Tootfinder

Addendum: Just noticed that both BC Conservative candidates are sharing the same Financial Agent. In fact, upon closer inspection, Albert Chen is Financial agent for 7 ridings on Vancouver Island!
Very very interesting. This could be an indication that the BCCP are having trouble finding volunteers and their basic riding associations are not well populated.
I wonder how fragile the party actually is…?
#BCCP #bcpoli #canpoli #bcndp #bcgreens #bcelection2026

Just went and took a peek at the current provincial candidate list at Elections BC. The deadline for candidates to have their papers in is today at 1PM. (#BCCP. He is a decent person in a terrible party.
I see a lot of 2 person ridings in this list. Looks like the Greens have not been able to get a full slate, and there is only a handful of CentreBC and OneBC candidates. We will see if that changes significantly when the final list is published.
This solidifies my thought that this is going to be a really tough 2-way race with the other parties only competitive in a handful of other ridings, but that is still really important because if the two main parties stay neck and neck, then the handful of 3 or more party race could decide the balance of power in a minority government.
I am surprised to see one of the ridings next-door to mine, Nanaimo-Gabriola Island, has just two candidates as well. It is an important and active riding.
Sheila Malcolmsen (former Min) vs. Conservative Mark McDonald who is a notorious former newspaper editor made nationally famous for publishing two vile anti-First Nations racist letters in a matter of months. The newspaper closed soon after. (#bcpoli #canpoli #bcndp #bcgreens #bcelection2026

RE: #bcpoli

Another #BCElection2026 poll out yesterday.
This time from innovative Research. 338 has also updated their table to include both CentreBC and OneBC polling numbers which is good. They appear to be taking anywhere from 6 to 10% of the overall interest. (3-5% each)
If we compare the last two polls from the same polling sources the trend goes like this
Polling Firm: #BCNDP / #BCCP / #BCGreen / #OneBC / #CenBC
Innovative: -2 / Unch / -2 / NA / NA
Léger: -5 / -6 / 5 / NA / NA
Liaison: -2 / 4 / -1 / -1 / Unch
Angus: -6 / 6 / -1 / NA / NA
(firms with most recent polls at the top. NA means the previous poll didn’t have a value for that party, this should change next week as I assume all the pollsters will be doing weekly soundings now)
#BCPoli #Canada #CanPoli #Election #polling

absolutely bonkers BC political scenes right now as it is revealed an operative of the BC Conservative leader hired a private investigator behind the back of the rest of the party to dig up dirt on members of their own party, executive, and a political reporter at CHEK (who is notably right-leaning in his reporting no less!)
No wonder the NDP is itching to call a snap election and try to secure a more solid
majority!
It's great to see the rightwing consume themselves (again) but at the same time I am enough of a democrat to believe that all this nonsense and inabillity to have a strong opposition to government is bad on many levels.
just insanity.
I really hope Eby is smart enough to wait and start the provincial campaign the day after the Oct 17 municipal electoons across the province.
Local governments deserve the spotlight and the BC Cons are not going to magically snap into sanity in a month.
#bcpoli #bccp #bcndp
https://cheknews.ca/bc-conservatives-hired-private-investigator-to-investigate-cheks-rob-shaw-and-other-current-former-mlas-1348488/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newspack Newsletter (1348589)&utm_source=b117938a22&npnl=MTM0ODU4OXw5YTBkMWFkNTU4ZTk4Y2E3ZDZjMGNhMGFlZDc5MTA3OTc2N2Y3NGY5MTdlZWE4Y2E2OWRmZmNmYjNiMDk3NzZl

Implementing some real price controls on oil and gas companies is a good thing. This is a new step beyond the easy tax holidays that take money away from provincial revenues.
Would like to see this across the country but Carney is probably too afraid of the Alberta referendum to do it right now. (rightly so, I suppose)
"Eby says his government would ask the B.C. Utilities Commission to set the maximum price that fuel stations can charge, which would be updated weekly as the benchmark price for crude oil fluctuates.”
Would rather the taxes stay in place and *we* control the price up and down, not the oil companies making massive profits from war and climate destruction.
#BCPoli #CanPoli #EndFossilFuels #CdnPoli #ClimateEmergency #IranWar #Hormuz
https://www.timescolonist.com/2026-bc-votes/ndps-eby-promises-to-temporarily-suspend-gas-tax-regulate-prices-at-the-pump-12845220?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky

