Tag Archives: david eby

#BCPoli | David Eby Brings Constitutents Up-To-Date

BC Election 2024, BC Votes 2024, canadian politics, Know Your Local Ruling Class, Politics, Vancouver, ,


British Columbia Premier David Eby, who serves as a Member of the Legislature representing Vancouver-Point Grey — which he calls home — alongside his 9-year-old son, Ezra, newborn daughter, Gwen, and his 5-year-old scalliwag daughter … Iva, who celebrated her 5th birthday this past Friday.

In what is becoming a contentious upcoming 2024 British Columbia provincial election — set to take place on October 19th — there seems to be a tendency afoot to dehumanize those courageous persons who have come forward to place their name before the electorate to represent not just those persons who live in their riding, but serve to make a constituent difference to the livability of our province.

On this Labour Day 2024, VanRamblings wishes to introduce you to the man we have known since his arrival in our province in 2007 to article with PIVOT Legal in service of completing his law degree, the father and the husband, the friend, the principled man of gregarious good will who means well for our province, and the man who has steadfastly served with compassion and distinction all those, in this particular instance, who reside in his west side Vancouver-Point Grey riding.

VanRamblings has asked David Eby’s senior constituency assistant, Saad Shoaib, for permission to publish excerpts from the quarterly newsletter David Eby posted to those persons who reside in his Vancouver-Point Grey riding. Permission has kindly been granted. Forthwith, David Eby’s most recent constituency newsletter.

Enjoy what we are sure you will find to be an extraordinarily humane document.

Hello Neighbours!

With September comes the real start of the new year for many people in our community, including our family.

I was excited to attend the Brock House Community Fair again this year. Ezra and Iva bought some beautiful jewelry, and we enjoyed the performance of the Brock House Band as always. I also had a great time at Greek Day in Kitsilano, joining local elected officials for the opening ceremony, and welcoming Greek cultural organizations from across the Lower Mainland.

This year though, for the first time since being elected, I missed attending the Khatsahlano Street Party. While I’m sure this year was as epic as ever, I had what I think is a decent excuse … I missed the party due to the birth of our wonderful new baby girl, Gwen.

Gwendolyn Kay Eby was born at St. Paul’s Hospital on June 27, joining our family of now, amazingly, five! Baby Gwen is happy and healthy and is fitting right in around our busy house.

I’ve also been notified by Barry Leinbach, the “Captain” of the Kitsilano Showboat, that he’s working hard trying to get clarity from the Park Board on the future of this stage that has hosted community performances for almost 100 years, since the Great Depression.

Because of problems at the Kitsilano pool, and a fire two years ago at the site, the existing Showboat was due to be demolished; however, the demolition was stopped by the City since the time of writing this newsletter.

If you have time, please join me in writing to the Park Board to encourage them to work with Barry and identify the next location for this iconic institution. Use the address 2305 Cornwall on the feedback form at this link https://vancouver.ca/your-government/contact-park-board.aspx to share your thoughts.

The Kitsilano Showboat has entertained families for free for generations — it shouldn’t sink on our watch!

In good news for our neighbourhoods, geological testing has begun for the completion of the Broadway subway from Arbutus to UBC. You may see the big rigs drilling in the neighbourhood. The geological information gathered, combined with traffic and population projection studies will be combined into a “business case” which sets out station locations and routing for the project.

In the meantime, an agreement with the Translink mayors means new busses are being purchased to expand express bus service across our fast-growing region.

In other news, a beautiful new rental housing building in our community has been covered extensively by media with some suggesting that government should not have been involved in the project at all. Given that it’s in our neighbourhood I thought I’d share some of the background.

The owners of a closed church at the site in Kits had sold the land to a developer. Because of high interest rates and increasing material costs that are threatening rental housing projects across Canada, without government involvement this site in Kits would be developed for luxury condos or townhomes, both of which were fully allowed under existing zoning.

Instead of luxury condos, our government provided a loan guarantee for the financing of the project, reducing the homebuilder’s interest costs in exchange for an agreement to deliver 68 new rental housing units with 14 of those units (20%) renting at below market rents. On completion of the project, which is imminent, the developer pays back the full loan, and all of the associated interest.

