We've reconvened our political panel to discuss Peter Milobar deciding to sit as an independent, David Eby's initial response to news of a trade deal between Canada and the United States, and concerns over the province taking down its online staff directory.

Our political panel is former Green Party MLA and Tsartlip First Nation member Adam Olsen, former BC Liberal and BC United staffer Andrew Reeve, and former NDP cabinet minister Elizabeth Cull.

For more than 40 years, there has been a ban on farming potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant in Central Saanich - but not anymore. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says it has finally eradicated the golden nematode, a parasite so pesky they had to ban some crops to get rid of it. This week, we learn more about the nematode, why it was so hard to eradicate, and why potatoes are making a comeback.

We're down to two contenders for best roadside attraction on Vancouver Island: the goats on the roof at Old Country Market in Coombs, or Cathedral Grove. The winner will stay alive in CBC British Columbia's search for the best roadside attraction in B.C. We talk to CBC reporter Justin McElroy, who is running the competition, about what makes a good roadside attraction, why he thinks summer competitions like this are silly fun but also an interesting way to interpret our province, and why places along highway 4 seem to get a lot of votes in CBC's annual summer bracket competitions.

Learn more about the competition, and how to vote, here.

A plan to redevelop the Capital Irons lands, at the north end of downtown Victoria, got an important vote of confidence from city council. It means that hundreds of units of housing will likely be built, as well as a new home for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and a place where a local fish company can dock its boats, and process and sell its stock. We get the details.

This episode originally aired January 15, 2026.

But is it enough to address drought concerns? We hear from Environment Canada, a watershed watcher, and a farmer about how we’re getting more rain than meteorologists had predicted, whether it’s helping low-running streams where salmon live, and what it means for some crops.

It’s not just Greater Victoria’s big municipalities that are building new kinds of housing - some of the mid-sized ones, like Esquimalt, are too. On this week’s episode hear mayor Barb Desjardins talk about the range of housing styles; how the Department of National Defence is adding housing; and about a planned co-housing project where residents would share some common rooms with their neighbours.

Local officials are trying to get a safe, secondary road connecting the west coast to the rest of the island, after wildfires blocked the main routes in 2023 and 2025. But which route is best? And what will it take to make it happen? We hear from John Jack with Huu-ay-aht First Nations, Bob Beckett from the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, and Judi Thomas of the Ditidaht First Nation about the work they’re doing - and how it will support communities like Bamfield, Tofino/Ucluelet, and Port Alberni.

Check out this article to see a map of the possible routes, and listen to this previous episode to hear why wildfires can wreak such havoc on roads.

It's been a busy July so far in B.C. politics. This week, the attorney general said the province is preparing to sue OpenAI over the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge. And last week, B.C. and Ottawa signed a deal that will send billions of dollars of infrastructure funding westward, and also paved the way for a new pipeline to the south coast. Plus, Independent (and former B.C. Conservative) MLA Amelia Boutlbee joined the NDP caucus.

So we pulled our political panel back from summer hiatus to get their takes on it all. Elizabeth Cull is a former NDP cabinet minister, Andrew Reeve is a former BC Liberal Deputy Director of Communications and Senior Consultant at Earnscliffe, and Adam Olsen is a former Green Party MLA and member of the Tsartlip Nation.