Two new polls out over the past couple days. Since one of them is Léger, I’ve enlarged the screenshot to be able to see the last Léger poll, which was way back at the start of June.
I’m not sure any kind of trend can really be taken from these. Both the #BCNDP and the #CPBC have weaker numbers than their highs in the summer. The CPBC might have a slight lead overall, but it seems to also be within the margin of error of 2 of the 3 post-snap-election-call polls.
I would really like to see a Mainstreet poll, as they had OneBC at a huge 11% in the spring. The other parties taking random seats here and there are a real wildcard in this election As is the Greens picking up 1 or 2 more seats (I cannot see them losing their existing 2 seats).
Any scenario were the Greens and small rightwing parties get a handful of seats makes a minority government nearly inescapable.
I don’t think anyone can realistically predict anything from these polls, but at the same time, as the caller of the election, the NDP should be having a big think right about now.
#BCPoli #BCElection2026 #CanPoli #CdnPoli #polls

Not widely reported yet, but this could be important in any and all election campaigns. A judge is tasking government with creating a non-medical safe-supply drug program!
”Kalicum and Nyx were convicted of trafficking last year after admitting to buying the pure drugs on the dark web, then selling them to their members.
Murray’s ruling says that running such a safer-supply program was precisely what the applicants were doing and that formed the basis of the criminal charges against them.
She says the applicants in this case have borne the burden of bringing a successful constitutional challenge, doing a public interest service at considerable cost to themselves.
#CanPoli #CdnPoli #BCPoli #Drugs #Fentanyl #Courts #Law #CharterofRightsandFreedoms
https://globalnews.ca/news/12076969/how-will-bc-supreme-court-rule-on-activists-trafficking-convictions/

Since we’re in a provincial election in BC, I guess we have to look to the polls. The campaign is so short… final voting day is less than a month away, and advance voting starts in just 18 days!
The Angus Reid poll that came out last week — which surveyed people just before and after the snap call — made big waves showing the #CPBC Conservatives ahead.
But it’s worth noting that Angus Reid is often the first to show a Conservative advantage when others show the opposite.
You can see all recent polls here:
#BCPoli #CanPoli #Election #BCElxn2026 #BCNDP #BCGreen #OneBC #CentreBC

Here we go! BC Election on October 24!
Eby is speaking on #TheAmericanFascist being the main reason. For stability, etc etc. #TradeWar
But this is also a cynical and opportunistic power grab timed to take advantage of chaos in the BC Conservative and generally the centre-right and right-wing of BC politics.
My main ask for the future government will be to stabilize our democracy with proportional representation.
#BCPoli #CanPoli #CdnPoli #Democracy
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/livestory/british-columbia-snap-election-2026-ndp-leader-david-eby-9.7349059

"The number of people that come before the courts that are mentally ill, that are seriously drug addicted, who have brain damage, often from the use of methamphetamine, is substantially different from when I started as a judge 30 years ago and I think that has to be recognized," he said.
In a social media post, Gove’s cousin Aaron Chapman said Gove left a considerable impact on Vancouver and the wider province, adding that his family is intensely proud of him.
#BCPoli #Law #Courts #Compassion #Drugs #ChildWelfare
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-judge-who-championed-child-welfare-and-vancouver-s-community-court-dead-at-79-9.7351349

We are in the weirdest timeline... where provincial governments are competing for the most effective and welcoming but also defiant sign.
BC currently going for the “Kill-Them-With-Sentences” approach. 🤪
#BCPoli #CanPoli #CdnPoli #USA #TradeWar #TheAmericanFascist
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/david-eby-counter-tariffs-9.7336195?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Why do Transit planners in Canada make transit worse and then expect to be congratulated?
I’ve ridden buses, in whole or part, to work for most of the past 25 years. In that same period, the bus system has doubled the amount of time it takes to get to work.
Labour Day is when the new schedules come out, so I have tracked them all the way back to 2000.
I gave up on the bus from Qualicum after the pandemic. And this year the schedule is so bad and so long that I might give up completely on getting the bus from Parksville. I’ll probably still go to Woodgrove sometimes but I am tempted to cancel my bus pass.
I used to be able to get to Qualicum at 6:20 or Parksville at 6:45 and be at work by 7:35. Now I have to be in Qualicum by 6:00 or Parksville by 6:22 to get to work by 7:54.
It’s so frustrating. I hate driving all the way in but driving for 1 hour versus taking 3 hours by using a bus part way is just not a reasonable trade.
We need proper commuter transit on Vancouver Island.
#buslife #transit #bcpoli #vancouverIsland #railway

