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,

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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!”