On this edition of Journal, we talk with a woman who embodies the gold standard of leadership. What does it take to be a great leader?

Crystal Smith, Chief Counsellor of the Haisla Nation from 2016 to 2025, was a major public voice supporting LNG Canada in Kitimat, at a time when opposition was vocal and sometimes vicious. But she stood her ground. Crystal believed that only through economic development would she be able to help lift her people out of poverty and despair.

And she did it. LNG Canada is now operational and Cedar LNG, the world’s first to be majority owned by an Indigenous nation, is on its way.

Today, if you visit the Haisla Nation (as I have), you will see a large recreation centre hosting sporting and cultural events, a beautiful health centre offering mental health and addiction support, as well as seeing to the basic medical needs of the community. Overall there is a sense of confidence and well being in the Haisla Nation. Much gratitude is owed to Crystal and former Chief Ellis Ross.

But what did it take to become the leader Crystal is today? It wasn’t easy. She has talked emotionally about her personal or family connection to sexual abuse, drug addiction – and suicide.

Was being a woman an advantage or a disadvantage on this journey?

Was being indigenous an advantage or a disadvantage?

There are lessons to be learned from one woman’s already successful life – and she’s just beginning.

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On this edition of Journal, we focus on the rural-urban divide in healthcare.

Mayor Goetz has spoken movingly about the stress in his community of Merritt caused by the intermittent and unpredictable closings of his hospital’s ER. What do you do when your emergency department is closed and the next nearest is, maybe, a hundred kilometres away?

How many times in the last year have we seen these “temporary” closures in headline after headline, affecting hospitals throughout British Columbia? And it is not just ER closures – we have also seen pediatric care in Kelowna under threat, as well as maternity care in Kamloops and Prince George.

It’s as though we have come to accept the current state of healthcare delivery as the new model.

There are other issues: if your rural hospital can’t do complex operations and you must travel to a city centre – well, who pays for these additional expenses? Not just travel costs but also hotel stays if the procedure requires extended care. And doesn’t the Canada Health Act promise reasonable access to healthcare wherever you live?

Dan Levitt, BC’s Seniors Advocate, also raises the issue of long term care in rural communities. Where do you go if your community just doesn’t have these services?

Working on all these issues is Paul Adams, the executive director of the BC Rural Health Network. This network brings together more than 30 rural municipalities, several regional districts, and more than 70 non-profits to focus on needs and possible solutions. He believes this rural-urban divide has gotten worse since COVID.

So what can we do about it?

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On this edition of Journal, we look at the looming deadlines for mandatory electric car sales in both our province and in the country as a whole.

One headline reads, “Feds on track to eliminate gas cars by 2035” – but are they? That’s only ten years from now – no gas cars being sold?

Besides which, the first deadline is in 2026, only 3 months from now. The federal government says by that time, 20% of car sales must be EVs, while our province is more ambitious in saying it must be 26%. In just 3 months!

So how are these mandates possible? Or is this another of those ambitious promises like the Paris Accords on climate that get signed but never done?

Like most people, I applaud aspirational goals, but I am against writing laws and regulations that are nearly impossible to meet.

Up front, I have to say I have driven an electric car for ten years and I don’t feel biased either for or against EVs. But when it comes to forced mandates on how many electric or plug-in hybrids dealerships must sell, I have some questions.

First of all, 56% of British Columbians oppose forced EV mandates. So how are you going to make this happen?

Then, as Barry Penner, Chair of the Energy Futures Institute, says: It’s like putting the cart before the horse – requiring people to buy electric cars before the infrastructure is in place. We don’t have enough charging stations in the right places to make it work.

Another major consideration is cost. So why would governments stop the rebates when you are wanting more people to buy these cars?

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On this edition of Journal, we take a close look at British Columbia’s recent budget update – and try not to rant in frustration.

It is bad news: a deficit of $11.6 billion, the largest in our history. And it would have been much worse except that the government chose to include revenues of $2.7 billion in future payments from a settlement with tobacco companies. In other words, even though the province is only receiving just over $900 million this year, they included all 18 years of future payments at once, as if it happened today. One journalist called this a dodge, but at the very least, it is misleading.

It’s hard to remember that Premier John Horgan had a surplus of $6 billion when he left government, even after dealing with COVID costs. Today? A different story.

And the much ballyhooed spending cuts are only $300 million in a budget of $95 billion – not even enough to cover revenue losses.

Talented journalist Rob Shaw, senior political reporter with CHEK-TV, says, “It’s like bailing out a flooded bathtub with a shot glass while the tap is still running full blast.”

So, why should we care, when households are focused on just trying to hold it together paying their own mortgage and expenses?

Well, it’s exactly because households are doing that: trying to keep their finances in order that we should expect our provincial government to do the same.

