A $1.5 Billion Spreadsheet Error, Nine MLAs Out the Door and a Game of Chicken for Mayor | UnSpun Ep. 336

Episode 336 of UnSpun with Jody Vance and George Affleck starts with a trade war that has turned juvenile and ends with a Vancouver mayoral race where the deadline to file is days away and nobody wants to blink first. Here is what is inside: Walk Away From the Table: Mark Carney ordered the negotiators home from Washington. George and Jody on how a deal written in pencil turned into renamed lakes, armed goose memes and an escalation neither of them saw coming. 68% of Americans Do Not Want This Fight: Americans agree on almost nothing, and they agree on this. Roughly nine in ten Canadians say stand up to the bully. Picking a fight with your best friend is not a winning play. Assume Free Trade Is Done: George's working assumption: this is the long term, tariffs are the historical norm, and we should build everything around a pre-1990s model. If it turns out better than that, great. Two Months to the Midterms: Texas closing 92 voting places while moving against mail-in ballots. Immigration enforcement at polling stations. Suppress the vote is the dirtiest phrase in politics, and George explains the turnout math that makes it work. How Do You Lose Track of $1.5 Billion?: A gas royalty accounting error, a four-month delay, and a story that keeps changing. George's position is blunt: at any nonprofit in this province, the executive director and the board president would have been gone on day one. Nine MLAs and Counting: The BC Conservatives are shedding members by the day while the leader's office says the caucus remains focused. George is watching for the number 20, when the math flips and a new party becomes possible. The Seat That Opened Up: The allegation was that an MLA was offered a plum party job to give up their seat. It was denied, and then a seat opened up and the person who stepped aside became assistant chief of staff, then chief of staff. Third one in three weeks. September 11 and a Game of Chicken: The Vancouver filing deadline is days away. COPE's Stephanie Allen stepped aside for the good of the city. Two hours later, everyone else said they are staying in. George reads it as a standoff, and thinks the NDP machine simply will not put its money behind a Green. The Polls Are Not Measuring What You Think: Jody's catch: the summer polling asked by party name, not candidate name. A party with no declared mayoral candidate still registered. That is a manufactured progressive battle and a very useful wedge. Do Your Homework on the Candidates: Jody watched the full Stephen Quinn and Justin McElroy debates on CBC and got to know the candidates past the six o'clock soundbite. The slick candidate wins when nobody looks closer. Free Kits Pool: New designs, a mayor on side, and one simple ask for the Park Board: keep it open a month longer, no reservations, show up, pay, swim. The best days are the rainy days. Subscribe, comment, and tell us: who should be resigning over the $1.5 billion, and will anybody blink before September 11? Follow Jody: @jodyvance Follow George: @george_affleck sitkamedia.ca