Married to the...

He's been married to former Prime Minister and international shipping executive Paul Martin in his political career. Now he has a partner in his personal life. Congratulations to Billy Cunningham on his wedding yesterday!

By the way things are going the honeymoon better be short as he may be on the campaign trail by next weekend.

Get new staff, and well soon

An unusual item in the weekend Now about Harry Bloy's health and staff management.

The Rank and File

TEAM Burnaby appears to be lining up their forces for their mid-September nomination meeting. However, four candidates - Anna Terrana, Amyn Lalji, Iven Tse and Irene Leung - appear to have special treatment as they appear on the slate's website.

Voice in the Wilderness?

The Independent Voices want your vote. Veteran civic politicos Gary Begin and Barb Spitz have teamed with first term councillor Garth Evans for this fall's civic vote.

Mayor Derek Corrigan is out already saying the BCA is the longest serving government in BC history. Councillor and likely TEAM mayoral candidate Lee Rankin emphasizes the new group's status as independents rather than as voices.

Independents in Burnaby have struggled for decades at the civic level. Nancy Harris, who served with the old Burnaby Voters' Non-Partisan Association, ran as an independent after a 2002-2005 hiatus and finished well back of the BCA and TEAM candidates. Begin, Spitz, and Evans may be getting organized but it will be a tough fight against TEAM, who will attempt to marginalize them, and the BCA, who will emphasize their inability to cooperate and their similarities with TEAM.

Soft-pedal

The BC Liberals have not been championing their carbon tax as much as one would expect, given it is their marquee policy of 2008.

Local MLAs Harry Bloy, Richard Lee and John Nuraney are not pushing the environmentally-friendly tax. Other than the rare exception, such as Nuraney's July 26 ad in the Burnaby Now, the Liberals have been downplaying the carbon tax in hopes that people will calm down over the highly visible tax. Finance Minister Colin Hansen has not been very visible while his predecessor Carole Taylor is leaving politics. Only Gordon Campbell seems to think his tax is a winning issue for the governing Liberals.

Thankfully for them, they have something to distract the public. The Liberals have spent the last week championing the fact that the NDP has lost five MLAs. Of those five, Corky Evans has served three non-consecutive terms, and Michael Sather and Gregor Robertson are shifting to the civic level for November's elections. Only two MLAs, David Cubberley and David Chudnovsky, are leaving electoral politics after just one term.

As luck would have it, very little counterattack is being launched by the NDP. Chris Gainor's comments on Public Eye Radio this morning was a rare exception. Gainor highlighted some opf the prominent departures on the government side. The BC Liberals are losing MLAs Dennis MacKay, Val Roddick, Claude Richmond, Katherine Whittred, Olga Ilich, Lorne Mayencourt, and Carole Taylor. Sindi Hawkins, Al Horning, Dan Jarvis and Rick Thorpe are also good bets to bow out before next May's election. Simple math shows that losing 11 out of 46 Liberals is a bigger drop than losing five out of 33 New Democrats.

With the public's mind off the carbon tax and limited mid-Olympic media coverage focusing on the NDP in disarray, the Liberals are in a stronger position than they should be. If the NDP can find a focus they might have a chance. Otherwise, Premier Campbell will have many fresh, new faces with him at the 2010 Olympics.

150!

Burnaby may only be 116 but the united colonies celebrated their ceremonial union this weekend with today's holiday. Burnaby's celebrations were well attended by a variety of politicians, all of whom are up for re-election in the next three to 15 months.

Tributes were paid to B.C. at Heritage Village and the 55th anniversary of the end of the Korean War. Outside of Burnaby, Bill Siksay and Bill Cunningham will out in force at the Pride Parade while Conservatives were out in Surrey with Stephen Harper.

On a side note, Gary Begin was wearing a wrist brace. It is not due to TEAM Burnaby supporters twisting his arm to return to the fold.

Nonetheless, Happy B.C. Day, Burnaby!