I have a question about oil pipelines in Canada.
What happens in the event the Transmountain pipeline is overrun by a Rank 4 or 5 wildfire?
I know these pipelines carry different product at different times. I know they can be shut. But what would happen if it was a section transporting NGL-diluted bitumen?
#bcwildfire #bcpoli #canpoli #abpoli #climatechange #climateemergency
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/08/10/news/bc-first-nations-chiefs-ask-carney-smith-halt-pipeline-advancement

The German state election yesterday is a perfect demonstration of why Proportional Representation (PR) is far superior for democracy than First Past the Post (FPTP).
TLDR: Thanks to Proportionality, the AfD only won a minority, not majority parliament because the state parliament always reflects the popular vote.
The picture shows the state of Saxony-Anhalt divided into its electoral districts. It is almost all blue because the AfD won the most votes in all but three districts but with 42% of the popular vote overall.
Had this been a province in Canada, it would have produced a legislature with just 3 opposition members, and all the rest government members. Delivering absolute majority power with no meaningful voice for any other party (likely also losing official party status and key funding for political activities) despite a significant share of the popular vote. This has happened in Canada many times, including in BC in 2001 when the NDP won just 2 seats with all 77 others going to the B.C. Liberals… it led to a referendum on PR that won over 60% of the vote but was never implemented.
Had this German state used FPTP they would have a gigantic majority of exclusively far right members and just 3 opposition.
Thanks to PR, their legislature will actually reflect the vote of the people.
42% AfD (39 seats)
17% CDU (15)
9% SPD (8)
8% GRN (8)
8% LNK (8)
5% BSW (5)
83 seats: 42 needed for majority.
AfD: 39
Other parties: 44
In B.C., one of the tropes the status quo campaigners constantly bring up is that PR somehow enables extreme parties more than FPTP and is thus dangerous. This has been proven false over and over including right now,
Here we are, with another example as this German state breathes a sigh of relief that PR saved them from a whollly undemocratic and extreme outcome.
Meanwhile, back in B.C., our own now far right BC Conservatives have successfully splintered the “big tent” remnants of the old slightly more centrist B.C. Liberals leading to a mish mash of independents and new parties in the B.C. Legislature that have not been elected by the people and are unable to really function as a proper opposition to the majority government. FPTP doing a great job! *sarc
Why doesn’t Canada have *any* proportional elections?
Inertia, greed, and power.
Germany 2026 state election: #democracy #fptp #pr #germany #canada #bcpoli

i don't know who at BC Hydro* is in charge of their Web UX in their user account website, but man they have had this consumption data in one form or another for a long time and now that they have brought in the option for time-of-day based billing, they've improved the graphing even more!
It easily and simply shows, on a daily basis, what rate I am paying at what time and how much.
Beautiful!!
I can also add in the average temperature over that time, and also compare total daily consumption between this year and last. Tier 1 applies to the first 644kWh used of the billing month. Last month the Tier 1 applied to exactly half my consumption.
On my rate schedule (in CAD) the off-peak prices are:
Tier 1: 11.87 cents/kWh
Tier 2: 14.08 cents/kWh
On peak surcharge: 5 cents/kWh
Overnight discount: -5 cents/kWh
As an example, last month I was charged $10.40 for on-peak usage but got a discount of $25.90 for off peak time. After all is said and done, my overall average power cost for the month was 12.67 cents/kWh. The majority of that overnight usage is:
EV charging.
Overnight dishwasher/laundry/dryer/hot water use.
Pond pumps.
*the Crown Corporation that generates and delivers most of the electricity in British Columbia Canada)
#electricity #BCHydro #BCPoli #power #conservation #demanduse

Our dystopian, authoritarian reality. The “Artificial Intelligence" systems are being built to detect “pre-crime” activity of people opposed to AI, but when the CEO is asked why it didn't warn police that users of its platform could be planning mass shootings, they claim…?
These companies are truly evil.
cc: @… @…
@…
@…
@…
“In addition to monitoring activists in the vicinity of Anthropic executives and keeping tabs on protests near physical Anthropic assets, the firm is also implementing a “pre-crime” approach, attempting to predict incidents before they happen. In some cases, that also means reporting suspects to police before a crime occurs. Anthropic did not respond to the Prospect’s request for comment.”
#BCPoli #TumbleRidge #AI #MassSurveillance #BCHydro #CanPoli #AI #CdnPoli
https://prospect.org/2026/09/09/anthropic-artificial-intelligence-surveillance-system-monitor-activists/

