.David Eby, fresh off a razor thin victory in the BC election, has made some huge mistakes right out of the gate. During the campaign Eby repeatedly told voters he would deliver instant tax relief if the NDP were re-elected, as opposed to the Conservative Rustad Rebate on rent or mortgage interest that would take a yea...

Apparently, there's still only one person in Canada who thinks Justin Trudeau can get re-elected as Prime Minister next year... and of course that person is Justin Trudeau himself.Although his party has been in power for a decade and incumbent governments are falling like dominos across the globe, Trudeau seems to beli...

Rapidly expanding government jobs at the expense of almost zero private sector job growth, financed on the public credit card, at almost 5 billion dollars a year in interest payments, with plans for more record deficits and debt, has got BC in an economic downspin that's likely to end up in a full-blown hurricane. In a...

The people have spoken and the result so far is an almost 50 - 50 split in seats between the governing NDP and the upstart BC Conservatives.Except for two Green Party seats which will likely tip the balance of power and end up deciding who forms the next government. This election will be remembered for the phoenix-like...

There have been many promises made by all parties in the last few weeks since the BC election started, from tax cuts to subsidized housing to strengthening the criminal justice system.One thing that seems to have widespread support in BC is bringing back long-term mental health facilities like psychiatric hospitals tha...

The wait is over and the BC election has begun.Unlike the last election, the BC Liberals/United have all but disappeared and for the first time in 70 years, the BC Conservatives have risen from the depths of political oblivion like a phoenix, getting only 2% of the vote four years ago, to now reaching the lofty heights...

Welcome back to the Northern View. And what a summer it's been in the political arena all over the world. Here in BC we've had our own seismic shakeup. As the BC Conservatives continued their seemingly unstoppable rise up the polls, pressuring the BC United to step aside and join forces to deny the NDP a third term in ...

The BC government's recent announcement that it will make CPR training for high school students mandatory is a step in the right direction.My only question is, why did it take so long? Not just for this NDP government but for all past BC governments as well. As a former teacher I always wondered why all the adults, inc...

Last week political tremors shook the province as Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA and BC United Caucus Chair Lorne Doerkson crossed the floor to join the surging BC Conservatives, followed by Surrey MLA, Elenore Sturko this week.Sturko was arguably the second highest profile BC United MLA right now after party leader Kevin Falco...

Last fall the Knights Inn Motel, purchased for $1.1 million dollars in 2019, was sold for over $4 million dollars to the City of Prince George, giving the sellers a whopping $3 million dollar profit on a dilapidated old motel. Mayor Yu defended the purchase as it was done in partnership with BC Housing who agreed to pa...

Last week the BC government announced they would end drug use and possession in public places like parks, school grounds, on public transit and in hospitals.Mayors of large, medium and small cities from across the political spectrum have welcomed this decision to amend the province's three year-old decriminalization pi...

Last week Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled a massive budget that includes $53 billion in new spending on, well, just about everything in what looks like a swing for the fences, last-ditch effort to turn around the Liberal Party's ailing political fortunes.One of the big promises in the budget is to b...

It's about 5 months to go, or less, until we go to the polls to elect the next BC government, and wow, things are getting very interesting. The last time we saw anything like this was way back in 1991 when the former Social Credit Party and government virtually disintegrated allowing the upstart BC Liberal Party to swo...

There has been a lot of debate around the Carbon Tax lately, particularly since it's increasing from $65 to $80 a ton on April 1st, and specifically up to 17 cents on a litre of gas. The whole point of this tax was to get people to stop buying gas by making fuel so expensive that we would stop driving conventional cars...

Last week BC Finance Minister Katrine Conroy unveiled the provincial budget for 2024, announcing nearly $90 billion dollars in total spending for the year and a record $7.9 billion annual deficit for the province. By the end of 2027 BC's total debt is now projected to reach almost $130 billion, which means it will have...

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently touched down again in northern B.C. to set off what should be a hard-fought battle for the riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley in the next federal election. Since the late 1950s the riding has gone back and forth between the NDP and the Conservatives, with the Liberals ...

Happy New Year's. So we've turned the page on 2023 and get to hit the reset button once again on the calendar with new goals and aspirations, but what does 2024 have in store for us? With all the bad news in recent times, from wars in the Middle East and Europe to severe droughts, wildfires, mass shootings, sky high in...

The recent uproar over Prince George Mayor Yu's travel and expense budget has caused quite a stir here in the city and around the province, and he certainly didn't handle the whole situation very well. There's no question the taxpayers should not be paying for unused hotel rooms right here in the city. I think it's a s...

The city of Prince George is now considering reducing garbage pick up from once a week to once every two weeks and in my opinion there's no question city council needs to pull the trigger on this and hopefully increase recycling pick up to once a week to make up the difference. Why? Quite simply because for households ...

.There's been a lot of talk lately in the political world about fixing things that are broken as we get closer to the next provincial election.One thing that hasn't been discussed much of late is ICBC. While there have been some smaller positive changes like renewing your car insurance over the phone, and no longer nee...

By now you've probably heard about the Liberal government carving out the carbon tax mostly on home heating in Atlantic Canada. As really the flagship policy for the government since 2015, it was surprising to hear Trudeau announce that he would be walking back the tax basically in one region while leaving it up to Can...

Crime of all sorts is simply out of control in B.C.This past week we heard about a major retailer, London Drugs, thinking about shutting down stores across the province, including here in Prince George, due to safety concerns and financial costs of repeated criminal acts in and around their stores. We also heard about ...

Recently there has been some controversy around local School Board Chair Rachael Weber's nomination as the BC Conservative Party candidate for Prince George-Mackenzie in the upcoming provincial election.Adding fuel to the fire was Weber's recent comments about private vs. public education, and questions around some of ...

It's been a crazy few weeks for Canadian and BC politics, with shocking stories seemingly coming from everywhere, including the news that the once again upstart BC Conservative Party, now led by Nechako-Lakes MLA John Rustad, has overtaken the Official Opposition BC United for second place in the province.A recent poll...

The complex and difficult decision by the Mayor and Council to shut down the homeless camp at Millenium Park garnered some criticism from those who opposed the move, but it seems clear the majority of residents in the city supported the Council's decision. It's important to remember that our city council represents eve...

.With record heat waves, droughts and forest fires raging once again here in B.C. and across Canada, it's clear that climate change is occurring, and its existence has nothing to do with one's political beliefs.So, what can we do to help mitigate the effects and lessen the burden for future generations? Recycling is on...

On June 17 there will be yet another by-election for two seats on School District 57's Board of Education.Ten people have stepped up and put their names forward to run for those two seats, which is a great thing to see so many people in the community interested in serving on the board. And if one ever needed a reason t...

In February, I had to make a weekend emergency trip to Mexico and back to bring home an ailing family member who was critically ill.And it's my subsequent experience with our health care system that I'm going to talk about today. My relative's first encounter with the UNBC Hospital, weighing only 85 pounds and having n...