @CHEK_News » Podcast/Show @CHEKPolitics » Columns @Glacier_Media @BeatNorthern » Radio @CBCRadioWest @AllPointsWestBC » Cats @BCPolitiCAT
Victoria, British Columbia
Joined January 2011
Make what you will of @PierrePoilievre's answer to my Qs today, but -- at least he agreed to do an interview with local media while on the Island. I've asked @JustinTrudeau to do an interview w/ @CHEK_News on every one of his many Island visits and the PMO answer is always: No.
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I asked @PierrePoilievre for his response to @cafreeland being verbally accosted and threatened in Grande Prairie. More tonight from his visit to Vancouver Island on @CHEK_News
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NEW - @JohnRustad4BC announces a plan to let British Columbians deduct up to $3,000 per month for mortgage and rent payments from their income tax, paying less taxes and potentially generating rebates. Cost: $3.5b. Calls it one of the most significant tax relief ever given.
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NEW - @JohnRustad4BC announces a Conservative government will clear all tent cities across the province, and no future ones will be allowed to stand. Plus, drug use will be banned in supportive housing, in a bid to improve safety of neighbourhoods, he says.
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NEW - @JohnRustad4BC says he'd restore letter grades for Grades 4-9, as part of edu policy. Reinstate standardized exams for Grades 10-12. Restore school liaison officers (heads up, Greater Vic school district). And restore direct autism funding. Also, these social policies:
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Some personal news: I’m resigning from @VancouverSun. Excited to announce I’ll be joining @CHEK_News to kickstart a new political journalist position in mid-January. I grew up watching CHEK, and couldn’t be more thrilled to join its truly independent newsroom.
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NDP leadership candidate @Dave_Eby has dropped his housing platform. It’s huge, and represents one of the most sweeping shifts in BC housing policy I’ve seen. Among the highlights. .
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Full exchange of @JohnRustad4BC and @Dave_Eby on SOGI today in QP, in which Eby eviscerates Rustad.
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What does Bonnie Henry think of the new “Dr. Henry” @Fluevog shoes designed to honour her?.“That's like the most exciting thing ever in my whole life that’s ever happened to me,” she tells me, laughing. She has many Fluevog shoes. She describes these ones though as: “Perfect."
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NEW: The BC government has filed for a court injunction against Telus Health and Telus LifePlus paid service to see a doctor for allegedly contravening the Medicare Protection Act. @adriandix says access to healthcare should not be based on ability to pay.
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NEW - @JohnRustad4BC says a Conservative government would close all of BC's safe injection sites, including new drug inhalation sites, and replace them mental health + intake treatment centres.
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Not often you see all these politicians of different parties in one place, in one photo together.
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I'll say this about @jjhorgan - one of the nicer people I've covered in BC politics. Wore his heart on his sleeve. You could always hash disagreements out with him. Not all his decisions were right - but nobody's are. Generally, a good guy. He will be missed in BC politics.
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Just so we’re clear, this is the City of Abbotsford, on its own, by itself, holding an improptu emergency press conference that it broadcasts on its own YouTube channel…. while the enormous BCgov communciations apparatus is mostly silent.
LIVE NOW: The City of #Abbotsford and Mayor Braun and emergency officials on emergency evacuations and "significant risk to life" + water shutoff tonight. Watch here:
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If tonight marks the end of the @AnjaliApp campaign, I'd caution any New Democrat hyper-partisans from gloating about it. It should be deeply, deeply embarrassing to the NDP that Appadurai out-organized the entire caucus and cabinet, who'd endorsed Eby, in membership signups.
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Unlike in Alberta, where coronavirus appears to be a political football for the Opposition, all 3 B.C. parties have pledged co-operation to pass spending bill and worker protection bill during half-day BCleg sitting Monday. @mikefarnworthbc thanks them. Says working well together.
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BC Finance Minister Katrine Conroy is blaming today's credit rating downgrade from S&P today on the fact "we inherited a deficit of infrastructure" from the BC Liberal government. Quite an answer. The NDP have been in power now for SEVEN years, for anyone counting.
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Personally, I think the BCgov should have made public transit free during the gas rationing. Help push people to BC Transit and TransLink, and away from vehicles and gas lineups. Some drivers might have tried public transit for the first time in years, and then stuck with it.
