Gordon Campbell presents The Bullpen

Premier Gordon Campbell shuffled the cabinet. Colin Hansen goes to Finance and keeps Olympics. Bill Bennett returns. Joan McIntyre, Mary Polak, Blair Lekstrom, and Iain Black make their debuts. Black is the closest to Burnaby and fills the north of the Fraser void.

Keystone Kops

The Burnaby-New Westminster Liberals still do not have a candidate. Fortunately, an election does not appear to be on the horizon this fall.

First the Liberals had Gerry Lenoski, the longtime Liberal activist, interested in the nomination. Lenoski dropped out to endorse Steve McClurg. The following week, former NDP candidate McClurg pulled the plug on his own candidacy. Then there was marketing strategist Lily Harvey interested in the nomination. So far Harvey is still the only active participant in the race. With an ethnic female candidate interested, the Liberals would likely have moved ahead with the acclaimation if she were the one they wanted. At the moment the Liberals have not, despite Harvey being in the race for about a year.

Things could be worse for the Big Red Machine of Burnaby-New Westminster. They could be the Okanagan-Shuswap Liberals. Last week candidate Buffy Baumbrough quit on the Liberals to focus on her Vernon council re-election. Baumbrough also said she could make a bigger impact on the environment at the civic level. Stephane Dion must not be overly happy with having a second candidate from B.C. drop out on him this year (Rani Bellwood dropped out in February as the Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission candidate).

Perhaps the Liberals are holding off on the nomination so that no one can quit on them before election day.

Yes Team Can

The crowd was there for The Electors' Action Movement Burnaby's Gala fundraiser.

"Old Burnaby" was out in force as were representatives from the federal Conservative and Liberal parties. Potential candidates were there, even if most of them are potential candidates for MLA and MP such as long-shot Burnaby-Douglas Tory candidate hopeful Salomon Rayek.

In civic circles, the worst kept secret of the night is the likelihood of a lot of people at the bun-toss being asked to put "Lee Rankin for Mayor" signs up in their yards come November 1. The rest of the TEAM may not be in place yet but it is looking like winning three seats on council and two at school board would not be out of reach.

The civic centre-right forces that make up the new TEAM Burnaby have an uphill battle ahead of them over the next five months. With issues such as Gateway, the computer system and the oil spill to campaign on, TEAM will have something to say each week and might be able to give Mayor Derek Corrigan and the Burnaby Citizens' Association a bit of a scare and take a few seats back.

Hey Yiu

Media commentator and NDP activist Gabriel Yiu was out in force on a health-related issue this week.

Yiu, who ran in Burnaby-Willingdon in the 2005 election, is the most likely nomination opponent for school board chair Kathy Corrigan if she were to run.

One TEAM indivisible

There is talk that once the majority of the Evans-Begin-Spitz are lured back to TEAM Burnaby a group of interested backers on the centre-right are looking to put together over $300,000 to finance the largest civic campaign in the 'burb's history.

Last civic election TEAM raised only half of that figure while spending themselves into debt in a figure quoted to be in the tens of thousands. This month's TEAM fundraiser is the lastest effort by the civic group to bury that debt.

What will everyone complain about for the next few years?

The province and city hall are teaming up to revitalize the jewel in the middle of Burnaby.

Political candidates of all levels have made Burnaby Lake their cause to champion for years. No word yet on what politicians will advocate for next.

Suicide is painless

Garth Evans maybe might just form a new party, or possibly he could perhaps return to the fold.