We were at the hospital again yesterday for @Tree. Another rough day. We made it home after a few hours in the ER and she is OK now, sleeping off the experience.
The hospital and ER were full so while we were there we had a range of people flow through the beds beside us. An older gentleman with heart problems, a drunk man with heart problems, and a young woman, quietly crying for hours, coming down after an opioid overdose, confused and scared and hopeless. Occasionally sharp and upset, but mostly just quietly crying, talking.
It is so sad the human suffering we have allowed our society to tolerate.
I am so grateful we have good people; doctors, nurses, care aids, clerks, attendants, paramedics, even kind security guards and police, taking care of people. And I am glad all this is done without concern for financial ability to pay.
I wish our system was better in so many ways, not least in the ways it could help Tree. But in other ways, it is very good, and doesn’t get credit for just how good it is. Most of that is down to the people within it.
Most people, especially detached from money or power, are good. This is reinforced for me everytime I go to the hospital and see the random strangers that are there for every conceivable reason.
They just want to be happy, be secure, be with family, be occupied, be healthy.
That’s what I see at the hospital. People wanting to be happier, and people trying to make that happen for them.
I hope one day that young lady finds the people she needs to help her stop crying.
#healthcare #hospitals #bcpoli #canada #opioids #drugs #fentanyl #canpoli

And just to underline the point of betrayal of democratic promises. Here is the seminal tweet from September 21, 2015 just before that year's Canadian Federal Election where the eventual winner, Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada, promises to abolish FPTP.
He did not.
(i love that X pulled up the current Liberal Party preview card, appropriately associating both the former and current Liberal party leaders with this betrayal. Democracy denied.)
#canpoli #cdnpoli
#democracy #fptp #pr #germany #canada #bcpoli

Corvus is a Norwegian company.
They do big marine batteries!
#BCFerries #bcferries #ev #electric #transportation #bcpoli #ferry #boats #ships #battery

One last thing!
The word on the water is that the first of the “Island” class small hybrid ferries will be going all-electric on the Gabriola route! There are two ships on that route, twins, they are rebuilding the docks now to get them ready for charging!
The ferries themselves are already VERY quiet. Will I take a trip to Gabriola Island just to ride the first fully electric, non-cable, ferries in B.C.! Absolutely!
Project updates for Gabriola/Nanaimo docks: #BCFerries #bcferries #ev #electric #transportation #bcpoli #ferry #boats #ships #battery

Here is the B.C. Ferries web page about the “New Major Vessels” project. (There was stupid controversy because “omg not China” but that has died down now thankfully)
They want up to 7 (which makes sense… to be able to retire all the Queens and add one for new capacity), they asked for 5, they got 4 approved to be built by 2031. The most interesting graphic is this age graphic showing the age of ships on the major routes. Eventually, these ships WILL have to be replaced, regardless of political footballs…
#BCFerries #bcferries #ev #electric #transportation #bcpoli #ferry #boats #ships #battery

Some really interesting electric power math here for #BCFerries upcoming large transitional hybrid-to-full electric ferries. They will be known as the “Summit” class. 2100 passengers and crew, almost 400 cars. These are big ships.
Equivalent to the biggest Spirit Class between Victoria and Tsawwassen. So would be replacing the last of the 1970s Queens and possibly one of the Spirit or Coastal ships? We’ll see.
Anyway: They will initially have 10Megawatt Hours (MWh) of battery capacity as hybrid diesel/electric which is interesting, not natural gas like some of the other recent hybrids. (Which always felt like a stupid political decision to show off LNG, not a sound engineering decision)
They will then, once docks are upgraded for electric charging, be refit with 60MWh of batteries (total 70MWh) to “enable 2 hours of emissions free sailing”. In distance terms, that’s the one-way sailing time between Duke Point Terminal in Nanaimo and Tsawwassen in Vancouver, about 40 nautical miles (74km).
For comparison, my Kona EV car has a 65kilowatt hour battery… 1000x less capacity!.. giving a range of 450km.
That’s a very heavy ship!!🛳️
It’s a pretty tight capacity window considering the major routes are all between 1.5hrs and 2hrs. But they could be being conservative in the press release, indicating they would comfortably fit those timelines, or they will be still using hybrid power and shore docking ports to augment and ensure they have adequate power. They will always need lots of reserve and backup for safety.
I also imagine in the 30-60 year lifetime of the ships, we could see the energy density of batteries in general increase, so a refit in 2040 or 2050 could replace 70MWh with 100 or 140MWh in the same physical space.
What seems sure though is that B.C. Ferries is going to have some, if not the, largest fully electric capable ferries in the world. That’s a good thing.
First ship of 4 will arrive from China in 2029. Last of the class arrives in 2031. So hopefully we get our first ride in 2030! Looking forward to it!
#bcferries #ev #electric #transportation #bcpoli #ferry #boats #ships #battery