Commentary

Our year at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) has been one of progress and challenge, expanding opportunities and lessons learned. Excellence in applied education can be a moving target today.

This year's U.S. presidential election called into question core American values more than any other U.S. vote in my lifetime. It has really made me appreciate how proud I am to be Canadian, and how grateful I am for the Canada I live in.

Maybe this is cheating. Maybe it just gives me a chance to prick my personal filter bubble in front of a wider, discerning audience. Whatever.

In 1974, I recall my sisters returning from school in tears after a Christmas break, telling my parents how a chubby man in a red suit came down chimneys with gifts for children who had been good. He never visited us.

While First Nations issues have been front and centre in relation to resource development in B.C. for everyone, the issues of grinding poverty seem to affect only First Nations.

At the beginning of the year, we made a bold prediction: 2016 would belong to tech. The conditions were right.

Wages have remained largely stagnant for B.C. workers, and B.C.

As premier, my job is to ensure every action taken by government reflects the core values that built this province: create more opportunity, protect this magnificent place for future generations and take care of the people we love.

When 2016 began, Donald Trump was regarded as a joke and Justin Trudeau as an environmentalist crusader, and at least 75,000 British Columbians were going to have jobs in construction projects for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.

2016 was a truly extraordinary year for the visual arts in Vancouver and for the Vancouver Art Gallery in particular, from renowned Vancouver photo-conceptualist Stan Douglas being named the winner of the prestigious annual Hasselblad Award to Vancou