LIBERAL LINEUP — The opening bell has sounded in the B.C. Liberal Party leadership contest, with former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan announcing his bid on Thursday.
Conservative MP Dianne Watts, a former Surrey mayor, has an event scheduled today at a hotel ballroom that sounds suspiciously like the formal declaration that she’s in the race.
Former Liberal cabinet minister Andrew Wilkinson (Vancouver-Quilchena) is rumoured to have something similar in mind on Monday. So does former minister Mike Bernier (Peace River South), who has invited reporters to the Pan Pacific Hotel on Monday afternoon to hear his views on “the future of the B.C. Liberal Party.”
Michael Lee (Vancouver-Langara) will be one of the last out of the gate. He’s slated to speak to supporters “about the upcoming B.C. Liberal leadership vote” Tuesday morning at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Liberal house leader Mike de Jong (Abbotsford West) has picked up an endorsement even before he’s decided whether to run. Liberal MLA Teresa Wat (Richmond North Centre) took to social media with a message urging him to run.
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MOM’S COOKING — Speaking on the importance of ESL education, NDP MLA Ravi Kahlon (Delta North) noted that his mother, Balbir, came to Canada with no English. But she had skills in other areas. He said his parents, who raised him in Victoria, went through tough times their first several years. She learned English with the help of a community group and washed dishes for a time at Scott’s Diner, formerly on Yates Street.
“I’m proud to share that, 20 years later, my mom ended up buying that restaurant where she used to wash dishes. My family owned that restaurant for a decade here in Victoria as I was growing up.”
He worked there as well, washing dishes, cooking, running the till and handling complaints. “There weren’t many, because my mom’s a pretty amazing cook.”
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BRAND NAMES — Agriculture Minister Lana Popham (Saanich South) ran out of rope while introducing members of the B.C. Cattleman’s Association.
“Joining us today,” she began, “are Brian McKersie, the president; Larry Garrett, the vice-president; and Grant Huffman, chair of …” Popham paused there, before admitting: “I’m not sure. The writing on my sheet ran out.”
It’s just as well, introductions in the house tend to go on for heifer and heifer anyway.
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H.E.L.P. — Attorney General David Eby (Vancouver-Point Grey) released something called an AML report that may or may not have had something to do with money laundering in casinos. The report prepared by MNP LLP for the GPEB was nearly unintelligible due to its overuse of acronyms.
Indeed, one wonders why government bothered to have the report censored.
Here’s one of our favourite sentences: “MNP identified instances where non-cash transactions processed to RRCR’s PGFs were over-reported to FINTRAC, and instances where mandatory fields in LCTRs were left blank. Both issues are contrary to the PCMLTFA … ”
We are having the report translated from the original Norwegian and will get back to you on its contents.
