Shannon Waters
@sobittersosweet
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Brassy, bright, sharp - like a tack BC politics and environment reporter @thenarwhalca Opinions mine, all mine
Victoria, British Columbia
Joined September 2013
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He died b/c he was tased for repeatedly stabbing a woman 🤦♀️
Can we PLS make the headline about the woman who may lose an eye after a "Tinder horror date" w/ a man who had to be tased repeatedly to stop him from attacking her? I know headlines are hard - so is dating while female
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Do we look unprofessional to you? Women in the
@BCLegislature
are being told our bare arms are unprofessional, do not constitute proper business attire for the halls of the House
#bcpoli
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Are you even a real reporter until you've been laid off? 🤔
Marking that milestone today along with several of my colleagues 💫
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Some are saying green hair is unprofessional. Is red better? Pink maybe? My hair colour impacts neither my work nor the way I conduct myself. Neither do my tattoos or my nose ring. If you want to prejudge my work based on my appearance, that's your loss 😘
#bcpoli
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There's 1 BC NDP cabinet minister wearing a mask at today's ceremony and it's not the health minister
#bcpoli
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It's ✨personal news✨ time again!
Very excited to share I'm
@CapitalDailyVic
's new municipal reporter!
I joined the team this week and will be covering all things locally political across the Capital Regional District, including the upcoming elections 🤩
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Unclear whether Surrey's new hospital will provide surgical abortion based on the answer from the health minister.
Surrey's current hospital does not.
Neither does any other hospital in Fraser Health.
Blew my mind to learn that last week
#bcpoli
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Over the past week of briefings on
#COVID19
, I've become increasingly envious of Dr. Henry's eye-catching footwear. Couldn't resist snapping this pic earlier this week 👠
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My sister's a nurse. She got off a 12-hour shift at the hospital today just in time to hear the daily cheer. It brought her to tears and warmed her heart (her words) after another long, stressful day.
Keep doing the good things, good people.
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I pulled someone's child off the bottom of a body of water this weekend. 0 swimming skills. No lifejacket.
Kid was fine, thankfully. It took several minutes to locate their parent.
This is how preventable tragedies happen. Watch your kids every second.
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@MrRiotDiet
@PatMass_
@robinhanson
Maybe let's work on ensuring adequate redistribution for real inequalities before worrying too much about pandering to a bunch of entitled dudes who literally can't be bothered to make themselves appealing to the very people they expect sex from?
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I'm kind of confused as to what, exactly, Kenney thinks Ottawa has done to block or stall TMX.
They approved it.
Then they bought it.
Then they reapproved it.
It's been hung up on court challenges (with more to come) not federal red tape or inaction.
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Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry holding a press conference to provide "an update on the Covid-19 pandemic" at the legislature at 10AM tomorrow 👀
It's been quite a while since the BC government held an event about Covid
#bcpoli
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"We all know that we live in a rainforest. We get wet in November but nothing remotely like this."
Super useful comment from the leader of the province.
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"Alcohol is not a very safe drug," chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says.
And yet it's regulated and so 7 people aren't dropping dead from drinking alcohol every day in BC
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The current phone number listed for the media contact for BC's Mental Health and Addictions ministry is actually for the GardenWorks in Colwood 💁♀️
#bcpoli
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Maybe if health care workers were supplied with N95s - or even allowed to wear them widely at work - fewer of them would be getting sick with Omicron?
Just spitballing here
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"I'm thinking, by the time we get to July... we'll be able to hug our neighbours," Dr. Henry says.
And then: "People who like to be hugged - I mean, we have to understand that not everybody does."
It's good to be seen 💁♀️
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Here it is, my new chapter!
I'm thrilled to join the talented team
@thenarwhalca
Looking forward to digging deeper into the big issues facing BC as we head into the next provincial election!
#bcpoli
With an election year in B.C., we wanted to boost our coverage on all things environment. Enter
@sobittersosweet
, our very first B.C. politics and environment reporter! Join us in welcoming her to the pod — and find out what she’s most excited to cover!