Joining me to analyze how desperate things are in BC is David Williams, senior policy analyst with the Business Council of BC. David is a scholar who has long studied the direct relationship between public policy and a community’s well-being.

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On this edition of Journal: another look at the growing tension between aboriginal title and individual property rights.

This issue was brought to the fore by the NDP government’s introduction of the Land Act just before the last election. It was a bit of a bombshell, as it indicated that First Nations would co-manage all of British Columbia’s Crown land – 94% of the province.

Because this was done without proper consultation with all the many affected players, including private property holders and businesses, the resulting uproar forced the government to withdraw the Act.

Then this spring, an agreement between the provincial government and the Haida Nation announced the granting of aboriginal title throughout Haida Gwaii. Once again, the question of private property rights arose. Does aboriginal title override both government and private ownership?

And now, we have the momentous Cowichan court decision granting title of land in Richmond to the Cowichan Tribes. The voices expressing concern over private property are growing even louder.

In her judgement, the judge said, in part, that her decision “may give rise to some uncertainty for the fee simple title holders.” That means private property owners; she goes on to say “it may have consequences for their interest in land.”

To help us sort out the actual legal issues and repercussions is one of Canada’s top legal minds in the field of aboriginal law.

Thomas Isaac joins us to analyse these latest developments and what it means to homeowners.

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On this edition of Journal we take a look at one of the most challenging jobs in society: policing.

Think about it. You take an oath to serve and protect others, even if it means putting your own life on the line. Long gone are the days of peaceful protests, putting the bad guys in jail – and keeping them there as your mission.

Police are now expected to be mental health workers, peacekeepers, drug addiction experts, organized crime investigators, and, oh yes, please deal with the disorder on our streets.

Meanwhile, the legal and health environment keeps changing around them. Frequently, the police, after making an arrest, find that individual back on the streets, sometimes on the same day, ready to offend again and again. The courts are letting us down, but is it because of the way the law is written, or is it political directives that influence these decisions?

As well, a new term, complex co-occurring disorders, has entered our vocabulary. This refers to those who are both mentally ill and drug addicted. There is no debate that we as a society have not provided adequate care and facilities for these individuals. So where do they go? In part, due to decriminalization, we see them on our streets – often in desperate shape, sometimes violent.

Into this complex environment has stepped Steve Rai, Vancouver’s new Chief Constable. While he is new to this position, he is not new to the VPD, where he has served for 35 years doing everything from walking the beat in East Vancouver, to being a hostage negotiator for the Emergency Response Team.

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On this edition of Journal, we examine two public policy initiatives that are turning the governing of our province upside down.

Mayor Mike Hurley is directly affected in his 2 roles: first as Chair of the Metro Vancouver Board and second as mayor of Burnaby.

First, an independent report looking at the governance of Metro Vancouver was needed as a result of the tremendous overrun on the wastewater treatment plant – a budget that went from $700 million to $3.6 billion! How could that happen?

Well, the Deloitte report that was just released paints a grim picture:

The Board is too big: 41 directors representing 21 municipalities, Tsawwassen First Nations and electoral area A – too many people around the table.

The politically elected chair should be replaced by a non-elected professional governance expert.

Expenses for the directors should be reevaluated and trimmed.

Basically, the report says that this regional government has outgrown its governance structure and must be changed.

And as if problems at Metro Van weren’t enough of a distraction, the province recently pushed through legislation that, in effect, overrides the municipal jurisdiction of zoning and permitting – Bill 15 – all in the name of fast-tracking favoured projects.

And who gets to decide these lucky winners? The premier and cabinet. Not the Legislature, not First Nations, not municipalities – certainly not you or me.

The government is saying, “trust me.” Already, at least one lawsuit is being threatened.

So for Mayor Hurley, the challenges and changes are coming at him from all directions.

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On this edition of Journal, a look at our food industry and how it is affected by the US President’s on-again, off-again, and maybe on-again tariff threats.

Prime Minister Carney has said our relationship with the United States will never be the same again as a result of this major politically driven trade dispute. Canadians must now rethink our defense policies: our supply chain vulnerabilities, our jobs, and our food security. Do we even have food security if over half of our agrifood imports come from the United States?

Does this need to be the case? What can we do to change that around? Can we grow or process more of our own food? Are we using our land and resources to the best advantage? Are there innovations that we should embrace with an open mind?

Dr. Lenore Newman is one of Canada’s top experts on food security. Currently, she is director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, where she holds a Canada Research Chair in food security.

As early as 2019, Lenore was part of BC’s Food Security Taskforce that presented to premier John Horgan and his government their recommendations on how we could improve our situation. Did anything come of that report?

Recently, she contributed to a Canada Research Council document called “The Next Course,” which enthusiastically makes the case for Canada to become a “living lab where the world’s food future is born.”

Dr. Lenore Newman joins us to explore the opportunities Canada has to enhance our own food security.

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