Conversations Live with Stuart McNish

Join us April 6 when we sit down with Premier David Eby for a wide-ranging conversation.  

The 100 days of action Premier Eby promised when he took on the role Nov 18 recently wrapped with an announcement of new cost-of-living payments for British Columbians. Buoyed by a one-time budget surplus he’s announced hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding for housing, healthcare, and agriculture. BC Ferries and Translink each received a half-billion dollars to keep fares down while maintaining service levels. The Premier has set out to reform the catch-and-release of repeat violent offenders, and to address BC’s crises in mental healthcare and toxic drug deaths.  

His campaign has been criticized for being big on announcements but light on execution, as relevant cabinet ministers have struggled to answer questions in the legislature and media. His creation of a ‘duplicate cabinet’ of high-profile experts reporting directly to the premier’s office on key issues including housing, healthcare, and reconciliation - already the mandates of senior cabinet ministers - has been critiqued as evidence he is centralizing. He is taking a distinctly different approach from that of his predecessor John Horgan. 

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Join us 7 p.m. March 28 as we circle back to the critical issue of feeding BC into the future, this time with a focus on climate smart agriculture. 

We have pulled together a panel of people who are part of a quiet revolution underway in our food production, individuals deeply involved in the science, production, and evolution of how we will raise better food into the future.  

The panel:

• Federica Di Palma - Chief Scientific Officer & VP Research and Innovation, Genome BC
• Peter Dhillon - Chair of Ocean Spray and BC Food Security Task Force member
• Evan Fraser - Director of the Arrell Food Institute and professor at the University of Guelph, where he helps lead the Food from Thought research initiative
• Philip Steenkamp, President of Royal Roads University
• Karn Manhas, CEO of Terramera
• Bahram Rashti, co-founder and CEO of Fresh Green Farms and UP Vertical Farms

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In February we are revisiting housing with a focus on rental. 

The panelists:

• Jill Atkey, CEO of BC Non-Profit Housing Association
• Jon Stovell, President & CEO of Reliance Properties
• Wendy Waters, VP of Research Services & Strategy, GWL Realty Advisors
• Michael Epp, Director of Housing Planning and Development, Metro Vancouver

Rentals plays a key role in ensuring sufficient and affordable housing, and yet few purpose-built rental units are being developed in BC today, while populations continue to grow. The result? Rents are sky-rocketing, and more people are struggling to put a roof over their heads. 

Demand for rental housing will only get more pronounced in coming years, with Metro Vancouver forecast to add about a million residents by 2050, growing from about 2.6 million people today to 3.6 million. 

Premier David Eby created a new stand-alone Housing ministry in his recent cabinet shuffle, and just last week announced a half-billion dollar fund to purchase older, existing rental building for non-profits so they won’t be sold to private companies and redeveloped. Will those moves result in more rental housing becoming available? Why aren’t private developers building more rental housing, or non-profits? Are provincial regulations or municipal roadblocks getting in the way? What about SROs?

We have pulled together a panel of people who have spent their working lives in housing, rental in particular, and will dive deep into the causes of this challenge – and its solutions. 

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On January 17 Conversations Live with Stuart McNish will explore the issue of BC’s energy future with a panel of individuals emersed in the facts and politics of this critical issue, and well-positioned to help us look towards our energy future. 

The panelists:

• Ian Anderson – Former Trans Mountain Corporation President & CEO
• Crystal Smith – Chief Councillor, Haisla Nation; chair of the First Nations LNG Alliance
• Roger Dall’Antonia, President and CEO of Fortis BC
• Mark Jacquard, SFU Professor and Director of the School of Resource and Environmental Management
• Ross Beaty - Chairman of Alterra Power

Oil and gas, LNG, Site C, wind, solar, geothermal, run-of-river, and even nuclear are all put forward by some as the way to meet BC’s growing demand for power – but also criticized for environmental impacts or lack of capacity and challenges with cost or practical application. Protests and violent opposition continue to dog energy projects, and governments & industry struggle to move forward with pipelines, ports, and processing facilities.