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I don't know which gov comms shop needs to hear this* but telling reporters how to approach their coverage is way, way outside your lane 💁♀️
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Not BC quietly posting new and amended orders from the provincial health officer online with no communication or context 😶
Colour me shocked 🙃
#bcpoli
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Trying to understand how the PHO has time for year-end interviews but not, say, daily public briefings on the Covid situation in BC where every reporter on the line gets to ask a question...
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I honestly don't even know how to write about illicit drug deaths in BC anymore.
The government's response is the same month after month, year after year as thousands of people die.
I've been covering the overdose crisis since before I became a working reporter
#bcpoli
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The sweet satisfaction of telling your former employer you will not be signing an NDA
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So it's my first day as editor in chief for Politics Today!
Thrilled to be back working with the excellent reporting team
@QueensParkToday
has assembled,
@CGriwkowsky
@Alan_S_Hale
@palakmangat
and
@LazenbyAlec
Looking forward to learning a lot more about politics beyond BC!
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All I want for Christmas is to get picked to ask a question during a
#Covid19
briefing 💁♀️🎁
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So ~92% of BC homeowners get the home owner grant
While ~80% of BC renters will get some amount of tax credit
Price tag for the HOG in 2023-24: $910M
Price tag for the renter tax credit: $307M
Yikes
#bcpoli
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In 2012, Kelowna RCMP asked a young woman reporting her sexual assault if it turned her on.
Last year, they reportedly asked a woman - who told them she was 15 and unconscious when she was assaulted - if she consented.
I don't know that there's much to explain here...
RCMP are struggling to explain why 40 per cent of sexual assault allegations in Kelowna are deemed "unfounded," amid calls for a sex crimes unit to be established in the city.
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I'm sure you've heard it before
The idea that people who are homeless in our community 'aren't from here'
That they came to Victoria for better services or for an 'easier' life
Data shows us that's mostly myth
From
@brish_ti
and I
@CapitalDailyVic
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Honestly, anybody who claims that being a renter in BC is "fun" or even that it "can be really enjoyable" makes it painfully, glaringly obvious that they have not been a renter in a very long time
#bcpoli
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Wow.
So it looks like BC could have been repackaging rapid tests for months, as Nova Scotia did, to make them available to the public
#bcpoli
#Covid19
Dr. Henry said today that one of the reasons at-home test kits aren't being distributed as widely as other provinces is because of the big packs they are in.
Here's how Nova Scotia handled this:
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The fact that BC still has frontline health care workers - in ICUs, ERs and on
#Covid19
wards - who have not yet gotten their booster shots blows my mind.
But also not really 🙃
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@cowichandale
@David_Moscrop
My parents did this to me but in video form. I am on camera promising to take care of them "forever and ever" when they're old and have them live with me. Joke's on them though cause their deck is larger than my apartment.
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"I'm not aware of any transmission from having people in a room together," the PHO says when asked about BC's policy allowing Covid+ patients to share hospital rooms with people who were admitted without
#Covid19
with droplet precautions in place
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15 people in BC died of Covid today but I'm sure this is fine
NEW: BCers who haven't been tested for COVID but have symptoms can now go back to work/life whenever they feel better
The health minister is defending new instructions quietly posted on the
@CDCofBC
& health authority websites
@CTVVancouver
#bcpoli
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Sure would have been nice to get a direct answer to "is +400 cases a day your definition of a low case count" (as specified for moving into Step 4 of the reopening plan) from the PHO 😕
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A few months ago, the Vancouver Sun reported on the new requirement that job postings in BC include salary ranges.
Now the publication is looking to hire a legislative reporter...and the job posting does not include a salary range 🙃
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BC has "the lowest mortality rate due to
#Covid19
of any jurisdiction in North America," BC's health minister said today.
