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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw

Vancouver Sun

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Rob Shaw: Eby plays best hand with limited deck for new cabinet

Premier David Eby unveiled a far weaker cabinet Monday than the one he carried into last election. But with some smart ministry re-organizations, and...

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: New B.C. government focused on Eby’s same old playbook

Premier David Eby is hoping the third time’s the charm as he refocuses his new cabinet in his barely re-elected government onto what he calls “the...

monday 20

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC NDP cabinet will be left hanging as Eby courts Greens

When Premier David Eby swears in his new cabinet on Monday, the new ministers won’t be issued the usual mandate letters. Instead, they’ll have to...

15.11.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Horgan's path from 'Angry John' to 'Happy Warrior' shaped rise as premier

John Horgan didn’t really want to be premier. And maybe that’s why he was such a good one. Only a guy who turned down the job of party leader...

13.11.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC NDP's massive rebate promise deserves debate, not a cabinet order

With the BC NDP landslide victory now confirmed at 22 votes, step one for the robust new majority government is simple: Get the cash it promised in...

12.11.2024 20

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Can Eby fill the cabinet void left by wave of departing ministers?

Premier David Eby has begun the earliest stages of crafting his next cabinet, after a week of one-on-one phone calls with MLAs. It’s not going to be...

08.11.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Elections BC's blunders demand multi-party path forward

One day after revealing hundreds of votes in the B.C. election had been misplaced or miscounted, the province’s chief electoral officer held an...

06.11.2024 7

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby should be worried why mudslinging missed the mark in B.C. election

Why did a BC NDP election campaign overwhelmingly focused on attacking the character of the BC Conservatives fail to prevent a blue wave that came...

04.11.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Surrey's shift puts Eby's political recovery to the test

The BC NDP is seeking to reverse its Surrey slump after losing ground in the most important electoral region in the province. Premier David Eby admits...

01.11.2024 9

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Conservatives had everything it took to form a majority. Why didn't they?

BC Conservative Leader John Rustad was reflective when asked this week how he could have gotten his party over the finish line to a 47-seat majority...

31.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC NDP tossed a lifeline after glimpsing political demise

Imagine attending your own funeral when suddenly —  miraculously and inexplicably — you jolt back upright amongst the living. That’s a bit like...

29.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Furstenau shows her cards, shutting down Rustad’s slim-majority hopes

BC Conservative Leader John Rustad better hope he can flip at least two ridings in the weekend recount to get his shot at a slim majority government,...

25.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby shows humility but internal party spin tells a different story

The first hint of the first whiff of humility crept into the voice of Premier David Eby on Tuesday, as he was peppered by reporters to account for the...

23.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: David Eby lost this election, even though the BC NDP won

BC NDP leader David Eby suffered a grim and sobering victory in Saturday’s election. He remains premier. He will likely still get to govern—for as...

21.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Chip Wilson's cartoon villain antics fuel NDP's final election sprint

If BC New Democrats win Saturday’s election, they’ll need to send Chip Wilson a thank-you card and some sort of edible flower arrangement. The...

18.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC Conservatives' costed platform offers vague vision, missing math

The long wait for the BC Conservative’s costed election platform ended Tuesday with a document so vague it will be hard for even the voters who...

16.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby faces tough sell enticing Green voters to NDP

After treating the BC Greens as an afterthought for most of the election, NDP Leader David Eby took the gloves off Sunday, urging Green voters to...

15.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Rustad stands firm after latest candidate controversy engulfs Conservatives

BC Conservative Leader John Rustad is approaching the finish line of the B.C. election the same way he started: On the defensive over stupid,...

11.10.2024 20

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Rustad's cadaverous debate performance may be enough to stall surging Conservatives

John Rustad had the most to win in the TV leaders’ debate — a solid, likeable, measured performance could have helped the BC Conservative leader...

09.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: The BC NDP should withdraw their court challenge of Elections BC

Of the many surprising moves made so far in the 2024 B.C. election, one of the most perplexing has been the BC NDP’s decision to haul the...

08.10.2024 6

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: The BC NDP is missing the mark on connecting with voters

Premier John Rustad. Just let the words sit there for a second. Cast your eyes over them. If you can, try saying them out loud. What had been an...

04.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: B.C.'s campaign trail is littered with policy U-turns

On paper it’s called the 43rd Provincial General Election of British Columbia. But at this point, we might as well just call it the Flip-Flop...

02.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Campaign tax cuts continue with proposed ‘Eby-bate’ income relief

BC NDP leader David Eby unveiled a big-time, middle-class tax cut Sunday, to try and staunch the momentum of the rival BC Conservatives, as the...

01.10.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: On housing affordability, BC Conservatives and NDP offer two very different solutions

The “Rustad Rebate” versus the Eby 60/40 mortgage split. Voters were presented two hugely different proposals on housing affordability in the...

27.09.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Health cuts, drug dens and tolls. How false claims lead B.C. election campaign

The first few days of the B.C. election campaign and if you’re a voter trying to navigate what is true and what isn’t — well, good luck. An...

