WEEK IN REVIEW – April 14-19
Trade Show, All-Candidates Debate, Recycling Contamination
Happy Easter everyone! Busy week here at The Broken Typewriter – wearing two hats definitely keeps me on my toes! That does mean I’m a touch a behind on a couple of things, mainly the All-Candidates debate from Tuesday evening. That is coming – I was going to do an Editorial on my impressions of the local debate, but I’m not feeling it.
It was a pretty good debate; the absence of the Liberal candidate was not at all surprising. After-all, when The Lido hosted our local provincial candidates’ debate last year, the parachuted in guy from the incumbent government couldn’t be bothered to grace us with his presence then either. It appears that in recent times, whichever “left leaning” party is in power in either BC or Canada, doesn’t care what we think. Or they know they won’t win so they don’t bother wasting all that time and money campaigning here. But it robs us of a full slate of choices. I’m sure there are people in the North Peace who would like to vote Liberal, and now they have to do so without hearing from their candidate.
Hmm. Perhaps I do have an editorial in me after-all!?
Anyhow, this week in the North Peace, we had the Candidates’ Forum at The Lido – prior to the debate, I posted a short article with bios compiled from the internet, on each candidate for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies.
Last weekend, the 50th Annual CKNL Fort St. John Trade Show was at the Pomeroy Sports Centre. There were less booths than in years past, and people (according to Fort St. John City Council) particularly noting the absence of a Peace River Regional District booth. Councillors said on Monday during their regular council meeting that staff at the City’s booth fielded a lot of questions about the pool. Which is owned by the Regional District but operated by the City.
The city also began its Asphalt Overlay program this week, with many streets, or parts of streets being freshened.
Speaking of City Council – Council heard a presentation about contamination in the city’s recycling collection stream, and Director of Public Works and Utilities Jeremy Garner laid out plans to both crack down and educate the public regarding what goes in the blue bins. Much of the “contamination” comes from items that are recyclable, just not in the collection stream.
In his weekly Smart Money column, Brad Brain discussed how investing is not as easy in 2025 as it was back when we were just coming out of Covid, but points out that market cycles are normal, natural and common.
On Friday, the advance polls opened at the FSJ Curling Rink. There have been some discrepancies with people’s voter cards, with some directing Charlie Lake residents, for example, to vote at Upper Halfway Elementary on April 28, rather than the Charlie Lake Community Hall. The returning officer said that voters can just go to the closest polling place and if there is an issue, to ask for a Transfer Certificate.
Coming up this week:
In local government, the District of Taylor is holding its regular council and committee of the whole meetings – the agendas for both can be found here.
Election events continue this week, with the All-Candidates Forum in Prince George at UNBC on Wednesday, April 23, from 7 to 9 p.m., in the Winter Garden. The Chambers of Commerce in Fort St. John, Northern Rockies, Chetwynd, Mackenzie, Tumbler Ridge and Dawson Creek are hosting an virtual all-candidates debate on Thursday, April 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. This forum will be streamed live on YouTube and participating Chamber of Commerce Facebook pages.