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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw

Vancouver Sun

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Rob Shaw: Feds wash hands of drug decriminalization, leaving BC NDP to face fallout

B.C.’s 16-month experiment with decriminalizing small amounts of drugs officially ended in failure Tuesday, after Ottawa announced it had agreed to...

yesterday 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Finance minister quick to deflect questions over troubled Surrey police transition

The BC NDP government insists its decision to force Surrey to leave the RCMP and create a new municipal police force is 100 per cent, ironclad,...

monday 20

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Messy drug decriminalization experiment marred by shifting policies, unhelpful data

If you launch a highly controversial new program, collect sparse data about its performance and then radically alter the parameters more than...

03.05.2024 20

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Locke and Farnworth's fiery phone call exposes entrenchment over Surrey policing

Before their working relationship devolved into a bitter war of words, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth spent almost 40...

01.05.2024 60

BIV

Rob Shaw

BCU Leader Kevin Falcon talks purpose, persona and his politics-free oasis

The first hint that there may be more to Kevin Falcon than his political stereotype comes when you pull up to his North Vancouver home — a...

29.04.2024 30

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby leans into the blame game over drug decriminalization reversal

When John Horgan reversed course on the Royal BC Museum in 2022, he understood that a successful political pivot has to begin with one thing: An...

29.04.2024 50

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Explosive court affidavit details clash over Surrey police transition

Secretly snapped photos, hand-scribbled notes and gossipy observations — the court case between the City of Surrey and the BC NDP government over...

26.04.2024 30

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby doesn't understand tech giants answer to no one

Premier David Eby said Tuesday he’s “very hopeful” that he can convince the world’s largest multi-trillion-dollar social media tech companies...

24.04.2024 20

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Affordability continues to complicate B.C. climate change politics

Once a sleeper issue confined to the bottom of the ballot in B.C. politics, climate change has roared back onto the political agenda in response to...

23.04.2024 20

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Trudeau offers BC NDP no easy out on drug decriminalization dilemma

B.C. New Democrats would never admit it out loud, but at this point they’d be secretly thrilled if the federal Liberal government stepped in and put...

22.04.2024 50

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Pivot on drug decriminalization looks all but inevitable for Eby

Just how many voters are the BC NDP willing to lose over the issue of drug decriminalization? It’s a question New Democrats are currently asking...

19.04.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Concerns over MNP worm their way through B.C.'s agriculture ministry

The company at the centre of a conflict of interest probe over CleanBC grants also helped award government grants to companies it represents in the...

15.04.2024 7

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Surrey policing dispute heats up again as mayor as spurns $250M offer

There’s no new deal in the long-running policing dispute between the City of Surrey and the B.C. government, but Tuesday’s latest round of...

10.04.2024 20

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Viral TikTok video sparks investigation into B.C.'s clean energy grants

There are many remarkable things about how the kickback scandal over clean energy grants played out at the legislature on Monday — the speed at...

09.04.2024 8

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: ‘Outrageous,’ rampant drug use make St. Paul’s unsafe for staff, patients

When health-care staff at St. Paul’s Hospital saw the recent uproar over a leaked memo outlining drug use and weapons inside northern B.C....

08.04.2024 20

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: B.C.’s opposition parties demand probe into alleged government grant kickbacks

B.C.’s three opposition parties united this week to demand the auditor general probe a so-called “kickback scheme” involving one of the...

05.04.2024 20

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Manitoba NDP to ditch carbon tax as BC NDP doubles down

He’s younger, hipper and has a fresher mandate from voters, so maybe it’s not surprising that Manitoba’s NDP premier, Wab Kinew, can see what...

03.04.2024 40

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Can the NDP sell landmark Haida deal to a skeptical public?

There’s a compelling case to be made in defence of the landmark agreement signed recently between the B.C. government and the Haida Nation, which...

01.04.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC Conservatives risking their momentum with major candidate vetting failures

The BC Conservative party continues its dangerous flirtation with conspiracy theorists, ejecting two candidates recently whose views about health care...

29.03.2024 30

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Carbon tax battle set to heat up in B.C.

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre brings the fight over the carbon tax into Premier David Eby’s backyard next week, with a series of...

27.03.2024 9

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Locke's 'Simpsons' strategy works as NDP caves on Surrey policing funds

There’s a classic Simpsons episode where Homer discovers he’s so good at getting punched in the face that he can win any boxing match just by...

19.03.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby faces off against Poilievre's carbon tax challenge

It’s a clash of political titans over the carbon tax — Canada’s most popular party leader and the man likely to become the country’s next...

18.03.2024 9

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: B.C. ready to get tough on tech titans with sweeping legislation

British Columbia vaulted to a national leadership position Thursday with new legislation to allow it to sue a wide variety of companies — including...

15.03.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: B.C. businesses get second shot at vandalism grants after province bungles rollout

B.C. small businesses who were rejected for financial aid under the province’s bureaucratic, onerous and poorly designed vandalism grant program are...

11.03.2024 8

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby's weak response to antisemitism crisis threatens NDP government

Premier David Eby says a humbling failure of his own leadership led former cabinet minister Selina Robinson to quit the B.C. NDP with a scathing...