Normally, a below-market unit costs $500,000+ for government to build directly.

In this case, this loan guarantee delivered affordable rental units that cost taxpayers nothing, even the interest on the loan is repaid by the homebuilder, not taxpayers. The remaining rental housing units, with market rents, are desperately needed as we added 180,000 people to our province, 15,000 every month, in 2023.

I look forward to welcoming those 14 families into their new Kitsilano homes.

As we’re gearing up at our house for a return to school on Tuesday, for Ezra — and his sister Iva’s first year of big kid school at Kindergarten!

I hope that you and your family and friends are well, and you’ve enjoyed a restful and relaxing summer in our beautiful Vancouver. We’re so lucky to live in such an amazing city, and this summer I was reminded again of how it’s our neighbours in this community who make so many of these special things we enjoy possible.

See you around the neighbourhood!

David Eby

#BCPoli | Falcon | The King is Dead, Long Live the King

BC Election 2024, BC Votes 2024, Canada, COVID-19, Environment, Park Board, Politics, Vancouver, , , , ,

When BC United leader Kevin Falcon announced yesterday afternoon in a joint press conference with BC Conservative leader John Rustad that he would be resigning as leader of his party — while suspending BC United’s campaign for office in the upcoming British Columbia election, leaving John Rustad’s B.C. Conservative party to represent the alleged centre-right in a two-way race with David Eby’s British Columbia New Democratic Party, Kevin Falcon did so with a heavy heart.

Today on VanRamblings, we’ll provide you with the background that led to Kevin Falcon making his decision to step away from British Columbia electoral politics.

Make no mistake, there is no love loss between Kevin Falcon and John Rustad.

Kevin Falcon continues to believe — as he espoused to Global BC’s Keith Baldrey in a breakfast / walk around the Legislature grounds on Tuesday morning — that John Rustad represents an existential threat to the health and well-being of British Columbians, in particular to the interests of families raising children.

Interesting that Kevin Falcon — as VanRamblings has been writing all week — gave as rationale for his resignation, the interests of his two young daughters, and by extension all children across the province.

Focusing on the interests of children was the code Mr. Falcon employed to state that he remains adamantly opposed to the climate denialist, homo-and-transphobic, racist, misogynist,  anti-vaxx, Christian dominionist-wannabe, Trump-like John Rustad-led BC Conservatives.

So, what led Kevin Falcon to make the very difficult decision to leave politics?

Sources tell us, two weeks ago representatives of the development industry in our province met with Mr. Falcon, demanding he resign as BC United party leader, and fold the B.C. United tent in favour of supporting John Rustad’s B.C. Conservative party, a “request” that was anathema to Kevin Falcon.

The development industry was not simply making a suggestion to Kevin Falcon, an idle request he might consider, but a demand, backed up by a threat …

“Either you resign as leader, and fold the B.C. United campaign for office, or we assure you that you will never work again in British Columbia, no one will hire you, you will be unemployable, and unable to provide for your family.”

Representatives of the development industry were not making an idle threat.

Kevin Falcon was given two weeks to make up his mind as to what course of action he would take. In coming to a decision, Mr.Falcon took the interests of his wife, and his two daughters, Josephine and Rose, as his priority and .. resigned.


Dimitri Pantazopoulos, currently employed as B.C. Conservative pollster, and co-campaign manager

Earlier this week, Kevin Falcon met with his longtime friend Dimitri Pantazopoulos, long Stephen Harper’s Conservative party pollster, B.C. Liberal and Vancouver Non-Partisan Association pollster, who is currently employed by the surging B.C. Conservatives as that party’s pollster, and de facto co-campaign manager. As you may recall, it was Mr. Pantazopoulos who in British Columbia’s 2013 provincial election identified the 50 B.C. ridings that the B.C. Liberals could win — this at a time when B.C. Liberal Premier Christy Clark was mired at 26% in the polls, with Adrian Dix soaring at 49% voter approval. Indeed, on May 14, 2013, Christy Clark did, in fact, win the 50 seats Mr. Pantazopoulos had identified.

