News and event information for Williams Lake, BC - as it happens.

Unlike Premier Campbell when we never knew if the legislature would sit, Premier Clark has posted the full legislative calendar for this year and it shows we’ll have full spring and fall legislative sessions.

Since we did not prorogue the last fall session, Premier Clark’s Throne Speech from the fall carries over and so does some of the outstanding legislation from that session, particularly the Local Government Auditor General Act that has been called into question by the Union of BC Municipalities.

Bob Simpson's Musings

One of the problems of having a full fall legislative session is that it’s hard to get around the riding and stay connected with the people I’ve been elected to represent. I’m thankful that I have great staff in both my Quesnel community office and my legislative office in Victoria. But, I also need direct contact with the communities and the people I serve to ensure I’m grounded in their realities and don’t lose sight of what’s important to them.

Bob Simpson's Musings

This week I started posting my travel expense reports on my website www.bobsimpsonmla.ca. The press immediately labeled this a challenge to all other MLAs to become more “transparent” and suggested I wouldn’t be very popular with my colleagues in the Legislature. I also got lots of airtime on the issue and kudos from the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation.

Bob Simpson's Musings

What a difference a couple of weeks make. Two weeks ago the Minister of Finance stated he was determined to balance BC’s budget by 2013 as required by the law. This week, armed with a new financial update and weakening prospects for BC’s economy, the Minister stated he will still try to do that, but isn’t willing to take a “damn the torpedoes” approach to balancing BC’s books. 

If the Finance Minister is going to miss the legislated timeline to balance BC’s books by 2013, then, for the third time since 2009, the BC Liberals will have to introduce legislation next spring to amend the balanced budget law to give themselves the legal authority to run deficits for a few more years.