08.03.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Ousted minister blasts NDP for 'double standard' on antisemitism

Ousted cabinet minister Selina Robinson spent the weekend writing her bombshell resignation letter from the B.C. NDP caucus, but sat on it after...

07.03.2024 4

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Is B.C. ready to lead the way on firefighter safety?

B.C. firefighters put their lives on the line every day responding to hazardous calls, and the last thing they should be worried about is their...

04.03.2024 5

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby's house-flipping tax likely to fizzle

To truly make Premier David Eby’s new housing flipping tax relevant in British Columbia you’ll need three critical ingredients that were missing...

01.03.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: B.C.'s troubled $10 child care rollout leaves millions in federal cash underutilized

Despite cash-strapped parents desperate for new $10-a-day child care sites, the B.C. government’s roll-out of the system is so troubled that it...

28.02.2024 5

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC NDP's $10 child care promises stalling out

Given the tsunami of deficit and debt in the BC NDP government’s latest budget, you might be surprised to hear there’s a critical program being...

26.02.2024 7

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: NDP gambles on overpriced timidity in latest B.C. budget

Either the BC NDP thinks it's already won the election, or it’s planning one humdinger of a platform this fall, but it’s hard to imagine the...

23.02.2024 8

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: After throne speech, will B.C. voters accept NDP version of reality?

When reality begins to fracture in a Hollywood movie, it’s usually called the multiverse — but when it happens in B.C. politics apparently it’s...

21.02.2024 7

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: B.C. election fever heats up as parties brace for rushed legislative session

B.C.’s legislature resumes this week with a throne speech full of promises and a budget full of numbers — neither of which it would be wise to put...

19.02.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC United, NDP present clashing visions for solving housing crisis

Is the solution to the middle-class housing squeeze new government-built rental apartments, or a rent-to-own program that partners with the private...

16.02.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby's half-baked housing plan underwhelms

For a plan that’s been almost a year and a half in the making, Premier David Eby’s marquee public housing program, BC Builds, landed with an...

15.02.2024 5

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC NDP program barely offers Band-Aids while businesses bleed

If you wanted to craft the worst possible government aid program, it would go something like this: A provincial fund that offers a paltry amount of...

15.02.2024 8

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Can young blood revive BC United?

It takes a lot for Gordon Campbell to come out of retirement and wade into B.C. politics, but a new candidate from BC United — the latest in a...

15.02.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Score-settling on the minds of some as Selina Robinson turfed from cabinet

By the time Premier David Eby removed Selina Robinson from his cabinet Monday, his embattled post-secondary minister was facing criticism from...

15.02.2024 6

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby's half-baked housing plan underwhelms

For a plan that’s been almost a year and a half in the making, Premier David Eby’s marquee public housing program, BC Builds, landed with an...

14.02.2024 40

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC NDP program barely offers Band-Aids while businesses bleed

If you wanted to craft the worst possible government aid program, it would go something like this: A provincial fund that offers a paltry amount of...

12.02.2024 7

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Can young blood revive BC United?

It takes a lot for Gordon Campbell to come out of retirement and wade into B.C. politics, but a new candidate from BC United — the latest in a...

09.02.2024 20

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Score-settling on the minds of some as Selina Robinson turfed from cabinet

By the time Premier David Eby removed Selina Robinson from his cabinet Monday, his embattled post-secondary minister was facing criticism from...

06.02.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Solving B.C.’s safe supply problem requires a dispassionate third party

When MLA Elenore Sturko first raised concerns eight months ago that some of B.C.’s safe supply drugs were being diverted for resale onto the street,...

05.02.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Dr. Henry offers NDP no easy options on safe supply debate

There’s very little enthusiasm within B.C.’s NDP government for  a new report  by the provincial health officer that calls for an expansion of...

02.02.2024 20

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: NDP has little to show for one year after drug decriminalization pilot

B.C.’s troubled decriminalization pilot project hits its one-year anniversary this week, but you’re unlikely to hear the word “success” out of...

31.01.2024 7

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Online exploitation legislation tears down political walls for grieving B.C. family

There’s a bit of a magic to politics on the rare occasions you can get the right person at the right time, to do the right thing for the right...

29.01.2024 5

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: B.C. government appeals ruling over restricted drug use

The B.C. government is appealing a Supreme Court ruling that temporarily struck down its law to restrict drug use in public places — a surprise move...

25.01.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: All eyes on Robinson as B.C. schools vie for international students

Selina Robinson is suddenly the most popular kid on the post-secondary school block, as she grapples with what to do with a pile of highly coveted...

24.01.2024 8

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: B.C. reforms long overdue as Ottawa caps international students

B.C. is preparing its own crackdown on international students in shady colleges and universities, in a bid to mitigate new caps from the federal...

22.01.2024 10

BIV

Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Feds, province at loggerheads over caps on international students

British Columbia has been caught off guard by Ottawa’s abrupt proposal to limit the number of international students, and is urging the federal...

19.01.2024 6

BIV

Rob Shaw

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