Burquitlam but not quite Burnaby

Tonight at 7PM the Burquitlam Community Association is hosting a Coquitlam all-candidates at Banting School. The by-election takes place Saturday.

Tories chomping at the bit for Julian

Peter Julian might have to watch out for the eager field of Conservatives wanting his job. Joining previous nomination runners-up realtor Sam Rakhra and second generation politico Ryan Warawa are some other potential candidates.

Former 1997 Surrey PC candidate Vincent Antonio is being floated as a possible contender. Antonio had been rumoured as a potential candidate in Vancouver South, but it looks like he may be going for the other half of the old Vancouver South-Burnaby district instead. (Wai Young, a consultant and SUCCESS volunteer, looks to be the only candidate going for the Vancouver South Conservative nod against the recuperating Ujjal Dosanjh.) Businessman Antonio ran an embarassing fifth in Surrey Central with the PC Party in 1997.

Another name being floated is Hardeep Sall, of whom Burnaby Politics knows little.

Julian has a commanding lead based off his first two campaigns for the seat, but a lesser known candidate in the Liberal fold may allow the Tory to jump into second place from where they finished with picket crosser Marc Dalton in 2006. Unless a seismic shift occurs, Julian should be returning for a third term as resident NDP critic of an array of economic and social issues.

What's in it for Burnaby?

The budget is delivered next Tuesday. What dollar figure will be larger, the bill for Carole Taylor's new shoes or the total number of dollars headed into Burnaby?

Burnaby has plenty of projects for the province to fund. How many of the 25,000 post-secondary spaces will be funded for the Burnaby campuses of BCIT and SFU? Will any of that money go into giving SFU a new medical or law school? How much of that money will go to giving BCIT new, expanded facilities?

Burnaby Lake dredging is a neverending journey in Burnaby. Will the province put the big bucks on the table to resolve this issue to the satisfaction of both conservationists and rowers?

With all the Gateway money flowing into Surrey, what will be done to prevent Burnaby from turning into a parking lot for commuters from the Fraser Valley?

Plenty of issues, plenty of problems. What will Victoria do for Burnaby this Tuesday on issues such as education, childcare, and economic development.

Not giving money to Burnaby could be a big gamble for the BC Liberal government which has been riding high for much of the past year.

Watch out, Wacky

The BC Liberal government has Throne Speech 2007 is under its belt. The land is strong and team Campbell plans to make the province even stronger with a plan to clean up the environment, sign First Nations treaties, reform education, fix health care, and come up smelling like roses.

What a Valentine the government gave itself. Having spent 2006 solving labour strife until after the Olympics and finally bringing three areas under soon to be signed treaty, it launched a preemptive strike on Mother Nature. With governments under siege the world over due to climate change concerns of the people of Earth, Gordon Campbell may have found himself a real legacy issue. By taking the fight to the environmental movement while homelessness, childcare, and seniors' issues are front and centre on the provincial protest roster, the environmental protestors will be playing catch up from the get-go.

Now all that Campbell needs to do is take the natural next step and request David Suzuki as the next Lieutenant Governor. For a late winter afternoon, things sure are looking sunny on the horizon for the BC Liberal government only six years into their rule of what they hope may be a Pacific Century.

No cabinet again

Burnaby fails to get itself a second voice at cabinet. Given there are no mines in Burnaby, this is acceptable, but Burnaby having no senior minister remains a problem.