25.09.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Rustad pledges to close B.C.'s overdose prevention sites

BC Conservative leader John Rustad had been building for months to his announcement Sunday that he’d close B.C. safe injection sites and replace...

23.09.2024 40

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby steadies bumpy pre-campaign with mortgage relief promise

After a couple of rocky pivots on the carbon tax and involuntary care, BC NDP Leader David Eby landed back on solid footing Thursday with the launch...

20.09.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Polls predict major B.C. election clash as independents stir the pot

You don’t need a poll to tell you B.C.’s election is going to be a close, hard-fought, brutal affair. But there was one for you to read anyway on...

18.09.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC NDP's third try at involuntary care may shape election stakes

Premier David Eby unveiled his plan Sunday to place the most severely addicted, brain-damaged, street-entrenched people into involuntary long-term...

16.09.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Carbon tax switcheroo reveals Eby's wavering principles

What happens when a political leader spends 20 months fiercely defending a policy, accuses anyone opposed to it as living “in a baloney factory,”...

13.09.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC NDP invokes American culture wars to stir abortion debate

BC NDP Leader David Eby tried to use the looming shadow of the U.S. presidential debate Tuesday to link Donald Trump and BC Conservative Leader John...

11.09.2024 20

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Rob Shaw

Always racing at the speed of a greyhound, Eby ready for election dash

Before he starts a near 12-hour Saturday of campaign events, Premier David Eby sits at his dining room table and watches his two-month-old daughter...

10.09.2024 20

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Rustad faces long tightrope walk over political landmines

There was no hiding the smile on BC Conservative Leader John Rustad’s face as he worked his way through a jammed community hall in mid-Vancouver...

09.09.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby comes up snake eyes after rolling the dice on fixed election date

Premier David Eby expressed extreme frustration more than a year ago when he was repeatedly asked if he was going to call an early election. “I...

06.09.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Don't call it luck. John Rustad riding the waves of seismic shift in B.C. politics

Every time John Rustad leaves his house — which is often, because Rustad has one of the busiest travel schedules of any politician, anywhere in...

05.09.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: John Rustad’s strategic snubs leave BC United MLAs scattered

United they stood, but divided they fell. BC United’s 57-person roster of candidates and incumbents was consigned mostly to the political scrap heap...

04.09.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Inside the United-Conservative deal reshaping B.C.'s political landscape

In the end, it was a handshake deal at midnight in the boardroom of a downtown Vancouver law firm that brought together the BC United and Conservative...

29.08.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Finance minister's fall farewell leaves B.C. drenched in debt

Mark Twain said it best when he opined that there are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics. All three were on display in abundance...

23.08.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Rustad’s answer to 5G COVID conspiracies? Blame cancel culture

B.C. politicians took great delight Tuesday in dunking on the latest bizarre outburst from the latest bizarre BC Conservative candidate. But it...

21.08.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Effort to oust Rustad emerges from BC Conservative ranks

There’s a movement afoot within the BC Conservative party to fire leader John Rustad — though who is behind it exactly and whether it presents a...

19.08.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Will Rustad's appearance on Jordan Peterson's podcast boost or backfire?

As the BC Conservatives wrestle with yet more candidate problems, leader John Rustad is himself stirring the pot with an appearance on the podcast of...

16.08.2024 8

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: BC United makes big promise to break through voter apathy

BC United may still be reeling from defections and declining donations, but the party succeeded in doing something rare in politics on Tuesday: Making...

14.08.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Can British Columbians break their love affair with bad polls?

It’s been more than a decade since British Columbians broke up with political polling. It wasn’t us, it was them; pollsters so disastrously wrong...

12.08.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: NDP trumpets child-care win while Ottawa foots most of the bill

B.C.’s New Democrat government put on a masterclass Thursday in how to spend somebody else’s money while still managing to take all the credit for...

09.08.2024 8

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: B.C. agriculture minister missing in action amidst crisis

Wanted: A British Columbia agriculture minister. People skills required. Must be willing to travel. Ability to solve complex problems is a plus —...

07.08.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: B.C. NDP's 'affordable' housing promises hard to keep

Any time the B.C. NDP government makes a housing announcement, there is one word repeated again and again and again for anyone who will listen:...

06.08.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Shocking transit report reveals large-scale cuts threatening Metro Vancouver

Metro Vancouver’s transit system is on the precipice of some of the steepest service cuts in its history, leaving entire communities without bus...

25.07.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Weak tenancy laws do little to help B.C. landlords battle ‘cuckooing’ criminals

When John rented his Victoria family home to a newly divorced mother of two kids, who said she just needed a place to get back on her feet, it seemed...

22.07.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Eby’s frustrations flourish as federal outreach proves fruitless

After four trips to Ottawa, four meetings in B.C. and eight increasingly fruitless phone calls spread out over 19 months in office, Premier David Eby...

18.07.2024 20

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Rob Shaw

Rob Shaw: Yes, the Canucks' playoff run led to a wine deal with Alberta

It took a Vancouver Canucks playoff hockey game, of all things, to begin to uncork the persistent dispute between British Columbia and Alberta over...

17.07.2024 10

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Rob Shaw

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