Island gas stations run short, but transit ready to pick up the slack
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All those “massive” lines at BC Ferries on the weekend and consternation of people breaking the rules and travelling for frivolous reasons?.2019 Easter long weekend on major routes: 173,284 passengers. 2020 Easter long weekend on major routes: 14,633 ppl. That’s a 92% decline.
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.@PierrePoilievre speaking to probably 1,000 people at the Vancouver Island convention centre in Nanaimo.
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If it gets any colder we’re going to have to activate one of the legislature’s 2 wood-burning fire places for warmth. Maybe chop down a tree or two. Luckily, I know where we can find a log-splitter. .
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And so departs one of the greatest MLAs our legislature has ever seen….
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Twitter tip: When you are the subject of personally abusive tweets, start by blocking the ppl who like/RT those tweets, then the sender. You’ll quickly discover you've eliminated a small group of dangerously unbalanced trolls who RT each other, and your feed dramatically improves.
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NEW - @JohnRustad4BC announces "energy independence" plan, scrapping NDP's EV-only sales by 2035, explore nuclear energy and support solar/wind/geothermal "but only where they make practical, economic sense for British Columbians.".
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NEW - BC has suffered its second credit rating downgrade in a single day. Moody's has announced it has changed its outlook on BC from "stable" to "negative.".
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I sense a bit of frustration in Dr. Bonnie Henry’s responses to other doctors who are second-guessing her BC-wide response to this pandemic with open letters and media interviews. Doctors of BC have asked physicians to line up behind Dr. Henry as a single voice for the public.
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In one of the more interesting moments in the campaign, @42kareemallam - who was @KevinFalcon’s leadership campaign manager - whips up the crowd in Yaletown and explains why he’s taken out an NDP membership to vote for @Dave_Eby
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If you're a @bcndp member about to call today a "backroom deal" to grab power, I would just quietly remind you @Dave_Eby's NDP leadership campaign - which gave him the PREMIERSHIP - was a "backroom deal" with @KahlonRav dropping out and others consolidating and uniting around one.
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.@Conservative_BC today limiting reporter questions to only the topic the party wants and cutting media off - a very slippery slope and a dangerous precedent political parties flirt with now and again. Should not be allowed to happen. Especially if they form government.
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Instead of just making it a provincial holiday (which it clearly does NOT want to do) the Horgan government has done what it often does in tough scenarios — create a weird half-measure response that ultimately pleases nobody and creates a bunch of other problems in the process.
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NEW - BC boosting the power of pharmacists, to ease pressure caused by Dr shortage and ongoing healthcare crisis. - By spring 2023, pharmacists will be able to prescribe medications for allergies, acne, contraception, indigestion and urinary tract infections (similar to Alberta).
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.@VancouverPD tomorrow will release a report it commissioned into spending on city's social safety net - a summary of which leaked this week. I've read both now, and let me summarize them for you: Misleading fiction. My latest @TheOrcaBC @Glacier_Media .
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NEW - Accounting firm MNP, which is under a BC Auditor General investigation over conflict of interest allegations involving CleanBC grants, has sent a letter threatening to sue Edison Motors, the small Merritt-based EV truck company that blew the whistle on the situation.
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As protests loom at BC hospitals today (and across country) @JustinTrudeau announces promise to make it a criminal offence to obstruct access to a heath care building, vaccine clinic, pharmacy or abortion clinic, plus offence to intimidate/threaten workers there.
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Ottawa has announced a crackdown on Americans driving through BC to get to Alaska, in response to complaints from @jjhorgan. Drivers will get a ‘hang tag’ to put on their rear view mirror while in Canada, w/ date they must leave. Plus required to take most direct route to Alaksa.
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If you were looking for the date @Dave_Eby abandoned the "voters want us to work together" post-election rhetoric, today is that day. When asked if he's willing to consider @Conservative_BC proposal for small-scale nuclear power, he says no because he won the election.
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If we can send video of this quality back from Mars, we should be able to get the WiFi working properly on BC Ferries.
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The @bcndp aren't so much winning this election, as the @Conservative_BC are losing it, day by day, scandal by scandal, issue by issue.
NEW - Angus Reid Institute poll has BC NDP at 45%, BC Conservatives at 40% and BC Greens at 12%. The NDP are at 49% in Surrey/Richmond while the Conservatives are at 36%. #bcpoli.
