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Winnipeg Free Press
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Eby's bill to speed up B.C. projects risks alienating NDP supporters, expert says
VICTORIA – A political scientist says B.C. Premier David Eby is 'marching the province toward a confrontation' in which Speaker Raj Chouhan will have to cast a deciding vote to push through a bill to speed up certain infrastructure projects. Bill 15 proposes to accelerate some projects to counter U.S. tariffs, but has drawn opposition from First Nations, environmentalists and opposition parties, including the B.C. Greens, who said last week they won't support it. UBC political science lecturer Stewart Prest says it likely means Chouhan will have to break a tied vote on the bill, which doesn't fall under an agreement the New Democrats signed with the Greens in March to protect the government's slim government. While Eby faces an 'outside chance' his government will fall, Prest says he expects the bill that was tabled on May 1 will pass. But Prest says it would come at the cost of 'burning a variety of bridges' with key groups that have historically supported New Democrats, including First Nations. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Eby has acknowledged opposition from First Nations and others, but says the government will address their concerns through regulations, and that it won't change the constitutional obligation the province has to consult with First Nations. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2025.
Hamilton Spectator
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Tri-Cities' NDP voters flocked to both Liberal and Conservatives in 2025 election
Conforming to a trend seen across the country, the Liberal Party's success in the Tri-Cities came at the expense of the NDP. Liberals swept all three ridings, gobbling up two ridings from incumbent NDP MPs. And while local Conservative candidates also gained a significant share of votes from the floundering labour party, Liberal candidates were able to edge out the win. 'The Tri-Cities has certainly gone red,' said long-time Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam Liberal MP Ron McKinnon. Across Canada, the Liberals and Conservatives each captured more than 40 percent of the popular vote. Such binary voting has not occurred in a federal election since 1930. Voters in the Tri-Cities followed a near identical pattern in its two main ridings – Port Moody–Coquitlam and Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam – with NDP voters flocking to either Conservative or Liberal tents. All three ridings had higher vote counts than 2021's federal election. Stewart Prest, a political science professor at UBC, said the collapse of the NDP was the story of the 2025 federal election, which he described as particularly 'unusual.' Prest said there were essentially two questions on voters' minds. Those most worried about the threat of Trump gravitated towards the message of Mark Carney and the Liberals; while voters really worried about the direction of the country over the past 10 years turned to the Conservatives. 'Voters, I think, really saw it as a high stakes election. In that situation, voters – given the vagaries of the first-pass-the-post system – really do respond to make their vote influence the outcome,' Prest said. 'It becomes much less likely that voters will think about a third option. We saw that again and again.' Port Moody–Coquitlam's Liberal candidate Zoe Royer – now the first Liberal MP to represent Port Moody federally since 2000 – saw her party's vote share jump to 43.6 percent. That's a 16.4 percent bump from the previous election. Conservative candidate Paul Lambert saw his party get an 8.5 percent bump from 2021, receiving 40.4 percent of the vote. NDP incumbent Bonita Zarrillo, on the other hand, saw her vote share plummet by 22.2 percent to 15 percent. Similarly, in Port Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam, MP Ron McKinnon received 47.4 percent of the vote, an 8.9 percent boost. Conservative challenger Iain Black increased his party's vote share by 12.7 percent, receiving 43 percent of the votes. While the NDP's Laura Dupont, who also ran in the 2021, dropped 19.5 percent from 2021 to just 7.4 percent of the votes. Mckinnon emphasized that courting NDP voters was in no way part of his team's strategy, rather their plan was simply to share the Carney and Liberal platform. 'We were out there looking for everybody who was interested in supporting our vision,' McKinnon said. 'Certainly, we found NDP people, but we found a few Conservatives as well.' Even in ridings seen as NDP strongholds, such as New Westminster–Burnaby–Maillardville, Liberals and Conservative both made significant gains. Incumbent MP Peter Julian, who achieved 48.8 percent of the vote in 2021, saw that support drop by 17.2 percent in 2025. The Liberals, under newcomer Jake Sawatzky, won with 35.1 percent of vote, up 11.4 percent; while the Conservatives, under Indy Panchi, reached 31.3 percent, up 11.6 percent. One surprising aspect of the election was that the NDP flight did not entirely translate into Liberal support; it also cut towards the Conservatives. Across B.C., the Conservatives picked seven new seats, while the Liberals only picked up four, and the NDP lost 10 – 40 percent of their total seats won in 2021. NDP vote share in the province fell by over half, dropping from 29 percent in 2021 to just 13 percent in 2025. The Conservatives picked up 41 percent, up 8 percent; while the Liberals picked up 14.8 percent, rising to 41.8 percent. Prest said a Conservative strategy has been to woo union and working class voters. He pointed to a similar effort employed by Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party under Doug Ford, who have successfully secured votes from private sector unions, which are much more likely to focus on the health of the economy. Working class voters traditionally linked to labor or social democratic parties have been weakened across the democratic world, according to Prest. 