B.C. Today – Daily Report December 12, 2018 Quotation of the day “As soon as you announce your political party, a minimum of 50 per cent of your audience hates you.” NDP MLA Bowinn Ma weighs in on political partisanship in the second installment of BC Today’s deep dive into whether PR systems can change the game for female politicians. Today in B.C. On the schedule The House is adjourned for the winter break. MLAs are scheduled to return to the House on February 12, 2019 for the delivery of the government’s throne speech. B.C. Liberals continue to press for answers from the Speaker ahead of today’s committee meeting Ahead of this morning’s meeting of the Finance and Audit Committee, Liberal Party House Leader Mary Polak released an open letter listing more than a dozen “issues [that] must be ​ ​ addressed urgently” at the meeting, as well as the Legislative Assembly Management Committee’s (LAMC) meeting on December 19. “The credibility of the Legislature and its budget setting must be resolved prior to the expenditure of more public money on services that you have alleged to be subject to criminal activity of a financial nature,” Polak wrote in the five-page letter, which is addressed to Speaker Darryl Plecas. ​ ​ Many of the items — which Polak argues should be settled at the outset of the committee meetings — relate to statements made by the Speaker during last week’s LAMC meeting. Polak ​ ​ wants details, including the scope and timeline of forensic audits into the offices of the Speaker, clerk and sergeant-at-arms that Plecas forcefully called for. Polak and the Liberals also want the Speaker to disclose the exact job description under which special advisor Alan Mullen was hired; how much former attorney general Wally Oppal, hired ​ ​ ​ ​ as a second special advisor to Plecas, is being paid; and where the money for their salaries is coming from. Today’s events December 12 at 10 a.m. – Victoria ​ The Finance and Audit Committee, a sub-committee of the Legislative Assembly Management Committee, will meet today in the Douglas Fir Room at the B.C. Legislature. The committee’s agenda includes reviewing and approving minutes from its last meeting on November 27 and discussing preparations for its 2019-2020 budget submission. December 12 at 12:15 p.m. – Victoria ​ NDP MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert (Vancouver—West End), who chairs the Rental Housing ​ ​ Task Force, will be joined by fellow task force member and Green Party MLA Adam Olsen ​ (Saanich North and the Islands) to present recommendations to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Selina Robinson in the Hall of Honour at the B.C. Legislature. ​ ​ December 12 at 5:30 p.m. – Duncan ​ The B.C. Liberal Party’s Cowichan Valley riding association will host its Christmas social at the Craig Street Brew Pub. December 12 at 5:30 p.m. – Vancouver ​ Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Michelle Mungall will host a fundraising ​ ​ event at Heritage Asian Eatery. Topics of conversation ● Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is facing extradition to the United ​ ​ States on fraud charges, was granted $10 million bail in Vancouver court yesterday. ​ ​ Meng must abide by a number of conditions, including surrendering her passport, residing at one of her two Vancouver homes, wearing a GPS ankle monitor and paying for a 24-hour security detail. ○ Meng’s lawyers argued she should be granted bail ahead of her extradition hearing due to severe hypertension. ● Meanwhile, former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig has been detained in China ​ ​ ​ without explanation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government is ​ ​ “engaged on the file, which [it] takes very seriously.” Kovrig was involved in coordinating Trudeau’s 2016 visit to Hong Kong. Ottawa is considering increasing China’s travel risk ​ ​ level in light of rising tensions between the two countries. ○ A “large business delegation” from B.C.’s forestry sector arrived in China yesterday, even as Forests Minister Doug Donaldson returned home due to the ​ ​ “uncertainty” of Canada-China relations. ○ Alberta’s Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous said ​ ​ yesterday that his ministry has been in contact with China and is still planning to visit the country during a scheduled trade mission to Asian in the new year. ● Attorney General David Eby says ICBC will release its rate projections for the coming ​ ​ year on December 13. “ICBC bases the rate projections on what their actuaries look at in ​ terms of the anticipated costs as well as the impacts of the reforms we’re planning,” Eby told RadioNL yesterday. “Those rates will go to the BC Utilities Commission with an ​ ​ explanation of how ICBC got to those numbers.” ○ With a $1.3 billion loss last year, ICBC is on track to lose another $890 million this year; the rate increase is expected to be substantial. ● Yesterday, former CTV News anchor Tamara Taggart announced she will seek the ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Liberal