Just a quick reminder that there's evidence BC has significantly undercounted Covid-related deaths, as outlined by
@MoriartyLab
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"Respect the fact that you do not need 48 eggs."
🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚
#bcpoli
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This phone in the press gallery has been ringing for 3 months. It doesn't stop when you pick it up or when you hang it up 😳
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On the absence of the PHO, health minister and mental health and addictions minister at today's event, is it fair to even call the province's treatment of the drug poisoning crisis as an emergency?
It's "a really good question," per Lapointe
#bcpoli
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BC chief coroner flatly rejects this characterization
"Decriminalization is not responsible for these deaths. Illicit fentanyl is responsible for these deaths ... Unhelpful is probably the least worst thing I can say about it," Lapointe says when asked about this video
#bcpoli
When Eby assumed office, he pledged to be judged on results. Well, the results are in, and they are devastating. This is a damning indictment of the NDP's disastrous decriminalization policy which has recklessly endangered lives. British Columbians deserve so much better.
#BCpoli
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The best end of year list, every year
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For all of the health minister's recent comments about making time to take lots of questions, just 5 reporters got to ask during today's briefing.
5. Reporters.
That is...not a lot
#bcpoli
#COVID19BC
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You wash the dishes and then you make the dinner and then you wash the dishes and then you make the dinner and then you wash the dishes and then you make the dinner and then you die and at least you don't have to wash the dishes anymore
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This week, I asked the Greens, Liberals and NDP how many of their
#bcelexn2020
candidates are renters.
Seemed like a relevant angle on candidate diversity - housing affordability and the rental market being what they are (and decidedly not what they were 30 or even 10 yrs ago)
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So.
Some personal news, as the saying goes.
I have covered my last session for
@BCTodayOfficial
and I'll write my last edition later this month.
It's been nearly 5 years since
@QueensParkToday
hired me to start a brand new publication and what a ride it's been!
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So masks are "required at all times" at the gym except the times when you're doing the thing that one typically goes to the gym to do?
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Buried in another bonkers
#bcpoli
day: during a motion supporting
#SOGI
, NDP MLA Doug Routley came out as bisexual, adding he's been out to friends and family for a few years now.
#BiErasure
is still a real struggle so TY, member, for making yourself seen 🏳️🌈
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Still trying to wrap my head around how the per vote subsidy to political parties in BC will be indexed to inflation as of next year but the politicians still haven't managed to raise disability or income assistance rates above the poverty line or index them to inflation 🙃🙃
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@robshaw_vansun
I think the lack of empathy, particularly from younger people, stems from being told, "If you can't afford to live here, leave" about
#VanRe
for the past decade. And they do, even if they've lived nowhere else - because they don't have a workaround like deferring property taxes
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"We are confident that there's not a lot of people dying in the community from COVID that we don't know about." - Dr. Bonnie Henry
And, then, of course, there is British Columbia, where the difference between expected and reported is...profound.
For a while I thought maybe it was delayed reporting, but comparing curve trajectories, I think we're seeing possible 5-fold under-detection/under-reporting.
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This is not a new issue for BC. In the early days of the pandemic, it felt like a little benefit of the doubt was appropriate as the province tried to find its feet in response to the pandemic.
But it's starting to feel like at least one of two things are happening:
It's Friday night twitter so I'm gonna go on a little rant here about the government secrecy and COVID-19
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Minister Farnworth is still not a fan of the "experts on Twitter."
Everybody can log off now 💁♀️
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Some information from the BC Coroners Service about fentanyl
For the past 7 years, it's been detected in 82-87% of deaths linked to unregulated drugs
Decrim took effect in January 2023
Hope this helps,
@Telegraph
Dashboard is here:
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Getting to report stories with Brishti was one of the big highlights of the past 6 months
She's diligent, driven, phenomenal at finding and building sources and an absolute treat to write with
~Some personal news~ I’m back to freelancing as of this morning, after
@OverstoryMedia
decided to lay off me and several other members of the Capital Daily editorial team.
