Friday night special: election drama! College Heights pub news!
Let's get ready for the weekend
Good afternoon/good evening.
There has been ~news~ and I don’t feel like waiting til Monday morning to send it out.
Let’s start with politics:
As you may remember, one week ago, former Burns Lake mayor/current College of New Caledonia instructor Chris Beach launched his campaign for the federal Liberals, as the Cariboo-Prince George riding, to a crowd at Betulla Burning, citing his “confidence in new Liberal leader Mark Carney’s economic vision.”
But wait! Shortly after that, the Liberal Party itself got in touch with local media to say Beach had not been confirmed. He didn’t seem worried, though:
When asked about the situation Friday, Beach looked into it and later said he had been in contact with the BC arm of the campaign who told him he hadn't been 100 per cent greenlit as a candidate yet as they are trying to clear a backlog of 43 pending nominations. He said he has not been told that he is not the candidate in the riding.
After this story was first published, the federal Liberals' BC campaign manager confirmed Beach's status.
"Chris Beach submitted a nomination package for Cariboo-Prince George," Haley Hodgson wrote in a message via LinkedIn. "He is currently in the greenlight process and has not been confirmed as a candidate."
Beach said that as far as he knows, there's no one else running for the Cariboo-Prince George nomination, though he has not been in contact with the Ottawa campaign office.
“I think it’s a miscommunication,” Beach said. “I’ve done all my papers. They’re just dotting the I’s. I think it’s just a bureaucratic kind of mix-up.”
WELP. This morning, he posted this:
And indeed, he had not been a Trudeau fan. In fact, at his campaign launch he said exactly that:
Beach took an opportunity to distance himself from the Trudeau government, at one point saying, “if Justin Trudeau was still the leader I probably would not have come back to the party. I’ll just be very frank about that.”
And yeah, he has a bit of a history. Here’s a column from November 2024:
Apparently, there’s still only one person in Canada who thinks Justin Trudeau can get re-elected as Prime Minister next year… and of course that person is Justin Trudeau himself.
Although his party has been in power for a decade and incumbent governments are falling like dominos across the globe, Trudeau seems to believe he can convince Canadians far and wide in the next few months that he can be something entirely different than he has been time and time again.
…
Once again, his personal political ambition is taking precedence over good public policy. Unlike our former BC Premier John Horgan who was a team player and governed more by consensus, this is the ‘Trudeau Show’ and if there’s a spotlight calling, he will be the one standing under it telling Canadians that this latest u-turn will fix everything.
Here’s a column from January when Trudeau announced his resignation, which is a mix:
… beyond the looming crisis at hand, what will Trudeau be remembered for? Legalizing marijuana as he promised to do, handing out emergency cheques without equivocation amidst Covid to keep food on our tables and the economy afloat, and increasing immigration to the point that our population swelled to over 40 million for the first time in our history, could likely be what he is remembered for the most.
As for the negatives, well if you’ve been watching this program you’ve probably heard me list those off in spades, from spiraling record debt, to abysmal national productivity, to myriad ill-thought out public policies.
One thing I can say in Justin Trudeau’s favour is that he did step up and serve in the most demanding job in the nation for almost a decade.
Whether or nto this is why Beach didn’t get the nod, the party didn’t say.
But who did?
Clinton Emslie, an immigration consultant from Quesnel:
In a campaign statement, Emslie outlined his vision for the region, emphasizing leadership driven by experience, compassion, and practical solutions.
"In these defining moments for our nation, Canada needs leadership grounded in experience, guided by compassion, and driven by solutions,” Emslie said. “Under the strong, steady hand of Mark Carney, the Liberal Party is ready to lead Canada into a future that is not only economically resilient but also fair, inclusive, and united.”
No Betualla Burning party this time.
A Liberal candidate was also announced for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies, someone named Peter Njenga. He ran for the party in Abbotsford in 2015 when, according to a write-up in the Fraser Valley Current last year, he “id no local campaigning, attended no all-candidates meetings, and was basically unheard of in the community”. He also ran as an independent in Surrey South in the 2017 provincial campaign.
Nomination deadline is Monday. Here’s the list of confirmed candidates from Elections Canada.
We know of course that others have been announced, we’ll see the full list on Wednesday.
The College Heights Pub is coming back (sort of) under Nancy O’s ownership:
I noted earlier this week rumours the old College Heights Pub location is reopening. It’s true, and it’s being done by poeple with a track record:
Nancy O’s Restaurant Group, which owns Nancy O's and Betulla Burning in downtown Prince George, is opening a neighbourhood pub at the old College Heights Pub location this summer.
Group president Eoin Foley said they are giving the interior of the old favourite a major refresh right now in anticipation of the grand opening in June.
..
Tucked away at 5787 Albert Place, the location has been on Foley’s radar for the last couple of years, he added.
“We kind of knew it was an underserved market up there and back in our younger years, certainly back before Garrett and I opened Nancy O’s, it was a regular spot for us to whet our whistle,” Foley said talking about his longtime friend and business partner Garrett Fedorkiw.
“The old CHP was a great staple in town and one of the best neighbourhood pubs we’ve seen in Prince George and it’s a place that was near and dear to many people’s hearts.”
The pair were university students in town at roughly the same time I was and it’s true, the CHP was definitely a major gathering spot for students (as was Sgt. O’Flaherty’s, RIP). They say it’s going to have a decidedly different feel than their other restaurants, more of a sports pub with TVs, domestic beer on tap and “the English vibe that the old CHP used to have.”
However, I will make one plea: Foley says
“We don’t want people to walk in for the first time and feel the last few businesses still lurking in there,.. We want people to know that this is a totally new thing.”
A refresh is great but when I went to the location last year, when it was an Asian hybrid spot, I was surprised/bemused/pleased to see many of the old College Heights decor on the walls, including photos of old regulars. It survived, by my count, at least four different rebrands/styles/ownership groups and while it really didn’t make sense for some of the iterations, it would be awesome for some of it to be incorporated in a new restaurant that pays tribute to the building’s roots.
Alright, that’s it! Have a great weekend!
Unfortunate about Beach. I was really stoked on him running.