When Dimitri Pantazopoulos met with Kevin Falcon, Mr. Pantazopoulos told him …

“Kevin, not only will B.C. United be decimated at the polls on the night of October 19th, none of B.C. United’s candidates will win in their ridings, and that includes you. At the moment, Kevin, you are running a distant second to Dallas Brodie, the B.C. Conservative candidate and longtime resident within your Vancouver-Quilchena riding, while you continue to maintain your family home across the inlet in North Vancouver. You’re going to lose, and lose badly, an embarrassing and regrettable loss to be sure, but a most assured loss, and a humiliating end to your once promising political career in British Columbia politics.”

And with that piece of devastating news, Kevin Falcon’s decision was made.

The ironic aspect to the present British Columbia political circumstance, where John Rustad stands on the precipice of victory at the polls on October 19th, is that Mr. Rustad doesn’t even want to be British Columbia’s next Premier.

At 61 years of age, having celebrated his birthday on August 18th, Mr. Rustad believes he’s had his day in the sun — as British Columbia’s once upon a time B.C Liberal government Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, and Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources. Not for this man from the hinterlands, the cut and thrust of electoral politics. Mr. Rustad simply wants to rest.

When John Rustad was unceremoniously dropped from the B.C. Liberal caucus on his birthday in 2022, for his antediluvian stand on LGBTQ issues, his vehement opposition to the SOGI 123 (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) programme, his contention that climate change is a hoax, his support of the anti-vaxx movement, and his adherence to any number of QAnon conspiracy theories, including wireless 5G as a root cause of COVID, John Rustad was only too happy to leave what he considered to be a “too progressive” BC United party.

When, some months, later — on Friday, March 31st, 2023 — John Rustad became leader of the B.C. Conservative party, he expected that he’d been heading a conservative party better aligned with his alt-right values, and a provincial political party that in 2024 would likely secure only 1.92% of the vote, as the B.C. Conservatives had in the 2020 British Columbia provincial general election.

Colour John Rustad surprised and disappointed when that presumed outcome of his leadership of the B.C. Conservative party did not come to pass.

So, what does this hill ‘o beans all mean?

Well, there are a couple of issues to consider before we wrap today’s column.

According to an extensive polling of British Columbians from across the province that was conducted last evening, David Eby’s New Democratic Party finds itself in pretty good shape following Kevin Falcon’s resignation as B.C. United leader, with an expected win of 57 seats (a 10-seat majority) in the next (post election) session of the Legislature, to only 36 seats for John Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives.

Given how Kevin Falcon came to define his B.C. United party as a fiscally conservative, yet socially progressive, political party, the thinking among the political cogniscenti is that the remaining adherents of B.C. United just can’t stomach John Rustad’s alt-right B.C. Conservative party and have headed over to the political party, the B.C. New Democrats, that better align with their values.

Next up: you know how we were discussing the power of the development industry to influence the state of politics in British Columbia? Well, listen up, cuz we’ve got a story of wit and (who knows how much) wisdom to tell you.

Turns out that the development industry is pretty darn happy with David Eby’s “we’re gonna build 100,000 units of housing in our next term of government” development ethos. Through Geoff Meggs — former Vision Vancouver City Councillor, former Chief of Staff to Premier John Horgan, and since 2005 the left’s political liaison to the development industry, and at present a senior housing development advisor to Premier David Eby and Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon — they’ve been only too happy to fund David Eby’s NDP re-election bid.

Who’da thunk, huh?

The development industry does not want John Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives to win — gain 40 seats, sure, but hell’s bells, not win — so that John Rustad, who doesn’t for gawd’s sake even want to be Premier, might be replaced within the next year by someone who would, sure, be conservative, but a more pragmatic and palatable to the general public conservative.

Hell, if the antediluvian John Rustad were to win, the development industry would lose billions of dollars in revenue from the David Eby ‘transit-oriented projects’ that would be sidelined were the B.C. Conservatives to win majority government on Saturday, October 19th.

With an easily manipulated Brad West, Elenore Sturko or that youngster, Gavin Dew, installed as the next B.C. Conservative party leader — following John Rustad’s ouster —  should the development industry tire of David Eby come the next provincial election in 2028, they’d have their favourite ambitious, developer-friendly guy or gal in place to do their bidding.

Everybody wins, except us.

