Good Week/Bad Week: Small town kid goes public and gas prices cause political chaos

In which we delve into the winners and losers from the week that was

Coming after a week in which all the Canadian teams were officially eliminated from the NHL playoffs, here’s something else that will just feel right for some reason you can’t really explain. 

It’s time for Good Week/Bad Week, where we attempt to find out who won and lost in the past seven days. And maybe have some fun with it along the way.

It’s been a good week for:

1. Granville Island Brewing
The Vancouver brewery unveiled a rebrand that moves away from the West Coast vibes that the 150-plus breweries in the province are already after and shines the light specifically on its home base of Granville Island. 

Although the look itself may take some time getting used to from such a classic brand, the beer doesn’t. Led by a delicious IPA, the three new choices from GI should get the company back in the good graces of beer drinkers.

2. Lund, B.C.
On the weekend, Stewart Butterfield filed to take online messaging platform Slack public. UVic grad Butterfield is founder and CEO of the company, which brought in US $400 million in revenue last year.

He also has to be the most famous person from Lund, right? Back when it was the cool thing to join a commune, Butterfield’s parents found the perfect spot in the fishing village, which had a population of 287 in the 2016 census.

And now their son is putting Lund on the map! If your map extends super far up the Sunshine Coast.

3. Victoria city council 
How the hell you gonna vote these peeps out? Even if their plan to give Victoria transit riders free fare might not work out (cost is something of an issue), they have to be commended for progressive thinking. The pilot is slated to start next year, with free transit for riders under 19.

Gotta think Mayor Lisa Helps and those eight councillors will have seats in office for as long as they want with ideas like that.

It’s been a bad week for:

1. Gaslighting
As prices surge over $1.70 per litre at the tank in parts of B.C., it was only a matter of time before the matter got political.

But the fallout is a bit complicated. The Opposition BC Liberals are putting up signs like “Blame John Horgan” (see above pic) for the high prices. But it was the Liberals who introduced a carbon tax in the first place.

Of course, Horgan did jack up said tax. He also fought against it when the Liberals introduced it.

Sigh.

Remember a few sentences ago, when free transit made it seem like politics could actually be non-partisan?

2. The Ministry of Forests
A report from the Forest Practices Board, B.C.’s forestry watchdog, found that there are “major weaknesses and gaps” in the way the province enforces rules and protects its resources.

In short, yikes.

It’s somewhat to be expected, given the challenges crews have during wildfire season, and so on. But when a government official tells CBC News that “the public needs to know what they’re finding…”

We’re going to stick by yikes.

3. Toronto
Yeah, don’t worry, this is strictly a B.C.-based feature. We’re not going to focus on Toronto too much, unless we’re laughing at that city.

Which brings us to the assertion by B.C. Finance Minister and Deputy Premier Carole James that thanks to Vancouver’s strict regulations on money laundering, dirty money could potentially move to Toronto’s real estate market.

“If one province puts something in place and the other provinces don’t…it provides an opportunity,” James said.

So yeah, haha Toronto! Eat that!

OK, that seems mean-spirited; the whole money-laundering thing was kind of awful for the province and really set us back in some ways. Sincerely hope you figure it out, Toronto.

Undecided:

1. Decriminalization
Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry put forward a 49-page report that highlighted the need for decriminalization of simple drug possession. Such a move would help curb the opioid crisis, Henry maintained.

A scant two hours later, the minister of public safety and solicitor general basically squashed all talk of the notion.

“It’s not appropriate for me as minister to be directing police on how they conduct their operations,” said Mike Farnworth, apparently unaware that, if an opening for public safety minister popped up on LinkedIn, it would undoubtedly include a line about working with police departments to set priorities.

As it is, it’s one step forward and one back. Which is great when you’re square dancing. Not so much when policing the province.