Another update from a good friend of Bubbles & Ricky

Peter Julian's quarterly MP report is arriving on doorsteps. Julian proclaims "NDP Gets Results Before Parliament Adjorns," "Layton Leadership Continues to Impress," and "NDP MPs join Telus workers in demanding Fontana step in 'Dispute has gone on long enough; this Minister must act,' say MPs."

It must getting close to election time. Julain also bosts about being the second most talkative rookie MP (behind his boss Jack Layton) and about having the third best attendance on votes of parliament (only two missed votes).

Julian says he was in the constituency "virtually" every weekend during the 21 weeks that the House was in session. Julian has been critical of the Air India inquiry, the lockout of Telus workers, and Martin's close ties with President Bush. He wants honesty and good governance and all that other motherhood and apple pie stuff.

Julian is still the front-runner in the forthcoming election in Burnaby-New West, despite having less of a community presence than his Douglas NDP counterpart.

The TEAM

So far Burnaby Politics has been able to idenfity the following people as TEAM Burnaby Voters Association candidates:

Mayor

• Andrew Stewart (acclaimed)

City Council (there are either 13 or 14 candidates for eight spots)

• Gary Begin (as quoted in a recent Newsleader)


• Lee Rankin (incumbent)


• Barb Spitz (who is sending around letters requesting support)

School Board (there are at least five candidates but one TEAM candidate says School Trustee nominations will be contested)

• Deborah Christie (incumbent)

Feel free to add names to the list in the comments section.

TEAM Leader

Burnaby Mayor and BCA mayoral candidate Derek Corrigan has an opponent for the November election.

TEAM Burnaby Voters Association is putting forward Andrew Stewart as their mayoral candidate, according to one of the people seeking a spot on their slate. Mr. Stewart of Donn Dean Collision Ltd. is a past recipient of a Burnaby Business Excellence Award.

Oh What a Team!

TEAM Burnaby Voters Association hopefuls have been out in force this past week. Rumoured candidate G. Bruce Friesen continues his campaign to get a weekly column in the Burnaby Now letters section (to counteract the BCA column by Tony Coccia and the BC NDP column by Brian O'Neill) with a lengthy op-ed piece that touches on the pet cause of Burnaby political irrelevance, Burnaby Lake.

Former Burnaby School Trustee Barbara Spitz is appealing to TEAM members via the mail. It has come to Burnaby Politics' attention that Spitz has been sending out letters asking for TEAM Burnaby members to consider her as one of their choices at TEAM's candidate selection meeting on September 14th. Spitz's letter touches on a variety of Burnaby issues, mentions her past political and volunteer experience, and notes that 14 people are seeking the eight nominations.

At the moment both Spitz and Friesen are believed to be among the favourites for the eight council spots along with former mayoral candidate and BCAer turned TEAM councilor Lee Rankin.

Mad Jack is coming to Burnaby

According to the NDP website, the leader of Canada's fourth party is coming to Burnaby this Sunday, August 28th. Given that Burnaby is one of the few Canadian cities that has more than one NDP MP (the others are Windsor, ON and Winnipeg, MB), Layton can kill two birds with one stone with his stop*.

* Not that Mr. Layton would condone killing one bird, let alone two birds.

Harper vs. Martin: Summer War '05

The Tories are trying to counter the editoral cartoonists who have been kicking at their leader and his burger flippin' ways all summer with this little map of Canada that compares appearances by the Leader of the Official Opposition and the Prime Minister. The point is Harper has made more stops. The reality is that the media doesn't care and likes to pick on him anyway.

As they say in Quebec: c'est la vie.

A Provincial BBQ?

Supposedly that's what happened this past weekend when the NDP in Burnaby North gathered for a BBQ (and the inevitable 'if we only did this or that' session). The NDP consoled their losses with quite an impressive menu:

• Barbecued Coho Salmon & Coho on a Cedar Plank


• Barbecued Bratwurst Sausages on a Bun with condiments


• Sliced, Fried Onions – carmelized


• Penne & Rotini Pasta with Special Bolognaise Sauce and Tomato Sauce


• Spinach/Romaine Salad with Honey, Mustard and Poppy Seed Dressing and with Mandarine Oranges


• Watermelon, Stuffed Dill Pickles & Key Lime Cheesecake Squares


• Pop, Juices, Coffee, Tea, etc.

A cold brewski could be had for an additional $3.00 on top of the $15.00 BBQ charge ($25.00 for two people). Somehow the beer doesn't go down quite as smooth in defeat as it would have in victory.

The Tory True Story

It was reported here recently that Chuck Strahl had bowed out of the Burnaby-New West Tory BBQ. Another possible explanation could be his national news making announcement that he has lung cancer.

Bourque has a message board set up to send comments to Strahl. No confirmed news yet on the Torys' replacement speaker for this weekend's BBQ.

On a side note, the people behind ChuckStrahl.ca should have a reality check. Certainly main politicians have people who beat them to registering domains of their names, but this .ca example shows how someone who disagrees with a politician's views can fall out of favour with those who agree with the critical website (all this one says is "You're gonna have to fight for the site!") when tragedy strikes the public figure as was the case today with Strahl.

Billy C & Mary P

The FedLibs were raising funds for their Burnaby candidates tonight at the Burnaby Lake Rowing Pavilion. For $25 a head, guest got to have a BBQ with Public Works & Government Services Minister Scott Brison. An estimated 125 people showed up for the two rehashed candidates.

Earlier in the evening Lucienne Robillard, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister, was the guest at the Pynenburg kickoff event at the Westminster Club.

Pynenburg's Tory opponent Marc Dalton is having his summer BBQ in just over a week's time. Rumour has it that guest Chuck Strahl has been bumped for a higher profile MP. Given that his event is a barbecue, who might that MP be?

Kudos to Lee

Today's Kensington Fair had MLAs Richart T. Lee and Harry Bloy and MP Bill Siksay out in force with booths. Lee was the only one with a table consisting purely of government materials. Bloy had a BC Liberal banner and Siksay - who is always at events in Burnaby - had both an NDP banner (although he did try to fold the NDP part out of sight) and NDP campaign literature from 2004's election.

Well done to MLA Lee for keeping a clear division between party and government.