Today, we are 52 days away from knowing the outcome of the 2024 British Columbia provincial election, an election VanRamblings predicts will experience a record low turnout — as happened in the last Ontario election, when a paltry 43% of the population turned out to vote, by orders of magnitude the lowest ever turnout in any provincial election, ever.

What does David Eby’s New Democratic Party have in their favour that might contribute to victory come the evening of Saturday, October 19th? A ground game. There is no political party in Canada, and in B.C. in particular, that has a better, more sophisticated and vibrant Get Out the Vote (GOTV) mechanism.

VanRamblings has worked on dozens of federal and provincial NDP campaigns.

We can tell you that you don’t know the meaning of the word organized until you’ve worked on a B.C. New Democratic Party election campaign.

Not to mention, David Eby’s NDP are, by far, the best funded B.C. political party.

What do the B.C. Conservatives have in their favour?

We’ll get into that next week — when, unlike above, we promise to be kind.

#BCPoli | Polls, Polls and More Useless Damn Polls

BC Election 2024, BC Politics, BC Votes 2024, canadian politics, Politics, , , , , , , ,

VanRamblings’ believes that Quitto Maggi’s Mainstreet Research poll on the positioning of the four main political parties in our province to be so much malarkey.

Unlike the Abacus poll we quoted yesterday that gives David Eby’s BC NDP a solid five-point lead over John Rustad’s upstart BC Conservatives — which ran only 19 provincial candidates in the 2020 British Columbia election, with 35,902 votes cast across the province for candidates running with the party, securing a paltry 1.91% of the popular vote — yesterday’s Mainstreet poll gives the BC Conservatives a 3-point lead in the popular vote, well within the poll’s multi-point margin of error.

On Tuesday, VanRamblings suggested that the Mainstreet poll was little more than a push poll, designed to influence prospective voters still sitting on the fence as to who they will cast their ballot. Further, Mr. Maggi’s Mainstreet Research polling has consistently over the years undercounted support for John Horgan or David Eby’s BC NDP provincially, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party, federally.

Further, the Abacus poll, unlike the Mainstreet poll, results were broken down by region, giving David Eby’s BC NDP an insurmountable nine-point lead across Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island, well outside of the 3.2% margin of error …

Out of a potential British Columbia voting population of more than four million adults who are eligible to cast a ballot at advance polls this early October, or on Election Day, October 19th, Mainstreet’s survey interviewed only 962 respondents, employing wildly unreliable automated telephone interviews as Mainstreet’s sole source of information, without any reference whatsoever to voter intention.

Further, Mainstreet’s published survey results fail to break down respondent response by the area of the province where respondents live, be it in the Metro Vancouver region, on Vancouver Island, the Okanagan, the Interior or the North.

Now, as it happens, the BC Conservatives have in their employ Canada’s best Conservative pollster, Dmitri Pantazopoulos — about whom we will write another day. Only the BC Conservative election team, and leader John Rustad — and certainly not everyday British Columbians — will see the results of Mr. Pantazopoulous’ intricate and wildly reliable daily polling results, intensive nightly surveys of those who live in each of British Columbians’ the ridings Mr. Pantazopoulos has deemed — and  targeted — as winnable for John Rustad’s BC Conservatives, the 50+ ridings that would give Mr. Rustad the winning Legislative majority, and government over the next four years.


Dimitri Pantazopoulos (above) will play a key role in determining the outcome of the 2024 BC election

The role of a prescient Mr. Pantazopoulous in determining the outcome of 2024 British Columbia election is a column VanRamblings will save for another day.

#BCPoli | Whither Now BC United Chief Kevin Falcon?

BC Election 2024, BC Politics, canadian politics, Politics, , , , , ,

Kevin Falcon currently sits in the British Columbia Legislature as BC United party Leader of the Loyal Opposition, to Premier David Eby’s BC NDP government.

As we wrote yesterday, Kevin Falcon’s BC United campaign for re-election is currently in the doldrums, with the very real prospect — if polls are to be believed — that BC United might very well be wiped off the political map this fall. In fact, VanRamblings has been told that Mr. Falcon is currently running (a distant) second to the BC Conservative’s Dallas Brodie in his home riding of Vancouver Quilchena.