Proud of the work we’ve done there these last few years, and disappointed in the direction it’s taking.
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Next time you hear a politician wax poetic about the role news media plays in society, democracy, etc, ask yourself this:
Do they live up to those words in their interactions with reporters? Does the party or government they represent?
Actions > words, and all that
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I have gone from regularly checking the Covid dashboard to regularly checking the wildfire dashboard 🙃
I guess the change in disaster monitoring is nice? They say variety is the spice of life right? 🥲
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The pandemic is breaking people
73% of Canadians say they would “definitely” or “probably” eat pizza with pineapple, up seven points since July 2019.
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Kinda weird to see the PHO warning "racialized people and those living in poverty or homeless" would likely be disproportionately impacted by enforcement of mask orders while seeming pretty blase about the fact BC doesn't know how the pandemic is affecting those same people, no?
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BC's PHO says it's an "urban myth" that millions of rapid tests are sitting in warehouses instead of being distributed and used.
Here's the latest info from Health Canada with the caveat that received data is from Dec 17, deployed from Dec 10
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BCers who own properties worth up to $2.125 million will get subsidies from the BC government this year based on the value of their property
Meanwhile, if the renters' rebate the NDP promised 5 years ago ever arrives, it will likely be means-tested for...reasons 🤔
#bcpoli
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At least 3 people have died in the past year while waiting for ER care or because the local ER was closed.
And the health ministry has the audacity to say they "want people to know that when they come to the hospital, they are safe."
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Update:
@Fraserhealth
sent me a response to my questions from yesterday morning.
The TL;DR looks to be this:
None of the 6 Fraser Health hospitals required by regulation to provide abortions are performing "routine" surgical abortions
#bcpoli
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@Aaron_Assoun
@LakishaaDee
@Sam_i_am3
@MikeBizThoughts
@OriginalYoni
50F is a meaningless measurement. Doesn't exist here. Sounds mild though. Cold is when the temperature drops into negative double digits.
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Wow, storming out of possibly your final presser as premier is quite the look 😶
#bcpoli
.
@jjhorgan
is asked why list of NDP provincial council members aren’t public. Horgan says he won’t subject them to “thuggery” by
@AnjaliApp
supporters then gets upset at the Q and says “I think I’m done here” and walks out of press conference. That might have been his final one.
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"Right now, there’s enough rapid tests for each person in Canada to have access to four rapid tests for a month, and it would be critical to be distributing the rapid tests right now with the surge of Omicron.”
But BC still isn't cause 🤷♀️
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I reached out to
@RJMersereau
to learn more about her reasons for not seeking re-election and she told me she was "a little nervous" talking about the fact “a lot of it has to do with the cost of living in the region”
#yyjpoli
My story
@CapitalDailyVic
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Third day of trying to put questions to the health minister with no luck, in case you're wondering how press access in the legislature is going 🙃
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This framing troubles me. Canada celebrates its multiculturalism but this piece implies anyone who has lived here > a decade at least should'nt participate in disruptive public discourse while also suggesting longtime activists aren't legitimate if they protest multiple causes
WATCH: A closer look at some of the key players in the Lower Mainland blockades and protests.
@GlobalBC
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So I'm moving after less than 4 years and my landlords are raising rent on the place by 50%
In case you were wondering how the
#yyj
rental market is doing 🫠🫠🫠
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So how are we feeling about the idea of having Elections BC run party leadership contests this morning?
#bcpoli
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I'm not much for tears but man, there was suddenly a whole lot of dust in my eyes on hearing they could be vaccinating frontline acute care workers within weeks.
That's my sister. She's been treating Covid patients since the beginning and it's...a lot.
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Happy
#BiVisibilityDay
from your friendly, neighbourhood
#bcpoli
reporter!
(k, 3/4 of those are true!)
As someone who is bi and (mostly) out, I like to take today to put my hand up and remind ppl that bi folks are around and you probably know one 💁♀️ 💗💙💜
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Wow.
