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In this episode my buddy Dylan and I talk about our first experience of going to see Parliament in Session at the BC Legislature.

Photos on the Blog (sorry they don’t show on the apps, so if you want to see him go to http://www.governthis.ca): Dylan on the left: Cleaned up… and on the right, what he first showed up wearing, I made him go home and change, haha. We talk about this on the podcast.

Thanks for listening & Until next time… Stay Curious – CJ 🙂

*If you like what you hear and you think it’s important, please share it with as many people as you can… hopefully we can all become a little more aware and involved.*

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*SHOW NOTES … to come

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So here we are in the middle of a very important Referendum in BC where many people either don’t know about it or are confused. If you do know what’s generally going on I’ll bet you’re missing a few key bits of information that Daniel brings to light here. 

We got into the details of the referendum and the proposed voting systems… how they work, how they “could work” and what he is curious about in terms of how the government would structure and implement a few things – as some of the information is a little unclear and being left out of both the pro and anti campaigns. As well as the impact the systems might have on how MLA’s could act.

It gets detailed, but if I can follow and finally get a handle on it I’m sure you can to – and hey, that’s what the rewind button’s for right.

To help sort things out… at the end of the episode Daniel shares his thoughts on where the best places to get information are – from academics more than from the campaigns as they are so currently polarized and as Daniel puts it, “… look for people who talk about trade offs, who acknowledge that there are problems with any kind of electoral system.”

Thanks for listening & Until next time… Stay Curious – CJ 🙂

*If you like what you hear and you think it’s important, please share it with as many people as you can… hopefully we can all become a little more aware and involved.*

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*SHOW NOTES … to come

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This is the follow up episode with Professor Daniel Westlake where we talk more in depth about what is going on in BC and our own Electoral Reform.

Daniel Westlake is a Professor from the University of Victoria who teaches Electoral Reform.  Check out the prequel where we get into the details of Electoral Reform and the types of systems there are and how they work.

Thanks for listening & Until next time… Stay Curious – CJ 🙂

*If you like what you hear and you think it’s important, please share it with as many people as you can… hopefully we can all become a little more aware and involved.*

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twitter: @WeGovernThis

*SHOW NOTES … to come

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British Columbia is in the midst of Electoral Reform with a referendum coming this fall. I was able to track down Daniel Westlake, a Political Science professor who teaches the subject and he agreed to sit down and give me the low down.

In this episode we focus on what Electoral Reform is all about and the different types of systems that could come up and how they’re structured.

It was a great chat and it really helped me to understand what happens in elections and what could happen within different systems. It’s all very complex and each system has their positives and negatives – so it’s no easy choice.

Thanks for listening & Until next time… Stay Curious – CJ 🙂

*If you like what you hear and you think it’s important, please share it with as many people as you can… hopefully we can all become a little more aware and involved.*

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twitter: @WeGovernThis

*SHOW NOTES … to come

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OK… Montreal turned 375 this year… and Canada turned 150… what’s going on… why is Montreal so much older, and what was happening before Canada became Canada?

These are the few questions that started me down a road that I think will last for many sporadic episodes in the future. I’m so curious now as to how Canada began… what was going on for all those years after Montreal was a city and before Canada was a country. When did the provinces start, what was the order they joined Canada in, what were the years… among so many other questions that come up once I start learning that there really are no simple answers or explanations.

To kick it all off I sit down with my buddy Nathan Walsh – a young and eloquent Canadian History buff – who tries to get me on track with some (we have lots more to cover) of the basics of what was going on leading up to Confederation and the culmination of the ‘Dominion of Canada’.

The main focus I suppose is “Colonial Canada” but some of the things we touch on include:

– The early French and English Presence (and even the Dutch)
– Upper and Lower Canada, what they are and where they were
– How “Profit” had an impact on Colonizing
– The Hudson’s Bay Company
– The Battle of the Plains of Abraham
– The English and French and their alignments with the Indigenous people of the area
– The Rebellion of 1837
– Lord Durham and his “Report”
– The Railway
– And how Nathan really likes and gets excited about the “Battles” (you’ll have to listen through to get the feeling;) )

All in all, It’s a lot more complicated and way more interesting than I ever knew or imagined. I will definitely be grabbing a couple more beers and sitting down with Nathan to drill him with more ignorant questions.

Thanks for listening & Until next time… Stay Curious – CJ 🙂

*If you like what you hear and you think it’s important, please share it with as many people as you can… hopefully we can all become a little more aware and involved.*

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*SHOW NOTES … to come

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Bob Warwick and I take a few moments to sit down and talk about what it was like for him to manage BC Green Candidate Dr. Chris Maxwell’s campaign during the 2017 Provincial Election in BC. Then we get into what goes on with political parties between elections and what it’s like being a part of that on the Green side of things provincially and federally. We also talk about his almost Math degree – which is a nicely comical story… among lots of other little tidbits. We had a great time and lots of laughs. Hope you enjoy.