'The fact that this was an unusual election doesn't mean that those voters are all going to come back to the NDP either,' he said. 'I think this is a real wake up call for the NDP. It's going to require a period of reflection for the party to figure out what it actually stands for, and what role it plays in the Canadian landscape.' But Prest added the Liberals and Conservatives cannot rely on the newfound NDP voter support either, noting the outcome was completely upended by an outside threat of Donald Trump. He said the result underscores the vulnerability of both parties: the Liberals have to show concrete progress on issues frustrating millions of Canadians, particularly around affordability; while Conservatives can't count on outrage against the current government to launch them into power. 'We are going to forever mark this election with something of an asterisk,' Prest said. 'Assuming for the moment, we don't have a similar kind of threat to Canadian sovereignty in the next election, we wouldn't necessarily expect the same result.' While some commentators have suggested the 2025 election could be signalling Canada's transformation into a two-party system, Prest is skeptical. He said the long-term trend in Canada is moving in the opposite direction, towards a greater diversity of parties. Over the decades, Conservative voters have split and rejoined, the Bloc Québécois has carved out a seemingly permanent place, and the NDP have emerged on the scene. 'I think it is only because this election was seen as of such high stakes that we did see the collapsing of choice,' Prest said. 'It seems unlikely that two parties are going to fully express the choices and concerns regarding Canadians.' Even with the collapse of the NDP, issues of federal spending priorities people could easily breathe new life into the party. 'Of course, the NDP has to figure out how to make the case to voters again. But we have seen parties have near death experiences before.'
BBC News
12-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Pope and Sibley build Surrey's lead over Hampshire
Rothesay County Championship Division One, Kia Oval (day two)Surrey 253 & 136-1: Pope 56*, Sibley 55*; Abbott 1-26Hampshire 219: Prest 44, Gubbins 43; Worrall 3-37, Clark 3-54Surrey (4pts) lead Hampshire (3pts) by 170 runsMatch scorecard A trio of Surrey stars part of England's past, present and possibly future put the defending champions in charge on day two against Hampshire at the Kia Worrall, who played one-day international cricket for his native Australia back in 2016, but now a naturalized Briton, again suggested he might be a shout for the winter Ashes series down under with 3-37 as the hosts bowled out Hampshire for current Test vice-captain, Ollie Pope (56 not out ), a little short of runs in his first three innings this term, struck a 67-ball half-century, while team-mate Dominic Sibley, a man of the pre-Bazball era, followed his century of the opening day with 55 not out, the pair sharing an unbroken stand of 80 before bad light brought a slightly premature close at 136-1For Hampshire, Tom Prest and Nick Gubbins both got beyond 40 without pressing on and they will see this as a chance missed on a pitch of few demons Overnight batters Gubbins and Mark Stoneman struck a crisp boundary apiece in the opening two overs of the morning, but thereafter excessive caution rendered them all-but stroke-less against some naggingly accurate bowling from Worrall and his fellow score crept into the 80s as runs became a trickle before drying up altogether. Matthew Fisher twice whistled the ball past the flailing blade of Stoneman and pressure told as Gubbins tickled one from Dan Lawrence around the corner to Pope at leg then trapped Stoneman in front with a full delivery and when Toby Albert edged Jordan Clark to Lawrence at third slip three wickets had fallen in 47 balls for only six was the bowlers' stranglehold, when Prest flashed one over third slip's head for four it marked the first boundary for 26 emerged from lunch with a different mindset marked by four boundaries in the first nine balls, more than in the whole first Dawson though soon perished, a deserved wicket for Fisher, and skipper Ben Brown spurned a reprieve when dropped at slip by Sibley, edging the next ball to the safe hands of Ben Foakes. At 118-6 Hampshire were looking at a sizeable first innings deficit, but Prest and New Zealander Brett Hampton played positively, the latter caressing a wide, full ball from Kemar Roach to the extra cover fence. A 50-stand was in the offing when Hampton fell for 26 made at more than a run a ball, Pope grabbing a fine low catch at slip from one which went from inside edge onto the returned