Life, politics & honest conversations. Courage, common sense & humour.
Port Coquitlam
Joined September 2011
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Lee-Ann Bates retweeted
Europe has developed a pretty interesting definition of “protecting democracy.”
🇷🇴 Romania annulled a presidential election after Călin Georgescu finished first, then barred him from the rerun.
🇭🇺 Hungary’s new government rewrote the constitution with retroactive limits that block Viktor Orbán from becoming PM again and later approved rules barring long-serving MPs from the next parliamentary election.
🇩🇪 Germany’s domestic intelligence service classified the AfD as extremist, opening the door to much heavier surveillance of the country’s biggest opposition party.
🇫🇷 France upheld Marine Le Pen’s conviction, kept restrictions on her political future and ordered her to wear an electronic ankle tag.
🇪🇸 In Spain, more than a dozen people tied to Pedro Sánchez’s political and personal circle have been investigated or prosecuted in separate corruption cases, while Sánchez himself has not been charged.
🇬🇧 Britain postponed local elections during a sweeping reorganization of local government, triggering a petition accusing the government of voter suppression.
🇵🇱 And now Poland has police surrounding its Constitutional Tribunal while the government and opposition accuse each other of trying to seize control of the court.
The real red line in Europe may not be democracy... It may be leaving the club.
Writer: Sol
Lee-Ann Bates retweeted
This Chinese couple acquired 27 children via surrogacy. Obscene.
Babies aren’t commodities. This practice needs to be banned.
My daughter was blessed to go to Portugal. She noticed the food was healthier and there were few homeless. She was prob 4 yrs old the first time I had to lift her over lifeless ppl to get through a door downtown for an appt. She’s never known the Canada so many of us knew 😔
Academic learning has gone down, but our children have learned to censor themselves even as adults in university. Can someone tell me what the purpose of our education system is?
Nearly half of all Canadian university students are actively hiding their real beliefs: survey nationalpost.com/opinion/nea…
Can we get back to regular law and order? How much time and taxpayer dollars are being spent on complaints because people are feeling offended?
The BC Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed a five-year-old complaint by trans-identifying Jessica Simpson (formerly Jonathan Yaniv) against Langley firefighters. Lawyers funded by the Justice Centre have successfully defended estheticians and Canada Galaxy Pageants against Simpson’s complaints. They are now defending journalist Barbara Kay, author Meghan Murphy, and advocate Kari Simpson against complaints over their public statements on gender identity.
rebelnews.com/after_30_plus_…
Let’s start with opening up, talks with other western provinces and creating an alliance so that not only can we have free trade amongst our provinces at a minimum but we also have a greater federal voice on key western issues.
WENZEL: Canada’s provincial trade barriers are hurting Canadians more than Trump’s tariffs
westernstandard.news/opinion…
Our society prides itself on being secular: the state remains neutral & doesn’t force a worldview on any group.
Yet as a province we seem to be actively imposing specific moral worldviews on groups of people through institutions rather than allowing them freedom of conscience.
Lee-Ann Bates retweeted
Every community has as many views as members. Dressing up and pandering for ‘the vote’ assumes everyone thinks alike. That’s collectivism, the instinct behind socialism. Conservative politicians should ditch the costume and make the argument. It’s all very embarrassing. Stop it.
As citizens we need to become bridge builders and find the places we can agree on for the benefit of our society and future generations.
Praying we can soften our hearts.
I did end up running as an independent with the endorsement of 1BC not for 1BC but that’s a minor detail.
My open letter to @BCGreens leader Emily Lowan.
stuartparkersblog.substack.c…
Lee-Ann Bates retweeted
FIRST READING: Fifteen days, fifteen identity-based criminal sentences nationalpost.com/opinion/fir…
If there have been real and credible threats to people than this is a matter for the RCMP. If this is fear based messaging meant to stir ppl up - it has no place in our school system. It may even negatively affect ppls mental health and ability to work at or attend school.
The BC teachers union president issued this statement today 🥴
"I recognize that with the outcome of a Conservative government, many of us may be feeling disappointed, scared, or deeply concerned about what might come next.
I know these results may be particularly concerning for Indigenous, racialized, and 2SLGBTQIA+ members. You are not alone."
Lee-Ann Bates retweeted
Carney’s “prudent banker” brand is dead. The PBO just showed the books are being cooked
Debt-service costs are now the fastest-growing federal expense: $25B five years ago → $59B this year (already larger than the Canada Health Transfer) → $83B in five years. Pure interest, paid before anything else
PBO Annette Ryan: the government’s fiscal “anchors” are “more like traffic lights.” Capital spending gets a green light; operating spending is a yellow at best. “Limited fiscal discipline. It’s not stopping spending.”
Real cash borrowing over five years: $733B. New debt from deficits: only $333B. The ~$400B gap is being parked with Crown corporations, loans and special funds—“a step removed from parliamentary oversight.” New risks, she said, and less transparency
The former Bank of Canada/Bank of England governor who once policed balance sheets is now redefining accounting so the headline targets stay pretty while the actual liability grows off-books. Taxpayers get stuck with the interest bill @PBO_DPB
Lee-Ann Bates retweeted
"Conservatives Gallop to Victory on Backs of the Cancelled"
Should Conservatives be thanking Dallas Brodie, Kerry-Lynne Findlay & other cancel-culture victims for their historic BC election win?
Yes, writes NWT Editor David Brett.
newwesttimes.com/opinion/con…
Lee-Ann Bates retweeted
Progressives blaming Eby’s defeat in the election timing are totally missing the point. The whole purpose of the early election was to try to overcome the government’s unpopularity rooted in its poor outcomes.
The real problem was the cumulative cost of Eby’s ideological agenda. His government was the last holdout of the failures of Trudeauian progressivism: a subordination of economic growth in favour of deficit financed welfare spending, a dogmatic commitment to climate change and its anti-development effects, excessive identity politics and an overly self critical posture towards Canadian history, and its radical experiment with the harm reduction model.
Election timing and campaign choices didn’t defeat the Eby government. A broad cross-section of British Columbians—from rural parts of the province to downtown Vancouver—rejected it based on the self-evident failure of its ideas.
Big thank you to my supporters and volunteers. Everyone worked so hard and we had many amazing conversations and experiences during the campaign. There is so much to be grateful for!
Congratulations to my colleagues on their campaigns and to Mike Farnworth for his win!
Lee-Ann Bates retweeted
Mass resignations are just another symptom of BC's failing public healthcare system.
- This month, five neurologists are resigning their positions with Interior Health
- Last October, all seven obstetricians and gynecologists at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops resigned
- That same month, four psychiatrists resigned from Vernon Jubilee Hospital
- Seven pediatricians also resigned from Kelowna General Hospital between 2023 and 2025
An independent review published earlier this year described an atmosphere of "reduced trust" and "deteriorating working relations" between physicians and health authority leadership.
Too bad for the doctors: our system makes it so that the local health authority is the only buyer of hospital doctors' labour. A doctor who rejects its terms can't work for a competing hospital; their only option is to quit.
How do we fix this?
There is a middle ground between our failing system and the US's crazy system. It's time for us to level up for everyone's benefit and look to more publicly funded, privately delivered care. In fact, that's how many of our peers do it: Australia, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
Everyone will benefit from the more efficient allocation of resources and improved user experience that come with competition and incentive alignment.
We're getting exactly what the system is built for. It's not going to magicaly improve. We need to change the system.
End the government monopoly on healthcare.
cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c…