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This is it everyone, the moment we’ve been waiting for! … DEPLOY THE EMERGENCY WOOD SPLITTER!.
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NEW - @ElectionsBC says it has found a ballot box from Prince George-Mackenzie that was not counted on election night Oct. 19. Approximately 861 votes misplaced. Has applied for a judicial recount in that riding. Human error blamed. Has also found data entry errors affecting the.
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.@Dave_Eby lost the election, even though he technically won by the slimmest of margins. And with the disappearance of his majority, so goes his ability to run all the power out of his office. My latest in @TheOrcaBC @Glacier_Media:.
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I wonder if the @bcndp - now pretending to be friendly to the @bcgreens because they need the votes — regrets blitzing Facebook/IG in the last two days of the BC election suggesting @BCGreens @SoniaFurstenau was going to work with @JohnRustad4BC and shouldn't be trusted.
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Here’s my column for this week: @adriandix and the long road to become the health minister BC needed in this pandemic.
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Last week: Declaring a state of emergency would provide no new resources to fight wildfires and has never been used to do anything useful in fighting fires the last 20 years. Today: This new state of emergency will let BC access all resources possible to fight fires. Er. Okay.
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NEW - @Conservative_BC is promising a new "statutory court" to hold trials for minor criminal offences w/in 1 week of arrest vs what he says is 12-18m at present. Part of crime platform today, which promises more sheriffs, judges, toughen 'charge assessment guidelines' for.
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At the BC legislature today, clear lawn, no protesters, virtually no sign there was even a trucker convoy protest here yesterday.
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NEW - BC has introduced legislation that will allow condo towers of up to 20 storeys near SkyTrain stations, up to 12 storeys near Metro Van "bus exchanges" and up to 10 storeys in Victoria/Kelowna bus exchanges. Municipalities can also choose to go higher on their own.
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NEW - @JohnRustad4BC says if he forms government, there will be no new taxes introduced in BC by the province without a referendum.
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NEW - @JohnRustad4BC promises to eliminate the ban on plastic straws and cutlery, eliminate the bag fee, and eliminate restrictions on types of bags. "The ban on plastic straws has been nothing but a nuisance for families and businesses across BC,” he says.
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I don’t know any journo working harder right now to preserve media access to BCgov than @richardzussman .If you're dunking on him for pushing @adriandix to do a pooled avail today - when no briefing was scheduled and nobody was going to get any clips/quotes - you sound petty.
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The BC gov’s severance policy needs an overhaul, amid revelations @Dave_Eby’s former chief of staff Matt Smith got a payout of more than $270,000 - the equivalent of one day for every two he worked on the job. My latest in @TheOrcaBC @Glacier_Media:.
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For those who don’t think you can cut government spending without shuttering hospitals and schools - take a gander at the fat, bloated, overstuffed payroll of the NDP gov some time. This is just a small slice. You could save millions by taking a hatchet to political largesse.
A look at how @BCNDP has expanded Crown corporations and agencies, as per public accounts. In 2017, 4,850 full-time equivalents. In 2024, 8,666. #bcpoli
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NEW - @ElectionsBC says it was actually 28 votes missing/miscounted in Surrey-Guildford, not the 14 it reported yesterday. The margin of NDP victory right now remains at 21 votes, pending the judicial recount this week.
NEW - The @bcndp @GarryBeggBC lead in Surrey-Guildford has shrunk from 27 votes to 21 votes, due to the missing/miscounted ballot issues @ElectionsBC revealed today. The NDP majority government hangs in the balance of this riding. Judicial recount runs Nov 7/8.
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NEW - Some @voteBCUnited caucus members - the ones unlikely to be able to transfer to the @Conservative_BC - are holding an emergency meeting to try to stop the collapse of the party, and remove @KevinFalcon.
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Doing one of my first work related things in 2023 and here's my New Year's resolution for BC politics: If I ask the gov a specific Q about a specific issue, and I get back a useless statement that does not contain the answer to my Q --- I'm not using anything in it. Period.
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.@icbc release today: "ICBC supports BCers facing wildfires." Says basic insurance doesn't cover wildfire damage/loss to vehicles. You need comprehensive -- which ICBC won't sell if there's an evacuation alert/order in your area. So, basically, you are SOL. Golly, thanks ICBC.
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It’s incredible that a catastrophic event that's a significant risk to life, and that emergency officials are able to warn about in advance, is not in any way broadcast on BC's Alert Ready system to people’s cell phones and radios/tvs because BC only uses the alerts for tsunamis.
