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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2010
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HALLOWEEN TRAIN IN SURREY Wonder why they tell you to keep your hands in at all times? This is why.... 17
JAKOB’S NIGHT
A special night for a special little boy
“I
f it wasn’t for his bruises you’d never know that he’s different,” says Jen Temple about her son Jakob. Jakob, 4, has a rare medical condition called portal vein thrombosis — he’s missing one of the main veins to his liver. There are few surgeons who can perform the complex procedure. Jakob will be getting his surgery at a hospital in Chicago. Friends have organized a fundraiser called Jakob’s Night at Jack’s Pub in the Guildford-Fleetwood area of the city to help cover the additional costs. Organizer Jacqueline Robertson: “Jacob’s Night is a pub night fundraiser for a very special little boy.”
Jen and Jakob Temple’s friends and family are raising money to help cover the costs of Jakob’s rare surgery.
❚PHOTO/Sharon Doucette
STORY, PAGE 13
COLUMN
WATTS WISE TO STAY FOCUSED ON SURREY
I
s Dianne Watts ready to jump into provincial politics? Will Surrey’s mayor try to parlay her popularity and a successful record in B.C.’s Second City into a seat in the legislature, or per- Ted haps the premier’s office? COLLEY Her name is always on the list of possible successors to Gordon Campbell, but Watts says she’s not going anywhere just yet. She and her council have made a good start on the new Surrey, but there’s still plenty to do and Watts says she wants to see it through. Add to that the extremely unstable state of B.C. politics these days and you’d have to think Watts would be smart to stay put for now. Campbell is doing a killer kamikaze impression, what with the HST public relations disaster and the Basi-Virk scandal. Two government officials use their positions of trust for their own benefit. When they get caught, everyone – defence, prosecution, everybody – buggers around for seven years. The thing finally goes to trial and hey, presto! One day before a key government minister is scheduled to go on the stand, the boys cop a plea.
SayWhat?
Mayor quashes rumour she will lead B.C. Tories. And if you consider how ugly provincial politics is, she’s right to stay the course.
They get house arrest, the AG says no public inquiry and the government coughs up $6 million of your money to cover the bad guys’ legal costs. You’re OK with that, right? Yeah, Gordo’s plane is going down in flames and the ship it’s aimed at is the B.C. Liberal Party. Campbell is taking them with him and nobody gets out alive. Over on the other side of the house, the NDP is busily hacking off its own head. Campbell and his crew are handing the New Democrats the chance of a lifetime to grab power again, so what do they do? They go after their leader. Carole James has been struggling against a cabal of ideologues on the far left of her party since the day she was elected leader. She has tried to increase the appeal of her party by moving it closer to the centre. Her in-house opponents are determined to block the move. It’s a scenario that could provoke a crash-andburn to rival that of Gordo and the Liberals. Meanwhile, over on the right, the B.C. Conservatives are looking for their very own Gordon Wilson, someone who can pull the party out of obscurity and into contention for power. They told Chris Delaney to go play with BC First, the political equivalent of a garage band, and recruited retread Socreds and federal
Tory MPs, both sitting and retired, to guide an attempt at making themselves more palatable to mainstream voters. There is a rumour circulating that Watts might be considering taking on the leadership of the B.C. Tories, a rumour she squashed like a bug. The Tories invited her to speak at their AGM last weekend, Watts said, but she declined. They wanted her to tell them “what mayors want from Victoria.” Watts said she doesn’t accept invitations to speak at party conventions, no matter which party might be asking, while giving the impression the B.C. Conservatives aren’t really her cup of tea, in any case. Imagine the political mileage the Tories would have tried to squeeze out of an appearance by Dianne Watts at their convention. If I were paid to advise our mayor, here’s what I’d say. Stay the course in Surrey and finish what you’ve started here. You’ve changed the way people here and elsewhere think about the city. Surrey is flourishing thanks to progressive leadership from city council, but you are the glue that holds it together. There’ll be plenty of time later to take on Victoria. tcolley@thenownewspaper.com