Burning fossil fuels is criticized as contributing to climate change, which is already causing significant issues with extreme weather. Yet, some argue Canada’s high environmental standards for fossil fuel extraction and carbon capture projects position us to be part of the solution globally, part of a transition away from burning dirty coal for electrical generation.

Which power source is the right one to meet BC’s growing energy demand, or is it really a question of using all available sources in a responsible and thoughtful manner? 

What role will First Nations play in BC’s energy future? We expect it will be a central one. 

And while we may not read about it much today the impacts of power generation decisions of past governments continue today – the Columbia River dams built in the Kootenays in the 1960s flooded productive agricultural land and continue to attract local anger, but generate huge amounts of power and limit flood risk. What lessons have we learned from this history?

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BC Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon will join Conversations Live with Stuart McNish for a wide-ranging conversation 7 p.m. Tuesday, December 13. The Vancouver Sun’s Vaughn Palmer is set to join us in the room, and we expect he’ll bring his usual keen perspectives and questions to the conversation.

It should be a good one! 

Mark your calendars to join us as we address the big issues facing our province – housing, crime & safety, healthcare, toxic drugs, local food, transportation, the economy, and more.

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On November 15 we are bringing together a diverse group of people in the know to peel back the layers on food in BC. 

Heat domes, floods, fires, and rising costs of inputs such as fuel and fertilizer are putting unprecedented pressure on BC’s farmers and disrupting local food production. Factors as diverse as weather crisis, the war in Ukraine, and supply chain challenges are driving food prices up, making a trip to the grocery store more expensive than it has ever been. 

Jurisdictions from which we import food are facing even more significant challenges – California and Arizona are facing severe water shortages, but currently produce much of the lettuce, tomatoes, and nuts we eat. California alone produces $5 billion worth of almonds annually, another $2 billion of lettuce. According to a recent Metro Vancouver report only 34% of the food British Columbians consume is grown in the province. We are self-sufficient in dairy, poultry, and eggs and supply about half of our own seafood, but rely on the US and other countries for much of our fruit and vegetables, other provinces for meat and grain. We are net exporters of blueberries, cranberries, and cherries. 

Are supply chain challenges revealed by the pandemic and recent weather crisis putting our ability to import the food we need at risk? What about vulnerable British Columbians, who are increasingly relying on food banks as prices rise? 

And yet, there are signs of great hope as farmers, chefs, and food processors continue to get creative and do interesting things with local & craft products across a gamut of culinary sectors. Often, with government support. 

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On October 25 Conversations Live with Stuart McNish will explore the issue of crime on the streets of cities across BC. 

There is a sense that random violence and gangland shootings are increasingly common on our streets. Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, and Langley have all witnessed high-profile incidents in recent days. Some, however, are arguing crime is on the decline. What perception is the reality? What role is mental health playing? Is the toxic drug epidemic a factor? The COVID pandemic, housing? It’s a complex issue, and one to which we must find solutions. 

To get to the bottom of the critical issue and start talking solutions we have brought together a panel of people who have spent a career working in crime prevention – or with the businesses and individuals suffering the consequences. They are:

• Brian Sauvé, President of the National Police Federation 
• Steve Rai, VPD Deputy Chief Constable
• Anita Huberman, CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade
• John Neate, founder of JJ Bean
• Doug LePard, Principal of Doug LePard Consulting and co-author of BC report on repeat offending

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On September 27 Conversations Live with Stuart McNish will explore the critical issue of healthcare in BC and across Canada. Coast-to-coast, Canadians struggle to find a family doctor, ER’s are busy well past the breaking point, and practitioners are burning out. We’re reading stories about elderly patients dying in the waiting room, of ambulances arriving too late to save a life, and of skilled professionals leaving the profession in despair – while foreign-trained doctors, nurses, and care professionals sit on the sidelines unable to gain credentials. 

What’s the solution? 

Join us as we delve deep into the issue with a panel of guests living this crisis every day. 

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Affordable housing will take the stage at the inaugural Conversations Live with Stuart McNish next Tuesday, June 21.

We plan to hold Conversations Live micro-conferences monthly, adopting a hybrid format so you have the option of joining us in-person or virtually. Those joining us in-person will have an opportunity to discuss topics informally at a reception and dinner before the main event – our panel discussion. 

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