to have Prest caught by Ryan Patel at short leg from a ball which flew off the meat of the bat and would have left the young batter in need of emergency dentistry had he not got his hands up in fact Surrey's lead was limited to 34 owed much to Abbott's swashbuckling 37, including a six over backward square, Lawrence ending his revelry with one which turned to bowl him through the made the breakthrough when Surrey batted a second time, trapping Rory Burns lbw, but not before the openers had added 56 with few batted with greater fluency than 24 hours earlier, though surviving a close call for a run out before moving to 50 from 90 balls with seven soon followed suit, propelled to the landmark with the aid of successive sixes off Sonny Baker, the latter stroke just clearing the fielder at wide Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
CBC
31-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
B.C.'s ridings look different this federal election. Here's how that shakes things up
As part of the once-a-decade riding redistribution process, B.C. has gained a riding for the 2025 federal election and seen many political boundaries reshaped. The new political map is likely to change the political calculations for federal parties, with the additional riding located in the B.C. Interior, an area historically popular with the Conservatives. And a University of B.C. political scientist says the redrawing of political boundaries in Metro Vancouver could add to the challenges faced by the federal NDP and its leader Jagmeet Singh, who has to contest in a significantly redrawn riding. Stewart Prest says riding boundaries matter a lot in Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system, where each geographically-defined electoral district elects an MP that residents can identify. "When you create a new riding, it creates a new seat," he said. "When you move a boundary several blocks, it can make a difference in a close riding between victory and defeat." The riding redistribution is part of a process that is based on Canada's population growth, with riding boundaries redrawn to ensure each seat has roughly the same amount of voters across the country. Voters can search for their electoral district by postal code on the Elections Canada website. "Take a moment to find out what riding you're in," Prest urged. "It may not be the one you're used to, but it is worth the time and to see who is running to represent you. And this is an election that matters." Here are some of the ways that the redrawn ridings could influence the upcoming federal election. Questions for NDP in Burnaby The federal NDP, which is flagging in the polls, has all of its Metro Vancouver seats located in the Burnaby and Tri-Cities area — a region that has seen some significant changes with the redrawing of political boundaries. Of particular significance is NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who won the last two elections from Burnaby South, but is now contesting from the Burnaby Central seat. Burnaby South has been broken up, with the southern portion of it in Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby and Burnaby Central taking portions of what was the Burnaby North-Seymour riding. Prest says the NDP faces an uphill battle to even hold onto historical safe seats like Vancouver East in the current political climate, and the redrawing adds new wrinkles. "Mr. Singh, well, he has built some political machine in Burnaby," he said. "He is having to somewhat shift that focus given ... Burnaby South has been redistricted as a central Burnaby riding. "That means Mr. Singh has an additional local challenge in addition to his national challenge." Redrawn Vancouver ridings In Metro Vancouver, the Liberals have a high-profile candidate running in former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson. Robertson will contest the newly redrawn riding of Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, which features much of the old riding of Vancouver South and also includes an adjoining area in Burnaby. Prest says Robertson will not have deep linkages to the Burnaby portion of the riding, which means he'll have to convince voters there that he's the right choice. "I think it suggests an area where he's going to have to work in a different way to build up the same kind of rapport that he enjoys with Vancouverites," he said. New riding could benefit Tories In the Interior, where a new seat for Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee has been added and numerous district boundaries have been reshaped in response to population growth, Prest says the Tories are most likely to benefit. "It is part of the province where Conservatives, both provincial and federal, do very well," the political scientist said. "I would say on its face, it does give the Conservatives a chance to pick up the new seat, and perhaps even to pick up a couple of other seats." Prest notes, however, that while the Tories may benefit in the Interior, the redrawn ridings in the Lower Mainland will be a different kind of battle — as parties try to present a form of change that also incorporates high levels of Canadian patriotism. "Those other districts that are in the Lower Mainland, where the ridings are more marked by a kind of urban demographic and an urban sensibility, there is going to be, I think, a harder test for [the Conservatives]," he said.
