Daniel Fontaine, B.A., ICD.D

It was a packed episode of For the Record this week with way too many topics to cover! Councillor Paul Minhas makes another appearance to review the April 22nd Council meeting and much more.

Some the items discussed include a donation of $150,000 USD to the City of New Westminster. The source of the funds was Bloomberg Philanthropies which has as one of its stated goals to lobby civic politicians! You’ll be interested to learn it took a trip to Dubai to become eligible to gain access to these American funds.

The City of New Westminster finalized its budget process and approved a 7.7% property tax increase which means taxes have jacked up 14% in only two years! Find out how that will impact both residents and small business owners.

A move to bring a motion to Council on the failed decriminalization experiment triggered national media attention this week. Will a series of motions brought to various municipal councils across BC be the impetus to back away from decrim?

In only 3 months the City of New Westminster’s Citizen Advisory Panel has lost 3 members. Is this sustainable? Was it unexpected? This pilot project is now well underway and only time will tell if it yields its intended results.

A 37 storey tower in downtown New West gets approved by a vote of 4-2. Once built, what impact will it have on already overcrowded schools and daycares in the local area?

Did you try and buy a tree at the City of New West Bi-Annual Tree Sale only to find out they sold out in minutes? With the passing of a motion this week up to 3000 more trees may be added to the inventory that could solve that problem.

New West is now officially on the BC Housing Minister’s “naughty list” when it comes to developing new housing. The Mayor didn’t take too kindly to this designation calling it “BS”. Find out why so many Metro Vancouver civic politicians think the Minister is simply offside.

All these topics are discussed and more! It’s an episode packed with media clips, commentary – and we have a bit of fun doing it all too.

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Special guest Councillor Paul Minhas joins me to discuss a number of issues of interest to local New West residents and businesses.

What do you think about setting up a Canucks on Columbia Fan Zone? It would consist of a couple of big screens and would allow fans to visit Hyack Square to watch the playoffs. It would be a BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair) event and would be family-friendly. Will it happen?

Does New West need more trees? During a recent bi-annual tree sale the City undertakes each year, the allotment of trees was sold in a matter of minutes. A motion coming to city council aims to increase the number of trees residents can purchase and plant on their private property or apartment balcony. Will the motion get majority support next week?

The NDP government’s decriminalization experiment appears to be going horribly wrong. There are multiple stories of the diversion of government supplied drugs along with the consumption of illicit drugs in health care facilities like Royal Columbian. Will the NDP finally abandon this experiment before the provincial election? Or will the feds step in and pull the plug first?

We also discuss the recent NWP fundraising event and provide a clip from the Cambie Report podcast which talks about who is attracting more financial support when it comes to elector organizations in New West. You might be surprised to learn what was reported by Elections BC last week.

These topics and much more are on this week’s edition of For the Record which is available for download on all major platforms!

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In this latest episode of For the Record host Daniel Fontaine covers a number of interesting topics including an opening editorial on the sport and recreation infrastructure deficit plaguing New Westminster. Will the opening of a new $114M aquatic and community center put a big dent in that deficit?

Fontaine also paid a visit to the BC Legislature this week and had an exclusive sit down interview with MLA Elenore Sturko. She is a high profile member of the BC United Party and is the Official Opposition Critic to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, New West MLA Jennifer Whiteside.

Sturko talks about how the NDP’s policy of forging ahead with decriminalization is being felt on the streets of New West and at Royal Columbian Hospital. She also speculates as to whether the NDP will abandon the decriminalization policy before the next provincial election in October. You will want to listen to this interview!

The podcast also includes a New West Council roundup for the April 8th meeting and additional coverage on the commemorative ceremony that took place on April 13th to honour Ben Flores. He was the first Filipino immigrant to Canada in 1861. This segment includes the beautiful words, song and drum beats from Squamish Elder Wendy Charbonneau.

This podcast is available on all major platforms including Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast and Amazon.

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