"This event is anticipated to be catastrophic . Residents remaining and can’t evacuate safely are requested to call 911 and report their location immediately.".
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A truly odd way for @bcndp to announce a major policy shift on the carbon tax today - after months of arguing the exact opposite position - which comes across as scrambled panic.
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- New BCtax enforcement on ppl with poverty-level incomes that have multi-milllion homes. Crackdown on organized crime and suspicious real-estate transactions.
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I sympathize the RCMP can't reveal too many details on the clerk/sgt-at-arms today. But. we had the 2 top staffers in parliament escorted out by police and named under criminal investigation. Unprecedented in BC's history. The RCMP need to do better than no comment. Seriously.
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Dr. Henry asked about “lock her up” chants at protests yesterday. “Taking it out on me is something I’ve been living with for some time. What upsets me is the amount of vitriol and anger that’s been directed at others in public health. That's inexcusable and upsetting.".
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NEW - @MainStResearch poll:.BC NDP - 37%.BC Conservatives - 37%.BC Greens - 12%.BC United - 10%.Other - 4%.(decided voters, July 4-6, 1048 ppl IVR, +/- 3%).
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Big picture, not a great day for the @bcndp -- which just saw its re-election chances get much, much more difficult.
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Incredible. The board chair of @BCFerries HANGS UP THE PHONE on a reporter who calls to ask about the chaos in the corporation. Insulting. Unprofessional. If you don’t want to answer Qs about a publicly-funded corp the premier appointed you to chair: Then quit. Simple.
Amid a summer plagued by ferry cancellations, delays and long waits, one trucking company says a BC Ferries commercial freight policy is making things worse.
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NEW - @JohnRustad4BC says he will abolish taxes on tips paid to workers in bars, restaurants, cafes and other parts of the hospitality industry.
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NEW - @Conservative_BC are asking BC's lobbyist watchdog to investigate a complaint of conflict of interest b/w Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon and his sister Parm Kahlon and her GR firm Core, which represents a housing company, Renewal Development, which Minister Kahlon has.
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.@Dave_Eby absolutely rips @JohnRustad4BC in half, when Rustad asks him in QP if he'll end the SOGI program. Eby calls it "shameful" and says Rustad is picking on kids in schools who are at risk of suicide. Says bringing that division into the house is awful. Refuses to answer Q.
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.@KevinFalcon told me he told @JohnRustad4BC last night after cutting this deal:."In all candor, I agree with 75% of things you do. But on your very worst day, you’ll be better than David Eby on his very best day, and I can’t lose sight of the bigger picture here.”.
NEW - @KevinFalcon and @JohnRustad4BC have both confirmed to me their new deal to suspend the BC United campaign. "It's probably the most difficult decision I've ever had to make in my life," says Falcon. Some United candidates run under the Conservative banner and a new process.
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@AnjaliApp Also, I've talked to her several times. She's very impressive. Bright, articulate, well-reasoned. Her health & climate platforms were strong. @AnjaliApp could easily be a high-level NDP MLA. She may represent the future. And that she can't fit into the NDP should worry the NDP.
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@Dave_Eby - A new anti-flipping tax on the resale of residential property within 2 years (with exemptions for death, divorce and other things).
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- All strata rules preventing rentals removed in BC. - Age restrictions on strata rentals removed (for families that have kids) but seniors-only will stay.
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Allowing single family homes across BC's "urban areas" to be redeveloped w/ higher density buildings of up to three units, as long as they meet existing setback and height requirements. Huge bigfoot by province to local munis to get around rezonings and red tape, looks like.
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NEW - @JohnRustad4BC promises to reduce the small business tax to 1%, reduce regulatory burden by 25%, conduct a "taxpayer respect audit" and balance budget by end of second term, as part of policies released today.
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The US elxn is another lesson for progressives: You can't lecture people to vote for you. It's not enough to mock your opponent as unfit for office. You have to meet voters where they're at, on the issues they're concerned about. And working-class rural voters feel left behind.
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Way to go EBY!!! .You single-handedly killed a. (does basic Google search). US-based retailer that had. (does bare minimum research). US bankruptcy proceeding just a few days ago. and (applies smallest amount of common sense). you had nothing to do with.