This past Thursday, August 15th, federal Conservative / political observer / past Managing Editor at the Vancouver Sun / 2014 Vancouver NPA candidate for Mayor / former publisher-editor of Business in Vancouver, Kirk LaPointe, wrote a withering column titled,  Time for Kevin Falcon to Bid Adieu and Become B.C.’s Biden.

“Kevin Falcon is banking on having his Gordon Wilson moment — to ignite BC United as Wilson’s Leaders’ Debate performance did for the 1991 BC Liberals, rising above the onstage bickering of the NDP’s Mike Harcourt and the Social Credit’s Rita Johnson to deliver the famous line: ‘This reminds me of a couple of kids in a sandbox. I’m not interested in what happened 10 years ago; I’m interested in what happens tomorrow.’ Falcon should worry less about an upcoming debate and more about standing in the way of change.

Falcon’s party’s understandable bitterness about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory ought to be set aside if the BC United team is serious about ending the NDP reign. If it wants to oust government, it ought to lend its experienced election machinery to the party in the best position to properly optimize it in the approaching campaign.

But it depends on the guy at the top, the guy who must regret dispatching Rustad from BC United on his birthday two years ago — to do what in his heart he must know by now is best for B.C.

If he is interested in change, Kevin Falcon needs a Biden moment.”

In point of fact, not only have several sitting members of BC United deserted the party (Lorne Doerkson, Elenore Sturko, Teresa Wat), the staff responsible for running BC United’s election campaign have also been leaving the party in droves.

Again, as we wrote yesterday, word from BC Conservative sources is that Kevin Falcon will, indeed, experience his Joe Biden moment, and resign as leader of BC United before month’s end, caving into pressure from all quarters, not to mention the pragmatism of acknowledging polling over the months that has BC United being obliterated at the polls this upcoming October.

As we wrote yesterday, we don’t believe this “speculation” / wishful thinking.

Why not?


BC United caucus members, l-r: Trevor Halford, Todd Stone, Shirley Bond, Mike Bernier, Coralee Oakes

For a start, the remaining MLAs in the BC United caucus running for re-election under the party’s banner — Todd Stone and Peter Milobar in Kamloops, Shirley Bond in Prince George, Coralee Oakes in Prince George Cariboo-North, Mike Bernier in Peace River South, Dan Davies in Peace River North, Tom Shypitka in Kootenay-Rockies, Jackie Tegart in Fraser-Nicola, Ian Paton in Delta South, and Trevor Halford in Surrey-White Rock — would be left high and dry if BC United were to fold their tent (given that the BC Conservatives have already nominated candidates in each of those ridings), a Kevin Falcon decision to step down as leader would serve to create chaos in the lives of the loyal BC United caucus members who are running for re-election, effectively snuffing out their chance at another term in the BC Legislature, not to mention their political careers and aspirations.

In addition, let us not forget the remaining 87 members of the BC United team running for election under the BC United banner in ridings across our province.

BC United enters the campaign as the second most well-funded campaign, just behind the BC NDP, and miles ahead of the BC Conservatives. Anything can happen during the course of the upcoming 28-day British Columbia election campaign. Kevin Falcon and BC United could very well experience a Lazurus or Phoenix-like re-birth, arising from the dead to fight another day for their principles, as duly elected members in good standing, in the British Columbia Legislature.

VanRamblings will have more to say about Kevin Falcon — of a kindly and generous nature — in the days to come. To be quite honest, we are flummoxed that Kevin Falcon, once a celebrated member of Gordon Campbell’s B.C. Liberal caucus, a builder of the first order, a relatively non-partisan happy warrior in Campbell’s government, who was always prepared to work across the aisle, has fallen on such hard times politically. We’ll write about that grievous circumstance another day.


Bill Tieleman, a VanRamblings neighbour and friend, great chef and oenophile, and all around good guy

Note: VanRamblings’ friend, Bill Tieleman, an all around good guy, one of the most authentic and humane men, not to mention a well-informed and principled politico, and just darn good human being, which is to say, one of the best humans of our acquaintance, now or ever — informs us that in point of fact, the Writ will be dropped on September 21st, not September 14th, as we wrote earlier (we thought there’d be a 35-day election period … apparently not … woe is us … alas).