Thanks for listening & Until next time… Stay Curious – CJ 🙂

*If you like what you hear and you think it’s important, please share it with as many people as you can… hopefully we can all become a little more aware and involved.*

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twitter: @WeGovernThis

*SHOW NOTES … to come

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Andrew Reeve returns to talk about elections and what happens on either side of one. Starting from when the campaigning begins as the Writ is Dropped and the current Government is dissolved, to what happens on election day and how to follow it. Then we get into our current 2017 BC Election and the different scenarios that could occur, regardless of how things actually do turn out. I found it all super interesting and insightful, and I hope you do as well.

Thanks for listening & Until next time… Stay Curious – CJ 🙂

*If you like what you hear and you think it’s important, please share it with as many people as you can… hopefully we can all become a little more aware and involved.*

Buy us a
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http://www.governthis.ca
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twitter: @WeGovernThis

*SHOW NOTES … to come

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It was a refreshing to sit down and chat with Independent Candidate and 21 year old Political Science student Jordan Templeman.

I enjoyed hearing his well considered thoughts on all the major issues, the major political parties and his experience so far running in this election. It was encouraging and inspiring…. and I definitely learned a lot once again.

We covered many of the same topics from my chats with Dr. Chris Maxwell and Andrew Reeve, but from yet another perspective – the Independent perspective, as well as delving into some new areas.

– Visit Jordan on Facebook

Some topics we cover include:

– Running as an independent and his decision to give this a go

– Whips – they have a place, but maybe not all the time (the Greens might have a good thing going here)

– Minority & Majority Government

– His Platform, where he lands on the political spectrum (Left/Right) and how he’d want to support his riding/community

– Campaigning and how there is often party bashing and pointing fingers, his view… “It should be about what you can do better for the province, not what other people have done negatively for the province.”

– Party donations – if it’s wrong it’s wrong

– Site C Dam – he’s more concerned with the economic side than the environmental side

– Clean Energy, the Fossil Fuel sector and Jobs – creating jobs is good, so is clean industry but we have to also think of those that could be displaced from work and end up having a skills gap while looking for new employment

– Daycare – $10/day … maybe a better idea is to raise the ‘child allowance’ and the age to which it is paid (currently 6yrs old in BC, apparently the lowest in the country)

– Youth and young adults – how to get them more interested and involved… “How do we get them interested before they’re negatively impacted at all?”

– Changing the voting age to 16 – if they can join the military, shouldn’t they be able to vote?

– Electoral Reform – a referendum is really the only way to approach it in a truly democratic way, he said … “An ignorant democracy is better than a well informed dictatorship.”

**I end the chat with asking about his plans after the election – what a jerk I am, anything could happen, he could be elected, all people have to do is VOTE for him!… anyway, I think his response here really shows his maturity, character and integrity. Good on ya Jordan!

Thanks for listening & I hope you enjoy!

*If you like what you hear and you think it’s important, please share it with as many people as you can… hopefully we can all become a little more aware and involved.*

– Until Next time… Stay Curious – CJ 🙂

***Party Platforms***
BC Greens Party Platform
BC Liberal Party Platform
BC Liberal Party – Vancouver Island Platform
BC NDP Party Platform

Buy us a
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a Beer $8… or some
Time, Energy or Equipment $$

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http://www.governthis.ca
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twitter: @WeGovernThis

*SHOW NOTES … to come

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This chat with Andrew was really fun and I learned a ton! He is great at explaining things and has quite the resume which he skims through during our chat.

Andrew is a Political Science graduate from the University of Victoria who works in the Whip’s Office at the Legislature. He is also currently the Campaign Manager for Esquimalt-Metchosin Liberal Candidate Barb Desjardins for the coming 2017 BC Election on May 9th.
(** I should note that all of the thoughts and opinions he gives here are His alone and he is Not speaking on behalf of any political party or candidate).

We cover a lot of stuff in this episode and it’s hard to narrow some bullet points down to give you a good overview – as I find so much of it to be important for this coming election… but here are a few things that you’ll hear us talk about:

– His background and how he got to leading a campaign for the 2017 BC Election

– The different voting styles people tend to use – party based, local candidate based or issue based

– The lack of civic/political education and how the reason people often don’t vote is because they simply don’t feel educated enough to do so

– His view of the differences in the political parties … and the differences of the federal vs provincial versions of these Parties

– How, in preparation for a provincial election, we should look at our current MLA’s and their past 4years to determine what we are looking for in an MLA for the next 4years.

– How we should dig into and scrutinize each Parties Platform, which the public can online **see below links**

– And we address some of the issues coming up in this campaign, like: Site C Dam, Political Party Donations, Trickle Down Economics, Daycare,

– I also learn about Populism and how this is used in politics (eg, Daycare is a “populous promise”) … and much more.

Thanks for listening & I hope you enjoy!

*If you like what you hear and you think it’s important, please share it with as many people as you can… hopefully we can all become a little more aware and involved.*

– Until Next time… Stay Curious – CJ 🙂

***Party Platforms***

BC Greens Party Platform
BC Liberal Party Platform
BC Liberal Party – Vancouver Island Platform
BC NDP Party Platform

Buy us a
Coffee $5… 
a Beer $8… or some
Time, Energy or Equipment $$

– Many thanks for all the Support!!

http://www.governthis.ca
http://www.facebook.com/governthis
twitter: @WeGovernThis

*SHOW NOTES … to come