News.

BC Libs Bremner is hopping at Hops in New West

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Hector Bremner | Photo courtesy of James Prevette/onsombilongallery.com

By Sophie Isbister,
Staff Writer

ast Tuesday, the New

Westminster BC Liberal
Riding Association held the
first event in the campaign
to elect Hector Bremner. The
casual meet-and-greet took
place at Hops Pub, centrally

 

located underneath the
New Westminster SkyTrain
Station.

In an informal speech,
Bremner stated his desire
to shake things up in
New Westminster—“I’'m
running for office not
because I want to play
the old partisan games.

I don’t want politics as

usual.” Bremner went on to
comment about the current
state of New Westminster’s
representation: “We've
had one side of the
story since 1948, and
New Westminster’s
face is changing. And
it’s time that the face
of New Westminster’s
representation in Victoria
changed too.”
The Other Press had
a chance to speak briefly
with the MLA candidate
shortly after his speech. He
elaborated on the changing
face of New Westminster.
“IT was your age
when I came [to New
Westminster],” he said. “It
was really hard to get work
here and the economy was
horrible. And in the last 12
years [...] from when I came
here in 1996 to where it is
today, heading into 2013,
[there is a] night and day
difference.”
When asked how
his campaign would
reach out to students,
Bremner discussed the
current stressful climate
surrounding jobs and
debt repayment. Bremner

focused on the BC

Liberal’s strategy to reduce
unemployment through
training in the trades: “Our
action plan is to put money
into trades programs. There
are jobs in this province,
there are people without
the skills to do them, so
what we’re doing is getting
people into those skills
training programs and
getting them into those jobs.
[Our] opponents are like,
‘Here’s the money up front,
you figure it out!’ And that
doesn’t work.”

Of the several youth in
attendance, The Other Press
spoke with Allie Valiente,
President of the Douglas
Young Liberals and a former
Douglas College political
science student who now
attends Capilano University.
Valiente is active on
Bremner’s campaign, and
she hopes that Bremner will
give youth a reason to vote
in 2013.

“Hector is just so
unique in the way that he’s
young, he’s easy to talk to,
and things that I have on
my mind as far as policy
that I want him to bring

Douglas hosts notable Welshman

Welsh historian
Conway Davies
welcomed by cocoon’
community

By Dylan Hackett,
News Editor

ast Friday, the Laura C.

Muir Theatre in New
Westminster hosted Welsh
social historian Conway
Davies for his 3rd annual
guest lecture. This year, the
speaker’s featured topic
was “Crime and Criminality
in 19th Century Wales.”
The theatre was packed
with faculty, students, and
community members keen
on what Davies had to offer,

4

being a longtime partner
and guest instructor in
the five years of Douglas
College’s own Wales Field
School program.

“I’m beginning to doubt
the intellectual capacity of
some of the audience here
today. This is the third time
I’ve spoken here and some
of you have been out to all
three,” jested Davies in his
opening lines.

The lecture focused
on the negative social
outcomes of a rapid increase
in population across South
Wales, induced by the
nation’s economic boom-
times.

“Wales of the 19th
century was not like Wales
of previous centuries—it
had changed, as it were,

in the twinkling of an
eye. Population grew by
leaps and bounds. We're
looking at half a million in
the beginning of the 19th
century, and 2.2 million
by the end of the 19th
century,” noted Davies. “In
the bustling new economy,
in both industrial and rural
Wales, there were people for
who malnutrition, disease,
crime, and early death
were each a part of their
wretched, lost life.”
Notable instances were
detailed in the lecture, with
an anecdote from the diary
of a police officer stationed
in Carmarthen, home to
University of Wales, Trinity
St. David, host school of
the Wales Field Program,
portraying the vulgar reality

of life in the lower crust of
society.

“On one instance, in
Carmarthen, on Christmas
Eve, there was a furious
battle in the streets between
prostitutes and their
pimps,” spoke Davies. A
prostitute was arrested in
the fray and sentenced to a
period of hard labour.

Juvenile criminality was
noted in the lecture to have
been a major problem in
Welsh society, with drunken
and destitute parents
becoming dependent
on their children’s
illicit means of living. A
primary source offering
evidence of this described
a gang of preteen children
with gang nicknames
such as “Thunderbolt”

forward [...] I know that
those policies are going to
be relatable,” said Valiente.

We also spoke with
Kevin Romero, the new
Vice President of the
Douglas Young Liberals
club. On the topic of youth
engagement in politics,
Romero said “T don’t think
people realize [that] doing
this kind of stuff just makes
you better as a person
and makes society better.”
He, like Valiente, views
Bremner as relatable to the
youthful population in New
Westminster. “He’s a young
guy and he knows his stuff,
he’s committed, [and] that
shows you can relate to
him.”

The social feel of the
event seemed to match the
way that Bremner hopes
to run his campaign. “I’m
not interested in dogmatic
politics,” Bremner told
The Other Press. “I’m not
interested in [the idea that]
you have to hate your
opponent,” he continued.
“T think the public doesn’t
need more wedges; they
need more bridges.”

and “Fireball.” Davies
explained how the
gradual implementation of
educational infrastructure
helped in mending the
social ailments in 18th
century Welsh society.

Davies spoke to The
Other Press at the reception
following his lecture and
remarked on his relationship
with the students and
faculty he acquaints with at
Douglas.

“T feel a part of the
fabric of Douglas. It’s a
cocoon that I come to. I
recharge my batteries, meet
friends, make new friends,
and may it continue!”