No one at Georgia Straight has a crystal ball on their desk. Nor should we have a vision of the future like Nostradamus’s.
But we can make educated guesses. And here are five predictions about what could happen in the B. C. World. Politics in 2021.
Two of the most important decisions made during John Horgan’s first term as prime minister were the approval of the Site C dam in northeastern British Columbia and Canada’s LNG plant at Kitimat. Both of you will feel more and more like balls around your neck over the next year.
The cost of the Site C dam has surpassed the $12 billion mark just as renewable energy prices are collapsing. The dam has geotechnical features that have led critics of the project to call for its cancellation.
But Horgan and his private-sector union supporters will never need to stop construction of the Site C dam. This, in turn, will burden B. C. , with the Greens, who continue to oppose it.
There are parallels between Horgan’s proposal for the dam and the Northeast’s deficit allocation of coal imposed by former Prime Minister Bill Bennett in tough economic times.
At the same time, LNG Canada’s task also faces real challenges, in part due to the global glut of natural gas. This task is as politically toxic to Horgan as the Site C dam, as it is a private-sector task executed by Royal Canadian subsidiary of Dutch Shell.
But the struggle for profit remains a daunting task for the consortium. And it is not out of the question that this commission will be put on hold for a few years if its sponsors consider that it is not financially viable at the moment.
If that were to happen, the consequences would be devastating for British Columbia. Hydroelectric financing. This is because the Crown’s request is confident that the capacity of the Site C dam will match British Columbia’s capacity. The electricity demand of the LNG industry.
In recent years, B. C. ‘s colleges, colleges and universities have relied heavily on foreign academics to pay their bills, but the pandemic has ruined their budgets.
To cite one example, UBC expects a $225-million deficit. That’s due in part to an expected $138-million decline in tuition fees.
Institutions across the province are going to want to jack up tuition. But students will be in no mood to pay more for virtual education than they used to pay for face-to-face instruction.
Finance Minister Selina Robinson will face some very complicated potential choices as she grapples with a projected $13. 6 billion deficit, the largest in British Columbia’s history.
Holding the line on Ministry of Advanced Education expenditures is one way of downloading the problem to the colleges, institutes, and universities rather than facing a showdown with the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union.
Normally, the Ministry of Higher Education goes unnoticed in provincial politics. This is expected to be replaced in 2021.
That might have the former minister, Melanie Mark, feeling relieved that this portfolio has been transferred to Anne Kang, the MLA for Burnaby–Deer Lake. Mark now oversees tourism, culture, and sports.
After the attack on the opposition party in October, it will take some time for British Columbia’s largest right-wing party to recover.
It took a step in the right direction when the caucus chose Prince George–Valemont MLA and former deputy premier Shirley Bond as the interim leader.
Almost immediately, Bond put the new NDP government on the defensive over its resolve to cut COVID-19 for low-income people.
She’s a shrewd veteran who knows that B. C. The passoverment is to blame for the situation. Liberals desperately want to show center and sensitivity to environmental issues. She is expected to pass after the NDP next year on an environmental issue, on Vancouver Island or on the Lower Mainland, where the B. C. It is based on passoverment. Liberals are, in particular, weak.
In the meantime, it will take its time before entering the next leadership race, giving newcomers more time to sign up its members.
For now, Andrew Wilkinson remains British Columbia’s defender. The liberal member from Vancouver-Quilchena, which is one of British Columbia’s constituencies. Liberal seats in the province.
But the British Columbia party was so defeated in the last election that it makes no sense to devote four of its final years to the task of going back and forth between Vancouver and Victoria to sit on the opposition benches in the legislature.
He’ll wait a little while, perhaps so he can play a role in helping determine who will be the B.C. Liberal candidate in his wealthy West Side constituency after he’s gone.
Prime Minister John Horgan’s decision to appoint Vancouver-Kensington MLA Mable Elmore to the cabinet has caused a great deal of turmoil among Filipino-Canadian groups.
While this would have possibly come as a surprise to Horgan, it also reflects the community’s sense that his contributions to Canada are taken for granted.
This is especially painful in the year of the pandemic, when many immigrants from the Philippines worked so hard and risked their lives as caregivers in nursing homes. Elmore is the only elected MP in British Columbia. with a father born in the Philippines.
Horgan heard the community’s reaction very clearly. Don’t be surprised if Elmore appears in the Cabinet before the end of the year if vacancies arise.
Charlie Smith served as editor-in-chief of Georgia Straight from 2005 until September 2022. Prior to that, he was a news editor.
I am beyond dissatisfied with the Residential Leasing Department. I won an eviction and. . .
I congratulated him on his X-ray procedure. In our past lives, we worked for the same thing. . .