Thursday May 11, 2023 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The BC Press Gallery office space up above the third floor of the BC Legislature in downtown Victoria will be getting a face lift.
The renovation project is underway for summer 2023.
The current spring session of the BC Legislative Assembly wraps up today May 11. That major machinery of governance gets back to action with the Fall session starting October 3. See BC Legislative Assembly Parliamentary Calendar.
Historical space:
There’s a lot of history in that space, former BC Premier John Horgan told Island Social Trends a few weeks ago in Langford.
Command central for reporters:
Some long-time legislative reporters have spent many a year, even decades, working out of that room and making their way to the upper gallery in the Chamber, or down through the halls to scrum with MLAs.
In addition to decorative memorabilia including historical newspaper clippings and a very old typewriter, the wooden desks are old, lighting is seriously insufficient, and the blackboards will likely go.
Fun at session end:
Yesterday at this tail end of the spring session, some of the Ministers got to slap pies in the faces of some of the longest-serving BC Press Gallery members during BC Beef Day … all in good fun as a cancer research fundraiser.
Reporting continues:
Legislative reporters will still be keeping an eye on MLAs and the work of government over the summer months. MLAs use this time to connect within their constituencies.
In two ridings there will be plenty of action for the upcoming by-elections in 2023 to replace MLA seats left vacant in Langford-Juan de Fuca (John Horgan’s last day as MLA was March 31, 2023) and Vancouver-Mount Pleasant (where Melanie Mark resigned after many years as an MLA).
In accordance with legislation, Premier David Eby needs to call the by-election by September 30, 2023.
Candidates in Langford-Juan de Fuca (for voters in Langford, Sooke, and Juan de Fuca) so far include Ravi Parmar (BC NDP), Camille Currie (BC Green), and Elena Lawson (BC United).
Other things to watch in provincial news are how well extreme heat and other weather emergencies are handled this year and how the overall response to random crime is dealt with.
===== RELATED:
By-Election News Archive (Island Social Trends)
Replacing Horgan & Mark: two key BC by-elections this year (February 24, 2023)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a professional news portal at islandsocialtrends.ca . Fully online as a daily news portal since mid-2020, Island Social Trends emerged from previous print publications in the west shore: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Since 2008, journalist and editor Mary P Brooke has taken a socioeconomic lens to reporting and analyzing the news of the west shore and south Vancouver Island region, including BC and national news impacts. [See Island Social Trends Politics Archive]. As of 2023 she reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery.
Mary P Brooke has also focused on news of School District 62 at the board level since 2014 [see Island Social Trends Education archive]. During 2020 to 2021 she reported daily to build a COVID pandemic archive.