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Threaten to lay off the youngest staff at Christmas during a pandemic, demand buyouts, and then pay the executives obscene bonuses. What a way to run a company.
Just out: Postmedia's five highest-paid executives got $6.46 million in total compensation for fiscal 2020 (including $2.59 million in bonuses). That's almost as much as they expect from the news bailout for 2019 ($7 million) and about half what they got from CEWS as of Aug. 31.
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The @bcndp are still phoning around trying to lure @Conservative_BC MLAs to quit and become Speaker, giving @Dave_Eby a more functional majority. Here's 3 noteworthy Nos:.❌@PeterMilobar: "I will not be seeking to be the Speaker in the upcoming Parliament.".❌ @TrevHal: "No.
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NEW - A leaked memo from @Northern_Health instructs staff in hospitals to allow patients to use drugs in their hotel rooms, not seize their drugs, not seize any weapons with blades under 4" long and not restrict visitors even if they are bringing drugs into the hospital.
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GOOD NEWS - @selinarobinson says her cancerous tumour, which returned last year, has disappeared. She gets a standing ovation in the house.
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NDP: Suspended until after the election, at which point, should we win, we'll just go back to doing what we were doing whether anyone likes it or not.
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NEW - A group of teachers, calling themselves BC Teachers Against Antisemitism, has filed a complaint with BC Human Rights Tribunal alleging @bctf leadership has enabled antisemitism in union and schools. Partly relates to denial of dev funding for Holocaust educators assocation.
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This would probably ring with more sincerity if the @bcndp hadn't pushed out @AnjaliApp from the leadership race, Selina Robinson from cabinet, and Indigenous leader Annita McPhee from the Stikine nomination for @nathancullen.
Instead of just dropping his White Rock candidate to make room for Halford, John Rustad has forced a South Asian woman out of a seat to install Bryan Tepper there. This is the second time, after forcing out Jody Toor to make room for @elenoresturko. Says a lot. .
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BC Greens out w/ a press release blasting Dr. Henry’s public health changes. Says masks should remain mandatory in public transit, N95 masks free to everyone, plus extra filtration in schools. @SoniaFurstenau says “deeply concerned” there is no plan for future and no clear info.
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Breaking: a deer is trying to enter the royal gates. Police let it in. It reunited with its baby inside.
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.@JohnRustad4BC telling me on @CHEK_News tonight from Courtenay rally that he's targeting Van Island hard in campaign and "my hope is we're actually going to take the majority of seats here on Vancouver Island." Which given @bcndp's history in some ridings, is a bold claim.
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Where the heck has this Justin Trudeau been the last four weeks?!?!?.
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Qs to Dr. Henry today are basically: You’ve been universally praised for your style, decision-making and careful poise in this pandemic that has kept BC’s cases low — so when are you going to abandon all that and start yelling at people and penalizing them like little children?.
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.@jjhorgan is now 40m into his press conference and has taken questions from 10 reporters with multiple follow-ups. To the criticism from the Liberals yesterday he is “hiding” - you never saw Christy Clark or Gordon Campbell run a scrum this long.
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23 members of @uvic's faculty of law have written to prez asking UVIC to make vaccines mandatory for students. Urges UVIC to ignore Dr. Henry’s position that only BCgov can set that rule. Says BC has no legal basis to prevent UVIC from a vaccine mandate.
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Spoke to @AnjaliApp this morning. She says the organizing she did in her campaign caught the party off guard, outworked the @Dave_Eby campaign, and now the party is "building towards a predetermined conclusion" by DQing her so Eby can win.
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My grandfather, Bob Middlemass, died today at the age of 98. Instilled in me kindness, honesty and a sense of humour (and my hair, thank god for his genetics). Survived WWII in the RCAF - got pneumonia and missed the day his plane was shot down. One of the best men I ever knew.
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.@KevinFalcon rips BC NDP gov for firing BC Ferries CEO Mark Collins (via proxy Joy MacPhail) saying if Collins should lose his job for staffing shortages and ferry cancellations, @adriandix should lose his job for health care turmoil and people dying in ER waiting rooms.
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.@Dave_Eby takes a shot at @JohnRustad4BC for his "unplanned, uncosted hospital" announcement in Surrey. Which, of course, is not at all like the @bcndp hospital plans this elxn, like the Nanaimo hospital tower which is (checks notes). uncosted, and without a business plan.
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