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Political Capital 7 - Housing, homelessness & a $645k outdoor toilet

Political headaches come in all forms.

We take a deep dive into BC's new aggressive stance on housing and homelessness - there's a trade-off between units getting built quickly and government bypassing local feedback. As well, what to make of the controversy swirling around Vancouver's $645,000 outdoor toilet? And what did the legislature accomplish in the first half of its spring session, which is now on break? Rob Shaw and panellists Katy Merrifield, Jillian Oliver and Maclean Kay break down the latest news in B.C. politics.

For podcast listeners, the show is available on your favourite platform, including AppleSpotify, and Google

Rob Shaw has spent more than 13 years covering BC politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for The Orca. He is the co-author of the national best-selling book A Matter of Confidence, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.

Jillian Oliver is a political strategist who co-managed the last BC Green Party provincial campaign and Sonia Furstenau’s leadership campaign. She was Communications Director on the federal Nanaimo-Ladysmith by-election that elected Paul Manly and was the BC Greens Press Secretary in the 2017 provincial election and in the BC Greens legislative office from 2017-2019.

Katy Merrifield is the Vice-President for BC at Wellington Advocacy, who has served as Communications Director to Premiers of both Alberta and British Columbia, and was the youngest woman to run a winning leadership campaign in BC. 

Maclean Kay is Editor-in-Chief of The Orca, and is an 11-year veteran of the BC legislature both working in government and now covering it. 

SWIM ON:

  • Last week, Political Capital 6 talked queue jumping, how to get bad headlines from good news, and pissing off Penticton.
  • Katy Merrifield: Relatable and inherently silly, Vancouver’s now-infamous toilet is the kind of issue that tends to stick. And stink.
  • In this month's A Second Look, Justin P. Goodrich speaks with Margaret Pfoh, Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Housing Management Association to look at the significance and shortfalls of UNDRIP in BC.