Party of Canada’s nomination for the Vancouver—Kingsway riding in next fall’s federal election. News briefs - Governmental Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction At least 7,655 British Columbians are experiencing homelessness, according to the first report ​ to take a province-wide look at the issue. "Too many British Columbians — working, on a pension, suffering from illness — have been left behind for far too long," Social Development and Poverty Reduction Minister Shane Simpson ​ said in response to the report. "This level of homelessness should never have been allowed to take hold. The numbers we're seeing make us even more determined to make housing more available and affordable for all British Columbians." The ministry looked at 24 communities around the province, representing around 85 per cent of B.C.’s population. Half of the communities received support from the province to conduct their counts, six received funding from Ottawa’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy and six were conducted independently. The provincial compilation of the results is part of the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction’s attempt to quantify the extent and nature of homelessness in B.C. ahead of the province’s first-ever poverty reduction strategy, which is scheduled to be released “in early 2019.” The poverty plan’s release has been delayed twice since last spring. Indigenous people and those who were formerly in government care are overrepresented among B.C.’s homeless population, according to the report, and more than two-thirds of British Columbians experiencing homelessness are men. More than half said they can’t afford rent in their community; about the same number said they have lived in the same community for a decade or more. News briefs - Non-governmental Office of the Auditor General B.C. needs to overhaul its approach to commercial vehicle safety, according to the latest report ​ from Auditor General Carol Bellringer. ​ ​ Currently, heavy commercial vehicles make up just three per cent of registered vehicles in the province but are involved in almost one-fifth of fatal collisions. Better road safety education and awareness programs could help reduce the number of collisions involving commercial drivers, according to the AG’s office, which recommends streamlining the delivery of these programs in the province. Currently, responsibility for delivering such programs is shared by the ministries of Public Safety and Solicitor General and Transportation and Infrastructure, while ICBC runs its own initiatives. The report also recommends the province review commercial licencing requirements; currently professional drivers are not required to take any driver training courses before taking the commercial licencing test. Tightening oversight of inspection facilities would help ensure vehicle safety inspections are conducted to required standards, according to the report, while commercial vehicle safety and enforcement officers “could be more effective with better supports” for their “challenging” responsibilities. Although B.C. collects a lot of data about road safety, Bellringer said the government is not making good use of the information it has on hand. To address that gap, Bellringer’s office used a data analysis model employed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the United States to build its report. "We adapted the model for use in B.C., then used it to analyze the data collected by the B.C. government," said Bellringer. "Over the past three years, roadside inspection and enforcement activities with commercial vehicles in B.C. prevented an estimated 1,100 crashes, including four fatalities and more than 260 injuries.” Better use of the available data could bring the B.C. government closer to its stated goal of zero fatal collisions on the province’s roads, according to Bellringer. Women and proportional representation In its second and final installment on women and PR, BC Today looks at whether proportional representation systems can really lead to a less partisan political arena and more durable policy-making — and whether switching to PR could make the political arena in B.C. more inviting to women. Premier John Horgan says a proportional representation voting system will lead to more ​ ​ women being elected to the B.C. Legislature — but a rationale he gave for this belief has ruffled some feathers. “Taking away the confrontation and the hyper-partisanship which we are seeing here tonight will encourage more women to participate as well,” Horgan said during last month’s televised debate with Liberal Party Leader Andrew Wilkinson. ​ BC Today’s first installment on “Women and PR” looked at how PR systems provide space for ​ more individuals from underrepresented groups, including women, to find their way onto the ballot. But Horgan’s remarks also suggest the alternative voting system could create a more hospitable workplace for women — one free of the bloodsport that characterizes much of history’s male-dominated politics.