iN DISCUSSION: Time to put embarrassing OneBC party behind us

This is where cold hard facts give way to the hottest of takes, mostly mine I suppose. I’m the editor, Marshall Jones.

Want to include yours? Listen, this isn’t the comment section, this isn’t social media. Discussion and debate requires context and a wee bit of bravery — we need your name and where you’re writing from. Include it in your account or email me anytime.

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Time to put embarrassing OneBC party behind us

Well that was short lived.

So long OneBC! We hardly knew ye!

Who could have guessed that a political party borne of extremism, defection and disloyalty, stitched together with the combined wisdom and guidance of two of the most dysfunctional people ever elected to the legislature, would rise and fall within six months?

I don’t know, maybe it’s not dead yet. It’s no longer an official party after leader MLA Dallas Brodie was punted on the weekend for what appears to be internal issues. 

If she doesn’t come back, that leaves just Tara Armstrong, elected by the good people of Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream, who basically folded the party and all its financing because she didn’t like the direction Brodie was taking it.

This is six months after she resigned from the B.C. Conservative Party, under whose banner she was elected in the first place. She didn’t like the direction that party was under either and left within a year.

Who knows, maybe if voters demanded a better candidate, one that spoke publicly at least once before they elected her, we might have known she was an unyielding zealot who can’t compromise within her own party of like-minded people, let along political opponents who she belittles.

It’s time to put this embarrassing chapter behind us.

As soon as we’re able, we’re going to make Armstrong the first BC MLA recalled by voters. 

Want in? Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

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RCMP lack of concern about public safety concerning

There’s a couple stories I’d like to call your attention to this morning.

The first isn’t ours. Stephen Wright told CBC his sister, 63, was stabbed by a random stranger while walking on a Kelowna street earlier this month. Yet police have said nothing, no warnings, no statements in two weeks.

“[We’re] feeling really abandoned, or unsupported, by the RCMP.” Wright said.

We know the feeling. We’ve been trying to follow up this story but police refuse to answer, saying there are no concerns about public safety. 

No concerns about public safety? The same detachment released a two-month-old drunk driving ‘Mounties got their man’ bulletin last week. If that’s public safety, what’s this?

Either way, people left concerned, perhaps scared garners zero notice from police. I expect more. How about you?

The second story isn’t really local but I don’t want it to get missed because it shows just how twisted our legal system has become. It’s the kind of story you only read here.

Basically, BC police tasered this guy in his commercial transport truck for no reason. He sued. He won more than $300,000.

That was all we knew about this story until yesterday when we discovered through an obscure judgment that behind the scenes of that civil trial, the trucker was threatening witnesses in the case. He was charged, convicted, served several months in jail. 

It was all brought back before a BC judge because anyone in their right mind knows that can’t be allowed to stand, right? He was assaulted and injured so he’s due some compensation, but he can’t be enriched through the courts by strong-arm and intimidation, can he? He threatened lawyers in the courtroom of that very hearing. Surely that must bring the system into disrepute.

Nah, just kidding. The judge declined the opportunity, gave him his money.

I’m speechless. How about you? Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

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RCMP consistently choses silence over guidance

Two things from earlier this week.

One, if you recall, was my complaint that Kelowna RCMP decided a woman in her 60s getting stabbed by a stranger on the street in broad daylight was not a risk to the public worth informing them about.

The RCMP put out a release Wednesday afternoon. It has a picture of a suspect. So thanks, I guess? 

One of my favourite commenters, William Mastop, addresses this in the Comment of the Day. I would just add that if the Mounties are going to continue being municipal detachments in BC, please find a decent communications strategy that involves treating residents like adults. 

Our cities are better when law enforcement is a part of them. They’re who we look to in these times of disorder and they consistently choose silence over guidance and assurance, let alone action, if they take it, because we never know. 

There’s no faith in organizations being run in secret.

The second item from earlier this week I want to walk back a little bit. I lamented a justice system that allowed a man to keep $300,000 compensation for unjustified assault by RCMP officers even after he threatened witnesses at his trial, for which he was jailed and convicted.

We know a little more now about things unsaid in the decision and I must always willing to adjust my thinking with new information.

So, yes, the system doesn’t look good handing out awards to people who threaten witnesses in the same trial. 

It might have looked worse if the assault victim sued the RCMP, was awarded compensation, then jailed by the very system that imposed itself upon him and finally having to hand it all back to lawyers with a few debts for good measure.

Because according to the assault victim, that’s basically what happened anyway. What can I say, “the law is an ass.”

What’s your thoughts? Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

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iN RESPONSE

RCMP hope to identify man caught on camera near Kelowna stabbing

Okay… if there is a stabbing in daylight hours on a public street in the city of Kelowna and there is ”no evidence” to suggest it was targeted or that the victim and her attacker knew each other,” how can there possibly not be a concern regarding public safety? A member of the public walking on a public street appears to have been chosen at random to be stabbed. That is a public safety concern. Just by its very definition it is a public safety concern. This statement from the detachment is ridiculous!

— William Mastop via iNFOnews.ca

No jail for repeat offender who ransacked 78-year-old’s Vernon home

While I sympathize with the homeowner and what it means to them, our justice system is not for punishment, but rehabilitation. This person seems to be on track and I wish for continuing success.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

Dumped dog rescued after six weeks in Clearwater backcountry

I really don’t understand people that can do this. If you don’t or can’t care for an animal anymore there’s organizations who will take it. Where’s your humanity?

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

BC motel fined $40,000 after giving WorkSafeBC fake documents

Good grief, issue a stop work order requiring confirmation that all hazardous materials have been removed before resumption of work and then fine every day after that when they don’t comply.

— William Mastop via iNFOnews.ca

OneBC party split over staffer’s ‘disgusting’ views on Jews, says ex-leader Brodie

So hopefully she looses her big salary increase when they made their theoretical new party.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

BC harasser who tried to extort Kelowna orchardists is no-show in court

The government needs to hold on-line platforms responsible for eliminating the access when people like this continue the harassment and have been found guilty.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

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Tara Armstrong Recall Countdown

Tara Armstrong is currently the MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream. She rode the coattails of the BC Conservative Party, got elected, then rejected and left the party to serve as an Independent within weeks because the Conservatives were too left wing. Now she gets to spout moronic, hateful rhetoric and claim that her riding supports her.

Elections BC says you can recall an MLA if 40% of eligible voters in the riding sign a recall petition — but not for the first 18 months after an election. Some people started an online petition calling for a byelection once she made a shift to independent, then got herself a raise by forming her own party, but it won’t mean anything until the countdown clock hits zero.

So let the countdown begin!

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