The 2009 B.C. Provincial Elections are being held at a time of global economic turmoil, which has left neither our country, nor our province unscathed. It's really no surprise then that recent polls have shown that the economy is the top issue of concern in this round of elections, with crime taking second place over health care. However, when I spoke to both the West End NDP and Green party candidates, decisive issues regarding housing, homelessness and infrastructure seemed to be the central issues surrounding their campaigns.

Last week I had a chance to sit down with Drina Read, the West End Green Party MLA candidate, who ran in the by-election last year and is running again to represent her party's principals, which she believes, "unites us."

At times, the political battlefield of our provincial politics can be a hard one to navigate. It's often difficult to get a sense of what a candidate's actual platform is or what sort of causes and what kind of politics they stand for. It requires a lot of reading, research or active face-to-face meetings to really determine whether or not a candidate is worth your vote.

I, myself, feel daunted by the task of becoming as fully informed a citizen as I should be and I won't deny that my own knowledge of municipal and provincial politics is dismal, to say the least. But, in an attempt to be a responsible and engaged citizen, I decided, after having encountered he and his volunteers on my block at least a few times a week, and after having seen his viral campaign video, to go and talk to my local West End NDP candidate, Spencer Herbert, about why I should vote for him.

If you're a regular here at BR, you've seen the vast number of downright mean comments we get on a daily basis - or you're too busy posting them. Either way, there's a lot of people who just love to write some harsh-ass shit (or should that be harsh ass-shit...?)

Josh Rimer, a Vancouver videographer/actor who has some videos that are apparently popular on YouTube has decided to release a phone number so that viewers can call in their comments, instead of posting with comfortable anonymity.

So Elizabeth May has been making a fuss in the blogoshpere with her recent victory over the shadowy Canadian TV Consortium and her recent remarks that may or may not have been doctored (or at least taken out of context), in which she calls Canadians stupid. But as witnessed down south, any attention is good attention, even if you're just putting lipstick on a pig (No, I am not calling Elizabeth May a pig. She looks more like a beaver anyways).

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Green Party member and supporter, and I ran in the last Provincial election under the Green banner. I must say however, that I was essentially just a name on a ballot, as I was the last of a full slate of candidates and had no campaign budget. But in the upcoming battle for Vancouver Centre, the Green's aren't phoning it in.

Update: wacqueline posted an excellent link to a Vancouver Magazine article, outlining both Ladner and Robertson. It can be found here.

Since we learned a little bit about Peter Ladner last week, it's only fair to find out at least a little about the man who holds the top spot for Vision Vancouver. Once again, I can't say that I know the man, or much about him personally. I did see him buying various berries at the Kitsilano Farmers Market, so if that counts for something, there you go.

Instead of a Vancouver History today, I wanted to write about the current mayoral campaign. With all the Eby and Robertson boners flying around here at BeyondRobson, I thought I would ask the question on none of our minds: Who the F#@K is Peter Ladner?