CBC
05-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Perennial uncertainty of tariffs looms over B.C.'s budget
The B.C. government's 2025/26 budget came as the province is constrained by the start of a trade war prompted by U.S. tariffs, but political watchers say B.C. has many unmet needs and also needs a long-term vision. The budget projected a record deficit of $10.9 billion as the government committed to spending on core services and set aside billions in contingency funds on Tuesday, the same day that 25 per cent U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports went into effect. But while the record deficit came under fire from many pro-business groups, a political science professor says that the B.C. NDP government is in a tight position, and residents would have to get used to short-term commitments and diversification as the province tries to insulate itself from outside threats. University of B.C. professor Stewart Prest says the government also needs to think about a long-term vision even as it tries to maintain flexibility in the face of tariff uncertainty. "This budget, even though it is still maintaining and building out [services], it is not fulfilling every gap," he told CBC B.C.'s budget special. "And these are the kinds of things that can, in the long term, put the province in [an] even bigger hole." Some labour unions were unhappy with the lack of funds for election promises, like hospital towers in Langley and Nanaimo and counselling staff in schools. Prest says that the lack of outsize spending on sectors like public transit — where the budget largely stuck to previous commitments despite funding crises — could come back to haunt it in future. "People [having] to make a choice between education or just going into the the workforce, because they don't have the transit to get to the place where they get their skills upgraded ... then it is, over the long term, going to be that much worse for for the economy," he said. To spend or cut in the long term? The Opposition B.C. Conservatives have argued that the record deficit projection cannot simply be attributed to the tariffs alone, even as Finance Minister Brenda Bailey says the lack of "splashy announcements" was necessary to respond to the trade war. Alex Mitchell from the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce welcomed the government encouraging customers to shop local and the government's promises to expedite resource projects in response to the tariffs. "But what concerns me the most is that, as we head into this trade war situation, we're really reducing our fiscal firepower by increasing debt," she said. "And that's something that is going to harm us in the long term." On the other hand, Alex Hemingway from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says running a deficit is the responsible thing to do, and there was a need to protect services. The economist says the government should look to generate more revenue for spending programs in the long-term, in the form of growing the economy and progressive taxation on wealthy landowners. "There's a huge amount of catching up to do, both in terms of rebuilding public services and investing in infrastructure that's been neglected for too long," he said. 'Perennial situation of uncertainty' Prest says that the "perennial situation of uncertainty" with U.S. President Donald Trump and his tariffs means there will be continuing unmet needs in B.C., as the government tries to square the circle of being fiscally responsible and funding key programs. At a Tuesday news conference, Premier David Eby announced there will be support for businesses and individuals affected by the tariffs but didn't elaborate on who will qualify or how it will work. Prest noted that there wasn't much specific spending allocated in the budget for industries that are most affected by tariffs, and the days ahead were uncertain as the trade war continues to develop. "The province is looking to the federal government to play a leading role there," he said. "So, there is still more to be said on a number of these issues, but [government officials] are really in a bind."