CTV asked for opinion polling on Covid done between 9/21 and 5/22 and was told to file an FOI.
423 of 428 pages of the FOI results were withheld 🙃🙃
The transparency, it overwhelms me 🥲
Another
@CTVVancouver
story from “the most transparent jurisdiction in North America”!
423 blank pages when I asked to see
#bcpoli
opinion polling on Covid 🫠
Why?
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Nobody asks men why they're not home raising their kids instead of our "earning a living" or chasing their career dreams.
Until women are paid for the labour that is childrearing, keep your garbage, retrograde opinions to yourself.
Unfortunately, it is not unusual to see a comment like this. My questions are: 1) Who are the ones staying at home? 2) How many BC families can survive with one income? 3) How many employers are losing workers who can’t return to work due to childcare needs?
#ChildCareBC
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People are going to work sick because they can't afford not to.
But sure, let's blame them for the fact BC has no paid sick leave requirements.
There’s room for criticism and certainly these numbers are concerning, but... and call me crazy... it ain’t our provincial health leadership having house parties and going to work sick.
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Imagine a world where politicians and public officials were fined for refusing to speak to media 🙃
Naomi Osaka Slapped With $15k Fines for Not Doing Press at the French Open
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.
@Fluevog
site is down. I blame
@richardzussman
for mentioning the Dr. Henry shoe presale during this afternoon's briefing!
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There are anti-vax protestors yelling "Honk!" outside the legislature.
They were not impressed when someone yelled, "Get a truck!" at them 😅
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This is a fun story about fashion as self-expression. Maybe it's confusing for men to try and understand fashion can be empowering or objectifying/dehumanizing depending on context.
Sounds like they should just refrain from commenting on subjects they don't understand 💁♀️
This is a fun story about Bonnie Henry's fondness for stylish shoes. But maybe it's confusing for girls - when a cultural message is it's not appropriate to highlight the clothing & looks of powerful women. Trying to think this thru.
#COVID19BC
#bcpoli
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Everyone: Canada's never had a female finance minister! 😱
Me: We've also never elected a woman prime minister 🤷♀️
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I will be celebrating the end of the fall session by drinking 1 whisky for every time a gov minister said "unprecedented" this week.
No, I won't.
Because that would kill me 💁♀️
There will be whisky though 🥃
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Oh, honey - we're all so heartbroken you wouldn't want to hire us. Especially based on such incredibly discerning criteria like the colour of our hair and the ink in our skin. Guess we'll just have to keep working in the boring, old
#bcleg
huh? Poor us.
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All 3 of us had offers within 3 weeks of getting fired
It's almost like the Cap Daily team was really, really good 🤔
Too bad
@OverstoryMedia
didn't see our value, others definitely do!
Less than four weeks after half the staff was axed from
@CapitalDailyVic
, three* of the four of us have new jobs. That's something to celebrate!
Congratulations to my former colleagues
@sobittersosweet
@jrudisuela
@brish_ti
; it was a privilege to work with you.
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There's an NDP MLA standing up in the chamber right now, talking about how important freedom of information is and I just 😒😒😒
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Allowing people the option to control their fertility in the way that works best for them for free is **not** like eugenics 💁♀️
A BC Liberal candidate who's been slammed for his anti-gay views in the past is being condemned once again -- this time for his take on free birth control
#BCVotes2020
#bcpoli
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My sister works on the Covid ward at the Jubilee.
The situation described in
@brish_ti
's reporting is familiar and remains deeply upsetting (correct tag this time
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*I know exactly which gov comms shop needs to hear this and I hope they see my tweet after ghosting me all afternoon
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Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld has lost his defamation suit against former BCTF prez Glen Hansman over comments Hansman made to media in response to a post Neufeld made on FB. Judge finds Hansman's comments fall under fair comment and public interest
New ruling from the B.C. Supreme Court in 'Neufeld v. Hansman'
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